Regina based band Bears In Hazenmore are all about horns and having a good time playing jazz inspired rock music.
They play Attainable Records, Feb. 18.
They are touring in support of their latest CD “Airwaves.”

 They formed in Swift Current and attended music school together.
Bassist/ saxophonist/ clarinetist and keyboardist  Dana Rempel even lived in Lethbridge for a year, so he is excited to return for a visit.

“I was there last summer for  a wedding. We’ve all been to Lethbridge, but we’ve never played there as a band, he said.

“We all grew up playing in band — concert band and jazz band. We’ve all studied horns and woodwind instruments. We have a lot of classical, jazz and pop influences. That is how we built the sound,” Rempel said.

Nova Scotia born, High River based multiple Juno award winning Canadian country icon George Canyon has “ got this.”
 He has a beautiful family, 11 CDs to his credit including his latest “ I Got This,” and is the Calgary Flames official national anthem singer. He has also got two Lethbridge shows coming up, Feb. 22 and 23 at Average Joes in support of the new CD.
 He also has computer problems.

“ I had computer problems, so I’m running late. I’m supposed to be at rehearsal now, so the boys will have to start with out me,” Canyon rumbled from his Southern Alberta home.

He chose songs which resonated with him, and while most of them have a nostalgic tone,  that wasn’t deliberate.
“ I have a 17 year old son and a 16 year old daughter. That  got me wondering where did it all go,” Canyon observed, adding he took his time to  do the new record right.

“We haven’t done a record of original material since 2011, so we took two years to really do it right. All and all it’s been  a lot of fun getting it all ready. It’s been a blast,“ Canyon enthused.

One of the songs that spoke to him immediately was ‘Sesame Street,”
“ As soon as  that song was pitched to me I almost rolled out of my chair laughing. It was so fun y and so trueBecause I remember living all of that. I remember watching Sesame Street when I was 10 years old on an old TV,” Canyon said, noting he  has written with “Sesame Street ” songwriters Matt Jenkins and Shane McAnally.

Montreal blues musician Cécile Doo Kingué is excited about life.

 She has just released Anybody Listening Part 2: Dialogues  the second in a series of albums and she is on the road again with beloved band mates  drummer Anthony Pageot and bassist Pierre Desmarias.

She was to play Plum, Feb 17, but unfortunately had to cancel as over the weekend, the band’s van was broken into and her mother passed away. Mwansa Mwansa and  Aaron Collier will be be performing a fundraiser for Doo-Kingue, Feb. 17 instead.

“It’s going great,” I’ve been blessed,“ said  Doo-Kingué from just outside of Kelowna, Feb. 9 where she recorded part one of her Anybody Listening trilogy.
“ The new CD has had a nice welcoming from critics and audiences. So so far, so good,” she enthused.
The CD includes six new songs and six songs from Part One.

“ Those songs spoke to me, so  I invited them back,” she said.

 The six new songs include a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression.”

“It  is one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite guitarists. And it is about mental illness. It doesn’t advocate it, but it brings it to  your attention,” she said, noting the CD includes deeper, darker songs that will make the listener think as well as really uplifting, happy songs.
“Life is beautiful, so the music will make you smile, it will make you think and it will make you shake your ass as well,” she said.

 She invited some of her friends and  family to play on the CD.

There were almost more people on stage then there were in the audience as Kitchener Waterloo based indie pop band Royal Streets visited the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Feb. 3.

Of course it was a Wednesday night and there were seven band members on stage playing guitars, drums, bass and keyboards as well as adding  subtle vocal harmonies.
 I arrived at the end of their first set and had to wait for a while before they began their second set.

 They are touring in support of their new single “ Champagne Floats” which they saved until the end of a perky, upbeat, pop filled show.

 They played uptempo indie rock along the lines of Said The Whale with a touch of the Police plus elements of Teagan and Sarah and some sultry Serena Ryder so there were plenty of  chiming, ambient guitars and catchy keyboard hooks.

Frontman Eric Stirtzinger and Julia Bannard sang most of the lead vocals with the other band members chiming in background vocals.

The duo started the second set on their own playing a couple of covers from Angus Stone and George Ezra, for which they tried to get the audience, who had grown to 20 by then, to sing along.

 They played a solid set of easy-going, soothing, hypnotic music. which started slow and built up to an intense crescendo.

 They also introduced a couple of extended jams on new songs including Killing Flowers before winding their set down with the new single Champagne Floats and one other song.