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Local Guides
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HMN - MARCH.11 -17, 2010
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by
Ric Taylor
March 11 - 17, 2010 |
Tyson Meloche’s Brooklyn’s Bar and Bistro
While a little place out in the east end has gone under the names of the Kaza Lounge or Bogie’s or J.P Carly’s, its newest incarnation as Brooklyn’s – one of the city’s newest hard rock bars – pays homage more to owner Tyson Meloche’s future than his 20 past years making hard rock in the city.
“My family is the world to me and my little two–year–old girl has her dad wrapped around her little finger,” smiles Meloche in a different character than the one that has lead bands like Rampage or more recently Kill, Kill, Kill. “The name just seemed right.”
Naming the club after his daughter, Meloche has long incorporated his family into his musical outings, recently enlisting son Eric to take up bass in his band. But with this new venue, Meloche has sunk some new roots and is slowly taking the years of experience playing in bands and promoting his music from Hamilton to Los Angeles to use in his own hometown hard rock haunt.
“I have plans in the next year for a Jacob’s sub shop on the Mountain named after my ten–year–old son,” quips Meloche. “It’s always been one of my dreams to do have my own place. All the years of touring and promoting, seeing good and bad managers/owners doing it right or doing it wrong, learning what works and what doesn’t and being able to put all that knowledge and experience into something that is for me and my family is great. Once this gets running smoothly I will be able to tour with my bands without worries of taking care of my family financially. I will have a steady income even when I’m on the road.”
Meloche continues to make music with long awaited releases from both Spin Dizzy and Kill Kill Kill hopefully on tap in the next year, but it seems his immediate focus is developing his bar and bistro. Wednesday open jam nights and Saturday metal nights have already become mainstays in the few weeks the club has been open and Meloche hopes to develop his own particular vibe in his own area of the city.
“It’s a lot of my friends at the moment but some of the locals are checking it out and are coming back for more because they love the food and prices and of course the vibe,” offers Meloche on Brooklyn’s clientele. “I want to create a cool scene in Hamilton. There are a few places doing music but I like to think we are a bit different. There isn’t anything in the East End like this at all. We will have all types of original music. We are definitely a rock and roll/metal bar but if it’s a good acoustic act, come on down. Everyone is welcome – rock, punk, metal – good music is good music, but it definitely gets loud in here.”
Spin Dizzy, Persist and Busker Al play at Brooklyn’s Bar and Bistro (291 Queenston Road) this Friday March 12. Find Meloche or Brooklyn’s on Facebook.com.
The Forgotten Rebels
Toronto author Liz Worth’s Treat Me Like Dirt has reignited interest in the late ‘70s southern Ontario punk scene but while most of the documented bands like the Viletones, the Diodes, and the Ugly all imploded by the ‘80s, their Hamilton counterparts Teenage Head and the Forgotten Rebels trudged on. Mickey DeSadist and his band of Rebels continued to make music and DeSadist himself has become a vibrant member of the musical community with his own side project, The Mickey DeSadist Show, and as inspiration and council to a variety of up and coming musicians. It was perhaps his choice of lifestyle that included regular cycling activity that has allowed him to continue to look and act for the most part like a man just out of his teen years.
Sadly, though, his healthy cycling lifestyle also nearly proved disastrous about a year ago.
“I had an accident and it wasn’t in my pants either,” quips DeSadist. “I was riding my bike out of a parking lot going to a cross country trail and low and behold I had a flat end skid on a flat trail. It was gravelly but it was meant for baby buggies, wheelchairs, and old people to walk comfortably on. There was this four–by–four piece of wood going around it and my shoulder hit the piece of wood and broke my arm two inches below the shoulder joint, my heel hit the ground and my ankle was so wrenched that I needed surgery to straighten it out and I had to have steel rods put into my heel. My bike was in good shape – I just got a bit of a scrape on my grip. If I had a Cannondale Perp I probably wouldn’t have had the fall, so if anyone wants to donate one to me, I’d be very happy.
“My wife Pam was nice enough to throw the wheelchair in the back of the car so I could still go out to the clubs every so often,” he adds on his recuperation and staying active on the scene. “It’s taken some time to recover but I’m better now; I have a small brace on still but I can’t wait to start underwater welding again – getting the spark going and the feet wet.”
While DeSadist ponders returning to his day job, this weekend the Forgotten Rebels return to the local stage after over a year away and fans couldn’t be happier.
“A lot of musicians back then were people looking for friends in all of the wrong places or they were people with bad habits,” muses DeSadist on the Rebels longevity past punk’s first wave in the ’70s. “Heroin ain’t that healthy for you. The Hamilton bands weren’t really the bad guys people’s parents made us out to be – we were just having a good time. That’s what we’ve always been about.
“We’ve had a practice or two but we’ll just be concentrating on old songs this time,” he adds on his official return with the Rebels. “You’ll get your favourite songs. You’ll see a great show, what do you expect? You get what you expect from the Ramones or AC DC; you get what you expect from the Forgotten Rebels – the greatest rock and roll band in the world.”
The Forgotten Rebels return Saturday March 13 at the Casbah with The Lucky Ones (featuring Ex-Sick Boys), the Marble Index and Die Standing. Doors for the licensed/all ages show open at 9 pm and tickets are $15. Click on forgottenrebels.com
Jigz Crillz –
The Follow Up
We only learned of hip hop emcee and Stainless Steel Records CEO Jigz Crillz a year ago with his I Am Jigz Crillz CDEP. The rapper was in the process of giving away thousands of copies of his disc in order to develop a name for himself. Less than a year later, the aptly titled Follow Up recording is now available as a free download and Crillz is again still getting his music out there but not necessarily concerned about getting people to buy it right now.
“Most of what I’ve done so far has been an investment in my career,” confirms Crillz. “I gave away 10,000 copies across Ontario and Canada and the response was great. I’m getting messages from all over Canada about how much they love the CD. My biggest concern is gaining a massive fan base. Your fan base can never be too big; you have to keep expanding it. I’m looking to gain more exposure across the globe. When the time is right, the money will come.”
With a wealth of video treatments, the Hamilton Music Award nominated Welcome To The North video filmed in North End Hamilton has done well on YouTube, garnering over 114,000 views. His newest video, I’m Loving You has already made it to MuchMusic’s RapCity, and the word is spreading among hip hop fans and even promoters.
“The promoter for this gig contacted me and said, ‘I heard you’re the man I should be contacting to open for Belly,’ and I am happy to be doing this. I like Belly’s music; I think he’s one of the best in Canada right now.”
So with a solid opening spot for one of Canada’s hip hop finest, Crillz seems poised to have 2010 as a breakout year and his sights are set globally.
“The production on this Follow Up is crazy,” smiles Crillz. “I also try my best to put a positive message in my songs because one of the biggest reasons I rap is to deter young kids from choosing a negative lifestyle. On this project, you can see the improvement in everything from the beats, quality of recording, my vocals and lyrics. It just keeps getting better.
“YouTube and the internet are great tools nowadays and I use it all to my advantage as much as possible. This year I want to be all over the radio across North America so I’m really working on that now. This year you can be sure to see me doing more shows and videos, not just locally but across Canada. I want the world to know who Jigz Crillz is.”
Jigz Crillz opens for Belly this Wednesday March 17 at Club 77 with Tha Cronz, J-Ache$, Illaynce, Tech-Lizzy, Swiff-G and Dre Square. Cover is $15 in advance and the beguiling ‘more at the door’ for the all ages / licensed event. Click on myspace.com/JigzCrillz
The Chorus
In The Underground
Hamilton – its musicians and culture – has long had rippling effects well beyond its city limits and it seems more people want to help document this.
The lower space below Club 77 was once simply referred to as the Tank – a waiting room for the perhaps aesthetically or socially lacking herd to wait, at least out of the cold, for entrance into the dance club oasis upstairs, then known as the Texas Border. But a few years ago, it was remodeled with a stage and rechristened the Underground, with promoter Brodie Schwendiman using it to attract a wealth of touring talent and all–ages fans. It flourished for a half-decade or so but Schwendiman has since moved most of that business and continues as always at the Casbah.
While the Underground stopped offering live music and went back to its dance club roots a few years ago, some people have not forgotten its glory days, or maybe their own days of glory – with one such Torontonian, Tony Dekker, recently recounting one of his experiences in song that capture a local band and club of obvious influence.
Dekker’s Great Lake Swimmers have developed from one of Toronto’s cult favourites back in 2001 into a true folk rock sensation with Dekker and long time collaborator Erik Arnesen at the helm and with a variety of musicians helping out, like Hamiltonians Julie Fader and Erin Aurich appearing on their latest CD, Lost Channels. While the band is set to make some serious musical inroads with their new album (with reported public endorsements from everyone like Feist and Robert Plant to NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and cyclist Lance Armstrong), the band and their WeeWerk label have decided to shoot the video for one of the songs back where it was conceived.
“GLS’ song ‘The Chorus In The Underground’ is directly related to Hamilton; it’s about one night that Tony Dekker went to go see A Northern Chorus early on in their career and on this night they were playing at the Underground,” explains WeeWerk label head Phil Klygo. “Hence the name and content of the song and the reason why we are doing this concert and video at the Underground. Julie has played with GLS and [A Northern Chorus’] Pete Hall has as well. This should be a cool event.”
Great Lake Swimmers play The Underground (41 Catharine St. N.) this Wednesday March 17 with two sets of music by the band and the filming of a live video by acclaimed director Scott Cudmore. Entry is guaranteed at the door only, on the night of the show, on a first come, first served basis. A cash bar will be available inside. Doors open at 9 pm and the show starts at 10 pm sharp. Click on greatlakeswimmers.com
[RIC TAYLOR]
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