3am Mixtapes: Episode Sixty Two: Name Changes

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general as best sex rock songs, but some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Songs that Start with the Letter K. 

This week it's all about the ch-ch-ch-changes, with the  Top Six Bands Who Have Changed Their Name! What were they all named before? Listen to find out!

Put these in your earballs:

"Do You Wanna" by Paper Lions
"Reservoir" by PUP
"The Price You Pay" by Thomas D'Arcy
"Stay The Night" by Willa
"Electric" by Rykka
"Postcard from 1952" by Explosions in the Sky

Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!

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3am Mixtapes: Episode Twenty Seven: Ladies

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general like best ballads. Or some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Fictional Bands From TV Shows.

Seeing as International Women's Day is coming up this week, I figured I'd use that as an excuse to look at the Top Six Female Musicians! I think I've had a pretty good mix of genders in the podcast up until now, but this episode is all-ladies.

With musical songs:

"Who Are You?" by Kathryn Calder
"Shotgun" by Rykka
"Knots" by Lisa Hannigan
"Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" by Broken Social Scene
"Orchard" by Jess Hill
"And We Still Move" by Crissi Cochrane

Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!

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Peak Performance Project Finale @ Commodore -- 11/21/13

It was a night that would change the lives of three bands. It was, of course, the Peak Performance Project finale concert, with over $227,000 in money being awarded; $102,700 for first place, $75,000 for second and $50,000 for third. The three bands vying for the prize were Hannah Epperson, Rykka, and BESTiE, picked as the top three from the twenty bands competing in this fifth year of the promotion. All twenty bands took part in a week long rock & roll bootcamp, and were judged on their showcase at Fortune, a business report, online voting, and a few other challenges and projects.
Everything had been tallied up and the placement determined long before the show, but the finale was a chance for the top three to show off at one of the best and most revered venues in town, the Commodore Ballroom.

This year was probably my favourite top three since the very first year, with both Epperson and Rykka being my top two picks from the very start. While other years I have been somewhat... disappointed in the top three or the winners, this year I was looking forward to the whole show.

The night started with Hannah Epperson, taking the stage alone with her violin, barefoot, and hardly able to contain the smile on her face. She launched into a couple instrumental songs showing off her incredible talent and making great use of the looping pedal.
She added her soft vocals, fitting the beautiful "Murder of Crows" perfectly, and after a few songs was joined by the drum pad, adding a sexy bassy dancey vibe to "Shadowless". Near the end of the set, she dedicated a song to her brother who could not be there, and asked everybody to hug the person next to them, getting a video of the hugging crowd.
The set came to an end with the apocalyptic "Host a Party" before she invited the boys in Oh No! Yoko to come out and perform their bootcamp collaboration, "Soft Shoulder".
I admit, even though she was my favourite, I never thought a solo violin looper would make the top three of the Peak Performance Project; but Hannah's incredible talent broke that barrier, and that was one instance where I was thrilled to be proven wrong.

Up next was Rykka, coming out in an outfit that can only be described as The Road Warrior meets Cher (in the best way) very fitting of her dark, synthy electro-rock sound. The band exploded out of the gate with the first song, "Map Inside", and from the first song, Rykka hardly stood still on stage. She danced and bobbed back and forth, exuding energy.
Playing mostly from her recent album, Kodiak -- in which all of the songs are written from the perspective of various animals -- Rykka also threw in a couple new songs. Part way through the set she was joined by friend and producer of her record, Ryan Guldemond to play guitar for a couple songs, including the driving and intense "Down in the Depths".
She brought the tone down for a moment, with the softer "Grassland" before getting it right back up for "Shotgun", and ended with the aptly titled "Electric", getting Ryan back out once more, and the sold out crowd clapping along.

And finally, BESTiE took the stage to round out the night, and end off the fifth year of the project. Admittedly, they were not among my initial choices for the top three, and while there isn't a lot of variation in their songs, they put on a really fun live show. With beach balls (and later an inflatable palm tree) thrown into the audience, songs like the upbeat "Pineapple" got the crowd grooving to their fun tropical pop-rock, the band's energy infectious.
They brought a horn section out for a few songs, including the classic Canadian cover they learned for the project, a pretty solid version of The Payola$' "Eyes of a Stranger", and invited Rykka back out on stage to play their Bootcamp collaboration, "Together", before ending off the night by upping the energy even more with "Sriracha", joined by hula dancers on stage.

Fun way to end the show, but of course the night was not done; there was still the unveiling of the top three and the awarding of the giant novelty cheques. Third place went to BESTiE, second place to Hannah Epperson, and the winner of $102,700 to put towards her career, was Rykka. An outcome that I was very satisfied with.

Major kudos is deserved to both The Peak and Music BC and all the people involved in this incredible yearly contest, especially for their support and nurturing of local music. I hope the bands involved go on to keep doing what they're doing, and I hope The Peak continues to support them, even (or especially) the ones that didn't make the top five.

Peak Performance Project Showcase #2 @ Fortune -- 09/19/13

The Peak Performance Project is a multi-year contest in which The Peak, along with Music BC, picks 20 BC musicians/bands each a year and makes them stars. Past winners are We Are The City, Kyprios, Current Swell, and Dear Rouge with a ton of great bands and artists included as well.

Part one of the project was a "rock & roll boot camp" where the musicians went on a week long retreat to get lectures and advice from industry pros, to help them refine their craft. Phase two is a series of shows at Fortune Sound Club; four artists a night for five weeks, each playing a 45 minute set. The bands are rated by a panel of judges, which will go toward their final score in the project. They've also been tasked to learn a "Classic Canadian Cover" to play during their set. I always love hearing bands play cover songs, and it's always interesting to see who each act chooses, if it's someone obvious to their style, or something way outside the box.

Starting off the night was Vancouver folky singer/songwriter Lydia Hol. Her and her backing band -- whose dress code was "meet the parents" -- included Mike Fraser on violin and Georges Couling on keys. With Hol's occasional mandolin, it gave the folk songs a rich sound.
She had a really nice voice, smooth and strong, with good songs, but nothing really stood out. It was an enjoyable set, but there wasn't anything that made me clamour for more.
Members of Head of the Herd came out to help Lydia with her Classic Canadian Cover, a pretty straightforward version of The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking", and she ended with a big sing along, handing out a tambourine into the crowd.

Next up was a trio of musicians who go by The Lion The Bear The Fox. All three of them had solo careers, to various degrees of success, but Christopher Arruda (the lion), Cory Woodward (the bear), and Ryan McMahon (the fox) joined together for something much more than the sum of its parts. Their set began with a funny introductory video, and began with a mighty roar as they launched into what may best be described as "stomp rock".
Though technical difficulties after the first song slowed things down, the trio vamped and covered well enough that they didn't completely lose momentum -- the charismatic Woodward talked and joked with the crowd before requesting a danceable beat from their drummer -- and before long they were back in the swing of things.
The trio had great harmonies, their voices blending together really well, and they had my favourite cover of the; they started off with Arcade Fire's "Wake Up", but swerved into "Hand In My Pocket" by Alanis Morisette. Previous years, other bands had done medleys, but this was the first time I had heard a mashup, which was a really interesting take. By the end, they had most of the crowd singing along to both songs.
After their cover they ended with a pair of hugely energetic numbers, "Freedom" and their cover of Ray LaMontagne's "Henry Nearly Killed Me"
I have to say, I have been pleasantly surprised by the trio, and I hope they do well in this year's competition.

Vancouver's Rolla Olak was up next, joined by some familiar faces; namely John Sponarski and Erik Nielson to round out his band, and Lydia Hol came out to help him on vocals for a couple of songs. He had a boot stomping, bluesy folk sound, and a clear passion, but he was lacking a bit in stage presence.
For his cover, he chose to "take back" the Brice Cockburn classic "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" from the Barenaked Ladies, for a solid cover; you could tell it was a song close to his heart.
Near the end of the set he invited all the other musicians on stage -- some from bands partaking in the project, others who just happened to be in the crowd -- for another big singalong, getting the crowd into it too. That wasn't the end, though, as he finished with one last song, a fiery blues rocker.

I fully admit, going in to this year of the Peak Performance Project I had some biases. Bands I already knew I did not care for and bands I was already a fan of, and Rykka definitely fell into the latter category. I liked her when she first went through the Project the first time, under her real name Christina Maria as a folk-pop singer/songwriter. But she has since reinvented herself with a more dark, synthy electro-rock sound, and is all the better for it.
Rykka's incredible voice drove the catchy songs like "Blackie" -- which relied on Rykka thumping her chest to get the vocal effects rather than any electronic trickery -- and "Shotgun" which she got the crowd singing along to.
Her cover was a synthed up version of The Guess Who's "American Woman"; of all the bands that night I would have expected a Guess Who cover least from Rykka, and her version perfectly straddled the line of making it her own and not straying too far from the original.
The set came to an end with the very appropriately titled "Electric", perhaps the most high energy song of the night, ending the showcase with a bang.
Rykka had a great confidence and energy on stage, putting on the best showcase I have seen so far this year; I will be very surprised and disappointed if she does not at least make the top three.

Overall, it was a strong night of showcases; it would be hard pressed for another one to be as "all around good" as this one, but they'll have to give it a shot next week with Luca Fogale, Fallbrigade, Van Damsel, and Good For Grapes.

Rykka @ Fan Club -- 06/01/13

First time I saw Rykka was a few years back; she was a part of the Peak Performance Project under her own name, Christina Maria. Since then she's eschewed the folk-pop, re-branded herself as Rykka, and embraced a dark, electro-pop sound. Splitting her time between Vancouver and Switzerland, she's ready to release her first album as Rykka, called Kodiak, and celebrate with a show at the Vancouver Fan Club.
This was also the first proper show I had seen at Fan Club, still a fairly new venue, and I was more or less impressed with the place.

Starting off the night was Rococode -- or more accurately, one half of Rococode. Andrew Braun promised some slow jams as he & Laura Smith took the stage, Braun on guitar and Smith on keys, their voices harmonizing and intertwining excellently.
They played a short set, a bit toned down and relaxed, but no less catchy. The usually punchy songs like "Empire" & "Blood" were more melodic, and the new songs they included sounded promising; I'll be interested to hear them with the full band.

Next up was Ryan Guldemond doing a solo set. The Mother Mother frontman has worked with both Rococode and Rykka, producing and playing on the new album, so he seemed a natural to support the show. His solo songs sounded much like you'd expect the Mother Mother member to sound -- catchy tunes with sharp lyrics -- but with more of a bluesy riff in the mix, giving Ryan an excellent chance to show off his great guitar chops.
Highlights included a brand new song called "Cut the String" and "I Go Hungry" as Ryan effortlessly went from songs full of literary references to love songs with a bit of a sinister undertone. He even threw in a newer Mother Mother song, "Happy", from their most recent album, The Sticks.

The curfewed show ran like clockwork and it wasn't long before Rykka hit the stage in a homemade outfit -- bodysuit with strategically placed spikes to give her a bit of a Mad Max look -- with a band that included some familiar faces to the Vancouver music scene, including Andrew Braun pulling double duty for the night on keys.
They started off the set with the album's opener, "With Love In Woe", and right from the get-go, Rykka's incredible energy and stage presence shone through. Her powerful voice carried songs like "The Brink" and her intensity giving weight to songs like "Showdown Lover". Other highlights included "Shotgun" and "Map Inside", both incredibly catchy songs.
The set included most of Kodiak, a few new songs, and even a cover of Whale Tooth's "Wolves" to wrap up the main set. But of course, Rykka was back out moments later for the encore, first joined only by Ryan Guldemond for a soft and beautiful song, "The Mirror", Ryan on guitar and their voices blending fantastically. The rest of the band then joined them the the last song of the night, definitely going out with a bang with probably the most high energy of the night, "Electric"

When I saw her perform as Christina Maria, I was quite impressed. She was confident and energetic on stage, and that's only been amplified in the few years since.
Vancouver has a wealth of musical talent, as this night was a perfect showcase of that.