Have you ever had a band follow you, like not on Insta or the Tikety, but follow along with your life, like always there at key moments, always in the side mirror? Each Blue Rodeo album for me has always contained songs so relevant to where I was at the time, like they have provided the soundtrack to my life. For some, it may be the Hip; for others, the Arkells, but for me, it's Blue Rodeo.
And Lowest of the Low, playing Friday, June 16, at the Biltmore Theatre, has also been present weirdly whenever I make substantial changes in my life. They were the catalyst for a fanzine I did in the 90s; they were among the acts brought in when I was booking the club in the mid-2010s; they were one of the first bands to play the record store I manage, and now as the store has a new location lo and behold Lowest of the Low plays across the street. I’ve been a fan since the first note; I’m happy to have such synchronicity.
The band’s OG two main songwriters have also had solo careers, all worth checking out, and other band projects as well. Always entertaining, always on point and weirdly always there as way finders. And Lowest of the Low is not relaxing on their well-deserved laurels, Shakespeare My Butt is such a vital record in the Canadian canon and that's not just me saying that, but there is a new record in the works dropping later this year; maybe we’ll get a preview of some of those tracks.
Hard rockers Judgement return to the Biltmore Theatre on Saturday with a stacked line-up, including the over-the-top metal thrashers Paralysis, Single Wound, and At This Point.
June 16 at the Atria, it's more over the top metal thrash with Prosector, Incarnatus, Ajax axe-wielders, Please. . .Stand By, and heavy harlequin rock from Quebec’s Change my Brain with Cakes. On Saturday, it's Regina rock ‘n roll with Dead Levee.
And it's Fiesta Week kicking off on Sunday with a party in the park, Memorial Park and tunes in the Bandshell, including alt-country act GT Harris and the Gunslinger, billed as revved’ up country. GT is the dude, as are his bandmates, so I guarantee you will have a time of it if you go, and you should; Fiesta is an Oshawa legacy.
The Wee Pub has the very appropriately titled Better Than Radio - colour me intrigued. BTR is Geordy Craig and Darel Wernik. Deuce is at Bollocks, and Simcoe Blues and Jazz have a couple of shows coming up; the legendary Lincolnaires are doing all the 50s/60s/70s dance music on Friday, Stonegate play Saturday, June 17, with proceeds going to Feed the Need, and there’s a Father's Day Jam on Sunday evening.