The Dreadnoughts

Formé en 2006 au Ivanohe Hotel, bar de East Vancouver réputé pour sa violence, autour de centaines de pintes de bière, THE DREADNOUGHTS s’effila les dents dans les boîtes les plus louches en ville. Rapidement, ils se voient offrir d’ouvrir pour les doyens du punk celtique The Real McKenzies (et du coup de recevoir leur appui) et depuis, jamais ils ne regardèrent en arrière. Faisant résonner violon, accordéon, mandoline, flûte, guitare et batterie dans tout endroit qui voulait bien les accueillir, ils devinrent rapidement reconnus pour leurs concerts puissants et chaotiques. En quatre années d’existence, THE DREADNOUGHTS rejoignit les rangs de l’élite punk canadienne, traînant son cirque infernal jusqu’aux quatre coins du globe.

Comprenons-nous, THE DREADNOUGHTS n’est pas juste un groupe, mais un mouvement qui croit que le folk et le punk forment une union parfaite. Criant â plein poumons la bonne nouvelle â qui veut bien l’entendre, ils détruisent (et ce littéralement) les scènes du monde entier.

Musicalement, THE DREADNOUGHTS va où plusieurs n’osent pas aller, soit dans le large éventail de traditions folk européennes. La preuve? N’allez pas plus loin que leur plus récent effort, Polka’s Not Dead. L’album est rempli de polkas, de danses gipsy et de chansons de marins, toutes infusées de l’énergie brute du street punk. THE DREADNOUGHTS prend la tradition folk au sérieux, le punk aussi et Polka’s Not Dead en est le résultat.

Formed in the dirty and violent back rooms of Vancouver’s infamous Ivanhoe Hotel back in ’06, they’ve been on a cider-fueled bender across the globe bringing their furious brand of celtic polka punk klezmer mayhem to an ever-growing legion of obsessed fans.

As a band, The Dreadnoughts have been under serious strain: they live in different parts of the world, their jobs and families have taken them away from the music, and of course COVID-19 made any and all in-person interaction impossible. And, let’s be real, their livers are not what they used to be. Under the stress of constant isolation and fatigue, they decided to craft an album that stands as a big, giant middle finger to all of it, a defiant re-assertion of everything they stand for. These are punked up polkas, waltzes, irish jigs, klezmer dances and sea shanties, all absolutely drenched in alcohol and delivered with an angry, defiant scream.

After ducking and weaving through countless travel restrictions, the Dreadnoughts managed to converge at Factory Underground Studios in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA, to learn, record and mix an entire album in nine days. We’ll say that again: nine days. It was a harrowing, intense experience, one made even more intense by the fact that six guest musicians were recording their own parts in six different cities around the world, and that all of this had to be coordinated with virtually no time. But they got it done. The result is Roll and Go: the Dreadnoughts fifth, and possibly finest, studio album.

“Folkloristic music still has the staying power to be the life of the party, but the Dreadnoughts are doing us all a favour by giving it just a little kick in the ass” – EXCLAIM!

“So what we end up with a vibrant, socially conscious album that easily helps justify The Dreadnoughts’ quick rise to fame…. Put simply, anyone who fancy’s themselves a Dropkick Murphys, Gogol Bordello, Flogging Molly or general celtic punk enthusiast needs this album” – PunkReviews

“The Dreadnoughts are tight. Everything sounds great, from the violin, to the mandolin and the tin whistle” – The Punk Site

“They’re definitely harder than The Mahones ever were, and their closest contemporaries would probably be Flogging Molly and The Tossers” – Chart

Chixdiggit!

Twenty-five years after forming a band based on t-shirts they made before ever picking up their instruments, Calgary’s Chixdiggit still sounds like catchy summer tunes blasting from car windows. Specializing in three-minute songs that stick in your head for the next three weeks, Chixdiggit has always been more riff than raff. In spite of nearly three decades of a fluid band line-up anchored by singer/guitarist KJ Jansen, their enthusiastic brand of post-punk pop is neither faded nor jaded.
Jansen makes use of personal pronouns to draw the listener into stories we have all lived, memoirs of summer flings, infatuation, flirting at day jobs, catalogue models and feeling a bit mystified by life. The tales are charming without being corny, unselfconscious and even a bit cheeky, a cheekiness which gives a lot of space to insert a tongue. Some truths are laid bare with humour, and others are knocked unconscious with it. Wrapped up in unshakable melodies and hooks to rival an elementary school hallway you find parody so close to home that it lives in your back yard.
With a Fall tour and a sixth album being released by Fat Wreck Chords in September 2016, fans of the band have much to look forward to. 2012 is the title of the new album that highlights a full year of the band on tour. It’s an exhilarating experience from start to finish that leaves you feeling like you were right there with them: around the world and back again. All in just under 25 action packed minutes!