LMN Band Exam: The Wilderness of Manitoba

With a band name like The Wilderness of Manitoba, you might not know what to expect. Based upon their tunes I’d have to assume that the wilds of Manitoba (a providence in Canada) are a quiet and peaceful place, full of sunshine and chirping birds, a perfect place for a relaxing afternoon stroll through a forest of tall evergreen trees.  At least that’s what I imagine when I listen to the soft vocals, delicate harmonies, and lazy slide guitars that accompany the strumming guitar or banjo and give the band it’s distinct sound and feel.

To give you an idea, here’s one of my favorite The Wilderness of Manitoba tunes:

These folksters are actually based out of Toronto, Canada, but they just did a tour of the United States in support of their album, When You Left the Fire. We wanted to learn more about them so we caught up with Will and Melissa from the band  as they were passing through Southern California and had them take Local Music Nation’s “Band Exam.” Here’s how they did:

 

Multiple Choice:choose one of the following three options. Feel free to ad lib or create your own choices.

Form of caffeine: Coffee, tea, energy drinks

Will: Coffee for sure. Although beer has often made an appearance as a selected alternative.

Melissa: really good free trade organic coffee (for most of us, some of us don’t do caffeine)

 

Super hero: Superman, Spiderman, Batman

Will: Spiderman. But only because a super bat spider man hybrid was never created.

 

Fight boredom on the road: Cards, Reading, Music, DVDs

Will: Various forms of media, reading, writing and iTunes university.

Melissa: Reading, photography, also lately we’ve been listening to some amazing European History lectures from Yale on podcasts.

 

Fill in the Blank:

My favorite song to listen to on the road is:

Will: At this very moment in time, it’s parallelograms by Linda Perhacs or anything by Joni Mitchell because we’re in California but ask me tomorrow!

Melissa:  My favorite song to listen to on the road is – Something quiet with introspective lyrics, maybe like Joni Mitchell or Simon & Garfunkel but I may be biased because we are listening to Joni right now.

 

Favorite guilty pleasure music is

Will: All 80’s all the time.

 

Weird skill/talent no one would expect from me

Melissa: I was in school for and apprenticed in silversmithing and jewelry design and from time to time, I still teach at the studio that I worked at because I love being there and teaching people cool stuff about making jewelry.

 

I am currently in __________. One thing I like about this town/city/stretch of highway is ___________________.

Melissa: We are currently in San Clemente on the way to LA. One thing I like about this stretch of highway is that it’s not rush hour and the fog actually makes things seem pretty peaceful.

 

Essay Questions: (pick two but you can do more if you want)

What is the first thing you do when you come home from a tour?

Melissa: Sleep for hours! Make nice meals in my kitchen, cookies for my friends, catch up with as many friends as possible. And when I’ve done that, I go into the jewelry studio and make stuff!

 

Tell us a story about one of the songs off When You Left the Fire.

Will: Hermit – was written about a man living on the edge of town, lionizing a lady from afar who lives in a house nearby. One night her house catches fire and she walks away from it all, leaving it burning alone and desolate in the distance. She goes on to become somebody of significance (who exactly, isn’t really determined) but people from all over know of her and want to be in her presence. The man who lives on the edge of town (the hermit, so to speak) in truth, cared for her more than anybody (even knew the lines that danced around her mouth) but never got over the fear of approaching her. In the end, he contemplates leaving the shadows and fleeing for the big city to find her (which is what the triumphant instrumental section at the close of the song is about)

 

What is your favorite Canadian sweet treat?

Melissa: I’m originally from Ottawa so I would have to say that eating Beaver Tails (kind of a flat donut with a waffle-like texture, covered in cinnamon sugar and served hot) after ice-skating on the canal in the winter is a lasting memory of a Canadian treat that I will always carry with me. Black licorice is good too!

 

Pretty rad right? Well these cool peeps are back to touring in Canada but you can check them out and buy their tunage here. We hope they come back down to the states soon!

Kristen’s LA Concert Calendar: 8/15-8/21

Last week I kind of took it a bit easy. Let’s call it a conservation of energy tactic. Saturday, I went from 0 to 100. I stopped at The Hudson block party where I discovered a great new band (Nightmare & The Cat), did some dancing, ate some food, and witnessed a Wu Tang performance. I left early, missing out on a couple of my favorites (Dead Sara and Andy Clockwise). I had to get to Santa Monica for the Milk Carton Kids CD release event where I spent two hours on the brink of tears, either from laughing too hard or from the sheer beauty and brilliance of the music. Then I jetted from McCabe’s down to Saint Rocke just in time to be blown away by the powerful and empowering Nico Vega. So many great friends gathered at this final performance, I ended up talking/laughing/smiling through the wee hours. A day to remember for sure!

And really, yesterday was just the beginning of a week-long celebration of music and friends surrounding The Sunset Strip Music Festival. If you want to know what I’m up to next week, just go here: http://www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com/.

And that’s not all? In fact, there are so many shows I wish I could go to this week but can’t that I’m beginning to think that I’ve done something to upset the universe. The cruelty of having TFDI’s So-Cal dates conflict directly with SSMF. The inhumanity of me NOT getting a ticket to see Muth Math at The Troubadour. The audacity of scheduling TWO Death Cab for Cutie/Frightened Rabbit dates when I cannot attend either one.

 

What a week! Here goes my list:

 

 

Monday: Automatique at The Viper Room (10:15)
ALSO: Robert Francis FREE at Bootleg Bar (11pm)
ALSO: The Wilderness of Manitoba at Origami Vinyl (7pm)
ALSO: Adele at The Greek Theater (7:30)
ALSO: Songwriters in the Round at Room 5 (9pm)
ALSO: it’s a school night at Bardot featuring Damndogs (featuring members of Jet) and Nikki Lane (10:30)…FREE with RSVP http://www.itsaschoolnight.com/

 

Tuesday: Mute Math at The Troubadour (8pm)…if someone has an extra ticket to this thing, I’ll be your friend forever…
ALSO: Wilderness of Manitoba at The Hotel Cafe (7pm)
ALSO: SSMF Showcase at The Roxy featuring The Green Children, Kyle Nicolaides, Los Einsten, and more (7pm)

 

Weds: SSMF Showcase at The Roxy featuring Benvenue, Lido Beach, and more (7pm)
ALSO: Old 97’s and Josh Ritter at The Wiltern (7pm)
ALSO: Alex Lambert at Room 5 (10pm)
ALSO: Parker Ainsworth at The Hotel Cafe (9pm)
ALSO: The Weepies at The Troubadour (8pm)
ALSO: Adele at Hollywood Palladium (7pm)

 

Thursday: Nico Vega and Eastern State Champions at The Roxy (9pm)
ALSO: The Canyons (8), The Veronicas (9) and Run Run Run(10:30), The Tender Box (11:20), Nude (12:20) at The Viper Room
ALSO: TFDI at The Hotel Cafe (9pm)
ALSO: Johnny Polonsky at Silverlake Lounge (9pm)
ALSO: Frightened Rabbit and Death Cab for Cutie at The Greek (7:30)

 

Friday: Dead Sara and Buckcherry at The Roxy (8pm)
ALSO: Kevin Martin at On the Rox (8pm)
ALSO: Taylor Locke & The Roughs (8:30), Lady Sinatra (9:30), Purple Melon (10:30), Hillbilly Herald (12), and Eli James (1am) at The Viper Room
ALSO: TFDI at Saint Rocke (9pm)
ALSO: Keaton Simons at The Hotel Cafe (11pm)
ALSO: Red Light Sky at Amplyfi (9:45)
ALSO: Frightened Rabbit and Death Cab for Cutie at The Greek (7:30)

 

Saturday: SSMF at The Sunset Strip (between The Key Club and The Whiskey) featuring Motley Crue, Bush, Youngblood Hawke, Indians, Love and A .38, Deluka, Queen Caveat, Jordan Cook, Imagine Dragons, Sabrosa Purr, Semi Precious Weapons, and SO MANY MORE (1pm)
ALSO: Walk the Moon at Bootleg Bar (11pm)
ALSO: Taryn Manning at The Hotel Cafe (11pm)
ALSO: Maxim Ludwig & The Santa Fe Seven at The Troubadour (8:15)
ALSO: TFDI at Zoey’s in Ventura (5pm)

 

Sunday: Koffehouse presents 5th Annual Evening of Independence at Ford Amphitheatre featuring Tyrone Wells, Satellite, Allen Stone, Jamestown Revival, Of Verona, Jes Hudak, and MORE (6pm)

 

Monday: Big presentation at work…I’m just pointing this out to emphasize how much the universe hates me right now.

 

 

To Keep in Mind:
August 22nd: Ben Rector at The Hotel Cafe
August 22nd: Scarlet Grey at The Troubadour
August 27-28th: Sunset Junction
September 3rd: FYF
September 22-24: Hotel Carolina (South Carolina)
September 22nd: Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights at The Viper Room
September 24th: William Elliot Whitmore at Bootleg Theater
September 25th: The Lonely Forest at The Wiltern
October 14th: Butterfly Boucher at Bootleg Theater
March 13th-18th: SXSW (Austin, TX)

~ Kristen

http://twitter.com/#!/_localmusicnat

Kristen’s LA Concert Calendar: 8/15-8/21

Last week I kind of took it a bit easy. Let’s call it a conservation of energy tactic. Saturday, I went from 0 to 100. I stopped at The Hudson block party where I discovered a great new band (Nightmare & The Cat), did some dancing, ate some food, and witnessed a Wu Tang performance. I left early, missing out on a couple of my favorites (Dead Sara and Andy Clockwise). I had to get to Santa Monica for the Milk Carton Kids CD release event where I spent two hours on the brink of tears, either from laughing too hard or from the sheer beauty and brilliance of the music. Then I jetted from McCabe’s down to Saint Rocke just in time to be blown away by the powerful and empowering Nico Vega. So many great friends gathered at this final performance, I ended up talking/laughing/smiling through the wee hours. A day to remember for sure!
And really, yesterday was just the beginning of a week-long celebration of music and friends surrounding The Sunset Strip Music Festival. If you want to know what I’m up to next week, just go here: http://www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com/.

And that’s not all? In fact, there are so many shows I wish I could go to this week but can’t that I’m beginning to think that I’ve done something to upset the universe. The cruelty of having TFDI’s So-Cal dates conflict directly with SSMF. The inhumanity of me NOT getting a ticket to see Muth Math at The Troubadour. The audacity of scheduling TWO Death Cab for Cutie/Frightened Rabbit dates when I cannot attend either one.

 

What a week! Here goes my list:

 

 

Monday: Automatique at The Viper Room (10:15)
ALSO: Robert Francis FREE at Bootleg Bar (11pm)
ALSO: The Wilderness of Manitoba at Origami Vinyl (7pm)
ALSO: Adele at The Greek Theater (7:30)
ALSO: Songwriters in the Round at Room 5 (9pm)
ALSO: it’s a school night at Bardot featuring Damndogs (featuring members of Jet) and Nikki Lane (10:30)…FREE with RSVP http://www.itsaschoolnight.com/

 

Tuesday: Mute Math at The Troubadour (8pm)…if someone has an extra ticket to this thing, I’ll be your friend forever…
ALSO: Wilderness of Manitoba at The Hotel Cafe (7pm)
ALSO: SSMF Showcase at The Roxy featuring The Green Children, Kyle Nicolaides, Los Einsten, and more (7pm)

 

Weds: SSMF Showcase at The Roxy featuring Benvenue, Lido Beach, and more (7pm)
ALSO: Old 97’s and Josh Ritter at The Wiltern (7pm)
ALSO: Alex Lambert at Room 5 (10pm)
ALSO: Parker Ainsworth at The Hotel Cafe (9pm)
ALSO: The Weepies at The Troubadour (8pm)
ALSO: Adele at Hollywood Palladium (7pm)

 

Thursday: Nico Vega and Eastern State Champions at The Roxy (9pm)
ALSO: The Canyons (8), The Veronicas (9) and Run Run Run(10:30), The Tender Box (11:20), Nude (12:20) at The Viper Room
ALSO: TFDI at The Hotel Cafe (9pm)
ALSO: Johnny Polonsky at Silverlake Lounge (9pm)
ALSO: Frightened Rabbit and Death Cab for Cutie at The Greek (7:30)

 

Friday: Dead Sara and Buckcherry at The Roxy (8pm)
ALSO: Kevin Martin at On the Rox (8pm)
ALSO: Taylor Locke & The Roughs (8:30), Lady Sinatra (9:30), Purple Melon (10:30), Hillbilly Herald (12), and Eli James (1am) at The Viper Room
ALSO: TFDI at Saint Rocke (9pm)
ALSO: Keaton Simons at The Hotel Cafe (11pm)
ALSO: Red Light Sky at Amplyfi (9:45)
ALSO: Frightened Rabbit and Death Cab for Cutie at The Greek (7:30)

 

Saturday: SSMF at The Sunset Strip (between The Key Club and The Whiskey) featuring Motley Crue, Bush, Youngblood Hawke, Indians, Love and A .38, Deluka, Queen Caveat, Jordan Cook, Imagine Dragons, Sabrosa Purr, Semi Precious Weapons, and SO MANY MORE (1pm)
ALSO: Walk the Moon at Bootleg Bar (11pm)
ALSO: Taryn Manning at The Hotel Cafe (11pm)
ALSO: Maxim Ludwig & The Santa Fe Seven at The Troubadour (8:15)
ALSO: TFDI at Zoey’s in Ventura (5pm)

 

Sunday: Koffehouse presents 5th Annual Evening of Independence at Ford Amphitheatre featuring Tyrone Wells, Satellite, Allen Stone, Jamestown Revival, Of Verona, Jes Hudak, and MORE (6pm)

 

Monday: Big presentation at work…I’m just pointing this out to emphasize how much the universe hates me right now.

 

 

To Keep in Mind:
August 22nd: Ben Rector at The Hotel Cafe
August 22nd: Scarlet Grey at The Troubadour
August 27-28th: Sunset Junction
September 3rd: FYF
September 22-24: Hotel Carolina (South Carolina)
September 22nd: Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights at The Viper Room
September 24th: William Elliot Whitmore at Bootleg Theater
September 25th: The Lonely Forest at The Wiltern
October 14th: Butterfly Boucher at Bootleg Theater
March 13th-18th: SXSW (Austin, TX)

~ Kristen

http://twitter.com/#!/_localmusicnat