The Windsor Scene withh Lauren Hedges

Playlist for June 1^st, 2011;

Weapon of Choice – Descent (The Rebellion EP – 2011)

Danko Jones – Never Again (Danko Jones EP – 1998)

The Trews – You’re So Sober (House of Ill Fame – 2003)

The Classix – Young and Reckless (Live What You Love EP – 2011)

Mic Lords – Miscommunication (Family Tree – 2005)

Weapon of Choice – Difference of Eyes (Rebellion EP – 2011)

Desertion – Falling From The Sky (Welcome to Nothing EP – 2009)

Vaudevillianaires – The Devil’s Finger (The Windsor Zene December Sampler – 2010)

The Locusts Have No King – On My Way (Come One, Come All – 2010)

Vultures! – Bad Hammer (The Windsor Zene January Sampler – 2011)

The Nefidovs – Electrolytes (Set Faces To Stunned – 2011)

Weapon of Choice – Aggression Palette (The Rebellion EP – 2011)

Weapon of Choice – Torrid (The Rebellion EP – 2011)

This week’s playlist is a bit shorter than usual, for a few reasons.

1. I had more technical troubles during this show than my first three months at CJAM combined. Apologies for the bits where there are long gaps between songs and such.
2. A couple of the dudes from Weapon of Choice were hanging out with me in the studio, and the three of us really like to talk.

Having those two in was pretty awesome though, I’ve got to say. WoC is a thrash band from Windsor who play The Coach on a semi-frequent basis (Friday, June 3^rd, for instance), and I had their drummer, Forest, and one of the guitarists, Tye, helping me to host the show. We spoke of all things metal, music, and just life in general, like usual. We mostly tried to stay on topic, getting the history of the band, the influences of these two guys, and the details on their recently released recordings, The Rebellion EP, done with Glenn Fricker at Spectre Sound Studios, right here in Windsor. (The EP, by the way, is available on CD Baby, iTunes, Rhapsody, and of course in physical format when you go see them live) We got rowdy, my bosses weren’t always happy, but such is life and we had fun. If you missed this show it is certainly one to check out in the archives, and to make it extra-easy for you, I’ll link it here.

Usually I do this write-up directly after the show, but this week I decided to hold off for a day so I could include a little something extra.

A few weeks ago I was approached by those in charge of this year’s Strawberry Fest in LaSalle. Because of my stellar work both in writing show reviews and hosting The Windsor Scene, they were interested in having me help judge the battle of the bands they were holding this year. Sweet!

So that was Thursday night, and it was an interesting experience. Of course I’m opinionated, and of course I’ll share that opinion. But turning it into a number between one and ten? Whack. I made it work though. Sharing the judging panel with me were Randy Grey of the band Ashes of Soma, and Jarrett Warren, formerly of Pirate Casting and Lonesome Pine Studios in Toronto. We were grading each band out of 30, 10 for musicianship, 10 for stage presence, and 10 for creativity. Each band did well, and of the five we saw, State of Us came out the winners, receiving recording time from SLR Studios, and the chance to play again on Saturday, June 4^th, opening for Liverpool Echo. Worth going to see, for certain.

So hopefully advantage is being taken of all the lovely shows happening in Windsor this weekend, a lot of them are free, so there really is no excuse. I will be returning on June the 15^th, , possibly with some special guests! To keep up-to-date on that, check out The Windsor Scene on Facebook. Until then, go listen to something good, then come back and tell me about it.

The Windsor Scene with Lauren Hedges

Lauren Hedges

This week’s playlist, excluding live performances;

Brenda Eyler – Dream with Me (Dream with Me – 2008)

Crissi Cochrane – Coming Home (Darling, Darling – 2010)

Luna Borealis – Bed Bugs Inn (The Windsor Zene January Sampler – 2011)

Goliath – What Happened Last Night (Funweiser EP – 2011)

Assassinate the Following… – Death Row (Massacre of the North – 2009)

Desertion – From here to Oblivion ( Welcome to Nothing – 2009)

Tyburn Tree – Arch Stanron (Parliament of Trees – 2008)

Tim McDonald – Stand Tall (Somehow, Somewhere – 2007)

The Creepshow – Demon Lover (Run For Your Life – 2008)

The Locusts Have No King – Last Night In My Favourite Bar and The Repurcussions Thereof (Come One, Come All – 2010)

EVL – Out of Reach (I’ll Keep Mine EP – 2009)

Monique Belanger – Through Yellow Fields (The W Music Compilation – 2008)

This week I was joined in the studio by local songwriter, performer, and paramedic, Timmy McDonald. Tim’s songs have been covered by other artists, and the song that opened the show, “Dream with Me” performed by Brenda Eyler, is a cover of one of Tim’s songs from his 2007 release, “Somehow, Somewhere”. Tim also is set to play at numerous Relay for Life Cancer Fundraising events across Ontario, and is recording a song just for others that he cannot make it out to. He will shortly be travelling to Nashville where he will play various songwriter shows at popular venues including The Commodore Lounge. A name that you might not have heard before, Tim McDonald is nonetheless a figure in our local music scene, and someone I am happy to have had on my show. Keep an eye out for a new release from Tim in the coming months.

Here is a video of Tim playing at Rymer Hall in Nashville. For the anecdote behind the video, listen to today’s archive.

Last Thursday I attended a punkrock show at The Coach and Horses, featuring local and out of town bands. It was certainly something. After hearing and enjoying Suppressulant recordings, it was great to finally hear them play. There’s just something about oldschool, dirty, DIY punk that gets me every time. The Rowley Estate performed as well as always, with great stage antics and catchy songs that stray near to the realm of pop-punk. Playing their second show ever, Repetitions are only getting better. All the way from Boston, Pious Dogs had a bumpy start, dealing with a damaged snare stand, but they overcame that and got things moving with some rough and traditional punk that was nothing overly remarkable, but with guitars that were far too loud. I don’t even want to talk about The Swabs! If you’re looking for further explanation on any of this, there’s always the WindsoriteDOTca article.

I’m so excited for Friday that I can hardly contain myself. Psychobilly/Horrorpunk quartet The Creepshow return to Windsor for the first time since I was in like, grade ten. So it’s been a while. This is going to kick copious amounts of ass. Joining them will be new collaborative act The Fourjury, local indie-roots outfit The Locusts Have No King, and EVL, who need no further introduction. The best place to pick up tickets for this one is from Mr. Jamie Greer over at The Manchester Pub, who will supply them to you for only ten dollars. No joke. Go get one.

Saturday is an intense day for metal, with both Inferno Fest at The Blind Dog and The Heavy Diversity Show at  The Coach and Horses. Inferno boasts 19 bands on two stages, raging for eleven and a half hours, all for only $10 if you go out and get yourself an advance ticket. The Heavy Diversity show features local favourites Weapon of Choice, blues-metallers Tyburn Tree, prog-rockers Perpetuate (coming from their gig at Inferno) and a band you should know, After Ashes. This one starts at 9, is 19+, and costs $5 at the door.

A great big thanks for Timmy McDonald for coming in today, he was a pleasure to have and I can’t wait to have him back.

Which local band or artist would you like to hear next on The Windsor Scene?

The Windsor Scene With Lauren Hedges

Let’s kick it off with the setlist from this week’s edition of The Windsor Scene;

Shortcut to Last – This Isn’t Over (I Know You’re Not One for Serious Situations – 2010)

Stereos – Attitude (Uncontrollable – 2010)

The Classix – Nothin’ to Lose (Live What You Love EP – 2011)

The Tragedy of Mariam – C;imb Up On The Kiosk (The W Music Compliation – 2008)

Suppressulant – People Like You (Powercore – 2010)

The Snips – Tired Tires (Do You Remember When Punk Rock Was For Fun? – 2010)
Orphan Choir – Burning Ash Again (Everything in Past Tense – 2010)

Odium – It Gets Cold (At The Bottom – 2009)

Dreams Destruction – Blighted (Dream Destruction EP)

Dismata – March of the Ignorant/Deadhorse (Understand – 2008)

Allison Brown – Magpie (Everything That Shined – 2005)

Erin Gignac – Not Tonight (Erin Gignac – 2002)

Julie Kryk – Fate’s Hands (Beyond the Moon, Beyond the Rain – 1999)

George Manury – MilesDavidKindaBlueSundayMorningRain (From The Tank – 2010)

Leighton Bain – Saint Vincent (Oh Alaska – 2010)

Ron Leary – Miles (Dependent Arising – 2010)

Gobble Gobble – Skin of Prohpets (Neon Graveyard – 2009)

Dstruct.O – Death Machine (Drumstep EP02 – 2011)

I certainly had fun with this week’s playlist, as might have been evidenced by my inane chattering. (Some people apparently were wondering what I was on when doing this show. I assure you, it was nothing but sunshine) The set list was also apparently helpful to Maggie, a listener who hadn’t been enjoying her day too much until she tuned in. Glad to have been able to help her out there.

I’d also like to say “Thanks!” to the guys from Odium. At their show on the weekend, (which was stellar by the way, you should be sad if you missed it) they provided me with a  copy of their album, which I played a song off of today and have been jamming to all week. It’s great stuff, if you like metal, check these guys out for sure, and if you don’t like metal, check them out anyhow. You’ll still probably like it.

The rest of that show, Goliath, Reasons Lost, Deathpoint, and Weapon of Choice, was all awesome as well, my favourite show at The Coach, recently. Good vibes and good times all around.

Upstairs that night, FM Lounge hosted Weirdonia, Silver Glory, SixtyFirstSecond, and Awake to a Dream. Everyone there did a great job as well, things were a bit more laid back but just as fun. I had a blast listening to Weirdonia, (and they were just cool guys) Silver Glory was impressive yet again, Awake to a Dream sounded the best I’ve heard them, and SixtyFirstSecond were better live than even their recordings had me prepared for. An all around good time.

Although trying to bounce back and forth between the two shows was too much like work; I might not try that again soon.

This week, go to The Coach on Thursday night for punk rock in the form of Suppressulant, The Rowley Estate, Repetitions, Pious Dogs, and The Swabs! It’ll get rowdy, I’m sure, but what better things do you have to do on a Thursday night?

Be sure to tune in next week between 5 and 6:30, I’ll have local musician Tim McDonald in the studio with me answering questions and playing live. Who is this guy, do you ask? Someone you should be familiar with. A paramedic for Windsor and Essex County, Tim also plays at multiple Relay for Life events all over the place, travels to Tennessee to perform and help with song writing panels and workshops, and has his music covered by numerous artists, some of whom you’ve probably even heard of. So listen in next week to learn more about Tim, and hear some live performances.