Rapper and Battleaxe Warrior, plus Swollen Members member Shane Bunting aka Madchild will always represent Canada even though he has called Los Angeles home for the past year.
 Madchild plays Inferno, Jan. 1.
“I love L.A. But I’m always proud to be a Canadian and I’ll always represent Canada,” he said, driving through the Rocky Mountains,  to play several Western Canadian dates including the Jan. 1 show at Inferno.
“ I love L.A. There’s beautiful sunsets every day and I can walk my dog on the beach,” he said, adding he will always return to Canada to perform.
“B.C and ALberta are also beautiful but in a different way. I’ve toured Canada three times this year. Who does that? Tours Canada three ti times in the winter,” Madchild said, adding it doesn’t rain as much in L.A. as it does in Vancouver.
He moved to L.A. for a change in scenery , not to mention a change in weather and for his career.
 Everything happens either in L.A. or New York. There’s a lot here. There’s Sirius XM radio and B-Real TV, so things move fast. I’ve met people and I’ve got a lot of friends there, so I found I could accomplish so much more in a short amount of time,” he said.

“Some parts of L.A. aren’t good, but I live in a pretty fancy neighbourhood,” he said.
He released a new CD (His first one while living in L.A)  “Silver Tongued Devil” earlier this year which he needs to support.

“I guess it is my first album in L.A. It’s done great. It was number two album and made it into the Top 200 albums of the year. So  it’s really done well,” he said.
“ An album used to be a part of  a certain point in your life (for audiences). An album used to remind you of  that time in your life.  But it’s not that way anymore. Rappers usually have  three month careers now. Even Dr. Dre released an album people had been waiting 20 years for,” he said observing even it had a short shelf life.
“ Unfortunately there will never be another Dylan or Jimi Hendrix. That’s just how it is,” he said adding it is rare for a musician to have staying power, so he feels blessed to  have maintained a career rapping for 17 years.

“ I feel blessed to be able to do this for the past 17 years and I’ll do my best to continue it,” he said.
A lot of the songs are about his recovery from an expensive , $3 million addiction to the painkillers oxycodone and percocets.
“There was no real information about them then. I was an addict and I didn’t even know it. Before I could take or leave drugs. I didn’t want to stick a needle in my arm,” he said, emphasizing he is not completely sober.

It is always great to see local blues rock band Zojo Black. They returned to the Slice, Dec. 19 to rock the joint blues rock style.

Frontman Greg Gomola and Paul Kype traded lead vocals and solos and played  a few harmonized guitar solos as well. The set I heard was mostly original material or reworked numbers from their debut self-titled CD.

One of the highlights, as always, was the reggae tinged blues of “Modern Day Marilyn Monroe” as well as their cover of Deep Purple’s  “Hush.”

They also played a Johnny Cash medley of Get Rhythm and Folsom Prison blues which showed how tight bassist Tyson Maiko and drummer Brady Valgardson were.
 

They added a couple other new ones. One I didn’t recognize called “Mother Blues” and a solid cover of Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me.”

Paul Kype played some pretty solos on these as Gomola took the solo on “You Wreck Me.”



— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

The annual December show from local rock band Queen of the Worms is always a reunion of sorts as it attracts long lost friends from far and wide as it did at the Slice, Dec. 23.

Because the band plays so rarely, as the members are in numerous other bands, a Queen of the Worms is an event.
 

Frontman Tyler Bird, in a leg cast, sat down and sang and played guitar on two sets of upbeat, gritty , jangling rock and roll. Bassist Paul Holden and drummer Clayton Smith plus rhythm guitarist Devon provided solid rhythm.


More straight ahead rocker “Pussy on Wheels”  about “a cat who drives a Cadillac” was a highlight with the good sized audience, who called for an encore at the end of the show, which was a more laid back version of the song.
 

They got a few dancers for the more upbeat, straight ahead rockers and even had a few people singing along, who had doubtlessly seen Queen of the Worms before.
 Their music showed some pretty diverse influences including country, rock, grunge and even a touch of reggae.


— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

Victoria transplanted, Lethbridge based songwriter Leeroy Stagger received some much deserved validation by winning this year’s PEAK Performance competition for Alberta and B.C.
The PEAK Performance Project is a seven-year, $4.9 million contest open to all musicians in Alberta. The program, run by Calgary’s 95.3 The PEAK and Alberta Music, has the goal of developing Alberta-based emerging artists.

The project, originally created in Vancouver by 102.7 The PEAK and Music BC, has helped launch the careers of many fine bands including Edmonton’s the Wet Secrets, Good For Grapes, Said the Whale, Dear Rouge, Kyprios, The Belle Game, Current Swell and We Are the City and many others. 

Each year, 12 finalists from Alberta receive an intensive, one week, training program in the music business, live performance, songwriting, marketing and promotion.

Artists benefit from mentorships from some of the music industry’s top professionals and performers. Each of the finalists receives a base camp award of $5,000 to spend towards career development.

All of these artists have the chance to perform live in Calgary as part of the PEAK Performance Project Concert Series. Of these 12 artists, three will receive cash prizes towards career development, with the top 3 performing live at the PEAK Performance Project Finale. The first prize is  $100,953.00; Second Place $75,000 and Third Place is $50,000.
Stagger has been slogging it out as an independent musician over the course about a dozen years and 10 albums and was even considering giving up the business to focus on his family and furniture making business, so he was ecstatic to win the $100,953 grand prize.

“It’s like having a really great record deal and not having to pay it back,” he said, adding while he has a few different musical projects including his trio Easton Stagger and Phillips, the prize has been earmarked for his solo career, particularly recording a new album.