Ride The Tempo – Rifflandia’s The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Ride The Tempo caught our Rifflandia set and asked us about our festival experience. Find out about our time out there as well as some others.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly? We’re more of a Once Upon A Time In The West kind of band. We’ll go with it.

The good:

Anytime we play a city for the first time, I assume no one will be there and no one will care. It’s a defence mechanism, I suppose. So, the good? People were there (and the show was a blast). We got to share the stage with a whole lot of genuine folks; genuine friends. More good? Victoria-based Shake! Records released our album on cassette at Rifflandia and it was our first time meeting Mattie from the label, confirming our belief that Shake! are in it for all of the right reasons. Those ferry rides sure are purty. Considering it was a blizzard just a couple of days earlier in Calgary, the summer weather was a nice treat. The venue we played at was pretty gorgeous and the bar was shaped like a guitar. We have loose plans to recreate Brian Adams’ “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started” video next time we roll through town as a result. Last but not least? Surprisingly great jerk chicken roti (and cheap Dark N’ Stormys) at The Reef.

The bad:

I guess the house sound tech decided to bail on the venue when he found out the first two acts were on the quieter side. It’s his loss because Astral Swans and Raleigh were a joy to watch. This also turned into a bit of a good’n, since it ended up being an ALL-Alberta showcase, with a pal of the bands from Calgary filling in on sound duties at the last minute. It added to the sense that Calgary finds the party in every situation, I think.

The ugly:

I think someone decided to mop the floor with Coca-Cola instead of soap and water. It was sticky. But we’ll choose to call it part of the venue’s ‘character’. All in all, it was nice to be welcomed to the Land of Riffs so open-armedly. If that’s a word. I know it’s not ’cause I looked it up. That’s one of those skills that I learned in my schooooool (etc.).