After dropping out of high school, local musician, poet, scholar, and all-around figure in the local cultural scene, Jeremy Stewart found himself stuck in an undesirable situation. So, he decided to quite drastically change things for the better.
    Shacked up with five other people in a one bedroom Vancouver apartment, working at a go-nowhere fast food joint, Stewart found himself apathetic towards the Lower Mainland’s cultural scene, opting to wander around and smoke during his days off instead of taking it all in.
    He didn’t like his life down there, so he went back home to Prince George.
    Back home on Prince George he started getting serious about music. Although he’d previously been in a few bands in an attempt to be the next Kurt Cobain, it was at this point that he began carving a unique voice for himself. Stewart soon started a short-lived metal band without a name, with a friend. Short-lived, because during an excursion to Edmonton to break into the music scene out there plans fell through and Stewart ended up sleeping in a parking lot.
    “I was 18 years old, and I didn’t know anyone or anything,” he explained.

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>>> Two more shows left! January 26 and 27 at Art Space - shows beginning at 8 p.m. 
  The first of three back-to-back evenings of local music certainly exhibited a Prince George flavour, with six local musical groups performing at Art Space, the venue above Books and Company on Third Avenue downtown. 
    Festival organizer Jo Beattie put it best when she addressed the audience near the end of the evening, saying “It’s great having out-of-town artists, but in the end this is our people.”
    With some of the musician’s lyrics inspired by Northern BC, others by Prince George, and specifically their personal history in the city, the evening’s talent was enough to make one fall in love with the city all over again.

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(This article is a sneak preview of the upcoming for-sale issue of Cutbanks devoted to profiles on interesting local people)
     Rob Dunlop, one of Prince George’s most prolific musical talents of the past decade, having released several albums under different names and with different musicians, including Maple You Know, Big Old Eyes, Dry Socket, Hey Everyone, and most recently Riverhorse, is quite the humble guy, currently disinterested in releasing any of his future recordings to the public or performing.
    “I don’t want to release an album again unless it’s something I’m excited about,” Dunlop said, adding that it will likely be with band accompaniment – which disqualifies his longest-running musical project – the solo Maple You Know.
    His reasoning is quite simple – he makes albums for himself, not for you. They’re like paintings for himself.

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     Improvised dance music was the item of choice for fans of dance music, December 26, when DJ Walko (Sam Watkinson) unveiled the tunes with local electo group Oxyvox, consisting of Isaac Smeele on drums and Mark Burns on keyboards.
     The Boxing Day evening’s danceable fun kicked off a trio of electronic music shows, with the first taking place at the intimate Raven Haven venue next to Sassafras Savouries on George Street downtown. With Smeele behind the drums, Burns behind the keyboards and electronic equipment, and Watkinson behind another set of electronics, the trio faced a daunting amount of equipment. Although the trio of musicians were playing other people’s music, they added their flair to it with a layer of musicianship mixed within the songs, creating a sound uniquely their own.

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     That quiet, happy-looking guy sitting behind the drums of local rock group The Concerns of Royalty, in addition to great skill as a drummer, is also a very talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. But if you hadn’t read this article you probably would have never known it.
     Wintemute produced only 20 copies of his latest album, titled It’s Not What It Looks Like to give away to a handful of friends, and doesn’t plan on printing any more.
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     Although Vanderhoof’s population is about 1/8 that of Prince George’s approximate 80,000, the community, an hour West of Prince George, has managed to birth at least one great folk band in Rosewood’s Diary.
    The band, consisting of members Gregory Ventin on vocals and guitar, Katie Scheffers on various instruments and vocals, and Wesley Neufeld on bass guitar, got together musically last winter in order to record their debut album, Tales of Hope & Crescendos. Recorded with a few other local musicians, the album consists of 10 songs written by Ventin, the driving force behind the band’s creation.
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     Two new dark-themed local metal bands with names inspired by human sacrificial ceremonies performed at Art Space to an unfortunately small crowd November 17, with Vale of Hinnom playing their first-ever show and Eve of Ostara playing their second show under their new name.
     “This is our first actual show, but we’ve played parties,” Vale of Hinnom drummer Dez Plain explained.
     Also in Vale of Hinnom is Kieran Blishen on guitar and vocals, Josh Lamarsh on guitar, and Carter White on bass.
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     Local rock bands Alter Ego, Lost Cause 34 and Dangercat did an excellent job of warming up a group of devoted fans November 2 during a show at Art Space, opening for Calgary pop/punk band Kiros.
     A number of music lovers from DP Todd Secondary School showed up for the show thanks to Lost Cause 34 lead singer Darby Yule’s efforts towards building the local music scene. Yule had organized for Kiros to perform at DP Todd earlier on in the day, with a number of students impressed enough with the performance to show up for the band’s second performance of the day at Art Space.
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     As a preview to the upcoming ColdSnap 2010 festival, Prince George’s newest band, 22-9, opened for Mark Berube and the Patriotic Few to a packed house on Sunday, October 25. The chairs went right up to the stage at the popular Art Space venue above Books & Co. and the crowd was eager to get as close as possible to the evening’s performers.
     With only the slightest delay in start times, 22-9 took the stage for the first time ever as a band, and started into playing their cover of All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan, although it sounded closer to Hendrix’s version. The three-man band consisted of guitarist Conrad Turner, percussionist Daryl Beauregard and Joey Goldie on harmonica.
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     Veteran Prince George metal bands Cera and Throat Kick performed their first shows after both bands’ performance hiatuses, October 23, opening for Nanaimo band The Perfect Trend and Edmonton group The Maddigans.
    First to the stage was Quesnel band The Sky Venture, a metal band that has been together for about a year now. With their fingers racing across his guitar, guitar players Riley McGregor and Justin Hart showed significant talent as thrash metal guitarists.
    On Quesnel, vocalist James Stedham said there are only a couple of bands in town, which isn’t nearly as many as he feels there should be. Considering the band’s talents, there certainly should be.  
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     Thanks to word of mouth and a devote local fan group formed by previous appearances in Prince George, a large crowd showed up at Art Space on Thanksgiving evening in order to see Hamilton Ontario musician/crazy guy BA Johnston share his hilarious lyrics and antics.
     Following two opening acts, including Prince George group The Concerns of Royalty and New Brunswick musician Shotgun Jimmy, who was travelling with Johnson, Johnson paraded onto to the stage, decked in a navy uniform and sparklers, accompanied by a dramatic 70’s TV theme.
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>>> Online exclusive! (Posted Oct. 10)
Click on the image to view a video bootleg Cutbanks filmed at Cafe Voltaire, October 9, of local musicians STAMO, Theresa Jordan, and poet Elain Yorston.

     Having moved from Prince George to Montreal during September of last year, local musician Scott Dunbar has had a whirlwind time of things.
     Upon arriving in Montreal he promptly set out to make a name for himself in the city’s music community. Rather than market himself with publicists and radio singles, as most musicians do, clogging the market with yet another person doing the exact same thing, he set out busking.
     Cutbanks managed to sit down with Dunbar for his first-ever interview, in downtown Prince George October 8. Anxious and enthusiastic to perform again, Dunbar was scheduled to return to Montreal the following morning, hitchhiking back to the city with his girlfriend, whom he met in Montreal.
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    It was an evening of firsts at Art Space, September 30, when a brand new local garage band, Riverhorse, played their first-ever show and local death core band Abrogation’s Crown played in a new form. Both bands opened for Montreal punk band The Brains.
     Riverhorse was first to the stage. Consisting of the duo that brought together Maple You Know, Rob Dunlop on guitar and vocals and Leigh O’Neill on drums, there are many similarities between the two bands. The main difference between the two is that Riverhorse cranks the volume and distortion a bit higher than Maple You Know, creating more of a garage rock sound.
     “The vision in our heads of the songs are psychedelic, but I don’t know if it comes across,” Dunlop said.
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    An all-local group of professional musicians descended upon Fort George Park the afternoon of Sunday September 27 for the 9th Annual BC Rivers Day Music Festival, whose theme this year was Our Local Fish.
     Lheidli T'enneh chief Dominic Frederick opened the festival by welcoming the crowd to the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh people.
     “We welcome you to the Lheidli T’enneh traditional territory and we hope you have a good time today,” he said.
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     A myriad of young local musicians took to the stage during the last ever Friday Night at The Raven Haven, the venue next to Sassafras Savouries on George Street, September 26.
     Usually hosted by local musician Jeremy Stewart, for this Friday fellow local musician Isaac Smeele, 17, took over, inviting several of his musical friends to help usher in an intimate night of music.
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     It was a mellow and folkie acoustic Thursday night, September 17 at Pizzarico’s, when headliners The Rough Sea, Ottawa’s folkie, slightly intoxicated and foul-mouthed version of The Arbitrarys, came to town.
     First to the stage was singer/songwriter Mike Houg of local punk band Alter Ego. Leaving his band for the evening to play a different type of music, Houg filled his set with personal songs about places he’s visited – mainly pubs- and Irish folk songs.
     “This is only my second time playing a show, but I’ve played open mics also,” Houg said of his set.
     His band Alter Ego have been around for almost a year, though have only had their current lineup since last May when drummer Chester Hawkins joined the group. Other members are Kevin Stokes on guitar and Kevin Vickers on bass and vocals.
     Next up was local musician Abby Drougel who gave the crowd her first public performance.
     “It’s soulful pop. There’s really no other way to describe it,” she said of her musical style, adding that although she doesn’t intend it to be pop-styled music that’s what she’s been told.
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