Witchpolice Radio

This week, we sat down -- in a room festooned with hilarious black light posters -- with Mac and Mark of 90s-influenced noisemaking duo Mmars. They're releasing their debut Fuzzstronaut album July 22 at the Good Will, so we talk about the new tape (which is fantastic, by the way) and a lot more!

Coming off last month's successful release of their second EP, Genre Fluid, Winnipeg punks Badpants are making a name for themselves in the local scene. We talk about their diverse influences (hence the title of the record), the eternal appeal of '90s punk, navigating the world of promoting their music online... and much more!

One of our favourite local acts, instrumental post-rockers Black Cloud, are back on the show to promote their new record and talk about a number of absolutely ridiculous things. The new disc (on Transistor 66!) Void, drops May 26 with a release show at The Handsome Daughter.

Ryan takes on main hosting duties this week, alongside his creepy Uncle Tony (from Union Stockyards) as co-host. They sit down with the almighty Rick Philip, Winnipeg punk rock pioneer and frontman of Crown of Thorns. They talk shop about Rick's long history throughout the country and his upcoming show opening for the legendary Cro-Mags! This episode (which was actually recorded a couple of months back) acts as an unofficial preview of a Witchpolice spin-off podcast Ryan and Tony are going to host on a semi-regular basis, so stay tuned for more! The songs on this episode might be slightly out-of-order because they gave me a USB with some songs, with no indication of where in the podcast those songs should be placed. I guessed. Sorry.

I'm still excited about this one. Beloved children's entertainer (and straight-up Canadian music legend) Fred Penner was at the top of my unofficial 'dream' list of potential guests, and I finally got the chance to sit down with him. Fred is currently promoting his (excellent) 13th LP, Hear the Music, and we talked about the record, his remarkable 45+-year career, and more! Stay tuned 'til the end to hear a couple of live performances! Big thanks to UMFM 101.5 (which broadcasts this show) for giving me access to one of their studios for this episode. Unfortunately, we had a mic issue, so although Fred came through loud and clear, the audio for some of my questions had to be tweaked and/or re-recorded in the editing process.

This week's episode features an interview and live performances by Winnipeg alt-rock outfit and 'wall of sound' **TUSK**. We talk about their (excellent) new disc, _Headroom_ , plus their roots in rural Manitoba, the origins of their sound and more!

Winnipeg punks Elder Abuse are on the verge of releasing their new LP, Burnt, so Witchpolice sat down with frontman Alex Guidry to talk about the record, crazy Asia tour stories, the continuing appeal of pop-punk, and the logistics of having a band with members in different cities. The Burnt album release show takes place this Friday at The Good Will. If you like this podcast, please support it on Patreon. For as little as $1 a month, you can help us improve all aspects of the show going forward, from equipment to a new website...and you'll get access to bonus material! Thanks to everyone who has supported the show so far, including our newest patron, Myles Erickson!

We're always suckers for '90s nostalgia here at Witchpolice Radio, so Winnipeg's Silence Kit -- with their resurrected grunge sound -- were an obvious choice as guests. The band is releasing its excellent debut album, Started As A Whisper, this Friday at The Handsome Daughter. They talked about their origins in two separate projects that joined forces, their high-energy stage shows and a lot more... plus hear an exclusive live acoustic performance and get an advance listen to some tracks from the new record!

If you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, you'll know there are two distinct types of episodes: serious, earnest one-on-one interviews, and chaotic conversations with a large group of people. This episode -- with Winnipeg noise/punk/metal/whatever heroes Dead Ranch -- is definitely the latter. Dead Ranch is about to release its long-awaited Brumation full-length (April 14 at the Good Will with friends of the show Black Cloud and Thronetorcher, plus Endless Chaos). We talk about the recording process, their upcoming European tour, the way their sound has evolved, tapes vs. vinyl vs. streaming... and cheese pizza. Apologies for the interview's less-than-perfect audio quality, which had a lot to do with the window being open and some kind of gathering happening in the next room. The quality of conversation, though....PHOAAOWWW!

Things get psychedelic this week as we talk to Ed Durocher and Dave Guenette of instrumental space warriors Apollo Suns. We talk about their debut EP, Each Day a Different Sun, which is being released April 8 at The Good Will, plus their work on the short film An Impossible Bond. We also go deep into the band's songwriting, arranging for a seven-piece group, and their influences, which include the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Dune.

We didn't forget about this one! Our interview with 3/4 of skate-punk revivalists Stickaround was actually recorded back in February, but kept getting bumped due to more time-sensitive episodes jumping the queue. Here it is, finally, in all its glory: an episode chock-full of punk rock, Winnipeg nostalgia, and way too much smoking indoors!

...so for whatever reason, everyone is releasing new albums in April and May. In order to accommodate all of the great local bands who have been getting in touch to talk about their new releases, we've had to do some unconventional interviews, including this one, with Hearing Trees bassist Seamus Hamilton-Pattison. It's a conversation from a coffee shop inside a bookstore. Hearing Trees will be releasing their new three-song EP, Puppets, on April 12 at The Park Theatre. We talk about the EP (recorded live off the floor in a Winnipeg cocktail bar), Seamus' other band (Greek Riots, who announced their pending break-up shortly after we recorded the interview), punk rock, and a lot more.

Witchpolice is coming at you once again with a live-performance-heavy episode, this time featuring R&B/soul/jazz singer-songwriter Marisolle Negash. Inspired as much by '90s hip-hop soul as classic R&B (and beyond), Marisolle has one of the most unique voices in the local scene and is gearing up to release her debut single, "Spaceship", March 17 at Forth.

A guest on the podcast twice before (as a member of Autumn Still), Roger Arsenault sat down with a ukulele to talk about his Roger's Arsenal project -- a longtime side gig that he's finally bringing to the forefront. In a wide-ranging episode, we talk about Roger's upcoming album, transitioning from being part of a group to performing solo, his own (currently dormant) podcast and a lot more. Plus, he performs live, including some never-before-heard material!

Returning guests Smoky Tiger and JD Ormond sat down to talk about the upcoming three-way Smoky Tiger / Ultra Mega / Blond(e) Goth album release and the Manitobandits supergroup that will be performing songs from all three on Friday at The Good Will. Smoky and JD also gave us some wonderful stripped-down live versions of a few Manitobandits songs.

On Jan. 29, we took our ongoing series of improvised Big Mix-Up live shows to the logical next step and presented an allstar edition, featuring some of our favourite performers (along with a couple of ringers) from the previous shows. This installment of the Mix-Up featured Jill Alexander, Greg Arcade, Tim Haverluck, Harley James Flett, Kumaran Reddy, Sam Little, Ashley Bieniarz, Jon Askholm, Grant Partridge, Paul Durrant, Darryl Reilly, Aaron Young,Rob Busch and Josh Ayers. As usual with these things, there was so much going on onstage that we didn't have a convenient way to record off the board, so we just set up our recorders in the room. Quality is a little spotty, but you absolutely get the feel for how chaotic and fun these things are. Huge thanks to the Park Theatre and especially sound guy Matt Mayor for putting up with this live craziness time and again. We really appreciate it.

Jesse Matas of critically-acclaimed local folk/roots touring machines The Crooked Brothers has a long history with Witchpolice. His first-ever band (circa 1995) featured current Witchpolice Radio host Sam on guitar and past co-host/longtime collaborator Rob Crooks on vocals. He has also released a number of recordings on the site itself and in connection with various pre-Witchpolice attempts at starting record labels. While the Crooked Bros. are on a brief hiatus from their hectic road life, Jesse sat down to talk about solo work, songwriting, his experiences as a working musician inside and outside of the band, and more. He also performed a number of live acoustic songs (including a cover tune and a Crooked Bros. classic), which you'll hear throughout the episode.

Folk-punk troubadour Greg Rekus is one of those guys we've always wanted to have back on the show. His first appearance was at the beginning of 2014, but has a long history with us that pre-dates the podcast. Greg's old bands (Lacking Intelligence, later High Five Drive) played plenty of shows with our shitty bands as far back as the late '90s. Since 2011 or so, Greg has gone the solo acoustic route and he has engaged in non-stop touring. When we arrived at his house to do the interview, he had literally just come off the road minutes earlier after a 30-hour drive back to Winnipeg from Las Vegas! On this episode, Greg talks about his reputation as a road warrior, about his solid new record, Sibling Cities (which will be released at The Handsome Daughter this Friday if you're in Winnipeg) and about what the future holds for an old punk in a young man's game. If you notice an additional voice chiming in here and there, that's Paul, who was hanging out during the interview.

Before they skipped town to continue on their western Canada tour, we hopped in a van with pan-Canadian supergroup Julie and the Wrong Guys to talk about the logistics of touring with a side project, their new 7" and upcoming full-length, and much more! The group consists of solo artists Julie Doiron (yes, that Julie Doiron) and Eamon McGrath, plus the rhythm section of Toronto heavy-hitters Cancer Bats: Jaye R. Schwarzer and Winnipegger Mike Peters.

On Jan. 22, we hung out at historic Osborne Village apartment block The Roslyn with our new friends The Village Idiots to try a really fun live experiment. The show, which we're calling "The Little Mix-Up" was a livestreamed preview of this Sunday's Big Mix-Up Allstars show. It followed the usual Mix-Up "Whose Line is it Anyway? but for music" format, but instead of audience members yelling out genres of music and song topics, they made their requests online via Facebook Live. For the show, we enlisted Tim Haverluck (of The Tims) on guitar and vocals, Darryl Reilly (of Guerrillas of Soul) on sax, and Kumaran Reddy of Cilly Cyb Fung High on bass. They deftly tackled suggestions from "reggae/McDonald's menu" to "bluegrass/narcolepsy" and a lot more. This is a collab we'd absolutely like to do again, and incorporating video (of some kind) into our future projects is starting to seem like a must-do in 2017.

This week's guest, rapper E.GG, was involved in two of 2016's best local albums -- 3Peat's debut EP and the more personal, contemplative Alverstone, a solo joint that snuck in at the end of the year and gets better with every listen. We hung out after-hours in a barbershop to chat with E.GG about how his upbringing in Winnipeg's West End neighbourhood shaped him as an artist, his goals for both 3Peat and his burgeoning solo career, and his desire to introduce Alverstone and his unique storytelling style to listeners outside of the local rap scene... beginning with a solo show Feb. 10!

Music photographer/blogger Dwayne Larson was all over Witchpolice in 2016. Starting with an appearance on the show as a guest in the spring, he returned as part of our photography panel show at the Handsome Daughter in the fall. He wasn't only a guest, though. Dwayne conducted interviews with a number of out-of-town and touring acts (Chixdiggit, Limblifter, Safe to Say, Son of Dave) for his It's A Music Thing website throughout the year, and he was kind enough to share the audio of those interviews for use on the podcast as well . Some of those interviews, due to episodes that were more time-sensitive, etc., didn't see the light of day on Witchpolice Radio... until now. Here's a compilation of short conversations Dwayne had with members of iconic '90s punks Face to Face, Canadian psychobillies the Creepshow, and up-and-coming New Orleans hardcore band Pears. All three were in Winnipeg at various times during the latter part of the year.

We didn't forget about this episode! Back in the summer, co-host Ryan moved over to the guest chair (along with collaborator Tina) to talk about his Thieveswpg art collective. Due to other episodes being more time-sensitive, this episode continually got bumped until now. If you're a recent listener, this one is a little different than what you've been used to over the latter part of 2016. Because it was recorded earlier in the year, it follows the old random song selection format rather than being an in-depth feature on a particular artist. We talk to Ryan and Tina about the inception and growth of Thieves, as well as the trials and tribulations of being DIY, independent visual artists in Winnipeg today. I haven't listened to this episode since it was originally recorded, so I guess it's a bit of a surprise for everyone!

We're not the only game in town. A group of Osborne Village residents going by the name The Village Idiots have also been exploring Winnipeg's vibrant music scene.. but instead of a podcast, they're focused on live-streaming. The Idiots' Wednesday night program, Live at the Roslyn, offers local artists the chance to perform in an intimate setting for an ever-growing audience tuning in via Facebook Live. We sat down with the Live at the Roslyn braintrust to talk about their project, about embracing social technology to promote local music, and more.

...so when we told Union Stockyards they were welcome back on the show any time they wanted, we didn't think it was going to be so soon! Our favourite local punks (last heard on episode #199) jumped at the chance to promote their upcoming show with brand-new locals Agapito (featuring current or former members of Cancer Bats, The Duhks and Stockyards themselves) on Dec. 29 at The Handsome Daughter. We packed most of Stockyards and Agapito into a jamspace and recorded a pretty out-of-control gong-show of an episode... with a twist. This one was filmed as well!

Folk/country/roots troubadour Kevin Roy is back on the show for his third appearance since 2014! He's currently promoting his fantastic new record Heartworn Highways. We talk about the album, the trials and tribulations of being a full-time musician, his recording and songwriting process and much more!

Just a warning on this one: the audio is pretty rough. It was recorded above a venue while a metal band rehearsed in the next room. It is what it is… a really fun, strange conversation with ¾ of very, very sad art-pop (glamour pop?) act iansucks, while some other band bashes away in the background. We talk (at length) about which audiobooks to listen to on tour, the band’s excellent new album (Don't Give in to the Bad Feelings), and a lot more.

When we released our most recent Big Mix-Up episode (#3 in the series so far!), a lot of listeners had the same question: who was the girl with the huge voice? It's not unreasonable to ask. The owner of that voice, soul/R&B/hip-hop/gospel powerhouse Jill Alexander, is a relative newcomer to the local music scene, which she's hoping to take over by storm. We sat down with Jill to talk about her musical background, the new releases she has in the works with Thunder Bay-based BME Studios Canada, the use of her music to reach out to people suffering from PTSD, and much more.

This week's guest, Len Bowen, is a familiar face (and voice) in the Winnipeg rap scene. Best-known for his membership in local pioneers Shadez, Len is celebrating the recent release of his new EP, Goin Away Party. We talk about Len's career since Shadez ran its course, the motivation behind his resurgent rap career, keeping integrity in a genre of music obsessed with moving on to the next big thing, the upcoming vinyl reissue of the Winnipeg classic Next School Pioneers and much more!

We're back with another edition of our ridiculous live improvised music show, the Big Mix-Up! The third installment took place Oct. 30 at Winnipeg's historic Park Theatre. The premise of the show remains the same: Winnipeg musicians from across a wide spectrum of genres come together and form randomized 'bands' to perform improvised music on stage. The genres and themes of their songs are based on audience suggestions. Mix-Up 3 may not have had a massive turnout (due to it being the tail-end of the Halloween weekend), but it did feature a powerhouse performance from musicians Harley James Flett, Joel Klaverkamp, Jesse Bercier, Trevor Graumann, Jill Alexander, Seamus Hamilton-Pattison, Drew Diduke, Alexis Flower, Paul Durrant, Maclean Thiessen and Lasha Mowchun.

Sometimes dreams do come true on Witchpolice Radio! Contributor Dwayne Larson got the chance to interview an artist he's been listening to for over two decades when he spoke with iconic Chixdiggit frontman KJ Jansen. They talked about the pop-punk band's 25-year career, their new magnum opus 2012, and more! Catch Chixdiggit when they come through town on their anniversary tour this Friday (Nov. 11) at the Windsor!

If you're a longtime listener to the podcast, you're probably familiar with the name Jon Askholm. Jon is a founding co-host of Witchpolice Radio, who appeared on approximately 90 episodes, mainly from 2012-15. He's also 1/3 of experimental pop act Glen Murray. We joined Jon and bandmates Sam Koulack (also a past guest on the show) and David Warkentin in a basement that looks alarmingly like the old Blanket Fort jamspace where we recorded a hefty chunk of Witchpolice Radio's back catalogue (but in a different house). The fellas talked about their hard-to-define sound, their slow pace of recording and releasing music, the hilarious band name (if you're from Winnipeg, anyway) and more. Plus they played four live songs!

Earlier this month, we returned to The Handsome Daughter for a live Q&A panel on concert photography featuring some of Winnipeg's finest behind the camera: Dwayne Larson, Joey Senft, Jenny Ramone and Travis Ross. The well-attended show included a photo display in the venue, questions from the audience and some real insight into what the show-photo gig entails. Huge thanks to the Daughter, our panelists and the great audience.

Every year around this time, we head down to UMFM's studio to record a live on-air episode in support of the station's Pledge-O-Rama fundraiser. We've done it every year since 2013, but this year we ran into a conflict. Our scheduled live episode was the same night as our live Shoot First, Ask Questions Later event onstage at the Handsome Daughter ...so instead of a live episode, we aired (last Sunday) a clip show, essentially. We're calling it a "mixtape" because -- similar to last year's "mixtape" episode -- it's basically a compilation of some of the live performances we've had on the show over the past year. This certainly isn't a full document of the 2016 performances, though. There are a number of excellent live tunes that didn't fit due to time restrictions (and you can check those out here).

We continue to venture into new (to us) territory this week with jazz guitarist, composer, producer and educator Keith Price! Keith talks about how his interest in jazz developed, the difficulties around defining such a wide-ranging genre in the 21st Century, Winnipeg's jazz scene and more. Tune in for an in-depth interview plus some recordings from throughout Keith's catalogue, including a cut from his excellent reimagined soundtrack to the spaghetti western classic The Good, The Bad & The Ugly!

For our milestone 200th episode, we sat down with Egg, Steve and Dill the Giant -- all three members of 3Peat,Winnipeg's hottest hip-hop group. We talked about their outstanding new EP, the local rap scene, the connections between rap and punk rock, the experience of being from immigrant families, the competitive nature of their chosen genre, and a lot more. Most importantly, we listen to a number of songs from the EP and the whole show closes out with a live performance!

Marking their third appearance on the podcast in as many years, grizzled Winnipeg punks Union Stockyards (three-quarters of them, anyway) are back! We talk about their about-to-be-released cassette, a healthy amount of Winnipeg '90s nostalgia, and about their Sept. 28 gig opening for the legendary SNFU!

Dwayne Larson is back in the hosting chair this week with an episode he recorded with Brad (vocals/guitar) and Cory (guitar) of Ontario emo/alt-rockers Safe to Say when they were in town last month. They talk about their new record, being part of the Warped Tour, the rigours of touring, using their influence to stand up for their values and much more. As with some of our other 'recorded wherever we can' episodes, the audio on this one isn't exactly studio-quality (literally recorded on the band's bus while it was running), but it's a solid conversation and a good listen.

Experimental alt-rock outfit UnklElephant have been on the show before…kind of. Frontman Mac Thiessen appeared on a video minisode about the band’s DIY visual effects unit and on an early 2016 episode about the Polish Music Exchange. This, however, is the first episode devoted to his band itself, with drummer Aaron joining Mac for the ride. UnklElephant is prepping for a CD release party this Friday, Sept. 16, at the Knndy. It’s in support of their new EP, recorded in Teulon, MB and at UMFM.

The Big Mix-Up is back! Our second instalment of the popular (in our own minds) local musical improv event was held Aug. 29 at Winnipeg's historic Park Theatre. We wiped the slate clean after the first Mix-Up and started with a completely fresh group of musicians. The premise of the show is that musicians' names are drawn out of a hat and made to form randomized 'bands'. The bands then perform improvised songs onstage based on audience suggestions of genre and topic. Like the first version of the show, this one starts a little rough, but once the musicians get a feel for the show, we ended up with some outstanding performances. Stay tuned for details on our next Big Mix-Up coming soon! This edition of the show featured the following musicians: Casimir Gruwel (tenor sax), Daniel "Bartley Knives" Guezen (guitar, vocals, drums), Kumaran Reddy (bass, vocals), Brett Ticzon (bass, guitar), Brian Gluck (drums), Peter Vander Hout (baritone sax, vocals), J Riley Hill (drums, guitar), Kaeleigh Ayre (Moog, vocals), Paul Pilgrim (guitar), Ashley Bieniarz (keyboard, vocals), KittyKittie (vocals), Tim Haverluck (guitar, vocals), and Darin Rudd (guitar, bass, vocals).

Our original plan may have fallen through, but we still came out of Kerry, MB, with a solid podcast from Shine On Festival of Music and Art. Initially, we were supposed to be presenting a live podcast on the side stage -- similar to what we've done at the Handsome Daughter in the past -- on Saturday morning at the festival. For a variety of reasons -- everything from guests still being asleep to hornets besieging the stage -- that didn't quite work out. Instead, we got some excellent field recording-style interviews (literally in a field) with Shine On performers such as None the Wiser's Eli Matas, Micah Erenberg, and Roger Roger ...not to mention a backstage interview and rehearsal recording of Raine Hamilton and her string quartet.

This week features an interview Dwayne Larson conducted with former Winnipegger Benjamin Darvill -- an ex-member of the Crash Test Dummies who has spent the past couple of decades as a solo act under the name Son of Dave. He brought his one-man harmonica/beatbox jams back to Winnipeg for the BBQ and Blues Festival a few days prior to the release of this podcast, which also ran in an edited form on UMFM last week.

Toronto's finest reggae act is hitting a Winnipeg stage for the first time in four years this weekend. The Human Rights, a group with a deep roots (no pun intended) in Canada's reggae scene, are playing the West End Cultural Centre on Aug. 21 as part of their #ReggaeForRefugees tour. We talked to frontman Friendlyness (who you may also know from groups like Big Sugar... and if you go back far enough, Culture Shock) about the tour, the group's lineup changes -- including the addition of vocalist Treson as a full-fledged member -- their brand new record and more!

Things get semi-cosmic this week with guest Kevin Desjarlais of Winnipeg synth-wizards Hana Lu Lu. We talk "comet" songs, synths, new wave, Hana Lu Lu's long-in-the-works album and much, much more!

If you're a regular listener to this podcast, you may have heard an episode we did earlier this year with Dwayne Larson, a Winnipeg concert photographer who also blogs about music on It's A Music Thing. Dwayne does a lot of great interviews with touring bands, so we're teaming up with him to present some of those on our podcast, and hopefully Dwayne will be involved in some regular episodes and other Witchpolice projects in future. To kick off his contributions to the podcast, here's an interview he did with Ryan Dahle of Limblifter when they were in town for a show at the Handsome Daughter last month. They talk about Limblifter's new album, the band's longevity, Ryan's other projects, like Age of Electric and Mounties ...and a lot more.

We're recording outdoors this week, sitting behind the mainstage at Winnipeg's iconic meeting place, The Forks. For three days in August (the 12th through the 14th), that stage will play host to some of North America's finest roots acts at the second annual Interstellar Rodeo. Sara Stasiuk of Six Shooter Records is on hand to talk about the Rodeo's roots and some of the exciting artists on this year's bill, including Wilco, case/lang/veirs, Lee Fields and the Expressions, Serena Ryder and many more. She's joined by Leonard Sumner, an Anishinaabe MC/singer/songwriter, representing the many talented local acts who are part of the 2016 event.

He's back... but not for long. Local rapper/songwriter/producer/man-about-town Rob Crooks -- an original co-host of this very podcast and occasional contributor -- is heading east to further his education. Before relocating to Ontario, he made a last appearance on the show (for now) and talked about his long-in-the-works full-length with Disintegration Records, his recent series of EPs for Marathon of Dope, the trials and tribulations of arts funding and a lot more.

On a summer break from his studies in New York City, local saxman Niall Bakkestad-Legare guests on this week's episode to talk about his experimental jazz/funk/soul/R&B project Fauxpasfunk, who are on the verge of releasing their debut album. We talk "host" songs, trying to get into the vast universe of jazz and a lot more!

The three longest-running members of local emo outfit Boys' Club (their newest member is a past Witchpolice guest in his own right) invited us to an elementary school music room (seriously) for our latest episode. We talk 'cobra' songs, defining their genre, their unorthodox recording/performing schedule and more! Stay tuned 'til the end for an exclusive acoustic performance of a new Boys' Club song from their upcoming album!

Spoken-word poet, interdisciplinary artist, bass player and all-around ball of creative energy KittyKittie hung out with the fellas this week in her front yard to talk about "victory" songs, sucking the pretentiousness out of poetry, avant-garde performances, and the fictional straight-edge hardcore band Globthorn on a really fun episode of the podcast.