ept 25, 2000

Over The Edge Page 9

Another Year, Another Great Barbeque

OK, so the beer gardens
were too crowded and the
weather was friggin’ cold. The
Backyard BBQ was siill a
great time and UNBC got to
hear some great music.
Prince George’s Kings Inc.
were the first to take the
stage, (Dogtooth Violet get-
ting bumped due to some dis-
pute about a drum set), and
were quite successful in prim-
ing the crowd. Ending with an
awesome version of “Blow at
High Dough,” Kings Inc. defi-
nitely left a good impression
after their all too short set.

Vancouvers Default were
second to take the stage, and
what a pleasant surprise they
were. Possessing a phenom-

enal guitarist and tons of
energy, Default definitely
earned their last minute addi-
tion to the BBQ roster. At one
point the singer yelled out,
“So what do you think of us
considering you’ve never
heard of us before?” Their
Nickelback/Tool sound went
over well with the PG crowd,
and any future gigs here
should be well attended.

If Rymes With Orange didn’t
already have a name carved
out for themselves in this
neck of the woods they most
certainly do now. These guys
were pumped and ready to

- show Prince George, (inci-

dentally guitarist Rob Lulic’s
hometown), what they were

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made of. Starting off with the
1995 hit, “Toy Train,” and con-
tinuing with others from their
most recent album “Crash,”
Rymes were all energy and
all smiles for their 45-minute
set. The BBQ was the first gig
back for drummer Bobby
James, (recently of DDT),
and he obviously enjoyed the
moment, shooting videotape
of the crowd and flexing for
the drooling frosh-girls in the
front. Two definite highlights
of the Rymes set were the
very tongue-in-cheek version
of “Hit Me Baby One More
Time” and a wonderfully fero-
cious rendition of “Should |
Stay (Or Should | Go).” With
all due respect to the

Watchmen, it was pretty obvi-
ous before they even went on
that Rymes With Orange had
stolen the show.

The Watchmen came on at
11:30 PM, toque clad in what
was as usual a_ chilly
Backyard BBQ. Their mellow-
er, more introspective rock
made for a relaxed end to the
evening, singer Daniel
Greaves even pausing at one
point to do an acappella
Canadian foik-song.
Showcasing material from
their upcoming album, the
Watchmen made sure to play
their hits, such as “Stereo”
and “Boneyard Tree.” While
these were generally well
received, their style just didn’t

mesh that well with the mood
of the evening. Those lucky
few who did make it into the
beer gardens wanted to
dance, .and everyone else
just wanted to move to keep
warm. But nevertheless the
Watchmen were appreciated
and nearly everyone stayed
to the end. All in all it was a
very successful Backyard
BBQ. Now if they can just fix
that beer problem...

Michelle Dubuc

Rymes With Orange
Returns to PG

Rymes With Orange have
gone through quite a lot to
get to their place in the
Canadian rock scene today.

Since their start in 1991,

they’ve had a record label
fold on them, wrecked two
vans while touring, and had
one full of equipment stolen.
“We went for something a lit-
tle less conspicuous this
time,” singer Lyndon Johnson
offers, pointing to a rather
drably coloured Windstar
parked in the Agora court-
yard, “the mini-pod as we call

ed it” Physically unscathed, the

band has used their mishaps
as fodder for the aptly named

‘ “Crash.” the Vancouver quin-
tets third album. Brit-tinged

and catchy, “Crash” has
spawned a number of radio
hits since its release in ‘99,
including “She’s the One” and
“Loving Enemy.’ “We spent a
lot of time writing and record-
ing the album, and as a result
we feel that it has a lot more
depth both lyrically and musi-

cally” says guitarist Rob Lulic,
who incidentally was a Prince
George native for 20 years.
“We're very satisfied with the
radio success its reached - |
mean, you always want more
of course, but this industry is
all peaks and valleys, you
have to keep it fun to survive.”
And what is Lulic’s opinion of
having to fight for survival in
the recent pop invasion?
“Bollocks!” he exclaims with a
smirk. “Canada definitely
needs to get into the 21st
century and stop letting the
states beat us to death in the
arts. Monopolies like
Universal are killing little
bands - hopefully the internet
will open some of the bound-
aries the industry is shutting
right now.” The state of the
music scene notwithstand-
ing, Rymes (consisting of
singer Lyndon Johnson, gui-
tarist Rob Lulic, keyboardist _
Steeve Hennessy, drummer
Bobby James and bassist
Kevin Spencer), are doing

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