Author Archives: kelownalivemusic

We Are The City – The Habitat, Nov. 7th

We Are The City with special guests Aidan Knight and Language Arts
$10 in advance/$12 at the door (+1.50 tx & sc) Buy your tickets for this show here
Doors at 7pm, show at 9 pm

With a studio date looming close, Kelowna, BC’s We Are The City realized they were going to need some financial support to raise enough money to record an album.  They launched a donation page with four different packages and through the online assistance of their loyal fans were able to raise enough money to put toward album costs.  Released in May earlier this year In A Quiet World has won the band new fans, great reviews, and given those donations a true sense of existence. 

Now set to tour Canada, We Are The City is a three piece progressive indie rock act featuring three young composers.  Cayne McKenzie (vocals, keys), David Menzel (guitar), and Andy Huculiak (drums) paint out a sincere and beautiful interpretation of life; exploring evocative sounds and storytelling.  Cayne has been classically trained in piano for eight years and playing for twelve, and David and Andy are both self-taught musicians.

“The arrangements are bold and emphatic as well as imaginative. You get the feeling that Kelowna was actually a greenhouse for the development of the music, allowing the band to find its focus.” – The Province

Having shared stages with outfits including Mother Mother, Said The Whale, and Winter Gloves, We Are The City were recently selected as a finalist for the Peak Performance Project.  As a best bet for CMW 2009 by The National Post, they’ve also been a featured artist with CBC Radio 3.  Listening to their instrumentation and orchestral arrangements you will readily discover their potential for greatness is simply palpable. 

“Extremely diligent blends of post-rock indie-pop bliss…Taking cues from foreigners like Sigur Rós and Múm, and blending them with organic Americana rock spirit (Wilco, the Shins) just might be the perfect combination to reinvent the wheel, and quite possibly the answer to this country’s stale revolving door of young talent.” – Clash Music

Prairie Cat at The Streaming Cafe – Nov. 7th

Prairie Cat celebrates the release of It Began/Ended with Sparks 
on November 07 at The Streaming Cafe 



(Kelowna, BC) –  Prairie Cat celebrates the release of It Began/Ended with Sparks (Fuzzy Logic Recordings) on November 07 at The Streaming Cafe. 

Vancouver indie-music scene heavy-hitter Cary Pratt, aka Prairie Cat, has pulled up his sleeves and stepped up the production on his second full-length, It Began/Ended with Sparks. A follow up to the sweet bedroom pop debut of Attacks!, Sparks is fuller, more diverse collection of songs. The album is sprinkled with booming orchestral instrumentation, while maintaining the fun, lightheartedness of Prairie Cat’s piano pop.

Conceptually, It Began/Ended with Sparks refers to Pratt’s last two years. Following a girlfriend to relocate on the other side of the country, Pratt’s heart was soon scorched in the aftermath of a fire. He lost a love and his most of his belongings, including recording equipment and the initial tracking for this album.

Broke and essentially homeless, Pratt quickly returned to his hometown of Kelowna, BC, where he worked long hours to make enough money to replace his gear. When he finally had a functioning recording set-up in place, Pratt buckled down and tried to re-produce his original tracks while pouring his heart and experiences into his new compositions.

While arranging the songs on It Began/Ended with Sparks, Pratt, a trained drummer, focused on rhythmic variation. This input makes for a dynamic compilation of songs, some jazzy (“Get Off”), others proggy (“Meanest Genius”), classic pop songs (“Just Cuz”), or a schmaltzy cabaret number (“Sun Away”). While recording Sparks, Pratt played keys and drums while inviting the talents of Montag (Antoine Bedard) for string and Moog duties, Ryan Dahle and Bend Sinister’s Dan Moxin on guitar, Jon Rae Fletcher’s Denver Rawson and Hidden Camera’s Shaun Brodie on horns.

Young Galaxy and Bend Sinister – Thursday night

at the Habitat
Young Galaxy are a Canadian indie pop/dream pop band, whose members are Stephen Ramsay (vocals/guitar) and Catherine McCandless (vocals/keyboards), Max Henry (keyboards/backup instruments/vocals), Stephen Kamp (bass), and Liam O’Neill (drums).

Young Galaxy formed in Vancouver as duo including Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless. Through that summer of 2005 and the spring of 2006 they recorded with appearances and contributions of friends at Jace Lasek’s Breakglass Studio. Their sound has been described as similar to the bands Slowdive, Galaxie 500 and Luna as well as Pink Floyd and Spiritualized. The band has toured in Canada, The United states and Europe, opening for The Album Leaf, The Frames, Peter Bjorn and John, Death Cab for Cutie. They later moved to Montréal, where they recorded their self-titled debut. The album was released on April 24, 2007.

Since the release of their debut album in 2007, they have expanded to include Stephen Kamp and multi-instrumentalist Max Henry. They recorded their sophomore album Invisible Republic in Montréal at Hotel2Tango studio with Radwan Moumneh engineering (A Silver Mt. Zion, Pas Chic Chic) and at Breakglass Studios with Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes engineering.

Their hit song “Come and See” was featured in Alexander Keith’s commercial in summer of 2009. ‘Invisible Republic’ was mixed by Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, Snow Patrol) in Glasgow, Scotland.

Bend Sinister is a progressive-indie band from Vancouver, BC, named after a novel by Vladimir Nobokov.

The band formed in 2001 and began playing as many dive bar shows as they possibly could in their home town of Kelowna. After their move to Vancouver BC, selling out a four-song EP, and acquiring a new drummer and guitarist, the band sought out local producer Shawn Cole to put together what is now their first full-length album ‘Through The Broken City’. The band did three consecutive nationwide tours in support of the album.

After gaining experience from the road, Bend Sinister returned to the studio to record a few new songs. These songs included the single “Time Breaks Down”, which moved the band into uncharted territory and captured the attention of Distort Entertainment president, Greg Below.

Jon-Rae Fletcher with Jon Mckiel and Acres and Acres

Friday Night, Oct. 23rd
Check out the new blog from the Streaming Cafe

Acres and Acres is an experienced songwriting team who give inspiring performances both as a duo and full-band ensemble. Their music maintains a level of simplicity that leaves plenty of room for storytelling and proves that there is an art in telling the truth.

Jon Mckiel is a songwriter from Halifax Nova Scotia Canada. Jon’s new album, “The Nature of Things,” will be released by Wednesday Records on February 12, 2008. The album follows Jon’s self-titled debut, which was dubbed The Coast’s “Top 50 Albums of 2006.”

Jon Rae Fletcher is a folk artist from Summerland, BC…. Wikipedia says…. Jon-Rae grew up in Kelowna, British Columbia, where, as the son of a minister, he sang in his church’s choir. Eventual musical developments included his discovery of Kurt Cobain and the formation of his own garage band. Jon-Rae later moved and founded the original River band with a collective of Vancouver friends, but disbanded the group when he moved east.

Over the last 4 years, the Habitat on Leon Ave has been a major part of the local entertainment scene. This venue has hosted over 500 shows, many including up-and-coming Okanagan artists. The Habitat has also brought a National spotlight on Kelowna when it was short-listed in the Top 10 Live music venues on CBC Radio. More recently, The West Coast Music Awards were awarded to Kelowna thanks in no small part to the hard work of the owners and staff at the Habitat. Lastly, this great music venue has brought major and up-and-coming Canadian Talent to Kelowna who would otherwise not have a venue to play in our city.

The Habitat is trying to get approval for a Liquor – Primary license which would allow it to stay open a bit later, and increase the venue capacity so it can attract more touring artists. The current Restaurant Primary license is disallowing the venue from bringing more of these shows to Kelowna. So now it’s up to the Council and they’re worried that the Habitat will be “another nightclub” on Leon. This is ridiculous. All you need to do is spend one night at the Habitat and you will realize how drastically different it is from it’s neighbors – The Level and Gotchas Nightclub. The Habitat has never considered to be a nightclub and I don’t think it would ever be one. Just ask the sold out crowd at the Dan Mangan concert on Friday night, who got to see world class entertainment, enjoy a meal and a few drinks. One of few places for the twentysomething and thirtysomething crowd in Kelowna.

Support live music. Support the Habitat as they try to get a new liquor license so they can continue to be a driving part of teh Kelowna arts & culture scene.