36?
“Old Bones”

How do you place an empirical or indeed numerical value on the cultural significance of music to a group of people? Or maybe an entire country? Or, indeed, an entire planet full of noise? Back at where we call home (for now, at least), in our various music sort-of-professional capacities we regularly scrutinise and are scrutinised by others as to the reasons why anyone should “work” in music. An ideology handed down in British culture has taught us to reconcile these values against a financial worth, usually in the form of how much something or someone pays you to do something. But what about the improvement to one’s own quality of life, or that of one’s community? How much would you value the subjective happiness, sadness or more articulated emotions that exist anywhere between those, if they were to suddenly become a chargeable expense? A fiver for a smile? A tenner for a teardrop? A hundy for euphoria? Given the experiences that we’ve had in Alberta and Saskatchewan over the last week or so – some of them alcohol-themed of course, because at the end of the day it’s the fucking music industry – it’s hard to accurately describe what a true honour it is to be amongst enlightened people who grasp this concept and are so generous to the point that they would pay money for foreigners to pop over (and this shit ain’t cheap) simply just to share it with them. The business seems to be the bonus, and hence in this regard it carries greater value. At least, to us it does. One of the more alcohol-themed activities involved seeing these dudes 36? rip it up in Calgary a couple of nights ago at an Alberta Music showcase at a rather apt-named venue called Wino’s. Now, it’s not easy keeping a rather jet lagged and quite frankly steaming foreign delegation enthralled by your stuff when all they want to do is sleep forever. But 36? did a ruddy good job. Current Track Of The Day Old Bones, on one hand being so lyrically apt for our current ongoing personal issue of being so overwhelmed at times with all the things we have always wanted to do at the same time that we often forget to just stop and savour the moment, and on the other being musically ambitious to the counter-point that you are more or less obliged to stop and observe the organ-driven heaviness unfold, is certainly worthy of any new music fan’s attention. Says who? Says us. Also, the keyboardist in this band has a Cadfael haircut and singer Taylor Cochrane has nailed the whole withering ninja dance onstage whilst performing these sonic treats, so really you should give a shit about wanting to see them live too.