Wed. March 19th – Sharks on Fire
Thurs. March 20th – Mad Matty and the Yes Kicks
Fri. March 21st – The Baptists
Sat. March 22nd – John Antoniuk
Sun. march 22nd – Glorious Sons with Teenage Kicks

Friday, April 25th @ Minstrel Cafe in Kelowna

Fortunate Ones are Andrew James O’Brien and Catherine Allan. Their earnest blend of acoustic folk/pop and roots, bare-bones arrangements and delicately precise harmony allows for the intimate musical conversations that make their performances so special.

Most Canadian music fans are aware of St. John’s, and the hyperactive pub scene that has produced so much music and theatre over the past two decades.

Less known is Corner Brook, Newfoundland’s other city, the sturdy west coast blue-collar mill town situated at the base of a breath-taking fjord. It is a city of contrasts – the town and economy is built around a huge paper mill, there are no colourful row houses or winding lanes, and it is rarely featured in the province’s popular tourist ads. On the other hand, it boasts a site rich in natural beauty, and it is the gateway to Gros Morne Park, the Island’s natural treasure. In winter it becomes a city of skiers and snowboarders filling the surrounding pine-hills and valleys with the energy of outdoor sports. And above the city sits the Grenfell campus of Memorial University, home to the province’s school of Fine Arts. In the past decade, this school has become a wellspring for artistic creativity, and now Corner Brook’s millwrights and lumbermen have been joined by a growing population of dreamers.

It is this city that gave birth to the Fortunate Ones.

“During my first semester I began writing songs and performing them live,” Andrew says. “Through the course of my four years, acting took a significant backseat to music. I became more and more self-conscious as an actor and had trouble believing anything I was doing or saying. Conversely, my songwriting gave me an opportunity to be entirely honest, and left me with no choice but to believe in what I was saying.”

In 2010, Andrew recorded and released his debut indie album, Songs For Searchers. Intensely autobiographical, the album is a deeply personal expression that was masterfully written with lightness and beautiful melody. Somehow it managed to capture the timelessness of Newfoundland’s west coast while sounding utterly contemporary. The album was an instant local sensation. Andrew began touring heavily, drawing on the skills he learned playing in Newfoundland’s rowdy pubs. He has also become a cult favorite in the UK, recently supporting acts like Sharon Shannon and Paul Brady.

Meanwhile, his future partner and Corner Brook native, Cat, was also finding her own voice. A member of a musical family, her natural diffidence had kept her offstage while she pursued her college degree.

“I’ve always loved playing music, but for the longest time it was just something I kept to myself,” she says. “I would quietly play keyboard and guitar in my bedroom and learn songs by The Beatles, Hawksley Workman, Feist, etc. I really enjoyed playing, and particularly enjoyed singing, but the idea of doing that in public terrified me. When I met Andrew, he had formed a band with my brother and some childhood friends, and one night while hanging out I sang along with a couple of songs they were playing. Two days later, I sang with the band at the Ship Pub in St. John’s.”

Gradually, Andrew and Cat’s artistic relationship blossomed into an off-stage romance, and now they make their music together under the name ‘Fortunate Ones.’ It is an apt name, as their music is what brought them together. Now it’s not just a part of their lives – it is their lives.

Cat finds that their music has offered her the chance to become something she had never envisioned.

“Performing always used to frighten the hell out of me, and still does at times. But sometimes the things that scare you the most are the things that you need to challenge yourself with and will eventually make you grow as a person.

Just as he does in his songs, when it comes to discussing music, Andrew wears his heart on his sleeve.

“For me, music is the one unwavering constant in my life. As a medium, it is transcendental and innately powerful,” Andrew explains. “It was the first drug I ever took and the most powerful I’ve tried. One of my favorite elements of listening to great music is the physical feeling of hearing something amazing; a great lyric, a beautiful melody, the cadence of instruments blending perfectly provides a joyful pang, goose bumps, tears, sweat, laughter. It is physically all encompassing. It is a feeling I live for and have lived for since I was very little.”

Now recording and making songs together, the duo will be releasing a new album later this year.

Heavy metal brewers TRIBUNE are proud to announce their 2014 ‘CANADA SLAYS TOUR’ kicking off in Kelowna, BC on April 3rd and will see the band trek as far East as Montreal, QC and return West to wrap up the tour in Nanaimo, BC on May 3rd. This is the band’s second cross Canada Tour since 2012, when they toured the US and Canada in support of their album ‘Elder Lore/ The Dark Arts’.

“Greetings and salutations, friends of Tribune. We have news for you! After two years of musical scheming and dubious machinations, we’ve decided to serve you our eclectic brand of heavy metal in person. Tribune will be touring our newest album, ‘Tales’, across Canada. This means that we’ll be stuffing our tall, sweaty selves into a van for the sake of your personal amusement. The new CD and Skeletal Lich Shirts are available, so come prepared if you want to put some gas into the tank of our voracious bandwagon. Her thirst is unending…We’re calling this tour ‘Canada Slays Tribune 2014′. It’s all about our friends and fans, as if it never were before… Come on out and have a good time with us. Cheers! Terry Anderson (guitarist)“

The Vancouver quintet unleashed their concept album ’Tales’ this past October via their indie label Corpse Corrosion Music. Inspired entirely by literature, ‘Tales‘ features a wide array of influences, from Homer to Mary Shelley to H.P. Lovecraft, to more extreme influences such as Carcass, Death and At The Gates. The band’s appetite for more melodic and more brutally heavy sounds to follow-up 2011’s Elder Lore/The Dark Arts is demonstrated with their collusion of extremity and accessibility that bleeds into the melting pot and their fresh take of progressive death metal.

Album Stream: http://tribune.bandcamp.com

FEATURING THE DARCYS, NO & REUBEN AND THE DARK

 Renowned Toronto independent music company Arts & Crafts is proud to announce a North American tour featuring three of the Toronto-based label’s exciting young artists, showcasing across the continent this March and April and coming to Kelowna on April 3 at Habitat.

The tour package is an extension of Arts & Crafts’ long-standing collaborative spirit and is the latest in a tradition of A&C label packages that began with Broken Social Scene, Feist and Stars nearly a decade ago.

Bands will share stages and rotate slots throughout the tour collaborating on exclusives and offering fans a unique live experience driven by Arts & Crafts’ continued commitment to fostering creativity and discovery.

Los Angeles six-piece NO released their debut album El Prado on February 18, having just premiered the video for first single “Leave The Door Wide Open” and a haunting cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne.”

2014 JUNO Award nominated Toronto art-rock quartet The Darcys released its latest album Warring in late 2013 to critical acclaim, described by SPIN as a “pretty hybrid of Local Natives and Atoms For Peace” and recently hailed by NYLON as “your new favourite band.” Watch recently released videos for “Horses Fell” and “The Pacific Theatre,” and hear a banging remix of Born Ruffians’ “Rage Flows” as well as a lush cover of Drake’s 2013 smash “Hold On, We’re Going Home”.

Emerging Calgary folk rock outfit Reuben And The Dark just announced the May 27 release of its anticipated debut full-length album Funeral Sky by releasing the video for first single “Rolling Stone.” Already buoyed by the success of a North American tour with Paper Kites and incredible reaction to “Rolling Stone” as well as “Shoulderblade,” 2014 promised to be a break out year for the band.

WATCH: THE DARCYS “HORSES FELL” OFFICIAL VIDEO [via SPIN]

WATCH: NO “LEAVE THE DOOR WIDE OPEN” OFFICIAL VIDEO [via Paste Magazine]

WATCH: REUBEN AND THE DARK “ROLLING STONE” OFFICIAL VIDEO [Via The Wall Street Journal]

Tickets are on sale now visit arts-crafts.ca

I previous posted about all the live music events happening this St. Patrick’s Day (weekend).  Well, this is a great event happening all day Monday at the Train Station Pub!

See you there!

Vocalist Danielle Evjen with Guitarist Loni Moger performing timeless jazz standards and contemporary hits. Call 250 763 5136 for reservations.