Stylus Counsel | Area Resident’s Records
As a musician, I use Spotify for marketing — no reasonable indie artist like me would ever expect to get rich and famous on such a platform. As a...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Bands With Fake Accents
Man, we used to really laugh at Klaatu. No question the late ’70s Canadian band had some great songs — and even a fairly major hit, made even bigger...
20 Questions With Tommy Marz
Tommy Marz released his new EP Chasing Light a couple of weeks ago. The six-song set features five originals — including his single Summer Bummer — along with his...
Back Stories | My 2010 Interview With Merle Haggard
Since Ken Burns’ latest superb music documentary series Country is airing this month, I figured it made sense to pull out some interviews I've done with country legends over...
Stylus Counsel | Area Resident’s Records
Twice Luba has surprised me. The first time was when she was on a Canada Day concert bill along with The Box, Tragically Hip, Kim Mitchell and (I think)...
20 Questions With Sam Robbins
Sam Robbins is older than he looks — in more ways than one. The baby-faced Nashville singer-songwriter and former Voice contestant has probably been carded for every beer he's ever...
Stylus Counsel | Area Resident’s Records
I did a quick tally to see how many of my own Area Resident songs have a person's name in the title. The answer is three: Louise, You Can't...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Someone Shut That Kid Up!
One of the times I really enjoy putting a record on is while I'm folding laundry. It's kind of anything-goes time, because it's just for me. I always seem...
Thunder Pie | Powder Burns: A Pocket-Sized Essay Collection
CougarPineBeaverDeath.
My left hand is numb lately. My whole left arm feels strange to be honest. It started a few weeks ago, just when the mega rapid heartbeat days from...
Back Stories | My 1999 Interview With Paul Westerberg
What can I say about Replacements singer-guitarist Paul Westerberg that hasn't already been said far more eloquently by far more talented writers than me? Well, I can say this:...
Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Ernie Tucker, The Old Pornophoner
In many ways, the movie Boogie Nights was no work of fiction. But the sex industry wasn't confined to cinema in the filthy 1970s — there are plenty of...
Thunder Pie | Slightly Blue Comets Up for Anything
“Something I like to do a lot is just sit by water when there’s a current and just stare into the water. I don’t fish, I don’t hunt, I...
Rewinding July | The Best Loudness
You know what they say: If it's too loud, you're too ... something. Honestly, I couldn't make it out above the ringing. Anyway, here are some of the noisier...
Read A Chapter Of Robert Lawson’s Definitive New Guess Who Listener’s Guide Wheatfield Empire
Canadian rock scribe and former Winnipegger Robert Lawson has just published Wheatfield Empire: The Listener's Guide To The Guess Who, an extensively researched, exhaustively detailed and superbly written deep...
20 Questions With Rich Jacques
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and producer Rich Jacques taught us that Joy Follows Like a Shadow That Never Leaves when he shared his single and video by that name HERE in...
