Women

Back in 2008, Calgary’s Women became a surprise success with the release of their gritty, art-rocking eponymous debut.

Gavin McInnes

Interviewing Gavin McInnes is for a 25-year-old magazine writer, sort of like interviewing the architect of your personality. That said, you’d think I’d have been more prepared. I leapt at the chance to interview Gavin when it came up, thrilled at the opportunity to talk one-on-one with of the neatest people in the publishing industry ever, and then was completely terrified when I found out the article was meant to be for the fall fashion issue, since I know nothing about fashion, other than a vague understanding of things I like or don’t like to wear.

Chromeo

ION was lucky enough to have Love & Electrik, a young and popular act of a similar genre, interview Dave1 and P-Thugg. Never again shall these two bands be in the same room, as any catastrophe would drain the Canadian funk pool down to zero.

David Choe

David Choe is someone you should get to know as he’s one of the most talented artists around. His work can be seen in galleries all over the world, Facebook headquarters, the White House and alleyways behind convenience stores. He recently released a 288-page monograph with Chronicle Books that needs to be checked out for the introduction alone (it consists of disses he found by Googling “David Choe”).

David Arnold

Two things about Montreal artist Dave Arnold: A) He is hilarious, and B) He doesn’t like to be pigeonholed. In an attempt to avoid this, he’s currently working under the alias Mr. Sign, and is bringing a new face to many storefronts in an old way: by hand-painting signs for businesses eager to recreate that old nostalgic charm. He also has a collection of paintings titled “Teenage Nudes,” consisting of Betty and Veronica from Archie comics posing in the nude. “It seemed like a decent idea,” he says, laughing.One commonality within all of Dave’s work is his rampant penchant for nostalgia.

Vladimir Kato

Toronto artist Vladimir Kato is an animator by day and a glorious painter by any-other-time-of-the-day. Vladimir’s twisted and hilarious creations include concepts from the far reaches of his mind such as R-rated movies and dark-humoured Italian comics. Luckily, he keeps some of that stuff out of his animation work, as he works on a lot of childrens’ programs. Recently I had a chance to chat with him following his most recent solo art show, titled Wilderness.

Festival De Musique Émergente

Have you ever been to Quebec? No, Quebec. No not Montreal, Quebec. La Belle Province; home of poutine, Guy Lafleur’s disco album, and Mitsou. Well I have and God bless those Libertarian princes and princesses. They take the government’s money and give them none. Heck, I would vote for the Bloc if only they had representatives here in British Columbia. They are the special people of this country and they deserve every grant they get. So there’s really no turning down a chance to cover a festival in remote Rouyn-Noranda when it’s offered to you.

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