CJSW’s anniversary bash brings long-defunct locals back to life
Now that every movie is a remake and all your favourite bands seem to eventually reform deceased or unwilling members be damned there’s a perception that getting back in the saddle means trying to relive the glory days with a bigger paycheque. Yes sometimes that’s the cold truth but you better leave your preconceptions at the door when the slew of defunct or dormant acts that CJSW has triumphantly summoned for its 25th-anniversary bash take the stage this Saturday — including The Mants Wagbeard Colour Me Psycho The A-Team Difference Engine Mico and Tinderbox. For many artists appearing it’s an opportunity to remember what was so vital about the groups and the scenes they took part in and how to take that energy into the future rather than dwell on the past.
Of the wealth of beloved acts that emerged in the midst of Calgary’s post-grunge independent explosion The Everymen was one of the most active in the all-ages scene. Taking cues from pop-punk early hardcore and ska the three-piece blazed its way through community halls across the city like the fabled Multicultural Centre and shared in the struggles and the excitement of nurturing a DIY music community.
Though Lewis has remained extremely active in Calgary’s independent music strata recording countless brilliant young bands in his own Echo Base studio and reaching new heights as drummer and singer in The Evidence (formerly known as The Failure) he admits that the all-ages scene today feels too scattered to invoke the same sense of community in which The Everymen was reared.
“It’s not that there aren’t people who are passionate and dedicated about [the all ages scene] now because there absolutely are” he says. “But there’s a lot less venue freedom and there’s no sort of unifying force. When we were younger we were able to get everybody all together and instead of having a whole bunch of promoters we’d have everybody working together to make the community stronger.”
Members of The Corta Vita share Lewis’s view. Arguably The Everymen’s successors at the heart of the all ages scene the hardcore-screamo five-piece made shrapnel of kids’ expectations in the early ’00s making them thrash harder and scream louder than they ever had before.
“I can’t tell if I’ve just gotten older or if the scene just doesn’t exist anymore but truthfully I don’t see it” bassist Glenn Alderson admits. “There’s an element of punk rock that has been missing in this city.”
But while the band admits the climate has changed the future is yet unwritten. They are just as excited to see what happens next as to see who remembers what happened before.
“Honestly all the bands we were playing with all the key players in the scene are still doing stuff that in some way impacts what happens in Calgary’s music community” Alderson continues. “It’s just evolved and you can’t stop the evolution of music.”
Late ’90s early ’00s art-rock experimenters Shecky Forme are no strangers to evolution. Making a number of appearances often with new or improvised material since their last album in 2002 the band has always been willing to re-engage the chemistry that made its most abstract ideas seem effortless.
“I don’t think I have ever been as innovative for better or worse as I was back then and I miss that where my ideas used to come from” says member Chris Vail also of explosive indie rock bands XL Birdsuit and Key to the City. “I think it’s given me a chance to reflect back on my music career and idenitify what kind of things I’m actually good at what my strengths are and what I have to offer.”
Another of Calgary’s ’90s scene stalwarts Field Day will be coming at its snarly pop-punk from a different angle for the show with a new guitarist and keyboard player added to its classic roster of three. Lead singer John Heibert says that the reunion show is in reality more of a breakup show since the band never officially called it quits after touring stopped in 2001 and a benchmark to signal the dawn of a new era in his musical career.
“I have some new material that I’m writing and I want to start a new project” he says with a hint of excitement. “It’s pretty tough to play some of these songs now — we’ve been playing some of them for about 15 years and so it’s time to put them to rest.”
