5 Questions with Rags 1 Year Anniversary Spectacular w/ Dan Bern!

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Last month Dan Bern released, Hoody, the latest in a neverending string solid-to-classic records. (I am currently attempting to tackle all of said records in one massive review. I'm struggling. But keep an eye out for it soon. You can read my short review of Hoody for exclaim! here.) The album is further proof to my claim that Dan Bern is one of the greatest living songwriters. His albums have come to serve as marking points in my life. They always have something to give me, whether it be a nugget of wisdom to ponder, a few tears to clean out the ducts or a laugh to get me through a day. His music has been a constant source of inspiration, in fact, if you recall, Dan Bern is the main reason this 5 Questions exists as well as the first answerer of the questions. Doing this over the last year has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. With that in mind, I caught up with Bern last month at his stop here in Victoria and asked him if he'd be into coming back for Round 2 to ring in another year. Just like last time, we did it completely unprepared after the show. I wrote frantically as he answered the questions. The meat is here and the trimmings are in my mind. Don't worry about it. 5 wasn't enough, so we did 10. It's a special occasion. Enjoy.

*As this is the 1 Year Anniversary of the 5 Questions, I've taken a "Best of" approach for this Q&A Extravaganza and taken some of the best Guest Questions.

1. When is the last time you did something for the first time? (DJ Murge)

I don’t recall but I know the next thing I’m going to do for the first time is learn to ride a unicycle. I made a pact with a friend that I would learn. I really gotta get on that.

2. If you could spend a day with anyone living or dead who would it be and what would you do? (The Gaff)

I’d spend a day with my dad. Maybe we’d go to the movies. Or I’d spend the day with my family, just doing what we do.

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5 Questions with Rags #26 - OthaSoul

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If you take hip-hop from afar and don’t look too deeply you may be under the impression that the art form has given way to nothing but crass commercialization. But really, that’s an illusion. There are people making great hip-hop all over the world. In every city there are cats going about the art of hip-hop the right way, imbibing their music with respect for the form, the trail-blazers from the past.

I don’t think of London as a hotbed of hip-hop but somewhere in that concrete jungle OthaSoul are making the goods – Real, gritty, honest hip-hop without shtick or pretension. Their recently release album, The Remedy, is one of the finest, smoothest pieces of art you’re going to put in your ears this year and definitely not something you should be sleeping on. The album is city hip-hop in the most classic sense of the word. I’ve never been to London, but it sounds how I imagine the city feels – heavy breath holding up a pulsing heart, tense and relaxed at once, straddling light and dark. Listen to it, cop it, spread it around because it’s important stuff and music that every hip-hop fan should be introduced to.

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money? Do you still listen to it? Favourite track?

Louis VI: I think it was Nirvana... either that or Quality by Talib Kweli but I think it was Nirvana. 'Come As You Are' was a tuuuuune.

Dozer: Real talks… I got Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield on CD when i was like 10. I don’t know why, I just saw that shit in Virgin Megastore, took it home and listened to it like the weird ass kid I was. It’s actually kinda tragic, cos I didn’t really get into hip hop til the MP3 age had kicked off. So I was getting everything from my boys and just downloading shit. Common was my favourite artist at the time, so me and my homie ran out to go get Universal Mind Control on CD when it came out. Got home, listened to it once, never listened to that piece of shit ever again. Mad disappointing!

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5 Questions with Rags #25 - Weird Party

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Weird Party is holding down the tasty grooves here in Victoria, BC. Wherever you see their name pop up you’re guaranteed to find some rump shakin’ delights. The quintet’s Mellow Funk Vol.1 has been on my headphones pretty regularly this summer (Even though it’s a year old…I was late to the Weird Party! Sorry!) and is required listening for anyone who likes feeling good because of the music they put into their ears. Getting five people together for an interview is a tall order, one that was not going to be conquered here, so I threw out a call and got ahold of saxophonist Anand Greenwell for this installment of the 5 Questions.

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

Yep! Def Leppard Pyromania. I collected empties until I had $10 saved up, then I went to the store and got the record. Haven't listened to it in a while, but I still have the vinyl. My favourite song initially was Stagefright, but later on I liked Die Hard the Hunter the best.

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5 Questions with Rags #24 - Hawksley Workman

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Hawksley Workman is the most interesting man in Canadian music. Now 16 albums deep (Not counting his various side-projects and producer credits), Workman continues to impress with his willingness to follow his muse wherever it takes him. You genuinely never know what you’re going to get when you pick up a Hawksley Workman record and that’s an exciting feeling. His latest, Old Cheetah, his first solo record in 5 years (Not counting the companion album to his one-man show The God that Comes) is another wholly different beast – one awash in bright synths and bouncy pop rhythms. Songs like “Make Up Your Mind Tonight” and “Teenage Cats” will bury their way into your brain and have you singing refrains under the cover of breath all day into dreamtime. “We’re Not Broken Yet” glides through the cosmos fuelled by frustrated wonder, floating on supple piano. With a voice stronger and more evocative than ever and lyrics to match, it’s another more-than-solid outing and one of the finest records we’ve been blessed with this year. I was lucky enough to get a few moments of the good Hawk’s time and get some answers to our silly questions as he prepares to take to the Canadian road on his Winter Bird Tour.

Full tour dates can be found HERE on his site.

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money? 

I don't really remember the first one. My house was full of music and records, so it's a little blurry. I remember convincing my grandma to buy me the Best of Blondie... 

2. If you could spend the day with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do? 

Probably my Grandma Hawksley.  We'd probably go to Swiss Chalet.

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5 Questions with Rags #23 - Chelsea Lou

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Anyone who can make me laugh with an inappropriate joke in a slightly inappropriate place is someone I can get behind. Chelsea Lou told a joke about gluten-intolerance and being barren (I can’t remember the specifics of the joke so you’ll have to go see her live to hear it) during a 10am set at Tall Tree this summer and my laughter echoed off the shocked, hung-over, sun-soaked crowd around me like so many marbles in a billionaire’s empty mansion hallway. Luckily she’s around town fairly often it would seem, like at this year’s Rifflandia (10:30pm, Friday, Sept.19, Intrepid Theatre) where I probably won’t see her because I will be dancing, but you should see her and save some dancing space for me! There’s some more ways to find her down below, after you read our chat.

1. Can you think of a movie that had an effect on the way you saw the world?

I think after I saw Reservoir Dogs I started to get a little more assertive as a human being. It was also around that time I saw Goodfellas. I think that started to inform who I became as a woman, in a lot of ways.

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