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Royal Canoe
April 16 · Festival Hall

Royal Canoe

With Zoon

Doors @ 7:00 MST/MDT · Show @ 8:00 MST/MDT

Tickets

$25

Online

Sold Out

With the exception of event cancellation, all sales are final.

Presented by ATB

About Zoon · Hamilton, ON

In the Ojibway language, the word Zoongide’ewin means “bravery, courage, the Bear Spirit.” It’s no wonder Daniel Monkman adopted Zoon as his musical moniker. The Hamilton-based musician has spent the better part of his 28 years finding and channeling his strength to overcome such adversities as racism, poverty and addiction.

Born and raised in Selkirk, Manitoba, a small prison town outside of Winnipeg he describes as “one of the roughest places,” Monkman constantly faced an uphill battle. In his teens he was victimized for his First Nations heritage, which led to him abusing drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. His best friend died of an overdose; he nearly followed him on multiple occasions. But with the spiritual guidance he learned from 12-step therapy, Monkman got clean and began to follow a passion for music he discovered from a young age growing up within the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.

While there is a healthy population of nu-gazers creating beautiful noise all over the world, Zoon’s debut stands out from all the others. Bleached Wavves is notable not just for its breathtakingly inimitable sounds and giving birth to a newfangled subgenre (see “moccasin-gaze”), but also for its modest, resourceful creation, the sign of a true sonic genius-in-the-making.

About Royal Canoe · Winnipeg, MB

Winnipeg’s Royal Canoe would never be characterized as having taken the simple, prescribed path over the past decade. This almost stubborn fascination with finding “the long way around” has resulted in a rich catalog of albums, EPs, videos and experimental live-shows that are as adventurous in their process as they are in their creativity. Whether it’s releasing radio-singles in 5/4 time, performing concerts on instruments made of ice, adamantly dragging their multiple-drum-set, six-keyboard, live-setup around the world in their van and trailer, writing and performing a musical version of Shakespeare’s Richard II or their various outrageous schemes to stay connected to their fans, Royal Canoe have stuck around because they’ve never lost sight of what drives them - the exhilaration that comes with the opportunity to do something completely new. On their latest album Sidelining they followed one rule: no song-nuggets or lyrical ideas from before. No demos you came up with last week that you brought to the band. Everything would be built and completed that day. The result is an album that, at times, aches with the undeniable tensions of the past year. But above all, the songs are an attempt at being raw and honest communicators. They throw up a mirror to challenge old ways; to tear down the familiar and build it back better.

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