Mike Devlin’s Scene and Heard
Formerly of Broken Social Scene, singer is promoting his sixth album as solo artist
If we can judge Jason Collett by the company he keeps, his performance at Lucky Bar on Wednesday shouldn’t be missed. Collett, formerly of Toronto collective Broken Social Scene, will arrive in Victoria just four dates into his Canadian tour to promote Song and Dance Man, his sixth album as a solo artist and perhaps his best effort yet.
His previous performances in town were all standout sets, so there’s ample evidence to suggest his gig at the intimate Lucky Bar will be cut from a similar cloth.
Collett had some help on his new recording — Don Kerr, formerly of the Rheostatics, was on board as drummer and engineer, while Bahamas frontman/leader Afie Jurvanen played bass and produced — and Collett will have support from his very notable backing band, Zeus, next week.
All signs point to this being a night of must-see music.
Tickets are $16 at Lyle’s Place and Ticketfly.com. Opening act is Kalle Mattson. Showtime is 8 p.m.
The Thing — not the John Carpenter movie, but the Norwegian/Swedish jazz trio — is heading to Victoria for a show that will be much sought after for fans of avant-garde jazz.
Brought to us by some of the same promoters who corralled free-jazz icon Peter Brotzmann into a rare performance at the Copper Owl last year, the show at the Martin Batchelor Gallery (712 Cormorant St.) on June 25 should be instantly entered into your calendar. Tickets are expected to be gone well before the inaugural Victoria visit from Mats Gustafsson (saxophones), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (double bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums). Plan accordingly or be left in the cold.
Doors are 8 p.m. Ticket are $20 at Cavity Curiosity Shop, the Martin Batchelor Gallery and Eventbrite.ca.
A fetching double bill featuring two popular Victoria acts — Sam Weber and Quoia — is going down at Sugar nightclub on May 28.
Both headliners will have new music to offer. Better still, admission will get you copies of Weber’s new release, Valentina Nevada, and Quoia’s Prospector.
Tickets are $20 at Guitars Plus (1108 Blanshard St.) and Talltree.tickit.ca.
Sean Drabitt is among the best bass players this city has ever produced, so news of his two shows slotted into Hermann’s Jazz Club (753 View St.) next week will be met with great anticipation from jazz heads.
Expect serious sparks when Drabitt and an esteemed group of players tackle on Thursday and Friday the early material of Jaco Pastorius. Drabitt told the Times Colonist via e-mail this week that Pastorius is the reason he got into jazz in the first place. Drabitt and Brent Jarvis (piano, keyboards), Andrew Greenwood (saxophone), Hans Verhoeven (drums), and Leone Torres (percussion) will focus on material from Pastorius’s mid-’70s albums and his early work with the seminal fusion outfit Weather Report.
Tickets are $20 at the door ($15 for students). Reservations are recommended. For more information, phone 250-388-9166.
Supersuckers — rock ‘n’ roll bad-boys from what they call Hell City, Hell — are burning a trail that will lead them to Victoria on May 13, their first show in the market since 2012.
The band fronted by singer- bassist Eddie Spaghetti is touring behind its new album, Holdin’ the Bag, but it will be classic-era Supersuckers the fans will expect to hear during their Upstairs Cabaret appearance.
Fear not: Spaghetti and two recent recruits will no doubt bring the “sacrilicious” fun. If there’s one thing you can expect from a band whose past collaborators include Steve Earle and Pearl Jam, it’s Tucson-fried rock ’n’ roll exploits. Don’t miss them.
It’s an early show with a 7 p.m. start, but arrive promptly for locals Man Made Lake and Ball Gag n’ Chain Gang in the opening slots. Tickets are $22 at Lyle’s Place and Ticketweb.ca.
Bif Naked is a well-established poet, author and performer, though the Vancouver rocker rarely combines the two mediums.
She will do so in grand style May 11 with a show at the Alix Goolden Performance Hall (907 Pandora Ave.) that is part of her Songs and Stories tour.
Naked will play songs and discuss topics covered in her autobiography, I Bificus — A Memoir. Hers is an incredible life story; book your tickets now for $30 through Lyle’s Place, the Alix Goolden Performance Hall and Ticketfly.co.
For more information, phone 250-386-5311.
No one ever accused Canadian
country star Terri Clark of shying away from a challenge, but she is taking her work ethic to the extreme on an upcoming tour that stops on Vancouver Island for two dates in November.
Clark, a multiple Juno Award winner who was born in Montreal, raised in Alberta and once owned a house in Sooke, has announced a 40-date Back to My Roots solo acoustic tour that gets underway Sept. 14 in Summerside, P.E.I.
Clark will stop at Nanaimo’s Port Theatre on Nov. 9 and Duncan’s Cowichan Performing Arts Centre on Nov. 10. For ticket information, visit porttheatre.com and cowichanpac.ca.