Alberta BOOM!

This weekend, Endangered Ape and entorage (Martine O’Clock, Connor Crash and Mr. Doody, along with the amazing Jared M, who ended up getting the flu on day two and bailing for the rest of the trip) went on the road to Calgary and Edmonton to play with some sweet bands for the first Alberta Boom! series.

Calgary had a very solid lineup, as we played with three of our favourite Calgary bands that are active right now – Sharp Ends (who we played with at the University of Lethbridge Zoo a few weeks back, and whom we love immensely), Thee Thems (who totally fucking rule – two of the three were part of Endangered Ape fav’s The Cryptomaniacs as well), and The Pine Tarts (who are so much fun to watch). We took the opening spot bullet and played for a largely unenthusiastic Calgary crowd (The Palomino was packed with people). Sadly, the stars did not align, and we played a more or less terrible set. Some people said that they liked it anyways, but it didn’t feel good, and we were all feeling pretty bummed about it (especially after the nice things FFWD and Beatroute said to hype the show). The rest of the bands killed it though, and we had a good time in spite of ourselves.

Everyone had a place to crash, but Jane, Connor and I  were going to go stay with Chris Z from Sharp Ends and Jessie P from Pine Tarts house, but at 3 am, they were looking to party and we were looking to sleep. So we ended up checking into the worlds scaries hotel – The “Un”-Savoury Motel, which was the shittiest motel I have ever seen in my life, but the only one with vacancy in the area… bad enough that Jane and I slept in Sleeping Bags to avoid pubic lice from the bed.

Day two we headed to Edmonton, which I am now re-naming “Trenchfoot City”, as the second we got out of the car, all of us had soaking wet shoes and socks for the rest of the trip (note to self: bring extra shoes and socks when going to Trenchfoot City in the winter. We arrived and went to hang out with our buds The Wicked Awesomes, and then we ate and headed to Hooliganz, a sweet little venue that reminded me (a little) of Lethbridge’s Tongue and Groove (RIP!). Pine Tarts warmed up the crowd (and our hearts), and were generally on their A-Game. We played second, and with a great deal to prove to ourselves from the night before, proceeded to “kill it”. I would say it was our second best show in Endangered Ape history (with our end of tour show at the Palomino in August being our best). Too bad the show didn’t get promoted enough in Edmonton, as we played to roughly a quarter of the audience we played to in Calgary. The Wicked Awesomes also had a great set (I love that all of us in Endangered Ape can sing along to every song, makes playing with them a great deal of fun, though I am dying to hear their new stuff). Los Cremators ended the night in Lucador masks and awesome rockabilly instrumentals.

We all ended up sleeping at Owen and Lucas Awesome’s new house (along with the Pine Tarts – I think there were like 10 people crashing their, which I’m sure their roomates loved). Ended up “sleeping” on a hardwood floor for like 15 minutes, before Pine Tarts/Sharp Ends drummer “The Nuder”, one of the funniest people I know, decided to come into the room and be hilarious for the rest of the night. For example, Adam was up to his old tricks (aka snoring like a warthog), and The Nuder was like “I have a special trick to get people to stop snoring – watch this…” and then he started making these ocean sounds, which didn’t work because Adam was wearing earplugs. Thus, Plan B was hatched, aka yelling at Adam until he woke up. Funny shit.

Day three, Los Cremators and Pine Tarts were supposed to come to Lethbridge, but then Mother Nature decided to shit all over those plans and dump a load of snow all over the highways. Los Cremators bailed because of the road conditions, then Pine Tarts, having driven from Edmonton to Calgary in these conditions, bailed as well. Then the car with Adam, Kent, and Stu went of the road near Okatoks. Everyone survived, but it was the final nail in the coffin of the show – Stu decided to stay in Calgary to avoid driving back after the show.

The show went on without us, and Menehune played with Lustre Cream. Adam, Jane and I went to The Slice anyway to see Menehune’s debut as a three piece, which turned into a two-piece because Clayton, their drummer, had the flu… a cursed show. Adam and I did a couple of Endangered Ape acoustic songs as well, which was fun (our set list was Down With The Gullwing Doors, Variations on a Theme, Tales of Survivalist Horror 1, and Future Kings Demand It). Jane took video, so maybe I’ll post some later.

All in all, it was a fun weekend, even with the intensity of mother nature.

Calgary – L

Edmonton – W

Lethbridge – N/A
Here is video someone from a group called Psychic Pollution took of us in Calgary