Jam packed.

Since Thursday my musical needs have been overflowing, which is not something that gets to happen often in this city.

Starting off on Thursday I "FINALLY" got to see Scenic Route to Alaska. You're probably thinking..."Gurl. You crazy, you saw them last week at Wunderbar!" How right you kinds folks are for remembering! But since these three fellas are so hardworking (yet their 3-track EP isn't enough to satisfy my yearning...) I was able to see them playing at The Works Art Festival in Churchill Square (for free, no less!)(Get it?...No...less...?). It was a great set for the band, that lasted about 45 minutes; they played their EP songs first and continued one with some "fan favourites" such as Homestretch. Homestretch is a great grab-your-significant-other-for-a-slow-dance song. Lead vocalist Trevor Mann uses

his raspy, yet evenly toned voice to give you goosebumps, even on an over 25 degree day. The band works well together, and even chats to the audience, mentioning their part in U22, an organization meant to help promote bands and artists whose members are all under the age of 22 (Scenic Route just hits their mark with their oldest member, bass player Murray Wood, coming in at the ripe old age of 21). This show was surprising, and almost unbelievably better than their set at Wunderbar. Though the bar was a good, and intimate, location...the outdoor space and stage of Churchill Square didn't crowd their sound and let it carry the music over you, instead of cramming it into your eardrums. The boys also announced that they would be doing not 1, not 2, but 3 shows the following day (Canada Day). ....And you just know I had to be there. But that's another story for another post.

Just after seeing Scenic Route to Alaska, I went from downtown to hit up Whyte Ave. There's a great music group in Edmonton called YEGmusicclub, and luckily another member had a few extra tickets to that nights SOLD OUT "Red on Whyte" concert at the Pawn Shop. Four bands were playing that night (all former Sonic "bands-of-the-month"), including Red Ram, Doug Hoyer (who also recently released his CD), Mass Choir and Christian Hansen & the Autistics. I'm won't be giving you a play by play of the bands as usual, only because there would be too much to ramble on about. But a few things: Red Ram...I'm not too sure about. They played their music well...but they were nothing special and nothing that I would've paid to see; they were much like generic rock music with loud guitars, loud drums, loud vocals....all of which didn't really lead to anything but noise to me. Doug Hoyer is a great young artist with a backup band made up of a trombonist, and a ...bongo (I think that's what they were) player. He also ended up playing bass for Christian Hansen later on in the night. Mass Choir was probably the biggest surprise of the night. I had heard for the past few months that they were "one of the best new bands in Edmonton", and was looking forward to see them. I didn't think they'd live up to the hype, but they went above and beyond it. The 6-member group, with three members taking turns at vocals, filled the stage to it's max. The female and one male vocalist even had "choreographed" dance moves! (I'm sure that they made it up as they went along, but did it with such perfect timing that it looked amazing). They made the show so much fun and got the crowd pumped with with their fun dance beats and powerful lyrics and voices.

The crowd was buzzing and packed to capacity by the time Christian Hansen and his lovely ladies took to the stage. They seem to always have the most extreme energy and don't turn it off until ...well....they just never do! They played songs from their Power Leopard album, their Swans EP as well as a new song that will be on their album coming out in the spring of 2012. It's like having a giant, thumping, ear-drum-bursting house party every time these lovely folks do their thing. It seems like it would be impossible not to smile and at least bop along to their intense, sweaty beats and their witty, risque lyrics.The two ladies, Molly and Ava, take turns playing at two different keyboard sets, while Christian rocks out either on his guitar or gets up close and personal to the audience with only his microphone for support. As I mentioned earlier, Doug Hoyer filled in on bass, and the drummer for Mass Choir (I think), supplied the pounding drum beats.  There were points during the show that the floor beneath the crowd and stage felt like it would cave in at any moment, which made the heart race even more. Towards the end of the set it was getting hard to even hear anything above the roar of the crowd. And I know, "roar of the crowd" is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot...but I had never heard anything so loud as the hometown fans of this electronica-pop-dance band. They'll be playing again this Friday at the ARTery with Paperplanes & Dragonboats; the show is at 8pm, and tickets are only $15!


Now...Get ready for the Canada Day post of a lifetime....!