California Lane Change: Interview

California Lane Change is a Canadian pop-rock band from Leduc/Edmonton, Alberta. The band has played shows all across Alberta, and played a show during this year’s Canada Day celebration. I got to interview California Lane Change after they finished their show. This is how my first interview went down.

Continuous Conversations: How was the band formed?

California Lane Change: We were formed by me and my brother and Kyle back in junior high, grade eight. Just started playing together and we had a band called the Underscored. Kevin was in a band that they called The White Stripes, which didn’t work out because of copyright. And then from there, we moved to Leduc. We then met Tyler, our drummer, and we met Steve, our other guitarist. Steve and Kevin played in another band, and then they came over here with us. And that’s how we formed.

Continuous Conversations: So how many band members is this comprised of?

California Lane Change: Five, and then the occasional triangle-player.  

Continuous Conversations: Do you guys get to travel much?

California Lane Change: We try to, but we get busy with school, and we get busy with work. So we haven’t left Alberta, but we’ve gone to Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, and here. So, basically within three or four hours distance.

Continuous Conversations: Do you guys all go to school?

California Lane Change: I’m the only one in school. That kind of holds us back from travelling. But the rest of them work, and  Kevin is an electrician, Steve is a millwright, Tyler works fire-protection, and Kyle does something.

Continuous Conversations: What’s the age range?

California Lane Change: I’m the youngest, as I’m 20. And then it goes up to 24.

Continuous Conversations: How long have you guys been a band for?

California Lane Change: Three or four years. In that area.

Continuous Conversations: What kind of genre would you put yourselves in?

California Lane Change: It started out pop-rock, and now we’ve done everything from pop-rock to 90’s, and we have some harder songs. We’re swinging over to the country-folk kind of thing.

Continuous Conversations: Are you guys signed to any label?

California Lane Change: No label. We’ve gotten attention from Universal Canada, and Gene Simmons gave us a call and wanted to come check us out. He said to give it a little while.

Continuous Conversations: How many albums/EPs do you have out right now?

California Lane Change: Our first EP was five songs, and the last album we’ve done is ten songs.

I strongly encourage everyone to check them out, as I have a good feeling that they will become a big success one day.

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California Lane Change Live Review

 

From Edmonton, Alberta comes a fresh pop-rock/punk band called California Lane Change. The members of this band are Joey Vos on vocals, Kevin Vos on bass guitar, Kyle Radzick on lead guitar, Steve Chwyl on rhythm, and Tyler Ennis on drums. This group of five young men created an energy-filled atmosphere with the lead singer’s tenor vocals, and the rowdy instrumentals from the rest of the band.

Unfortunately, this review will be quite short, as I showed up when the band only had three songs left. That was my fault.

            California Lane Change had grabbed my attention as soon as I walked in. Their ability to entertain and maintain their tight vocals and instruments was befuddling. The lead singer, Joey, had a stage presence that instantly attracted one’s attention, with his ability to have as much fun on stage as the audience did on the ground. Meanwhile, the instrumentalists played a consistently catchy rhythm that had every one in the mood for dancing. The band played a mixture of covers and original tracks, which made it easy to sing along to. The second from last song that they had performed was their cover of Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle”. They added their own flavour to it while keeping the original feel to the song. The familiar track had many young adults singing along, and excited screams escaped many of the fans.

 

            With a familiar sound to early pop-punk bands, California Lane Change has what it takes to grab and hold individual’s attention, while maintaining their own unique sound.

 

Rating for California Lane Change: 9/10

 

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Glass Tiger Live Review

 

This Canada Day I had the privilege of meeting quite the famous Canadian band. Glass Tiger was established back in 1984, in Newmarket, Ontario. They have marked their place in the world as one of Canada’s greatest bands of all time, and have won five Juno awards and a Grammy nomination. They have sold millions of albums and singles, and have many hits below their belts.

 

The concert I went to was located in central Alberta. With a hot, sunny day as their playing field, the band went on to play for thousands. Belting out the lyrics with high energy, the crowd went wild for their early hits, and fell in love with their latest songs. The instruments were blaring, and they placed a strong beat that the audience danced to, despite the crazy heat of the sun. Songs such as “My Town”, “Diamond Sun”, and “Watching Worlds Crumble” had the audience screaming for more, and they stayed on their feet throughout the entirety of the hits.

 

As the concert ended, the audience cried for more, and Glass Tiger obeyed their fans’ pleads and hopped back on the stage for an encore. They played their classic hit “Animal Heart”, and the fans sang along and cheered. Finally, they decided to end off the evening with “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)”. As soon as the band announced this song, the crowed erupted in to a frenzy of screaming and anticipated jumping. The song was sung with a mixture of the lead vocalist’s voice and the excited vocals of the fans. Finally, the concert ended, and the night was brought to a close.

 

Overall, I feel like the show was high energy from start to finish, and it gave the crowd exactly what they asked for.

  
Rating for Glass Tiger: 10/10
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Gianna Lauren: On Personhood Review

Album: On Personhood
Date: April 22nd, 2013
Genre: Ambient/Indie
Label: Forward Music Group
Origin: Halifax, Nova Scotia

From Halifax, Nova Scotia is the up-and-coming indie artist, Gianna Lauren. This Canadian vocalist is paired with multi-instrumentalists J.J. Ipsen, Justin Nace, drummer Marshall Bureau, and engineer Andy Magoffin. These ambient-rock style musicians come together to share the new album: On Personhood. The obscurity within Lauren’s emotion-filled, smooth voice harmonizes with the serene guitars and soft drums to make this album dream-like.

This six-track album delivers melodic, captivating vocals with sassy lyrics that make this album enchanting. Starting off the album is the song “Trouble”. The darkness of the track is accompanied with gentle, yet sturdy vocals and an attractive bass guitar rhythm that balances the rest of the instruments, and keeps the song interesting. The song maintains the mysterious, edgy quality within Lauren’s voice, which allows the listener to become instantly compelled. While this song seemed to be original and light, “Thread” and “Bitches Brew” appeared to be cut from the same cloth as the aforementioned song.  With dark tones, soft instrumentals, and sassy lyrics, the repeated sound caused this album to be somewhat predictable.

A pleasurable twist in the fairly predictable album was a song called “Anchor Down”. While Lauren stood by her easy-going vocals, the instruments hummed against the grain with an up-beat, relaxing island feel. The repetitive lyrics created a catchier, laid-back atmosphere throughout the duration of the three-minute song. With most of the song lyrics pertaining to love and its complications, this was a breath of fresh, sun-filled air that provided a rest from the gloomy sounds for the listener. A song on the album with a similar sound was “Ghosts”. Both songs were more cheerful than the rest, and they brought a form of diversity to the album that wasn’t existent before. 

Lauren’s sweet, sincere resonance added emotions to each and every song, but I still felt fairly unsatisfied with the album as a whole. It seemed to be lacklustre at times, and it was also deficient in diversity. While each tune developed a new emotion, Lauren’s vocals scarcely showed range, which left me feeling unfulfilled.

With a striking, sensual ambience, Gianna Lauren took charge of the music presented on her newest album. From start to finish, though it felt predictable and not very original, the effort that was put in was admirable. Lauren’s genuine vocals and purring instruments provided a soft atmosphere, which will take the audience to a new destination. Overall it was a pretty good album, but Lauren should focus on diversity for her next one.

 

On Personhood: 7.5/10

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The Rural Alberta Advantage Review

Genre: Indie Rock

Origin: Alberta, Canada

Record Label: Saddle Creek/Paper Bag Records

Band members: Nils Edenloff, Paul Banwatt, and Amy Cole.

 

The Rural Alberta Advantage became a breakout band in 2009, and has since then released two studio albums under the record label of Saddle Creek and Paper Bag Records. Their first album, “Hometowns”, was listed as one the top 50 albums of 2009 by Stereogum. This thirteen track album contained songs such as: “Frank, AB”, “Edmonton”, “The Deathbridge in Lethbridge”, and “Four Night Rider”. All of these songs are references to life, love, loss and leaving your hometown behind.

 

Their second album, “Departing”, was made to be a companion album to “Hometowns”. This album had ten songs with the themes of growing up and moving on, and will add closure to the first album. This album includes songs such as “Stamp”, “Tornado ‘87”, and “Muscle Relaxants.

 

This band is sure to bring you back to your Albertan roots, and get you pumped for the day ahead.

 

“Hometowns” – 8.6/10

“Departing” – 8.3/10

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