I recently went on a road trip with my wife (Teresa) and daughter. Covered thousands of km's..Saskatoon -> Fort McMurray -> Calgary -> Home. Throughout this trip we stopped in at 4 record stores, 1 British food import store (to grab some of them uk chips, one of the many flavours was mentioned in The Letter F) and stayed with friends/family in each city. This trip also resulted in at least 2 gifts that become tales in this here blog in the paragraphs below.
The first record store that we ventured into on this trip was the Vinyl Diner in Saskatoon. Whenever Teresa and I go to record stores she usually leaves me to my business and finds a store nearby to browse or just hangs out at the front while I get into the zone. This time however turned out to be different. A few days after we arrived home from Calgary, I found out that with this particular visit to the Vinyl Diner Teresa was doing her own browsing, with the stealthiness of a ninja, that went completely unnoticed by me. When I unwrapped the gift that was an obvious 7" I found that she purchased me a double 7" release from a band that goes by the name of Herd of Wasters. This band was completely new to me so I was pretty excited to hear what they sound like. The cover art appeared to be a cartoon rendering of the band with the drummer wearing a luchador mask (intriguing), the title of the release is Just Three Dudes Havin' A Real Good Time! (promising) and the only thank you's for the release are "Lucky Lager and Sherwood hockey sticks" (aww yeah!). Everything from the artwork to the song titles to the liner notes of this 'album' screamed fun..and possibly weird. Heard of Wasters seems to have originated in Medicine Hat (where Just Three Dudes was recorded) and eventually moved to Saskatoon (as far as I can tell where they're based out of now). They describe themselves as "party punk" and I have to agree. As soon as my needle hit the virgin vinyl I became a fan. The lyrics are cheeky and immature but in a way where you're laughing with them not at them, shit's fun. The vocal delivery falls somewhere between standard 80's hXc and southern metal (little bitta twang). The instrumentation throughout the release is balls to the wall; I'd say it's a mix of skatepunk and groovepunk (does groovepunk exist?) with a dash of 80's hXc thrown in for good measure (If you disagree feel free to let me know what your take on it is). For a debut 'album' Just Three Dudes is 13 killer tracks that hold up on their own and also show a ton of promise. It looks like they haven't recorded anything since 2012 however I recall reading somewhere that they plan on recording new material with a slightly more mature tone this year. I, for one, can't wait to hear what the 2015 Herd of Wasters sound like..and would love to see them live, I can only assume they put on a killer show. Check em out, all their material is pay what you want so you can't lose.
Just over a week before Teresa gave me the Heard of Wasters double 7" we arrived in Calgary. When we entered the condo of our hosts, Mike and Sarah, I was greeted with the most wonderful surprise; a salty box (box full of weirdo salty bag snacks that they found around town). The salty box will come up in other blog entries however tonight I am focusing on 2 specific treats; Jack 'n Jill Chiz Curls and Jeeny's Crispy Fish Rolls Squid Flavour.
Jack 'n Jill Chiz Curls appear to be manufactured in the Philippines, there is a sticker on the bag that states this bag of salty snacks is "EXPORT QUALITY". As soon as I cracked open the bag I could see that these "Cheese flavored corn curls" appear to be minature versions of your standard cheese curls that are manufactured in North America (about half the size) and the colour that kraft dinner refers to as 'white cheddar'. I like the minature size of these snacks, it's a nice change of pace. Now I know at this point you're screaming, "What do they taste like!!"...well that's a tough one. My first impression was kraft dinner cheese sprinkled on cardboard, however when I eat a half dozen at once they almost taste like 'mozzarella' processed cheese slices. The aftertaste is hard to put my finger on, lets just say that it's less than pleasant but not terrible. I like the texture of the curls, they're a medium density corn puff. Bottom line; I like the curls however I'm not a fan of Chiz.
Jeeny's Crispy Fish Rolls; Squid Flavour are manufactured in Malaysia. They already get a big thumbs up from me by spelling Flavour properly on their packaging, yep yep. The bag is resealable, kind of like a miniature Crispers bag. As soon as I opened this gem of a snack I was slapped in the face with the smell of fish food...my cat also seemed to notice, he all of a sudden appeared sniffing at the bag with great excitement. The actual snacks are thin crispy rolled up and, soy based?. They look like they were sprinkled with chili powder? then baked. When I reluctantly placed a Crispy Fish Roll into my mouth I immediately tasted what fish food smells like, after a few crunches I was hit with a cayenne powder type heat followed by the taste of fish to round out the experience. At some point there is a sweet flavour as well. Texturally they are a thin, light and crunchy. These are not getting less harsh/better the more that I eat them. They are super fishy in like a raw sushi that may or may not have turned kind of way. I honestly don't know who would be into these, if you're around Brandon, Manitoba hit me up and you can have a crack at the bag, I don't see them being polished off anytime soon.
New stuff. Weird Stuff. Sometimes you get the bull..sometimes you get the horns.
Stay hydrated,
Marc
The first record store that we ventured into on this trip was the Vinyl Diner in Saskatoon. Whenever Teresa and I go to record stores she usually leaves me to my business and finds a store nearby to browse or just hangs out at the front while I get into the zone. This time however turned out to be different. A few days after we arrived home from Calgary, I found out that with this particular visit to the Vinyl Diner Teresa was doing her own browsing, with the stealthiness of a ninja, that went completely unnoticed by me. When I unwrapped the gift that was an obvious 7" I found that she purchased me a double 7" release from a band that goes by the name of Herd of Wasters. This band was completely new to me so I was pretty excited to hear what they sound like. The cover art appeared to be a cartoon rendering of the band with the drummer wearing a luchador mask (intriguing), the title of the release is Just Three Dudes Havin' A Real Good Time! (promising) and the only thank you's for the release are "Lucky Lager and Sherwood hockey sticks" (aww yeah!). Everything from the artwork to the song titles to the liner notes of this 'album' screamed fun..and possibly weird. Heard of Wasters seems to have originated in Medicine Hat (where Just Three Dudes was recorded) and eventually moved to Saskatoon (as far as I can tell where they're based out of now). They describe themselves as "party punk" and I have to agree. As soon as my needle hit the virgin vinyl I became a fan. The lyrics are cheeky and immature but in a way where you're laughing with them not at them, shit's fun. The vocal delivery falls somewhere between standard 80's hXc and southern metal (little bitta twang). The instrumentation throughout the release is balls to the wall; I'd say it's a mix of skatepunk and groovepunk (does groovepunk exist?) with a dash of 80's hXc thrown in for good measure (If you disagree feel free to let me know what your take on it is). For a debut 'album' Just Three Dudes is 13 killer tracks that hold up on their own and also show a ton of promise. It looks like they haven't recorded anything since 2012 however I recall reading somewhere that they plan on recording new material with a slightly more mature tone this year. I, for one, can't wait to hear what the 2015 Herd of Wasters sound like..and would love to see them live, I can only assume they put on a killer show. Check em out, all their material is pay what you want so you can't lose.
Just over a week before Teresa gave me the Heard of Wasters double 7" we arrived in Calgary. When we entered the condo of our hosts, Mike and Sarah, I was greeted with the most wonderful surprise; a salty box (box full of weirdo salty bag snacks that they found around town). The salty box will come up in other blog entries however tonight I am focusing on 2 specific treats; Jack 'n Jill Chiz Curls and Jeeny's Crispy Fish Rolls Squid Flavour.
Jack 'n Jill Chiz Curls appear to be manufactured in the Philippines, there is a sticker on the bag that states this bag of salty snacks is "EXPORT QUALITY". As soon as I cracked open the bag I could see that these "Cheese flavored corn curls" appear to be minature versions of your standard cheese curls that are manufactured in North America (about half the size) and the colour that kraft dinner refers to as 'white cheddar'. I like the minature size of these snacks, it's a nice change of pace. Now I know at this point you're screaming, "What do they taste like!!"...well that's a tough one. My first impression was kraft dinner cheese sprinkled on cardboard, however when I eat a half dozen at once they almost taste like 'mozzarella' processed cheese slices. The aftertaste is hard to put my finger on, lets just say that it's less than pleasant but not terrible. I like the texture of the curls, they're a medium density corn puff. Bottom line; I like the curls however I'm not a fan of Chiz.
Jeeny's Crispy Fish Rolls; Squid Flavour are manufactured in Malaysia. They already get a big thumbs up from me by spelling Flavour properly on their packaging, yep yep. The bag is resealable, kind of like a miniature Crispers bag. As soon as I opened this gem of a snack I was slapped in the face with the smell of fish food...my cat also seemed to notice, he all of a sudden appeared sniffing at the bag with great excitement. The actual snacks are thin crispy rolled up and, soy based?. They look like they were sprinkled with chili powder? then baked. When I reluctantly placed a Crispy Fish Roll into my mouth I immediately tasted what fish food smells like, after a few crunches I was hit with a cayenne powder type heat followed by the taste of fish to round out the experience. At some point there is a sweet flavour as well. Texturally they are a thin, light and crunchy. These are not getting less harsh/better the more that I eat them. They are super fishy in like a raw sushi that may or may not have turned kind of way. I honestly don't know who would be into these, if you're around Brandon, Manitoba hit me up and you can have a crack at the bag, I don't see them being polished off anytime soon.
New stuff. Weird Stuff. Sometimes you get the bull..sometimes you get the horns.
Stay hydrated,
Marc
I thought this was veering towards: AND THEN I FED MY CAT CHIPS. Pulled it back from the edge.
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