Rockers and B-boppers Invading UPEI

On March 29, underground- turned-mainstream band Swollen Members will hip-hop the UPEI campus pub with their urban rap sound. The "members" are Mad Child, owner of the independent label Battleaxe which manages the band, Prevail, Mad Child's inspiration to begin "Swollen Members", Mocha Only, an on- again, off-again member; and Rob the Viking, producer of the band.

The latest album, Monsters in :

the Closet, is comprised of a series of songs intended for the

absolute dedicated SM fans.

The band's debut album came out in 1999, and won them a Juno in 2001 for Best Rap Recording. Their second album, Bad Dreams, earned them another Juno plus four Much Music awards. Bad

Dreams also went Sane and brought them to the mainstream. The latest album, Monsters in the Closet, is comprised of a series of songs intended for the absolute dedicated SM fans.

One such song is ‘Breath’, featur- ing Nelly Furtado. This song has har- boured a lot of hype recently, with loads of radio and video play. The video for the song was directed by comic book artist Todd McFarlane, creator of "Spawn". Creepy, dark energy surrounds the feel of the video, and this element combined with

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w echoing carne sung by Furtado has gained the band greater public atten- tion than ever before.

What keeps the band growing steadily is their creative and managerial control. They have 100% creative control and do as they please with their sound. Part of this is because Mad Child started the company which manages the band, so they have a fair say in everything they do.

On a different note, Not By Choice will play the Wave April 2. This

band is a little more grunge, a little more garage, a little more rock than Swollen Members. These guys are akin to Sum41,

’ Goldfinger, and Green Day.

Mark, lead singer and guitarist, was the driving force behind the band. He wrote lyrics, and wanted to put them to music. Simple as that. Though they describe their choice of band name through this long, cryptic tale about an old wise man in a cave (check out their official web site), they really took their name for a much simpler reason: they play rock music because they have to. It's "not by choice."

The other band members are Liam on Drums, AJ on bass, and Chico on guitar. Save for Chico, qui vien de Montreal, the guys originate from Toronto. They all became involved some way or another, and all insist that it was ‘not by choice.' They get a high from playing to new crowds, so Charlottetown is sure to get a great show out of them.

Stay tuned for the next issue of the Cadre, which may very well contain interviews with said bands.

The Art of Watching

There are certain things in life that should not exist. Some, because they are inherently harmful and serve no real purpose (ie. Cigarettes). And then, there are other ill-conceived ideas, whose com- mercial success degrades the quality of life in society. It's not that these fiascoes are force-fed to a brainwashed public by "evil" marketers. In fact, advertisers are often to surprised that the worst ideas often make the most money.

Why exactly do they make money? At face value, there's no real rea- son for it. For some reason the concentra- tion of profitable bad ideas seems to focus on television programs. Reality TV is a glaring example of this. It seems impossi- ble that there are millions of relatively intelligent people who tune in every week to watch the same vapid drones discuss the mundane ways of "outsmarting" their equally vacuous counterparts. Perhaps, people take pleasure in seeing people slightly inferior to themselves — causing a slight superiority complex. People are

addicted to the "power trip" created by these shows, keeping this trash on the air.

On other side of the spectrum, focussing on "superior" people creates another anomaly. That is, the fact that "star news" shows manage to stay on the air in such volume. This is certainly a mal- formed version of "hero-worship." Malformed in the sense that people are not glorifying worthy acts. Rather, these "stars" are exalted for mediocrity. This gives the average person a chance to idol- ize someone, without feeling inadequate.

Returning to my original point, why do these ideas do so well? I believe people are interested in the one thing all this garbage has in common - personal completion. The people who buy into these ideas choose to watch TV instead of facing the fact that they may be inade- quate, inept, and tedious. This is certainly a cheerful legacy for a society to have. The Egyptians left the pyramids, the Greeks contributed Plato, the Vikings discovered a new continent, and the North Americans gave us Hollywood news. Is this how we want to be remembered?