AnpREW Bailey Sports ano Giuas Epiror It was a Monday, it was freezing, and the venue was empty but the venue was a bar, the band was Solemn Reign, and admission was free so | figured I’d show up. The night started: off pretty much as I had anticipated, I sat by myself, sipped on a double gin and juice and waited for a crowd that would never show up. I went out for a smoke just as the band was starting so I missed their entrance but while I was outside two guys walked out of the music filled scene, adamant on going “anywhere but here” suggesting to me that the band’s first song was being performed poorly. I walked back inside anyway and my mood quickly heightened when I saw a full pitcher of beer on my table, I congratu- lated myself on my ordering technique sat down and enjoyed all the benefits of draught beer and a cheesy rock cover band singing § songs from the likes of Trooper and Bach- man Tumer Overdrive. The lack of audience | obviously affected Solemn Reign’s perform- § ance. Drummer James Sewell said, during the bands intermission “we’re definitely enjoying ourselves, obviously we’d like to see more people out but with the Coldsnap schedule being what it is, the cold weather is a factor.” Chris, lead guitarist and vocals, built on this saying “you play off the people, you get more motivated” and Jaime the bass player agreed, saying “you can’t get adrena- line without a rowdy crowd.” It’s true I could have just bought a twelve pack from any BCL and gone to watch a friend play these same songs on guitar hero and it would have been pretty much the same experience only ‘cheaper but these are things that one cannot and should not dwell on. I understood they were a cover band and therefore did not expect any creativity or cultural wowism. I understood wrong. I became frustrated upon the realization that this band had amazing original tunes. They were much more than the band that they were portraying themselves as: an ensemble of musicians awkwardly playing music that was written for someone else’s musical strengths and stories of emotion that were not their own. I had previously been prepared to accept them as a deadheaded cover band 16 ‘Arts and Culture | 3and, Lousy Show ing to-adcept this fact on any level. However, music festival. after. talking to the band members about By THe Concoroian (Concorpia UNIVERSITY) MONTREAL (CUP) -- Nestled away in his apartment on Décarie Street, Montreal- based illustrator Joél Séguin earns his living by turning a passion for fan art into the next generation of comics. i” Adding onto the work of a group of sketch, concept and ink-artists, Séguin spends counit- less hours hunched over a computer, breath- ing life into the inked lines of soon-to-be comic books. Facing tight deadlines comes with the ter- titory of being a comic-book colourist. Ac- s relieved that, as Chris put mth “if played so many covers was because as Scott, rhythm guitar and voeals, told me “we were, essentially playing the: Same set we played at cording to Séguin, tf demands dedication and ‘Cooperation among 2 wide range of artists in any given project. Hours are long, but the work is rewarding. “Fach of the artists are putting in any- where between 6—12 hours a page,” explained Séguin. “So you multiply that by the penciler, the inker and the colourist, and you’re looking at 30-plus hours per page.” Forget the old image ofa sketch artist spend- ing days under a dim lamp. In recent years, the illustration industry has gone digital. No longer burdened with paint, inks or brushes, Séguin’s primary tools are now Photoshop and a Wacom digital drawing pad. According to Séguin, the downside to this Micsasc: RAwLuK, CONTRIBUTER. but their original music was far too astound- Sojemn Reign perform Riverstone Bar and Grill January 28 during the Coldsnap come a powerhouse in the Prince George the casino. [therefore] we wanted to focus on what we’d done and make it better, you know, kick it up a notch.” Apparently casino audi- digital revolution i is that, like most technol- ogy, it is vulnerable, : “My last pad, I shocked it te: death. I was wearing all fleece one winter day and I sat down on my chair; I touched it, it went zap, and I felt this huge shock.” When comparing earlier material like Task Force 1 — a comic based on life after 9/11 and Boodrayne, and one of his favourite projects — to his more recent works, Séguin feels his art has gone through drastic improvements. “Task Force 1 was my first big published work, so I was really proud of that and now | can’t stand to see it because it’s just not good at all compared to what I’m doing now,” ad- mitted Séguin, ? OVER THE EDGE | Febrary 13-27, 2008 | ences prefer to hear songs they know and are used to and therefore the band had catered to them and brought the same set to this show. I have however been promised by the band that their next live show would consist of at least 25 original songs, a much larger task than the five that I heard at the River- stone on Monday night. Therefore, if they continue a trend of growing original tunes I would highly suggest to you, my loyal read- ers, which you go check them out. Chris and Scott both provide an incredible creative as- pect to an instrumentally sound band which would make for one hell of a show. In fact the band’s roots stem from a cre- ative background. Chris and James met over ® coffee and liked each others vibe. James had a lot of respect for the original music that © Chris had previously produced saying “it had a lot of feeling and a lot of meaning, some serious blood sweat and tears in his music.” Later on Chris started doing some back up work for Scott and the band became three members meshed together with a mu- ‘| tual respect for each’ others creative spark, # amazing work ethic and original musical ® sound. Jaime entered the band, as many bass players do, by jamming with them for a while, eventually, as he remembers, “they needed an album cover picture and needed someone as a bass player to sit in for that photo, a year later I actually joined the band.” Jaime stepped in becoming a full on member and thus finalizing the formation of Solemn Reign. They did not form together to become a cover band which is definitely good because they would be horrible as a cover band, they came together to form an original and unique musical sound and that is what they are working so hard on becom- ing. Their original music is in the works but it may take some time before they are ready to fully create their own sound as a band, as James explained to me “when you’re dealing with original musicians like Chris and Scott who are multi-instrumentalists, it comes down to personality, to bring their own, I guess, character to the arrangement of the music, basically it all boils down to the tune but it takes more time to let that chemistry of the music groove.” Once their chemistry has been perfected and the band finds its voice, I believe that Solemn Reign could truly be- music scene and beyond. Not alt of Séguin’s tinh js taken up with technology, however. What free time he has is spent creating the endless sea of drawings, paintings and sketches that overflow from every nook and cranny in his apartment. “T’m headed along a pretty specific path, as I keep getting more jobs and establishing my- self as a colourist ... we all hope to work for Marvel or DC one day,” said Séguin. Currently Séguin is working on Dark 48, a series slated for a January release. You can find more of Joél’s artwork on his online portfolio, www.joeljseguin.com.