Julius Sumner Miller Band of Calgary AB. Pic by Mark Preston
For just over two years now, Calgary Punk Shows has been a force in the promoting of local punk rock talent. On occasion also posting for hard rock or thrash metal, the aim since the beginning has been to promote Calgary's loud and proud bands, primarily focusing on the Punk Rock scene.
From the obscure to the well known local talent, Joel Threat, the founder of the Calgary Punk Shows facebook and Twitter page, has always tried to keep content current and up to speed.
I recently had a chat with my good friend about why he decided to start Calgary Punk Shows.
"Originally, it was just a page where I could throw up posters of shows that I knew about so that friends of mine could know about the shows that were going on that I knew about, and at the same time they could do the same so that we all kind of knew what was going on at the time. Then it just kind of caught on publicly, and more and more people knew about it."
That wasn't the whole reason however. Joel continued to share with me his discontent in the support for underground talent:
"Whenever I would go to a show, I found that there was all these awesome bands, but never alot of people at the show. Like this one time I saw a band called Streetlight Saints and I thought, 'Man these guys rule!' but there was like 2 people watching them. There were people in the bar, but they weren't there for the Saints, and I thought a band this good needed way more support than that. Maybe its not a lack of promotion, but not enough of it. So that's the other reason I started the page. To help out with that"
Streetlight Saints of Calgary AB. Pic by Mark Preston
Joel feels that while there has been a small turnaround in the support of providing venues for punk rock shows, Calgary still has a steep hill to climb.
Gone are the days of decent all ages shows and venues for the kids of Calgary to congregate on a weekend to enjoy some excellent punk rock music. To search and (even harder) to find such an event has proven to be daunting. This is something that Joel hopes, with enough exposure and the right type of promoting, club owners and others alike may open up their doors, not only to the underage crowds, but all who enjoy some fun live music.
A few venues around town have already been making headway for some time in the way of supporting the scene, and the hope is to see more. Venues like Night Owl, Ship and Anchor, Dickens Pub and Tubby Dog already host shows on almost a weekly basis and Calgary Punk Shows advertises these venues regularly on facebook and on Twitter so the fans do not miss out on the latest and loudest our city has to offer.
In addition to posters and shout outs to many of the local talent, Calgary Punk Shows also runs a Podcast currently hosted through Soundcloud. You can listen to the latest, and previous episodes here
While the focus of the podcast has always been local, the mix is truly fresh and never repetitive, with the exception of a featured artist music being played throughout. (Listen to the Darius Koski from Swingin Utters episode here). The podcast also features bands from around the world that may have not been heard on Canadian soil before, or seldom heard entirely, as well as staples in the punk rock world such as Bad Religion, Good Riddance, The Bouncing Souls, Propagandhi to name a few.
Along with playing music and highlighting local music, the Calgary Punk Shows Podcast has also been recently interviewing Canadian, as well as international musicians from the scene, and promoting tours coming through town.
In connection with the support in Calgary of the punk rock scene, Calgary Punk Shows asks artist and fans alike to share and promote the facebook page and podcast to "spread the word" as Joel puts it, so that others who may not have heard about whats going on, are afforded the opportunity to join in.
The Mandates of Calgary AB
"The support for the scene is lacking in our city. We need people to come out to the shows, and to spread the word about what's going on. If you are a band, and have a show coming up, or you want us to play your music on an upcoming episode, send us a message, and we'll do that for you. We WANT you to be heard."
Head on over to the Calgary Punk Shows facebook or Twitter page to check out whats going on this weekend in our city.
-Jay Caption-
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