Lethbridge based  pop/punk band Sleeping with Tuesday’s second CD “Shuffle” is aptly named.
 If you threw the Ramones, the Cars and more reggae inspired Clash into a blender and added a splash of the Knack plus a dash of the Pixies, you’d get something close to Sleeping With Tuesday.
The CD starts off on a more punk note with ‘Ride’ which is followed by ‘Plastic Bottle,’ wouldn’t be out of place on an early ’80s Cars album thanks to the ever so catchy ‘oh,oh, oh’ chorus.

As expected, ‘Ska Sally’ is a straight ahead catchy ska song, complete with saxophones courtesy of Dino Scavo.
The first single,  ‘Fa Fa Phone’ is another synth powered, Cars influenced number which is already getting airplay all over Alberta.

‘Grey’  has the reggae feel down pat and  gives the listener a taste of what one of the band’s incendiary live, jam fueled shows are like.
Vacation maintains the reggae feel, but also  has an underlying R and B / pop feel, which is also reminiscent of Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew.

They slow things right down on ‘Double Solid Line,’ which has a more subdued reggae feel which picks up the tempo near the end.

The Clash influence comes out in singer/ guitarist Johnpaul Smith’s vocals on the ska tinged  ‘Spin Swing.’
 And for an about turn of face, Sleeping With Tuesday end ‘Shuffle’ with a tender acoustic ballad ‘Home.’ Kyle Harmon adds drums to these songs, however the band is already hard at work on the follow-up with the new line up of the band, drummer Dan Berdusco, bassist Dino Scavo, original keyboardist Ryan Mildenburger and Johnpaul Smith on guitar and vocals.

CD: Shuffle
Band: Sleeping With Tuesday
Genre: pop/punk
Record label: Ghostwood Records

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Canadian songwriter Fred Eaglesmith is a national treasure. He always has and always will play by his own rules. He’s made his reputation as an honest, and authentic story-telling country songwriter, who modern ‘country ’ artists are just starting to discover. Allan Jackson just recorded a version of ‘Freight Train,’ Miranda Lambert recorded a version of ‘Time To Get A Gun’ and Toby Keith recorded ‘White Rose.’ In the past, he has had songs recorded by the Cowboy Junkies, Kasey Chambers and Todd Snider among others. He even had a top charting bluegrass hit a few years ago.

Basically Fred can do whatever he wants, so if he wants to go onto the David Letterman show dressed like a medieval duke then he will. If he wants to record a bluegrass album or two, a comedy album, a religious album like his last one ‘Tinderbox’, he can and in the case of his latest and eighteenth  CD — Cha Cha Cha, he goes Bossa-Nova — sort of.

He knows his way around a catchy  guitar and lyrical hook  including the Bossa Nova favoured banjo riff opening the first track ‘Careless,’ and the organ riff of  the very haunting ‘Tricks’ which just sticks in the brain. That’s the great thing about Fred, you never know what to expect from him, but it will almost always be different and almost always really good. So bless him for daring to be different.

 The Fabulous Ginn Sisters also sing beautifully ethereal harmony vocals  on most of the tracks, adding a Supremes style R and B feel to songs like ‘Gone Too Long.’.
Organ and keyboards  are prominently featured on ‘Cha Cha Cha,’ especially on the ‘Dynamite and Whiskey’  which is the closest in theme to classic Eaglesmith, though the vibe has a weirder 54-40 meets Pink Floyd feel to it.
The whole thing, though really unusual is also really addictive and bears repeated listens.