Victoria rockers Current Swell are looking at a busy month in May, including a free hometown show for more than 3,000 fans.
The local group is performing May 17 at Ship Point in the Inner Harbour as part of the Red Bull Bus Tour. The show, which features opening sets from the Electric Timber Company and Humans, will have a capacity of 3,000 and is expected to sell out.
The event is in support of Current Swell’s fifth album, Ulysses, which arrives May 6 on Nettwerk Records.
The band — singer-guitarists Dave Lang and Scott Stanton, bassist Ghosty Boy and drummer Chris Petersen — will also be in New York and Vermont beginning May 1 for three shows with Montreal rocker Sam Roberts, followed by a much-anticipated headlining performance at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom on May 10.
For free tickets to Current Swell’s Ship Point concert, go to redbull.ca/currentswell.
Victoria-based filmmaker Morgan Tams enlisted Immaculate Machine’s Brooke Gallupe and singer-songwriter Clay George for the filming of Killer’s Crossing, a “rock opera western” shot off-the-grid over four days on Valdes Island near Vancouver.
The 19-minute film is among the many productions appearing at the Short Circuit short film festival being held May 2-3 at the Vic Theatre (808 Douglas St.)
Tickets for both nights are $10 at CineVic (1119 Fort St.) and Lyle’s Place (770 Yates). Two-night tickets are $15.
For information, go to cinevic.ca.
Victoria-raised fiddler Tania Elizabeth is no longer touring with The Duhks, the Grammy-nominated roots group she co-founded, but she will continue to appear on the band’s recordings, including the band’s upcoming effort, Beyond the Blue.
The album, due June 24 on Compass Records, features the fiddle work of the Nashville-based Elizabeth, who has formed a new band, the Stacks, with her guitar-playing husband, Andy Stacks.
For information, go to thestacksmusic.com
A reggae heavyweight and a ska legend have been added to the lineup for the 15th annual Victoria Ska Festival, scheduled for July 1-5 at various venues.
Pop-reggae favourite Shaggy and ska icon Lynval Golding of the Specials will join Fishbone, Barrington Levy, the Aggrolites, Los Rastrillos, Kobo Town, and Mad Bomber Society, among many others on the four-day bill.
The full festival schedule is available at skafest.ca.
A new festival has popped up on Gabriola Island, and it is offering what is being billed as a “soleful” week of music for fans. The Big Fish Music Festival is scheduled for May 4-10 at various Gabriola Island locations.
Oliver Swain, Glenna Garramone and Corbin Keep kick off the festival with a tribute to Leonard Cohen on May 4 at the Phoenix Auditorium. Others acts appearing include pianist Michelle Mares (May 7), Gary Fjellgaard (May 7) and the Kerplunks (May 9).
Festival passes are $50. For information, go to thebigfishmusicfestival.ca.
Boy band bad-boy Aaron Carter is heading to Victoria for a show at Club 9one9 on May 17. Carter, who scored a run of pop hits of the late 1990s, has been off the radar for years, though reports of his live concerts are positive. The younger brother of Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter said as much Friday on his Twitter feed. “My shows are a sucker punch… No one ever expects it.” Carter, 26, last issued a full-length album in 2002.
