Your Phil of Genesis covers

The god of thunder, it seems, is a fan of Genesis. Zeus, a group of up 'n' coming rockers from Toronto, recorded a version of Phil and co.'s 1984 hit, That's All. (Posted above.) Their -- as in Zeus, not Genesis -- full-length debut, Say Us, is due in February.

But wait ... that's not all. Clare and The Reasons also do a rendition -- complete with tuba and violin. (Posted below.) Yum. The Brooklyn duo's original compositions are also quite delicious. Their second album, Arrow, is now available on Frog Stand Records.

Mo' money

Musician and Movember fundraiser Brock Skywalker deserves a standing ovation. If it wasn't for his motivation, we would've never known what Edmonton Journal cop reporter Ben Gelinas looks like with a furry lip.

Here's how it happened ... at the start of November, Brock sent me an e-mail about his mo-growing efforts to raise money for prostate cancer research.

I blogged about his 'stache-for-cash drive, then forwarded his e-mail to one of the Journal's editors, Kerry Powell, who ended up running a few stories about the cause. Inspired by Brock, I also bugged my boyfriend/DJ David Stone and Ben Gelinas to grow their own mos.

My boyfriend raised $485 in donations, Ben collected $945, while Brock raised $2,015. And, as promised, he put together a montage of photos, documenting the growth of his 'stache. (Posted above.)

Way to go!

Criticism, schmiticism

Edmonton artists are taking bit of a bashing.

1. Earlier this week, Cadence Weapon was criticized for picking Douglas Coupland's Generation X as his choice for CBC Radio's annual Canada Reads contest. (I thought it was a safe selection, others felt he should have opted for an Edmonton author.)

2. Shout Out Out Out Out was dissed in the latest issue of GQ. The local electro-rockers topped the magazine's annual list of terrible band names. (Hey, I can think of a lot worse. Septic Flesh, for starters. And, as much as I like 'em, The Rural Alberta Advantage doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.)

Oddly enough, GQ is the second New York magazine to make fun of the name of an Edmonton artist. "Finally, what the fuck is a Cadence Weapon?" Michael Hogan asked in a Vanity Fair column about bad band names. Well, it's definitely not a band name.

Springing into action

The Bounce 91.7 FM’s past and present Showdown champions are springing into action with a fresh set of tunes.

Justin Blais, the latest winner of the talent search, recorded two more songs with the team behind Vancouver’s Hipjoint Productions. He’ll perform the first, 7 Days, and sign autographs on Saturday, Dec. 5 at the HMV stage in West Edmonton Mall. (The second tune is still under wraps.)

“Most of my family says (7 Days) sounds like Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson,” he says.
“It has that relaxed summer vibe but it’s more uptempo.”

Perfect! Just what we need to get through our frigid days.

Blais, 19, previously recorded two dance-pop numbers, One Night and Some Kind of Beautiful, with Hipjoint. The latter is now charting on radio stations across Canada. “It’s amazing,” he says of his post-Showdown life. “It’s so weird to know people care. I’ve been singing and performing all my life and now people want to talk to me.”

Saturday’s gig starts at 2:30 p.m.

* Kreesha Turner, the very first Showdown winner, is the voice of Delerium’s swirling new electronic single, Dust In Gravity. “Bill (Leeb) and Rhys (Fulber), the masterminds of Delerium, actually kinda sought me out and asked for my vocals,” she says on one of her YouTube vlogs.

The tune will be featured on the Vancouver duo’s next album, due in the spring.

* Quanteisha Benjamin, last year’s champ, is sportin’ a new club-pop ditty, D & G, written by Hipjoint. She also teamed with the rockers from Radio For Help to record a tune, Breathing, for the local band’s forthcoming album, You Don’t Wanna Miss This. Both singles will be available Dec. 15 on iTunes.

Radio For Help will perform Saturday, Dec. 5 at Avenue Theatre, 9030 118th Ave,, with Define The Line, Seventh Rain, Chasing Jones and The Red Threat. Doors are at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.

Julie in January

Singer-songwriter Julie Doiron and folk-rockers Attack In Black will perform Wednesday, Jan. 20 at The ARTery. Ticket info will be released soon.

Doiron, Attack In Black’s Daniel Romano and guitarist/singer Fred Squire released an album, Daniel, Fred & Julie, earlier this week.

(Photo by Rick White.)

Another jolt of electricity

I used to really like Electric Six ... back in 2003, when their ridiculous disco-rock schtick was still fresh. Six years later, they're still mining the same territory on their sixth album, Kill, but frontman Dick Valentine and his pals don't care what I, or other former fans, think.

"Electric Six is done trying to not sound like their first record Fire," reads their MySpace page. "Electric Six wants to sound like their first record Fire. Electric Six wants big loud guitars and fuzz basses intertwined with the occasional r&b jam."

Electric Six also wants to return to Edmonton. The Detroit rockers will perform Friday, March 19 at The Starlite Room. Tickets are $14 plus service charges at Ticketmaster, Megatunes, Blackbyrd and Freecloud. On sale: Friday, Dec. 4.

Valentine and his Sixers made their first local stop in 2005, after clearing up some pesky legal issues. At the time, the band was on their second record label. "We're just going to get worse, and eventually, no one will want to sign us," Valentine jokingly told The Journal.

"This is 1984!"

Hey Mari, here's something else to make us feel like kids again ... Martha and the Muffins are releasing their first album, Delicate, in 18 years. Wow. It's due Feb. 2 on their own label, Muffin Music. Mess (posted above) is the first taste.

"Making Delicate was like a TV reality show: love, hate, sex, death and disease, it was all happening at once. If the music hadn't been good, I would've been totally lost," says Mark Gane.

The Toronto new wave/pop duo of Gane and Martha Johnson were MuchMusic stars in the '80s, thanks to Echo Beach and White Station/Black Station.