Sasquatch Prom Date

By Drew Hoshkiw
Special to the Star

For what may be this year’s grandest Halloween party, the Varietease burlesque troupe will dance its way into town next week for one fun-filled night of music and debauchery.

Co-produced by Brian Fidler and Fiona Solon, the concept for the original Varietease production was created by Solon nearly three years ago.

“I wanted something fun to happen, and I figured I had to make it myself,” she said in a recent interview. “You gotta make your own fun in this life, and it was just meant to be really entertaining and kinda over the top.”

This show, to be the fourth production of Varietease in Whitehorse, will be its most ambitious project yet, as the burlesque troupe teams up with the territory’s most popular dance band, Sasquatch Prom Date, and with veterans of the Guild Hall, who will be constructing a massive haunted house.

The Yukon Convention Centre will host the event with 550 tickets available to the public on Saturday, Oct. 30. Doors will open at 7 p.m. and the music will last until last call, six hours later.

“With this show, we’re reinventing ourselves,” said Solon. “We want to do something different every time, keeping it interesting.”

Putting it on in a big venue was necessary to cover costs, stressed Solon.

“To put on a show with a huge haunted house and pay a band, have a big cast and the epic decorations that we’re transforming that space with, there’s no way that we could have afforded to do it unless we chose a bigger venue and could sell more tickets,” she said.

The show will follow a format of band sets, burlesque dance numbers and haunted house tours, each taking turns and at times battling each other for attention.

Sasquatch Prom Date, which formed about two years ago, is a rock ‘n’ roll band which plays mostly original tunes in a 1950s-era style, and is composed of Ian Stewart on rhythm guitar, Genesee Keevil on upright bass, lead guitarist and singer Ryan McNally and drummer Patrick Singh.

“Musicially, we’re ‘50s-era rock ‘n’ roll, though there’s some psychobily punk elements here and there,” Keevil said in an interview with Stewart at their home.

Stewart added, “Rockabily was a starting point, but we’re not traditionalists.”

Fresh on the heels of the release of their debut album, the band will not only be playing many original tunes for the show, but also a number of Halloween-oriented songs.

“It’s music that makes people dance and I love to dance, and I was always hoping to start a band like that in Whitehorse,” said Keevil.

“We all started jamming together and it just seemed to fit.”

The band features Keevil dressed like a prom queen and the rest of the members in geeky, ill-fitting suits.

“We like to tell people there was a bad storm that went through the Yukon in the ‘50s and we ended up getting frozen into a glacier, and then thanks to global warming, we’ve thawed and we’re back,” she said.

Solon was ecstatic that this band will be providing the musical content.

“They are an awesome, fun, super dance party,” she said. “There are four 45-minute band sets, with DJ music between.

“With this dance party, there will be theatrical elements dispersed throughout the night, sometime between the band sets, sometimes during, right in their face. We are sharing and battling the stage, and when the band’s not playing, the haunted house fires up like a bat out of hell.”

The haunted house is being organized by Erica Bigland and Anthony Trombetta, longtime favourites of the Whitehorse theatrical scene, recently returned to the city after spending two years in Saskatchewan.

“MAD does a haunted house every year, but we wanted to do something not so family-oriented,” said Bigland, referring to the Music, Art and Drama secondary school program. “Adults are taking over; it’s not just a kids’ holiday any more.”

While the pair isn’t giving away many secrets, there will be interludes from power tool-wielding maniacs and creative rope tricks from spiritual individuals.

“It’s a growing market,” said Trombetta, eager to get involved with the event.

“It seems like a fun, carnivally kind of culture to tap into, and especially with these kids, who are already doing that, so a Halloween theme really fits with Varietease.

“It’ll be good because as soon as people go through the haunted house and have a good heart attack for being scared out of their wits, they can get out there and have the instant release of a dance party. It’ll be a nice, wide range of emotional spectrum going on.”

Tickets for the show are available at Triple J’s, and are selling fast.
- Whitehorse Star

Some of the crowd on hand as Rick Hansen lit Richmond's Olympic cauldron, February 9, 2010, at the O Zone in Richmond B.C.

Some of the crowd on hand as Rick Hansen lit Richmond's Olympic cauldron, February 9, 2010, at the O Zone in Richmond B.C.
Photograph by: Steve Bosch, PNG

Downtown Vancouver isn't the only Olympics celebration site drawing large crowds.

Things also have been hopping this week at Olympics celebration sites in Surrey, Richmond, West Vancouver and Whistler.

Ted Townsend, spokesman for the City of Richmond, said Friday that the O Zone site was so full last night that the gates had to be closed at one point during a concert by Our Lady Peace.

"There was close to 20,000," he said, adding it wasn't as big as the 25,000 capacity crowd that gathered for the torch relay celebration.

"I would say we've had more than 150,000 people since we opened," Townsend said.

And the O Zone is expected to be busy all weekend with the continuing sunny weather.

"We've got the Canadians Tenors performing tonight and [punk rockers] Marianas Trench on Saturday night," Townsend said, "and then the Canada-U.S. game Sunday, which people can watch on the big screen."

Last Sunday, people watched Olympics speed skating while lying on the artificial turf field of Minoru Park, where two large video screens flank the main stage.

All concerts and other entertainment at the O Zone is free. Also onsite is the Holland Heineken House, which has been quite a draw for Dutch nationals and speed skating fans who don't have tickets for Olympic events at the Richmond Oval.

The site can be reached by taking Canada Line from Vancouver and going to Brighouse Station in Richmond.

Surrey's Olympics celebration site has also been drawing up to 10,000 to 15,000 people a day, including large crowds at night to hear big-name bands for free. Playing tonight are Alex Cuba, Jully Black, Dan Mangan and the Sam Roberts Band.

Saturday night the feature acts include Said the Whale, Hey Ocean, Mother Mother, Malkit Singh and Dal Hothi and the Headlines.

"We're almost close to 100,000 people who have attended so far," said Melissa Snow for the City of Surrey. "We expect this weekend to be awesome."

The Surrey Olympics celebration site is located at Holland Park, a half block north of the King George SkyTrain station. The site also features the RCMP Musical Ride doing two shows this weekend.

In West Vancouver's Olympics celebration site tonight, the live music begins at 6:30 p.m. with the old-time rockabilly jive of Sasquatch Prom Date, followed at 9 p.m. with the Canadian Winter Sports Showcase performance with music and professional dancers and Redgy Blackout from 9:15 to 11:15 p.m.

The headliner Saturday night will be The Paperboys, described as a Celtic/CanadianFolk/Stomp/SonJarocho/Acoustic/Latin/Alt-Country/Pop/Roots band."

The site is located at the West Vancouver Community Centre and plaza at 2121 Marine Drive.
- The Vancouver Sun, By Neal Hall

It is hoped that a billion people will join in the celebration for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on Thursday, April 22.

That would make it the largest secular civic event in the world.

Hosting the event in the Yukon is the Yukon Green Party.

“Forty years ago, there wasn’t even a Department of the Environment (in Canada),” says John Streicker, local Green Party federal candidate, and one of the organizers of Whitehorse’s Earth Day Rocks!.

Earth Day was first conceived by US Senator Gaylord Nelson who, in 1970, initiated a national teach-in on the environment, modelled after the effective Vietnam war protests of the time.

The first Earth Day had participants and celebrants in 2,000 colleges and universities, roughly 10,000 primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States.

Today’s Earth Day events are designed to encourage environmentally aware behaviours, such as recycling, using energy efficiently and reducing or reusing disposable items.

The event is designed to be a celebration of just how far we have come, with proceeds from the evening going to support Streicker's federal campaign.

And rockin’ the party will be Whitehorse’s own Sasquatch Prom Date performing its danceable brand of 50s-style rockabilly.

Band members Genesee Keevil, Ian Stewart, Ryan McNally and Patrick Singh recently performed at Canada’s Northern House during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

The evening also includes a cash bar and a silent auction that features works by area artists Marten Berkman, Philippe LeBlond, Bonnie Dalziel and Katherine Gillmor.

Also available are photographs by Rob McClure and two donated photographs shot by Robert Postma.

Also on offer will be a special pair of mittens knit by Wendy Boothroyd from her hand-spun wool.

If you would like to donate an item to the auction, contact Barry Durwood at events@yukongreen.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . He prefers e-mails, but he can also be contacted by phone at 668-7614.

The celebration will take place at The Old Fire Hall starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, or $5 for kids/seniors/low income. For more information or to reserve tickets, send an e-mail to events@yukongreen.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 332-2222. - What's Up Yukon, Pam Brown

The bearded man shrugged on his Carhartt jacket and then levelled a gaze at Genesee Keevil.
She was sitting by the window, wearing a cover-your-eyes bright-pink wig, and her slightly too-loud voice only added to the spectacle.
“Where are you playing?” came the unexpected question.
“Frostbite, next weekend,” was the cheery answer from Keevil.
“I'm glad there is something different here in Whitehorse to enjoy,” he said as he left with a warm smile and a wave.
He has no idea.
This band is, indeed, different.
On the Yukon College stage, Keevil's wig will be joined by a frilly prom dress as she leans into her stand-up bass and is surrounded by her bandmates.
Together, they are Sasquatch Prom Date, and they like to be different but, even more than that, they like to have fun on stage.
She is joined by Ian Stewart, her colleague from the Yukon News, and Ryan McNally.
Patrick Singh rounds out the foursome on drums.
“There is a fair amount of interaction with the audience,” says Keevil. “If I start dancing, they start dancing.
“We hump amps around before the show, but when we get on stage, we forget the work and we just have fun.”
“People let their guard down,” says McNally. “I see people who would never dance, out on the dance floor.
“They forget their inhibitions.”
That's how McNally measures success.
Both credit the rockabilly music that casts the spell on the audience.
“I play stand-up bass,” says Keevil. “So it has to be rockabilly.
“I like to dance, so I should play music that makes everyone else dance.
“Bass players get picked up by a lot of other bands, so you play their songs. This, however, is my dream band.”
That music is 50s style, borrowing from Elvis, Chuck Berry and The Cramps.
One song is Hillbilly Highway, a song McNally wrote for his band in Montréal, The Pandemics.
Then there is I Shot Your Dog, which, as you would expect, is a sad, slow song.
“But we bop it up,” says McNally.
The result is music that makes it near impossible to sit still.
Indeed, at a gig at the Gold Rush Inn, the band members looked out the window and saw a row of people with their faces pressed against the window. Behind them, there were people dancing.
People had been waiting an hour and a half to get in while the hallway outside the room was as crowded as the dance floor.
“The atmosphere was bursting out onto the street,” says McNally.
Keevil says the music has universal appeal and she has even been stopped on the street by people in their 60s who enjoy their music.
Looking forward to their set at Frostbite this weekend, McNally says the Yukon College gym is a large enough venue to give them more room to move.
Keevil says she hasn't decided which prom dress to wear, as she is still looking for others. They are surprisingly elusive. The first one was found in Juneau, Alaska, at a “little hole-in-the-wall Sally Ann”.
“There it was, in the back of the room, a little stained, but it fit perfectly.
“And Ian found a suit about three or four sizes too small.”
“It works,” says McNally.
“It's a super-shiny 1950s look,” adds Keevil.
Whether or not Keevil wears a wrist corsage is “up to the boys”.
“I'm still waiting,” she says.
The performance will be Friday night (rather, 12:45 on Saturday morning ) and ends at 2 a.m.
Keevil says she must then get some sleep and be ready to hit the Yukon Quest trail later Saturday morning to cover it for the Yukon News.
She is used to such transitions: “I run dogs,” she says. “I like coming in and taking off the toque and putting on the wig.” McNally starts laughing at this, so Keevil eggs him on further.
“Off with the Carhartts and on with the prom dress,” she says, complete with exaggerated motions.
And now McNally is laughing even harder.
Darrell Hookey — editor
- What's Up Yukon

Once again, the streets of Whitehorse will be bare as its citizens flock to the next big summer weekend event.

On this weekend, July 29 to Aug. 1, the draw will be the Southeast Alaska State Fair in Haines, Alaska.

The private, non-profit organization is once again filling its 42 acres of land with parades, Bingo, the Logging Show, a Fisherman's Rodeo, singer-songwriter and fiddle competitions, fair rides (from Ferris wheels to mechanical bulls) and carnival games for the kids.

Back in 1968, when it first started in “the little American Legion in Haines”, it was organized by the Haines Homemakers Club.

Jessica Edwards, the assistant fair director, says it was more of a home economics fair. But with the resurgence of the back-to-the-land survival skills, the fair still has home arts and crafts, cooking and baking.

There are also food preserving and homemade beer and wine.

Among the 15 food vendors, there will be pizza and Mexican food.

Lately, there has been more of an entertainment focus. Along with rides for the kids, there will be music in the Klondike Saloon (in “Dalton City” on the movie set for White Fang) and workshops.

On the main stage, there will be NANDA, a troupe of four dancing, juggling, Kung-fu acrobats from Washington State, California Hula Hoop artist, Sprial, Grammy-award-winning Inuit musicians and storytellers, Pamyua and blues singer Michelle Fournier.

The headliners will be the funky Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, the northern roots of Trampled By Turtles, hip-hop's Blue Scholars and master guitarist Scott Huckabay.

The Yukon will be represented, as well, by Kim Beggs, Sasquatch Prom Date, Sophisticated Cavemen, Kim Beggs, Nicole Edwards and Dave Haddock.

“Over the years, we've had good relations with performers in the Yukon,” says Edwards. “Nicole has come here for years, and we had a Northern Neighbours Night once.

“There are so many talented people there.”

Last year, The WhiskeyDicks came and brought an overwhelming number of Yukoners with them. This was a good thing, since the local radio station wouldn't say “WhiskeyDicks” on the air.

There are not many hotel rooms left, but attendees can try calling 1-907-766-2234 as there may be rooms further from town available.

As well, there will be free camping downtown at Tlingit Park.

“This is a big boon for the town,” says Edwards. “It brings in a lot of people.” - What's Up Yukon, by Darrell Hookey

Polar bears, narwhal, wolves and sasquatches?

Canada’s Northern House, a premier showcase of all things Yukon and Northern at the Olympics, could not miss a chance to show off a little rockabilly jump-jive to a packed house.

The afternoon show on Yukon Day pumped up the reputation for members of Sasquatch Prom Date, already quite well known in Whitehorse.

The members dressed in their Olympic best, which is saying a lot for a band known for taut tuxedos, crushed-velvet prom dresses, pompadours reaching new heights, and pink sparkly wigs.

Olympic-sized exposure let Sasquatch Prom Date reach new heights with the added thousands of new rockabilly fans and new audiences.

Genesee Keevil, upright-bass player and pink-haired rocker extraordinaire, says, “It’s amazing. It’s not our usual crowd, and we’re breaking the age barriers right, left and centre.

“People who might not normally listen to rockabilly are just getting up and boppin’ to the music.”

She's right. During the lunchtime set, its music inspired many visiting VIPs to step up and get moving.

Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell took Yukon Commissioner Geraldine Van Bibber and danced a brief waltz, inspired by the upbeat and jaunty songs.

Ryan McNally shouted out to the crowd, “This song is dedicated for the Yukon people. I lost my girl in the Yukon!” And he broke out the classic half-mournful, half-hilarious song.

Keevil notes that the North has a lot of positive energy and that their success at the Olympics is due in no small way to the support of the Whitehorse crowd.

“They have a lot of heart, and because of their encouragement, here we are at the Olympics, letting everyone know about the Yukon and Sasquatch Prom Date.”

They certainly earned their fame, with shows at the athletes' village, Railroad Club, Canada’s Northern House and many other venues.

Sasquatch Prom Date kept running through its Olympic music sprint, and Keevil wouldn’t have it any other way: “We’re pushing boundaries and it’s been fabulous. We are reaching more demographics than we ever thought possible and we find a lot of it is really being appreciated by the crowds.”

What’s in store for Sasquatch Prom Date, now that it's gained an international fan base?

Keevil says the members hope to capitalize on their success with older demographics and release a full-length album later in the year, introducing aspects of Latin-rockabilly and stretching themselves creatively with more of their own music.

“It was just nice to play to an audience that hasn’t heard us before at the Gold Rush or at Coasters. A great opportunity to broaden our fanbase and get our music out to them,” says Keevil.

That’s not to say Sasquatch Prom Date doesn’t appreciate its home-grown fans. The members remain true Yukoners, with anticipated performance dates coming up at the venerable Dawson Music Festival in July and, of course, various venues like the Gold Rush or Coasters. - What's Up Yukon, By Sarah Lindstein

Whitehorse rockers Sasquatch Prom Date are releasing their first full-length CD August 6 at Foxy’s Cabaret.

Boys, better buy Brylcreem to plaster that pompadour. Girls, time to pick up a poodle skirt.

Sasquatch Prom Date’s CD release party is coming.

It’s the debut album of the Whitehorse rockabilly outfit, which features Ryan McNally on guitar and vocals, Genesee Keevil on standup bass, Ian Stewart on guitar and Patrick Singh on drums.

(Full disclosure: Keevil and Stewart work at the News. Small town, many hats, yadda yadda.)

It’s been more than two years since the band formed. Keevil offers a creation myth that centres on McNally’s pompadour: “I saw Ryan’s hair and I thought, ‘That guy probably knows how to play rockabilly.’ And he did.”

Why rockabilly - that swinging lovechild of rock ‘n’ roll and country music that exploded in popularity in the 1950s? Because it’s eminently danceable, says Keevil.

Their swinging sound helps explain how the group has inspired a loyal following of young ‘uns who have raided local thrift stores for retro outfits to wear to the band’s shows. And their appeal extends up to bluehairs who can still recall the beehive doos and saddle shoes popular in rockabilly’s heyday.

Performance is more than playing music, of course - an insight never lost on this band. When they hit the stage, they’re inevitably dressed in costume, with Keevil wearing a prom dress and an electric-pink wig, Stewart in a too-tight tuxedo, and McNally and Singh also sporting retro suits.

McNally, whose solo act is as a smooth bluesman, launches into yelps, growls and other histrionics to driving drums and bassline.

These rockabilly alter-egos seem to give the crowd permission to abandon inhibitions to cut a rug. The dance floor quickly fills.

But how do you bottle this live sound in a recording? It’s a question the band struggled with in the studio.

One solution was to record “live off the floor,” with the band playing together, rather than recording each instrument in turn.

Another was to use old-school, analog equipment. They recorded with ribbon microphones and tube amplifiers, which, said McNally, produce a warmer, more forgiving sound than digital gear.

These throwback approaches are at odds with today’s era of popular music that’s been carefully sculpted by computers: more often than not, beats are snapped to a grid, and voices are Autotuned to be free of quirks. Not so here. It succeeds in capturing the vibe of their live show.

So does the self-titled album’s artwork, drawn by Stewart to mimic the cover of an old horror comic. In it, the band members, in costume, fend off a monstrous, hairy hand bearing a corsage.

(The band’s name was created during a brainstorming session in which the members tried to come up with a title that conveyed something Yukon and something 1950s. “We’re still looking for a fifth member of the band, willing to wear a furry suit,” said Keevil.)

The album includes 10 songs, eight of which are originals. Among them is the crowd favourite Hillbilly Highway, the Latin-styled Black Mary Tattoo and the punk-tinged psychobilly Wasp Woman from Outer Space.

The album also includes two covers. One, I Lost My Gal in the Yukon by Ray Condo and the Ricochets, is a reinterpretation of I Lost My Girl in Memphis by Peter De Rose and Charles Tobias. It proved too perfect a fit for Prom Date to pass up. To round the sound out, they brought in Grant Simpson to play the musical saw and banjo for the number.

The other, Red Hot by Billy Ray Emerson, is another of the band’s bigger crowd pleasers when they perform.

The band has received promising exposure over the past six months. In February they performed during the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. And, most recently, they played the Dawson City Music Festival. A tour of BC and Alberta is in the works.

The album was recorded with a $5,000 grant from Yukon’s film and sound commission. CDs should be available in Whitehorse music stores soon, selling for $15.

The CD release party is on Friday, August 6 at Foxy’s Cabaret. Cover is $5. Show starts at 9:30 p.m.

“We’re playing all night,” said Keevil. - Yukon News, By John Thompson

We ended the night at the Pit where I saw possibly my favourite act of the festival, rockabilly group Sasquatch Prom Date.
The Whitehorse band played until 2 a.m. and were into their second encore by the time I left.

The Walrus' Kevin Chong - The Walrus

February 18, 2010

Who’s thirsty for a nice refreshing human-toe cocktail? Well, have we got an event for you. Yukonfest 2010 at the Railway Club will have plenty of Dawson City’s world famous “sourtoe” cocktails on hand. And yes, each drink comes with its very own salty, dehydrated, preserved toe. You can nurse the beverage, shoot it, chug it, slam it, and, if you have a canker sore, you might even want to give it a good gargle (the salt will take care of that bad boy). Either way, the rules are very clear on this one: The toe must touch the drinker’s lips. Of course, if you have a foot fetish or a doctorate in podiatry, this toe-licking libation will be a jean-creaming pleasure. But if you don’t get off on feet and you never really bought into the whole kissing a fish in Newfoundland/eating a worm in Mexico thing, skip the drink and head down Yukonfest anyway. The two-day music celebration tonight and Friday (February 18 and 19) boasts an eclectic mix of bands including the highly danceable Sophisticated Cavemen, the Francophone folk-fusion act Soir de Semaine, electronica/hip-hop duo Root Sellers, ’50s rockabilly group Sasquatch Prom Date (pictured above), and Spring Breakup, featuring Kim Barlow and Mathias Kom. There’s bound to be plenty of dancing, so wear comfortable shoes, but more importantly wear warm shoes and for God sake’s, don’t complain about having cold feet—for some reason, this crowd has a tendency to misdiagnose frost bite, especially after they’ve had a few. - The Georgia Straight, Vancouver

Sasquatch Prom Date concert is a party. People wear prom dresses and wigs and tuxedos and the dancing is of the contagious kind that is indulged willingly.

The band offers the gift of fun, and it is reciprocated by the audience in an exhausting and endless loop.

So, with its new CD, A Chilling End to a High School Romance, being released at Foxy's Cabaret Friday, Aug. 6, the question is asked: Does the digital package have a synergy with the band's live performance?

Wincing comically at the word “synergy”, Ryan McNally, lead guitar and vocals, says, “Big time.”

Ian Stewart, guitarist, says, “Yeah.”

Genesee Keevil, the upright bass player, explains: “The CD was recorded at Bob's [Hamilton, of Old Crow Recording] live off the floor, so he had everyone playing all at once.

“That gives it more of a live sense right there, and it's more in sync with how we sound.”

McNally agrees, saying, “The songs speed up and slow down, each song ebbs and flows naturally as it would in a live show with the energy of a real show.”

“As opposed to auto-tuned voices,” adds Keevil.

“We didn't want it to be too clean,” says Stewart.

Laughing, and slightly embarrassed, they admit to sometimes dressing up for the recording sessions.

“Bob even got dressed up,” says McNally.

“Any excuse to wear a wig, right?” adds Keevil, whose own collection was helped along by a chance encounter with a wig shop in Hong Kong.

Catching that party atmosphere, the Sasquatches (the Dates? The SPDers?) say this CD doesn't necessarily have to be played at a party.

“Driving,” McNally offers.

“Driving is good,” agrees Keevil.

“It isn't really a sit-down kind of CD,” says McNally, reconsidering. “It is more like a party kind of CD.”

“Or if you are stuck in the house and doing chores or running around,” says Keevil.

The 10 songs on the CD are all original. Five of them haven't been heard before and three of them have only been heard by a lucky few who got a demo CD from last winter.

The CD cover, a clever comic-book-style cartoon by Stewart, reflects the band's fun reputation and suggests at the campy songs within.

But the members didn't try for a “campy” feel ... it just turned out that way.

“It was just putting something humorous in there, like our stage show, to make people feel welcome,” says McNally.

“We find that works. When we got to the Olympics, we were playing to all sorts of people.

“We would be playing to 300 10-year-olds one day and then the next night we'd be at the Railway Club playing to drunk people until two in the morning.

“So, it's diverse enough.”

One song grew from an inspiration Keevil got from a calendar of movie posters from the 50s.

“One of them has this wasp woman, her body is the wasp and her face is this ...” Keevil frames her face and affects a wasp-ish look (meh, I guess you had to be there).

“So, this wasp woman is coming from outer space to sting the whole human race. So, we riffed off of that and we now have a song, Wasp Woman From Outer Space.

The CD is officially released Friday, Aug. 6, at Foxy's Cabaret, starting at 9:30 p.m.

Prom dresses and tuxedos are encouraged ... and may even be rewarded.

After the show, A Chilling End to a High School Romance will be available at the Mac's Fireweed Books, Triple Js Music and Mark and Paddy's Wondrous Music Emporium and at www.sasquatchpromdate.com.
- What's Up Yukon, by Darrell Hookey

August 12, 2010
Sasquatch Prom Date is the great dance party band in Whitehorse.

It's a must for any festival looking for a high-energy closer, and (full disclosure) I've been a fan since it started playing.

So it was with excitement that I found out I get to review its first CD, A Chilling End to a High School Romance.

Almost as soon as he arrived from Montréal, where he played in a rockabilly/psychobilly band, Ryan McNally made his presence known in Whitehorse as a virtuoso blues guitarist and singer.

But he's shown himself to be much more than that. Collaborating with Kyle Cashen, he experimented with electronic music in Old Time Machine. More recently, he teamed up with Yellowknife singer-songwriter Dana Sipos as the folk duo, The Mountain Avens.

With Sasquatch Prom Date, he returns to those rockabilly roots with amazing energy and an equally amazing band. Drummer Patrick Singh, guitarist Ian Stewart, and slap stand-up bass player, Genesee Keevil easily match McNally's virtuosity to form a tight, high-energy band that can get anyone twisting and spinning on the dance floor.

With A Chilling End to a High School Romance, that energy is carried through the studio to be the life of your next party. Sasquatch Prom Date make rockabilly sound as fresh and exciting as it was in the early days of rock and roll.

To prove this, just listen to their version of Red Hot by Billy “The Kid” Emerson. It's fast, wild, has great guitar solos, and will have your feet moving wherever you're listening to it.

And, as for energy, McNally practically screams through the song, My girl is red hot/Your girl ain't doodly squat.

The band's original songs keep that early rock and roll feel, with some occasional punk elements added, like the shouted backup vocals in Black Mary Tattoo.

Carrying on with this 1950s theme, Wasp Woman from Outer Space is a lyrical tribute to drive-in science-fiction B-movies. Even the artwork, by Stewart, has a vintage Tales from the Crypt comic feel.

McNally's voice goes from near punk screaming on Red Hot to softer crooning on I Lost My Gal in the Yukon, to something closer to Elvis Presley on Old Shoe (with some added high-pitched hiccups). The band equally moves easily between cool jazz and something just shy of melodic hardcore punk.

The breakneck pace of Red Hot and Ball Tonight pauses slightly to make way for somewhat slower ones like I Lost My Gal in the Yukon and Old Shoe. But those slower songs are just a breather before Hillbilly Highway and Drived Me Crazy.

The CD was recorded by Bob Hamilton who also provides a country pedal steel on Old Shoe. Grant Simpson, using skills honed in the Frantic Follies, adds banjo and musical saw to I Lost My Gal in the Yukon.

Sometimes there's a fear that a band known for its live performances goes into the studio, they will lose some of the edge that makes them so exciting. Lucky for us, that hasn't happened with Sasquatch Prom Date.

Outstanding tracks: Red Hot, Drived Me Crazy - What's Up Yukon, by Barry "Jack" Jenkins

Local bluesman and frontman for the popular Sasquatch Prom Date has gone and done a Marty McFly in reverse.
album:
A Chilling End To A High School Romance


Local bluesman and frontman for the popular Sasquatch Prom Date has gone and done a Marty McFly in reverse.

You remember Marty McFly from that ’80s film classic Back to the Future?

He goes back in time to right his parents’ then-fledgling romance, and while he’s at it, brings a taste of modern rock’n’roll to those Brylcreemers creamers and poodle skirts.

If we didn’t know any better, it would be easy to believe that Ryan McNally is here from the past and just visiting – pompadour and sideburns in place, his mission: unleash those mean rockabilly guitar licks from the ’50s on an unsuspecting 21st-century audience.

And if that’s his strategy, it appears to be resonating.

Judging the reaction from those at the recent Dawson City Music Festival who witnessed McNally and the rest of Sasquatch Prom Date, which includes Genesee Keevil (standup bass, pink wig and wedding dress), Patrick Singh (drums, cool blazer and dark sunglasses) and Ian Stewart (rhythm guitar and tux), those malt-shake blues still rattle and roll in the future!

Enter the band’s debut record, A Chilling End To A High School Romance, where McNally and company lovingly recreate those heady days of rockabilly with a twist of lime and a double-shot of originality.

Sure, the album contains a sizzling version of Billy Emerson’s “Red Hot” – a crowd favourite during the band’s live performances – and a reinterpretation of Ray Condo and the Ricochets’ “I Lost My Gal In The Yukon”, but the rest is pure Prom Date (even the album art is done in hilarious comic book style by Stewart).

And both Stewart and Keevil contribute to the song writing, adding their nudges, winks and hearty enthusiam to McNally’s already-bubbling flux-capacitor of inspiration.

Rarely does an album capture a band’s live performance, but Bob Hamilton, who recorded, mixed and mastered the CD at his Old Crow studio in Whitehorse (and played pedal steel on one track) has made a valiant effort. Dance floor, sweaty sock-hoppers and a Coke float not included.

So get yourself a seat on Sasquatch Prom Date’s time warp while the getting’s good.

Next voyage departs Foxy’s Cabaret at 9:30 tonight for the band’s CD release party. Cover is $5, and increase your chances of joining the band on its journey by looking sharp.

The high school romance may be over, but a throwback love affair is just beginning. - Whitehorse Star, by Jason Unrau

“One of the highlights of the festival will be local rockabilly band Sasquatch Prom Date.”

Frostbite Music Festival artistic director Eric Epstein - CBC Radio One

“As for local bands who made a similar impression, huge kudos have to go to Sasquatch Prom Date, who literally blew the lid off the joint Friday evening with a searing set of sci-fi rockabilly for the ages.
“Fronted by the pompadoured Ryan McNally, his slick gyrations, even slicker guitar licks and vocal howls channeling the likes of rockabilly godfather Gene Vincent, firmly established Sasquatch Prom Date as the local band to be reckoned with.”
Jason Unrau — Star reporter
- Whitehorse Star

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va23jer9wQE - Live video on YouTube

It might be the conflict of interest talking, but Sasquatch Prom Date is the greatest artistic endeavour ever to have been fathomed by humankind.

In 1977, astronomer Carl Sagan was tasked with summarizing the whole of human achievement to be inscribed onto a golden disk, bolted onto the Voyager spacecraft and fired into the outer reaches of the cosmos.

“This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours,” said a recorded proclamation by US President Jimmy Carter.

Were the disk to be compiled today, gone would be Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto the night chants of the Navajo. Even Beethoven’s immortal String Quartet would have found its way onto the cutting room floor.

In their place would be nothing but the 30-song, Rockabilly strains of the Sasquatch Prom Date catalogue - the purest embodiment of more than 10,000 years of human civilization.
Tristin Hopper — reporter - Yukon News

Sasquatch Prom Date's Ryan McNally and Genesee Keevil were featured for 30-minutes, and three of the band's original songs were played. - CBC Radio One