Chris Wardman

Category: News

  • Unsung Heroes of Canadian Rock presents: Art Bergmann

    – by Shawn Conner

    At last!

    I thought this one was going to kill me…

    I’ve been working on it more or less off and on since seeing Art Bergmann perform at the WISE Hall on Canada Day a month ago. The more rumours I heard from the people there about the Vancouver singer the more interested I became.

    I’ve been living in Vancouver since about the release of his first “solo” album, Crawl With Me, but what I remember most is Sexual Roulette, with the “Bound for Vegas” single and some really electrifying tunes (“Dirge #1″, for example). I didn’t follow Art’s career much after that though, and I’m not sure I ever did see him live. So the Canada Day show was a chance to rectify that situation.

    The comic strip, meanwhile, was a way to try and separate the Man from the Myth.

    For that, I am indebted to everyone who wrote about Art, including John Mackie and John Armstrong, as well as the curators of the Bergmann fansite, ArtBergmann.com, who posted a befuddling amount of press on the man.

    Also thanks to Sherri Decembrini, Art’s wife, who answered some questions when I got stuck (i.e. “the missing years,” when Art was in Toronto).

    And thanks to you for reading!

    FULL STORY: http://www.thesnipenews.com/homepage-features/art-bergmann-comic-strip/

  • The Star: Chalk Circle, The xx, !!! deliver this week’s Reasons to Live

    Chalk Circle all ripe for rediscovery with release of resurrected digital titles

    Chalk Circle, The Great Lake, Mending Wall and As the Crow Flies (Deadbolt Music). Toronto’s Chalk Circle holds a very special place in my heart, as its first two releases, the 1986 EP The Great Lake — home to the indelible CanCon hits “April Fool” and “Me, Myself & I” — and 1987’s terrific Mending Wall, were two of the first records (actually cassettes) over which a certain New Brunswick teenager ever genuinely obsessed. As The Crow Flies, the band’s second and final album, is a goodie, too, but a little more muddled; Chalk Circle’s contradictory impulses towards stylish New Wave and the sort of earthier, activist-minded roots-rock embodied by the anti-Free Trade single “Sons and Daughters” were more polarized here than ever before, marking As the Crow Flies as a transitional record that, unfortunately, never transitioned to another. They’re all ripe for rediscovery right now, in any case, because the folks at Deadbolt Music have resurrected all three of Chalk Circle’s original Duke Street Record titles digitally so you can now delight anew in “This Mourning” and “N.I.M.B.Y.” and “Empty Park” and the band’s freak-hit cover of T. Rex’s “20th Century Boy” and all the other good stuff on your iPod.

    Chalk Circle also plays one of its infrequent reunion gigs on Friday, June 7 at Lee’s Palace.

    Full Story: The Star

  • Chalk Circle Releasing Remastered Catalogue

    Deadbolt Music & boom 97.3 present
    CHALK CIRCLE
    Lees Palace Friday June 7 2013
    Doors 9 pm

    Chalk Circle is reuniting for one show to celebrate their re-mastered catalogue being available on-line for the first time via their own label, Park Music.

    Tickets on sale this Friday April 5 at 12 noon at Ticketfly http://www.ticketfly.com/
    This show is 19+ show

    Chalk Circle formed in 1983 and gained notoriety by the mid-eighties with solid National radio airplay with songs such as “April Fool”, “This Mourning”, “Me Myself and I” and the T. Rex classic “20th Century Boy”. Their albums were released in Canada, Germany and Japan with 1987’s Album “Mending Wall” achieving certified “Platinum” status in Canada. During that time they headlined numerous National tours and shared the stage with the likes of Rush, Crowded House, and Tears for Fears. They also played festival shows in East Berlin, Germany six months prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The band has recently reformed and played three sold out shows in Toronto in 2011 and 2012. One performance at the Horseshoe Tavern for the 40th Anniversary Juno 80’s night event and another co-headlining bill at the Mod Club and later at The Phoenix with friends Blue Peter got the band excited to perform again. Original member’s vocalist and guitarist Chris Tait, bassist Brad Hopkins, drummer Derrick Murphy will be joined by long-time friend and Blue Peter keyboardist Jason Sniderman

    Chalk Circles re-mastered on-line catalogue includes
    “The Great Lake” Their 1986 debut 6 song EP (plus 3 bonus tracks) including their top ten Hit “April Fool”.
    “Mending Wall” This 1987 album features two Top 10 singles “This Mourning” and their cover of T-Rex’s “20th Century Boy”.
    “As the Crow Flies” Released in 1989, this album featured two singles, “Sons and Daughters” and “Together”.

    The three re-mastered titles will be available, world wide, on line on Tuesday May 28, 2013

    The Chalk Circle catalogue also includes a 2006, greatest hits compilation as part of Universal Musics’ 20th Century Masters series, this title was remastered in 2006.

  • Emm Gryner Sarnia Artwalk June 1, 2013

    I’ll be playing guitar with Emm Gryner at this show:

    Sarnia Art Attack set for June 1

    Artwalk is bringing the noise, again.
    Local singer-songwriter Emm Gryner will be taking the stage with her band June 1 for the second annual ticketed concert for the 11-year-old arts and culture festival.
    Co-headlining with Gryner on stage at the downtown Scotiabank parking lot will be Toronto indie rockers Zeus.

    Full Story:
    http://www.theobserver.ca/2013/03/23/sarnia-art-attack-set-for-april-5

  • The GridTO: Then & Now: The Edge

    FRI NOV 2, 2012
    Then & Now: The Edge

    …The Garys saw the club as a springboard for emergent local acts. “We nurtured a lot of local groups who got signed from playing regularly at The Edge and from being promoted the same ways we would promote The Police or whoever,” says Topp. He namechecks more than a dozen Toronto acts of the time, including The Mods, Drastic Measures, The Sharks, The Curse, Spoons, Battered Wives, The Demics, The Dishes, Johnny and the G-Rays, Blue Peter, and The B-Girls.”

    Full Story: http://www.thegridto.com/culture/music/then-now-the-edge/

  • Rusty: Season of the Witch

    A long lost Rusty track. Recorded around 1996 for a movie soundtrack.

  • Blue Peter and Chalk Circle – Phoenix Concert Theatre – October 1, 2011

    FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2011

    CHALK CIRCLE & BLUE PETER

    Doors:  7:00PM        Show:  8:00PM

    TICKETS ON SALE Friday, June 10th @ 10AM

    Tickets available at all Ticketmaster Outlets, Rotate This, Soundscapes or Call 1-855-985-5000 to charge by phone is a NO SERVICE FEE mobile ticketing service available exclusively to Rogers Wireless customers. Visit www.urmusic.ca/tickets or text TICKETS to 4849 for full event listings and special offers.

    Tickets (incl. HST) $20.00 (plus service charges)
    19+ / General Admission

    Chalk Circle formed as a trio in 1983 and gained notoriety by the mid-eighties with solid National radio airplay with songs such as “April Fool”, “This Mourning”, “Me Myself and I” and the T. Rex classic “20th Century Boy”. Their albums were released in Canada, Germany and Japan with 1987’s Album “Mending Wall” achieving certified “Gold” status in Canada. During that time they headlined numerous National tours and shared the stage with the likes of Rush, Crowded House, and Tears for Fears. They also played festival shows in East Berlin, Germany six months prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

    The band has recently reformed and played two sold out shows in Toronto earlier this year. One performance at the Horseshoe Tavern for the 40th Anniversary Juno 80’s night event and another co-headlining bill at the Mod Club with friends Blue Peter got the band excited to perform again. Original member’s vocalist and guitarist Chris Tait, bassist Brad Hopkins, drummer Derrick Murphy will be joined with Blue Peter Keyboardist Jason Sniderman to complete the lineup for the upcoming 2011 live dates. The band relishes nothing more than playing it’s music for their fans.

    Blue Peter formed in 1978 and became one of Canada’s most popular and influential bands of the New wave era. Signing with new indie label Ready Records in 1979, the young band released the EP “Test Pattern for Living”. Recorded in one day, this album captures the explosive energy of the times. By 1983 Blue Peter’s sound included the layered texture of keyboards, a new-found sophistication and, as always a readiness to explore and experiment. “Falling” was Blue Peter’s breakthrough album. It featured the dance-hit single “Don’t Walk Past” and accompanied by the song’s Blade-Runner-inspired video, Falling exploded onto the Canadian music scene and brought the band a vast new audience.

    A reunited Blue Peter has been performing to packed houses in the Toronto area since 2006. They also recently performed at the 40th anniversary Juno’s 80’s night at the Horseshoe and co-headlined with Chalk Circle at a sold out Mob Club.

    Both bands epitomize the ground-breaking spirit of a remarkable era in Canadian music.

    Live Nation – Canada

  • Up Close With Emm Gryner

    Posted by Li Robbins on Apr- 8-11

    She’s a songwriter, a sometime actor, and a rock ‘n’ roller who played in David Bowie’s band). And recently, the multitalented Emm Gryner turned her hand to blogging about her experiences as a new mom. But don’t worry — this isn’t your typical yummy-mummy bloggery. Emm started her blog, mumhum, because, as she says, “I learned so much about pregnancy and baby’s first year and I want to write it down before I forget everything.” And she promises: “No ads, no sappy mom stuff, no boring crap.” (As evidenced from a recent tweet @emmgryner too: “Dear sleepy infant, what do you mean you don’t want to be read TS Eliot The Waste Land at nap time?”) In between forthright non-sappy blog posts, Emm’s been hard at work at music, with a new recording called Canticle coming out in the fall. Meanwhile, she’s Up Close with Drive in a studio performance.

    And by the way, if you’re not so into reading about pregnancy and parenthood — no judgments here, just acknowledging different tastes in bloggery! — you might want to read Em’s Journal instead. Her writing there demonstrates the same pith ‘n’ vinegar as that of her mumhum blog, but the subject matter is mainly restricted to music-related things. After the Juno Awards, for instance, she wrote: “Too Indie for the Junos and too pop for the Polaris, I enjoy just rocking for real people and taking long walks on the beach,” which is pretty funny. (Although who knows: she may be proven wrong, award-wise, in the future.) But let’s get to one more Emm item before concluding. You probably are wondering, like the rest of us, about her David Bowie experience. Another one of her journal entries addresses that, so here you go: “I admit when I got the job singing with David I only knew a few of his hits from the ’80s and thought “Rebel Rebel” was a Stones song. oops! I guess I was always more of a Peter Gabriel girl ( I could name all of his songs!) Bowie is gracious, witty, inspired, inspiring and incredibly, insanely knowledgeable and at that time, he was extremely patient with a 24 year-old. I once asked him what ‘total blam blam’ was and he answered it as though he was not the legend he is.”

  • Emm Gryner at The Great Hall March 25, 2011

    I’ll be playing guitar with Emm Gryner on March 25, 2011 @ The Great Hall. The show is part of JUNOFEST and features Royal Wood and Dala. Ticket Info

  • Emm Gryner CBC Radio 2 Drive

    On Tuesday January 25 I’m playing guitar with Emm Gryner for a session on CBC’s Radio 2 Drive show.