dan mangan christmas on baker new years in nelson
198 BAKER ST • NELSON, BC
UPCOMING EVENTS BASEMENT SESSIONS: WALLIS & CO. FRI DEC 11 • PIGEON HOLE SAT DEC 12 • THE LIBRARIAN WED DEC 16 • SKIITOUR THURS DEC 17 • LEON SWITCH [UK] FRI DEC 18 • VILLAGE STAGE XMAS PARTY W/ DJ ANGER S AT DEC 19 • SMALLTOWN DJ’S WED DEC 23 • SHASTA & LEIF SAT DEC 26 • BOXING DAY • RYAN WELLS & SWEET PICKLE THURS DEC 31 • MOONTRICKS • MASQUERADE BALL SAT JAN 2 • PINK MAMMOTH VS. HOUSEWARMING (SF) SAT JAN 16 • FORT KNOX FIVE SAT JAN 23 • RANDOM RAB S AT JAN 30 • RIDDIM • BAG-O-BEETZ & DUBCONSCIOUS WED FEB 3 • SNOWED IN COMEDY TOUR SAT FEB 6 • MAT THE ALIEN & THE GAFF • 7” TOUR THURS FEB 11 • SOLOMONIC SOUND SYSTEM FRI FEB 12 • ROB PAINE OF WORSHIP RECORDINGS FRI FEB 19 • TREASURE FINGERS & LANDIS LAPACE SAT FEB 27 • DJ MADD [UK] THURS DEC 10 •
TWITTER.COM/BLOOMNIGHTCLUB INSTAGRAM.COM/BLOOMNIGHTCLUB FACEBOOK.COM/BLOOMNIGHTCLUBNELSON
Nelson Time Magazine 509-B Latimer Street Nelson, BC V1L 4V1 Publisher Cole Johnston Design Art & Photography Cole Johnston Deanne Rutherford Selkirk College Schmunk Photography Virgin EMI Records (Cover) Josh Wapp Norman Wong Printed by
Copy deadline for the Spring issue is March 7. Ad space is available until March 11 and can be booked by calling 604-831-8179 or emailing cole@nelsontime.com. Our rates are available upon request. Nelson Time welcomes submissions but accepts no responsibility for the return of unsolicited materials. Nelson Time is printed quarterly by Cole Johnston Design. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written consent from the publisher. All content © 2015 Cole Johnston Design www.facebook.com/NelsonTimeMagazine www.twitter.com/NelsonTimeMag
W
inter in the Kootenays is something that has to be experienced to really appreciate. The magic that comes over Nelson when the first snowfall arrives is hard to describe with words. For the ski bunnies and boarders, it means weekly (or sometimes daily) trips to Whitewater, and a season of some of the best powder in the world. For those who aren’t winter sports inclined, Nelson is still a hub of activity during the chilly months. Music lovers can expect a lot to look forward to, thanks to our diverse venues like Bloom, The Royal, and Spiritbar. 2016 will see amazing talent coming to Nelson like Treasure Fingers, Said The Whale, Milkcrate Productions, and Elliott BROOD. International stars Kiesza and Dan Mangan recently stopped by, and we had a chance to talk to both of them about art in the Kootenays. Let Nelson Time be your guide to all these events and more throughout the year by checking us out at www.nelson-time. com or www.facebook.com/NelsonTimeMagazine. Nelson Time is currently looking for contributors, both writers and photographers, who would like to see their work published locally. Have a story idea? We want to hear about it! This is your local forum, and we want to know what makes Nelson such a hotbed of arts & culture. If you’re a business looking to advertise, contact cole@nelson-time.com or go to www.nelson-time.com. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter (@NelsonTimeMag) and help us make Nelson Time the area’s coolest new magazine!
03
by cole johnston
04 photo by norman wong
Kaslo, they’re all there helping you win. How do you find playing smaller festivals different from the larger mega festivals? More likely the hummus is home made. They all have their charms. Mega fests can be fun, too. Sometimes you get to meet massive international acts. But life is about balance, and I think if you only play one kind of gig over and over again you go crazy. It’s nice to feel the “down-home” charm of a small festival, largely run by volunteers. It’s personal.
S
inger-songwriter is a label that’s becoming overused these days, and tends to signal a very specific form of popular music. But Dan Mangan is a singer-songwriter who truly defies labels, especially with his latest album Club Meds. The two time Juno Award winning musician has been putting out successful albums since 2005’s Postcards & Daydreaming, but it’s this latest offering that seems to be his most assured and personal yet. Nelson Time caught up with Mangan in the midst of a rigorous tour that brought him to town (his second time in the Queen City), and we chatted about everything from fatherhood to Just For Laughs. You were just in Nelson for a stop on your Club Meds tour. How was that? I really like Nelson. I love how even though it’s a really small town, it has this blended metropolitan/hippie mentality. It probably has the highest gluten-free options per capita in the world. It’s beautiful, and every time I go there I enjoy myself. I was excited to come back and particularly enthused about playing these shows solo. It’s how I started, and it’s familiar. At the same time, I’ve been playing with the band for so many years now, I almost feel like I need to prove to myself I can still do it on my own. It’s intimate. I like knowing that people can hear every lyric. It gives me more opportunity to talk about the songs and tell stories and such. Before that, you were in Kaslo for the Jazz Festival... It was a Kootenay year for you! That was just great! We spent the entire afternoon swimming behind the stage in the lake and goofing around. We’re all so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world. People who go to that festival really show up ready to enjoy themselves. Sometimes it feels like a crowd is waiting for you to fail. At
How has living in BC affected your music? Maybe the rain... Definitely the rain. I think a lot of my music sounds good in the rain. Maybe it’s because I spent my teenaged years wearing massive headphones listening to CDs with my head against the transit-bus window with all the shimmering drops of rain on the window reflecting light. You have a little baby Mangan now! Congratulations! How has this major life changer influenced the song writing process and your general outlook on music? Thanks! It upped the stakes a bit. Especially with our newest album Club Meds, the kid thing factored in huge. I kinda felt like I didn’t want to just add more to the worldwide pile of music. I wanted to express something that might last, be relevant and might connect ideas between people. I think when you write songs, you throw up your smoke signal in the air and say “This is how I feel” and magically people see it from a distance and go “Me too”. Both parties are relieved to know that they’re less alone. After having a kid, I felt a bit more pressure to dig in lyrically – to be more decisively instigatory about social criticisms and societal issues. As a former record store employee AND a successful musician, I’m curious about your take on the virtual demise of the CD store and advent of digital music sharing. What’s your perspective on how the business is changing? Torn. I attribute some of my luck of having a career in music to the fact that I’ve benefitted from the digital revolution. I’ve never been upset with pirating. If people find something they connect with truly, they tell everyone they know, buy tickets to a show, buy a t-shirt and an LP (even if it’s just to put it on their wall if they don’t have a record player). If they hadn’t received it “illegally”, maybe that never would
05
I just watched Hector & The Search For Happiness and thought I heard a familiar voice there. How did you and Jesse Zubot get involved in scoring a feature film?
photo by norman wong
have happened. I don’t think that streaming is evil either, though I don’t believe anybody has properly figured out the best model for it. I think the problem is just over-saturation. There’s so much music, and trends come and go so quickly that it’s impossible to get peoples’ attention unless you have a quirky viral video or something. So, people start focusing on trying to do that instead of making a great album, because they become convinced that albums don’t mean anything. I get bummed out about record stores closing, but that’s largely because of my own nostalgia of spending time in them when I was younger; they were like my form of church. I think young people are still connecting with music, just probably in a way that I’m now too old to really appreciate. I refuse to believe that people will stop wanting to support art that makes them feel alive. So, in short... It’s kinda never been tougher to make a career in music, and also, I’m optimistic. I just hope there’s a way to survive without having to tour the entire year round.
Luck! They needed a Canadian composer and the director Peter wanted a song-writer instead of a traditional film composer, and a distant relative of his had sent him some of our YouTube videos. It was a really cool process to be involved with. Really new for me. I had to slowly earn the trust of the director and producers, but we became quite close in the end. I love working with Jesse. He’s my guy. We yin and yang in a kind of a crazy way. He’s such a genius that I know I’ll just never even be able to compare to. And at the same time, I know what I bring to the table when we’re creating things together is vital, and he seems just as excited about my contributions as I am of his. It was an intense project. I’m not sure I’ve ever worked so hard on anything in my life. We both went insane toward the end with the long days, but it was so worth it.
It’s all interesting. Sometimes I want to hibernate and create things, and sometimes I need to be around people. Balance. Too much of one or the other and you go nuts. I also convince myself not to rush or force anything. I write when I feel the juices flowing, and when I’m not feeling creative, I try not to freak out about it.
Would you be interested in doing film scores in the future?
You’ve been a contributing writer for The Guardian and the Huffington Post, so I have to ask as a music writer, who have you been listening to this year?
Definitely. Waiting for something to come in the door. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but every few years would be cool. Compare and contrast: song writing vs. live performances. What drives your passion vs. what drives you crazy?
06
Tell us your best joke… Two guys walking down the street and they see a dog curled up on the sidewalk licking his balls. One guy nudges the other and says, “Oh man, I wish I could do that.” The other guy says, “Well, you might want to pat him on the head, first.” What’s your favourite shower song? I always end up humming the theme song from Just for Laughs: Gags.
Well, I really love the new Father John Misty. He’s one of the best lyricists in the game. And his voice is insane. And the production and arrangement is great. The
THE ONLY PUB ON BAKER STREET NELSONS BEST LIVE STAGE LIVE ENTERTAINMENT NIGHTLY Come early for dinner to ensure a good table! Great food, healthy options and good prices. Family friendly from 5pm -10pm TUES-SAT Dancing now allowed until 2am nightly Please check events calendar at:
www.royalgrillnelson.com MENU ALSO AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE.
FOR THE APRES SKI CROWD : Happy Hour 5pm–6pm Jugs $14 • Wings $7
Kendrick Lamar LP got a lot of spins, but I was bummed he didn’t do any of the more political songs when I saw him at Sasquatch. There was a four year gap between your last album Oh Fortune and Club Meds. Will we have to wait another four years for your next album? Besides touring, what are you working on these days? I think the next one will come a bit sooner. I just needed a break. It felt like there was a four year gap between Club Meds and allthe-other-things-I’d-ever-done. I did nothing but tour constantly from 2006–2013 and really needed the time away. A bunch of important things happened. Got married, had a kid. I got my head straight about a lot of soul searching that was necessary. I came out of that period ready to double down and I’m extremely proud of Club Meds. I’m doing some recording – not for an LP, but an EP of re-recorded material or stripped down covers etc… I’ve only recently started writing for another record, and I’m excruciatingly slow with it. So, it’ll be a bit. Dan Mangan + Blacksmith’s Club Meds is out now. www.danmanganmusic.com
ANOTHER NELSON HUB FOR FUN MAKING SPORTS AFFORDABLE
SINCE 1996
NEW CROSS COUNTRY SKI SETS $220 UNBREAKABLE LOCAL DESIGNED BAMBOO SKIS from $290 BOOMTOWNS OWN BAMBOO / MAPLE SNOWBOARDS $220
QUALITY SPORTS TRADES ARE WELCOME So bring in your quality items for credit. Huge selection of Hockey Gear upstairs. 510 Hall St. Nelson 250-505-5055
BOOMTOWNSPORTS.COM
07
BLOOM
ROD & GUN
ELEMENT
THE ROYAL
Midnight Masquerade Ball With Moontricks, Metaphoracle, Fluxo & Dubconscious! Best mask or costume wins a ticket to Shambhala 2016, complimentary champagne. Tickets $20 Doors at 10pm 198 Baker St. New Year’s Mask Bash 2015 Open until 4am, this masked ball will feature special giveaways to the first 50 people, midnight champagne and early morning appetizers! Tickets $25 Doors at 10pm 292 Columbia Ave. Castlegar, BC
FINLEY’S
Finley’s New Year’s Eve 2015 Party Come ring in the New Year at Finley’s! Great music and food all night, midnight champagne toast, snack buffet, extra 3 course dinner option. Tickets $20/$35 Doors at 6pm 705 Vernon St.
08
A StarWars & Glitter NYE Party PK Sound & The Syzmik Collective will be bringing the bass, alongside Bearded House Mafia, Shiny Things, Lefy, Joey Fox and more! No alcohol, 19+. Tickets $20 Doors at 9pm 801 Railway St. Heavy Starship New Years’ Eve With a thunderous sound, Heavy Airship descends on the Kootenays like a storm coming in from the Misty Mountain. If you love rock ‘n’ roll, then spend your NYE with The Royal! Tickets $20 Doors at 10pm 330 Baker St.
SPIRITBAR
Future Formal 3000 Dirty Gramophones A futuristic journey of elegance and outer space, join The Hume and The Dirty Gramophones for a very shiney and spacey disco... with a retro sci-fi twist! Tickets $20 Doors at 10pm 422 Vernon St.
Tasty. Healthy. Community Owned. organic produce hundreds of bulk items prepared foods fresh meat & seafood grocery vitamins & supplements healthy bodycare products
Open 7 days a week Mon-Sat 8am-8pm Sun 10am-6pm 295 Baker Street, Nelson BC ph: 250 354 4077
comic by josh wapp (www.joshwapp.com)
09
by cole johnston
I
nternational pop sensation Kiesza just made a whole lot of Nelsonites awfully happy with her recent visit to the Kootenays. The November 29th event Hanging Out With Kiesza saw lines of eager fans vying for their chance to meet the three time Juno Award winner and get an autograph. But it was the staff and students of Selkirk College that really benefited from the visit. A graduate of Selkirk herself, Kiesza returned especially to give back to the school that helped her hone her skill. Headlining this year’s Selkirk Gala, she helped raise money for a scholarship to be established in her name.
10
“Kiesza has been gracious enough to give her time to this event,” said Selkirk College Donor & Alumni Coordinator Joleen Kinakin. “The money raised will go towards assisting future students in the music program lessen the financial burden that comes with a post-secondary education.” As part of the Gala, Selkirk’s second year music students were given the opportunity to perform alongside Kiesza, whose hit single “Hideaway” has topped international charts and garnered 250 million YouTube views. We sat down with the platinum recording artist to talk about her time in Nelson.
This year’s Gala is Created By Community. How did this community help you to create your current career? This is where I developed myself as a songwriter. This is where I found myself and found my confidence. I mean, the positive environment of Nelson, this is just such a creative place. People are so friendly, you’re not afraid to leave your door open, you know everyone in the city… People show up to your open mic! It’s not the same everywhere else. At Berkelee, it was really hard to get people to come. In Nelson, people really support each other and that’s so important in developing a career. Just finding that first splinter of confidence and realizing that you can do something. I definitely found that here in Nelson.
How did you become involved in this new scholarship and what was the impetus for coming back? Well, when I was a student here, we never really had a lot of clinics about how to succeed in pop culture right now. There were a lot of jazz musicians that are obviously incredible talents, but we didn’t really have somebody in the mainstream market. I just feel like there’s a lot I can teach the students, there’s a lot of really honest advice that I can give them that they’re not gonna get from some of the other people. I know that it’s hard for a small school in the middle of the Kootenays to sometimes bring in these big performers. So I just felt like this was something that I’d appreciate if I were still a student here. I really love giving back, especially to Selkirk. It’s just a magical place, and was a special time in my life that I’ll never forget. What’s your favourite Selkirk memory? Oh gosh, there are so many! I loved the performance classes, when they gave you the opportunity to put a performance together and showcase it for the school. I think that was one of the most valuable classes at Selkirk actually… You get to play for a live audience (even if it’s your classmates), you get to try out new things… You get to make mistakes on stage, which is really important. Some of my best memories though, were just biking around the city. It’s such a beautiful place! Spending time with my friends, writing music with different people from the school, making an album with my instructor… I don’t think there was a single instructor at Berklee who would have given me their time like that. Social media and internet sharing had a huge impact on your success. Do you think social media is making it easier or harder for aspiring artists in rural areas like Nelson to make it big? It’s way easier now. Way easier. In the past, everything was controlled by the recording studios. None of us would be able to afford to record an album in the past, so you were at the mercy of the record label. You got lucky if you were discovered in a bar, or happened to know somebody. But you could not do it yourself. You had to get lucky. Now you actually have hundreds of platforms, you have Facebook, you have Twitter, you have Soundcloud. You can make a music video with your friggin’ iPhone! You have a sound recording studio on your laptop. You have everybody on YouTube to study. You have the biggest artist development platform in the entire world. And every single aspiring artist has an audience. Because the world is always looking for new stuff. What advice would you give current music students about the industry or what to expect after graduating? I hate practising. I absolutely hate it. But I do it, because you need to work at it. Every single one of you could make it if you just put the effort in, have the drive for it, study your music. Anything worth having is worth working your ass off to get it. Also, don’t judge any music. Every genre has incredible music, so don’t judge. If you’re that kind of music snob, nobody will want to be in the room with you.
11
photo courtesy of selkirk college
If you weren’t a musician, what do you think you’d be doing right now? I still sort of obsess over science articles. I love reading about the brain and genetics. So I have a feeling I might have gone into something in the science field. I mean I’m such a creative person overall, I’m also a total film geek. I’ve actually been writing a film recently. I love writing, and whether it’s writing music or poetry or film, it feels like paving a path. If I were in science, I feel like I’d be paving a path in science, or paving a path in film. But I don’t know… My life has been so unpredictable, even in music. Even though I chose to be a musician, who could have predicted at Selkirk that now I’d be doing electronic house R&B music? I probably wouldn’t have believed it if I told my former self what I’d be doing today. Life just has this weird way of unfolding with lots of surprises. And you need to know how to roll with the surprises life throws you. If you could speak to yourself as a student knowing what you know now, what advice would you give Kiesza? Don’t have any doubts. Fear is the one thing that holds people back and causes people to walk away from their dreams. It’s always fear. I would tell myself to erase all that fear. I was lucky that I didn’t have a lot of that, but there were definitely times that I nearly didn’t do something because I was afraid. So… Be fearless! Kiesza’s Sound of a Woman is available now. www.kiesza.com For more information on Selkirk’s music and other programs, check out www.selkirk.ca.
12
S
anta Claus came to Baker Street on December 5th, so it’s apparent even he knows the perks of shopping locally in Nelson. But just in case he missed a few things, we at Nelson Time have put together a list of our ten favourite Holiday gift ideas (in no particular order). What’s more, everything on our list is available within a 10 minute walk! Supporting your community and giving great gifts is win-win I’d say.
Rave ‘N’ Iron Hand Engraved Money Clips These gorgeous naturally engraved pieces make a beautiful statement, and are etched to reflect Canadian design themes. Each piece is done by hand, ranging from $35-$45. Available at The heArt Gallery 566 Baker Street • 778.463.3343
Custom Kootenay Co-op Radio Mugs Custom mugs hand crafted by ShprixieLand Studios. Only $45, these not only make a great gift but support our local KCR as well. Available at Kootenay Co-op Radio 308A Hall Street • 250.352.9600 www.kootenaycoopradio.com
photo by deanne rutherford
13
Adele – “25” (Vinyl) We’ve all heard “Hello”. Perhaps more than we’d wish to admit. But Adele’s latest offering 25 is one of the most popular sounds of the season, and Packrat’s has it on good ol’ vinyl! Available at Packrat Annie’s 411 Kootenay Street • 250.354.4722
2015/2016 Whitewater Ski Pass Want to make the ski bunny or snowboarder in your life really happy this Holiday? Whitewater Ski and Nordic passes are available now! Available at Whitewater Ski Resort 602 Lake Street • 1.800.666.9420 www.skiwhitewater.com
90 Minute Osteopathic Session w/ Eli Mead To celebrate their opening, Kootenay Osteopathy is offering 50 gift cards for $50 (reg. $135) for a 90 minute session with Eli Mead. Available at Kootenay Osteopathy 507 Baker Street • 250.355.0010 www.kootenayosteopathy.com
Woodlot Candles, Soaps & Sprays Would you Woodlot? Social Room is fully stocked with Woodlot candles, soaps and sprays. Gift yourself or someone you love! Available at Social Room 106-402 Baker Street • 250.354.7666 www.socialroominteriors.ca
14
No. 6 Coffee Rock Blends Choose from blends like Motörhead, Sonic Youth, or Black Sabbath, and add some rock to your morning from No. 6, beyond fair trade. Available at Tribute Boardshop 556 Baker Street • 250.777.3770 www.no6coffee.co
Designs Brilliant Local Jewelry This local sister duo makes everything from gorgeous earrings with resin dragonfly wings to necklaces with acid etched rock crystal. Available at Touchstones Nelson 502 Vernon Street • 250.505.9294 www.etsy.com/shop/designsbrilliant
Torchlight Limited Release Holiday Beers Try either the Belgian Style Tripel for $6.45 or the more unique Medieval Gruit Ale, mimicking traditional brewing techniques for $8.75. Available at Torchlight Brewing Co. 511 Front Street • 250.352.0094 www.torchlightbrewing.com
Nelson Civic Theatre Annual Membership By becoming a member, you reinforce the importance of having a cinema in Nelson and ensure its existence for years. Best. Gift. Ever. Available at Nelson Civic Theatre 719 Vernon Street • 250.352.5833 www.civictheatre.ca
photo by schmunk photography (www.schmunkphotography.com)
15