In real estate, a successful venture is often achieved by sticking to the principle of “location, location, location.” This aphorism is easily transferred to business in general, and if you want to make that stretch, life itself, which is how many people in the province of Saskatchewan found themselves making their way out to the Promised Land – which in the 1980s and 1990s often meant Calgary, Alberta.
Some blame the exodus on the left-leaning government of the day, but regardless of which way the wind blows politically, the real choice is between living here on the flatlands under icy Arctic blasts for much of the year, or living close to the mountain breezes of Banff National Park and the coastal air of British Columbia – which, to extend the religious metaphor, must be God’s country itself.
But I digress.
So, this summer I spent a few days in Calgary, a/k/a Cowtown, home of the world-famous Calgary Stampede, the 1988 Winter Olympics, and the NHL’s Calgary Flames. It’s a sprawling city of about 1.5 million people, and I was very glad when an old friend offered to chauffeur me around town to see the points of interest, which for me consists of used record and CD shops, music stores, and ethnic cuisine.
But as I said, it’s a sprawling city, which means there are big chunks of driving to do between almost any two given locations. In the interest of brevity, let me just say we spent a lot of time cruising around and listening to his playlist of rock tunes, most of which were by European bands that were all new to me. Upon my return home, I spent some time doing detective work trying to find out something about these bands: Were they new? Were they successful? Were they even still together?
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get all the information for which I was looking. Although they all sing in English (the lingua franca of rock and roll), a lot of their websites, interviews and fan commentary are in some other language. So, the best I can give you is a quick, general overview in which I’ve tried to be as accurate as I can be.
I will say this: These bands can all rock as hard as any other band from any other place, which shows that maybe the importance of location isn’t such a big deal anymore. Or, in the famous words of Freddie Mercury: “Any way the wind blows/Doesn’t really matter … to me.”
OZONE MAMA – COSMOS CALLING (2018): Ozone Mama is self-described as “high-octane rock ‘n roll” from Budapest, Hungary. As mentioned, if you scroll down the video link, there are a number of comments in what I assume is Hungarian; I furthermore assume they are all positive fan reviews. Their 2015 album Sonic Glory is a winner, as well.
BLACK TOP – CHERRY PICKING (2016): This blues-rock trio from the Netherlands band has three albums going back to 2008. Black Top’s website notes they’ve played “from Rotterdam to Prague and everywhere in between.” Hopefully, they’ll get a chance to get over to this side of the pond sometime soon.
BABY WOODROSE – FREEDOM (2016): Not only does Baby Woodrose have a wiki entry, but they have numerous albums to their credit going back to 2001. They tend to play more ’60s-oriented garage rock than most of the other bands mentioned here, whose sound instead is based ’70s=styled hard rock. Baby Woodrose seems to be on a break from touring for now, but the lead singer is currently performing under his own name singing in his native Danish.
THE ELECTRIC ALLEY – TURNING WHEELS (2018): The band hails from Cadiz, Spain, which seems more like a nice tourist destination than a hotbed of rock and roll. As far as I can tell, the Electric Alley have a Facebook presence, a YouTube account and assorted places where you can find their three albums for sale. Powered by great vocals and hot guitars, if there’s any time to pull out the old expression, “These guys can really rock,” this is it.
GIN LADY – TALL SUN CROOKED MOON (2019): What does ABBA, Roxette, the Soundtrack of Our Lives, the Cardigans, and the Hives all have in common? They all come from Sweden, naturally. Unlike those other groups, Gin Lady doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry, which is odd considering they’ve released five albums since 2012, one of them being a two-disc set. Like so many other bands from that country, they have a knack for making well-produced albums with catchy melody-driven hooks that still pack that essential punch.
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