Music runs in the family for Keiffer McLean, but he came into it on his own for his debut full-length CD “ Drama  in the Attic.”

The Moose Jaw based musician Keiffer McLean brings his guitar prowess to the Owl Acoustic Lounge, June 22 in support of his new CD  “Drama In The Attic.”

Upright and electric bassist Danny Jones will be joining him.

“ It will be a pretty laid back and mellow show,” McLean said, adding his music has been described as baritone folk.

 “It’s because I play folk music but I also sing a lot in the baritone range,” he described.
 His family helped out on his CD , which he released a year ago.

 “ My uncle Al Muirhead is a pretty well known trumpet player in Calgary, played on ‘Jive Turkey.” He’s played with all of the cats like Dizzy Gillespie,” he said.

While Guelph based band the Galacticats have a name more apt to a surf band, they started off as a blues band and eventually turned into a garage  rock band that  blends all of those influences and much more.

You can hear them for yourself at the Slice, June 17 with guests to be announced.

They are enjoying their first tour outside of the Guelph and southern Ontario despite being stuck in Schreiber with a broken down van.

“It’s been really great so far. We’re playing a  a lot of places we haven’t been before,” said lead singer/ bassist Vanessa Tignanelli waiting for that precious part to come in for their van so they can make it to their Winnipeg show.

“We played North Bay and Barrie and a new festival in Sault Ste. Marie called Lobstock, ” she enthused.

Kieran Lehan formed the band back in 2013, but was immediately taken by Vanessa Tignanelli's voice.

 “ So we put a bass in her hand and asked her to join the band,” he said. Alex Harris and Ross Baird complete the band’s line-up.
Lehan noted the band began as a traditional blues band, but soon expanded their sound.
 The band  released their self titled EP this year.

You can never accuse Brandon based musician Shotgun Jimmie of being boring.

 He used to play in Lethbridge a lot but took a step back from music to concentrate on art school in Brandon.

But he made a lasting impression, because he had a good sized crowd when he returned to Lethbridge to bring his one man band to the Owl Acoustic Lounge, June 4. Local shoegaze/ alternative rock band Open Channels opened the show with a solid set of sludgy, fuzzy rock.

 Shotgun Jimmie played drums and guitar and sang, sometimes attaching bells to his head and arms for a couple of songs. He had a set list, but was so taken with the warm response that he completely threw that out the window after the first couple songs.

 He started on an upbeat note with “Suzy,” and carried on from there, introducing a lot of new songs which were very reminiscent of Joel Plaskett.
  He played a new song called “Riding My Bicycle, just accompanying himself on the drums and tackled a Guided By Voices  song a cappella, which had the audience singing along.

 He picked up his guitar and rocked out to a song inspired by Guided by Voices.
 Another new song explored trying to find parts of a DeLorean car. He completely gave up on one song about there being  too many flowers in the summer after confessing he was singing the verses in the wrong order, though the audience would have been happy for him to continue it.

 He cracked wry jokes noting “I know it’s my job to sing, not to pontificate, but you all need to move to Brandon, not that Brandon is worse, but that Lethbridge is better. There’s no place like Owl in Brandon,” he observed.
 He ended his set with a couple of more rocking numbers which had the crowd singing along.

Inferno featured a scorching hot night of rockabilly and psychobilly music, June 3.

 While I missed the opening set from local metal band Lock N’ Load, I arrived in time to catch the immortal and brilliant Butch Haller and his Chesterfield Ramblers — the rockabilly/ country revamped ’80s hits playing alter ego of London, Ontario psychobilly weirdos The Matadors.

Butch Haller is a “92 year-old man kidnapped by The Matadors and forced to perform all of the hits he wrote before they were stolen by bigger name artists.”

 So they played solid and intriguing rockabilly/ twangy country versions of a variety of hits from punk like the Ramones “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” ’80s hits like  Billy Idol’s “ Dancing With Myself,” ’ classics like  AC DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,”  ’90’s one hit wonders like the Bloodhound Gang’s “The Bad Touch” and mega pop hits like Brittany Spears’  “Oops I Did It Again” which I thought were much improved by being turned into rockabilly songs.

Ditto for current club smash hits like Lady Gaga's “Bad Romance” which I didn’t recognize, but which sounded hilarious, though out of place and a little creepy sung by a “ 92-year-old.”

 Musically,  Haller had some impressive guitar playing chops. Vocally, he sounded like a mix of Fred Eaglesmith and Nash the Slash.

He ended  with “A song I wrote for my buddy Kevin who died in Korea,” called Stairway to Kevin, which blending Stairway to Heaven and Ghost Riders In The Sky.”
 I only caught the last song of Nikki Valentine.

 The Matadors were cool. They reminded me a of  a slightly more twisted Reverend  Horton Heatmixed with AC DC playing rockabilly music, with plenty of high octane Telecaster twanging and manic energy.

 I didn’t buy them as the Devil worshipping anarchists they sell themselves as, but they did a “Hell” of a job of playing the Devil’s music and then some. I couldn’t really hear the lyrics over guitar and thumping upright bass.

Frontman Butch Haller … er Hooch Parkins (without the very convincing old man mask and sweatsuit’s jacket) and bedazzled guitar were emblazoned with flames and fit right in with the Inferno theme, not to mention their latest record “Say You Love Satan.”
They had some pretty hard core fans  singing along with much of their set.

They ended their set by singing about nymphomaniac zombies and then a cover  of Bruce Springsteen “Born To Run” before calling it a night at around 1 a.m.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor