Sloan Live @ The Zoo

Fresh off the madness and muscial mayhem that occurred less than a week ago in the Far West parking lot, the ULSU is proud to present another major concert for the month of September:

Sloan Live @ The Zoo

Tickets are available online! Click the picture above to head to the ULSU website to order them. (Technical Difficulties, thank you for you patience.)

Tickets will be on sale at the Service Centre Monday, September 15th, 2008.

$15.00 IN ADVANCE

$20.00 AT THE DOOR

Check Sloan out at : www.sloanmusic.com

Check out Will Currie & The Country French at: www.thecountryfrench.com

Cheers,

Eric
VP Internal

bands! + songwriters!

The last batch of artists!

We saw a great deal of talent at the COCA conference in Ottawa this past week. Here are some shots from the last showcase:

Day 4:

Kobo Town – From some very deep roots, “Kobo Town” brought a great performance. With traditional reggae styles as well as some worldly influences these guys had a great sound. I was very impressed with these guys.

The Salads – The hardest performance of the entire conference. They definitely played their genre and showed their own personality in their short set.

The Johnstones – Oh Ska music, you will always hold a small place in my heart. These guys were both entertaining and ridiculous at the same time. But they sure got the crowd going and their energy definitely made a huge impact on me. A bit silly, but very fun.

Nadine Medawar – It seem very hard for a softer sound like Nadine’s to translate to the COCA atmosphere. She played well and her band did their thing, but I am afraid she got lost in the crowd a bit. Still, very well done.

Sweet Thing – A male vocal lead, who does nothing but sing?! Well done sir, well done! “Sweet Thing” was the best of the night for me and while at times the lead singer seemed a bit over the top, there has to be something said for an guy to go up there and sing as well as he did and do nothing else.

Day 5:

Day 5 saw the Singer Songwriter showcase, and it was very worth while. We were very lucky to see the likes of Craig Cardiff, Lesley Pike, Jessica Rhyne, Robyn Dell’Unto, Casey Desmond, and Colin Munroe. All of these artists showed a great deal of passion as they really tried to present exactly what they had to offer for us with their music. It was a great way to cap off the musical showcases that had been abundant throughout the entire conference.

And so with that, COCA 08 comes to a close for its musical portion. I will be posting later on the organization itself and how it has affected me in my job at the ULSU.

Cheers,

Eric
VP Internal

more bands!

Ok, in case you can’t tell, my camera is very poor at getting everything right when it comes to taking pictures. Sometimes the shots look great, and sometimes the shots look poor, so dearest bands, if your picture looks crappy I apologize. I tried to pick your best shot. But I digress;

We just saw the strongest showcase of the conference. Don’t get me wrong; the variety/lecture showcase we had in the afternoon that featured the likes of Darrin Rose (comedian) Jason Escape (escape artist) Daniel Packard (speaker) Cory Johnson (speaker) and Garbage! The Revolution (documentary) was great for our programming. But these bands were just a great night; they have been the capstone event at COCA as far as I can see.

Day 3:

Hey Ocean – What a preforming band! They had a great flow from song to song in such a short set (you only get 20 mins each at COCA. Yuck!) They brought out some new instruments for an indie band, including the flute and a few different percussion lines. A knock out performance!

hey rosetta! – You have to respect a band that puts strings in their set. My picture does not show it well, but “hey rosetta!” features two string instruments. On a purely personal note, I love hearing strings mixed into pop and folk music. These guys did very well.

God Made Me Funky – Wow. If there was a party band that would kill every show they played, then “God Made Me Funky” would be it. The crowds at COCA have been moderate at best, but all of a sudden those funk notes hit the air and people were just having too much fun. They brought the room to life. Arms went from folded to pumping fists and clapping in the air. As I said, wow.

Will Currie and the Country French – I am not to sure about these guys. Will Currie (I assume is the front man) on the piano and lead vocals was great. He made the show more enjoyable for me. I am just not sure about the rest of the band. They seem fresh and full of life, but not really sure about a larger show. Maybe nerves got the best of them; still well done all around.

The Coast – <insert Jenn Prosser screaming like a teenage girl over the Backstreet Boys circa mid 90’s> These guys did alright. Reportedly (since I am a bit ill-informed here) their original EP is much better than the content they played for us off their new album. Still, new or old content, they sounded a bit off. Who knows maybe the sound guy just didn’t know what to do. I still enjoyed these guys, but they weren’t the best we have seen for the conference.

Once again folks, these are just my opinions on the bands we have seen at COCA 08 in Ottawa. Jenn and I are having a blast, but it is very late, and I am very tired. Until tomorrow (when Jenn attempts to kill me for giving “The Coast” a less than absolutely stellar review)…

Cheers,

Eric
VP Internal

Bands!

Here are a few shots from our two nights out on the town so far:

So far we have seen 11 bands play over the past 2 days. For what its worth, here’s what I have to say about them all.

Day 1:

Creature – Great band with some funky beats. They really do their own thing, but wow do they rock! They have such a high energy show and a great presence for the stage.

Escalate! – The kind of band you would hear in a high class lounge; their songs flowed together. Awesome sound and entirely instrumental.

wordPEOPLE – A solid six person crew with male and female vocals that blended well. The had some great crowd interaction.
Day 2:

More or Les – These guys were the surprise of the night for me. A killer DJ (she is called DJ KillaJewel) and man could she spin those beats. More or Les kept the club going near the end of the night and played an awesome show with some very quick rhymes.

Crash Parallel – Rock out! They sounded great, but nothing about them was innovative or overly exciting. A great show, high energy, but I am afraid they are competing with a saturated market in terms of genre.

The Carps – Haha! These guys got kicked off the stage but damn they got the crowd going! COCA started them late and didn’t give them the extra time they should have! Boo! But they have balls and a great show to back up their attitude. (They promised to play nice if we ever book ‘em at our school.)

The John Henrys – Yee-Haw! Really though these guys had some very impressive showmanship. Need a good opener out west? These guys are what you are looking for.

Jon and Roy – We meet again! These guys played the Zoo two years ago. Their surfer rock tones are as good as they have been and they have a new disc out! A personal favorite for me and they capped the night off at the venue with some great songs.

Kae Sun – Some great beats. He seemed very political and conscious in what he was saying. He has a larger group, normally, but all and all he preformed well.

The New Cities – These guys did their thing; unfortunately I felt like I had heard their thing before. Fallout Boy, Good Charlotte, Panic at the Disco… the list goes on. Sorry guys, but no thanks.

Dan Mangan – Best show of the night! A west coast boy with a real heart for music. He has such a good blend of folk sound, melodic vocals, and poetic lyrics, look out for Dan to start breaking out big time in the next year. He will need some solid promotion, but man this is the kind of music that reaches deep into you.

Tonight’s show is going to be sick! “Hey Ocean,” “hey rosetta!,” and “The Coast” have peaked some major interest around the conference as well as the funk sensation “God Made Me Funky.”

More pics to come.

Eric
VP Internal