Conveniently, (Doug) Ford has opened us up and allowed us to be full capacity.” Bovine Sex Club owner Daryl Fine.Įven with all the precautions they’re taking, Hansen and Fine agree that it was essential that Chixdiggit’s shows were hale, hearty and healthy.

“It would have been less of a celebration.

“The original 30th anniversary party was going to be 40 people in seats, sitting down,” says Fine, the club’s longtime owner, and the guy with one of the biggest Rolodexes in rock’n’roll. At the Bovine on the weekend - where Yours Screwly was naturally in attendance, being a bit of a Calgary punk myself - I witnessed more security and screening than I’ve experienced anywhere else. “Not to get political, but we had a premier that kind of made us jealous of Ontario’s premier.”Įven so, the decision to play the 30th anniversary shows didn’t happen overnight, says Jansen, because the band, and the Bovine, wanted to do them in the right way. “Alberta didn’t really have lockdown, but you guys (in Ontario) had a lockdown,” notes Jansen, the band’s frontman. It was the 30th anniversary of both the club and the band, and the Bovine was packed - with verified, fully-vaccinated punk rock fans.īefore taking to the Bovine’s stage, Chixdiggit - KJ Jansen (guitar and vocals), Billy Dixon (guitar), Tyler Pickering (drums) and Rob Gruszecki (bass) - gathered in the storied apartment of club owner Daryl Fine, and talked about their first big shows in two years. So, for Calgary punk rock legends Chixdiggit - and for the legendary Bovine Sex Club in Toronto, Canada’s own CBGB - their joint return, this past weekend, was really, really (really) good. The World Economic Forum estimates that the music industry is worth around $50 billion annually - and half that figure, from live shows, simply evaporated when COVID-19 commenced upending our lives. Meanwhile, the clubs and bars and arenas that offer shows haven’t been able to do so for 20 months, give or take.

Around 75% of their income is derived from live shows.

For musicians and for those who promote live music, however, it’s been really, really - really - bad.įor months, musicians haven’t been able to make a living playing gigs - because, in the era of illegal downloading and low-return streaming, gigging is how most of them keep the lights on. The current one has caused economic chaos, political instability and no shortage of anxiety, planet-wide.

Best punk rock merch websites