Solidarity Rock

Solidarity Rock is making some great strides across Western Canada in our lead up to the 5th ever rock n roll tour in Cuba. Our pals, Vancouver’s Vicious Cycles are currently revving their engines getting ready for the ride of their lives.

Last weekend, there was a show at the Palomino room in Calgary where The Mandates collected some donated strings and other pieces pieces and donated their band pay to the Cuban effort. Jimmy Gamble of the Mandates and Knucklehead is coming with us on the road in January. A good friend of the Vicious Cycles, he’s also really excited about establishing a Solidarity Rock presence in that fine city to our south. We are also organizing to set up a regular Solidarity Rock network of musicians and artists in Vancouver, which means we will soon have most of Western Canada’s independent music and art scenes working together to do something special. That’s pretty amazing. (What up Saskatchewan?)

Coming up on Friday, December 16 Solidarity Rock is proud to present three (3) simultaneous events in Vancouver, BC, Edmonton, AB and Sancti Spiritus, Cuba.

Vancouver – Vicious Cycles Cuba tour kick off at the Media Club, Vancouver, BC – Vicious Cycles, Rich Hope and His Evil Doers & AK-747’s at will be The Media Club rockin in solidarity with their Cuban friends. This will be the big push for Solidarity Rock into Vancouver, and we hope to meet a lot of new people and get Solidarity Rock happening in a big way on Canada’s pacific coast.

Interestingly enough, our friend and AK’s front man Rob Nuclear spent his honeymoon in Cuba and met up with our friends in Sancti Spiritus, Trinidad and Santa Clara. He will be playing with the full knowledge of what it means to the Cuban rock bands that we have been able to support their progress. The VC’s are going, part of the AK’s has been and Rich Hope totally rules. This is exciting.

We have curated a 30 image photography show which features the work of Sandy Phimester (Edmonton, AB), Aaron Bocanegra (Los Angeles, CA), Samuel Calvo (Sancti Spiritus, Cuba) and me, Drew McIntosh (Edmonton, AB). We have compiled this show from our previous journeys to the beautiful island and hope to show you the Cuba we see. With this photographic reflection, we show our work in establishing a vibrant rocknroll culture in a country firmly rooted in tradition. Truly, we are pleased with our collection and we’re sure you will enjoy it as well. In addition to showing the photos, we will be selling prints. Each of the photos on the wall will be for sale. These 12”x18” framed photos will be available for only $60. There will only be one copy of each photo sold at each show, so they are a very limited item, and at $60, they are priced for you to enjoy. We will also have unframed 8x10’s for $20.

The Vicious Cycles (VCMC)
Rich Hope and His Evil Doers
AK-747’s

Edmonton – Diehatsu Hijets, Book of Caverns, Morals and Camembert At the Baby Seal Club - Our pal Elliott is celebrating his birthday, so he put together a totally killer show which is going down at the Baby Seal Club. Diehatsu Hijets, Book of Caverns, Morals and Camembert will be doing what they do best and creating an evening not to be missed. These are some of Edmonton’s best underground bands in Edmonton’s most legit private members club.

We’re going to be putting up a smaller version of the show on the walls at the BSC, and also projecting hundreds of images from the SLATES, Kids on Fire and Hangloose tours. Again, we will be selling the photos on the wall for $60, as well as selected 8x10 prints for $20. Come check it out.

DIEHATSU HIJETS
BOOK OF CAVERNS
MORALS
CAMEMBERT

Sancti Spiritus – Our pals Sam Calvo and William Garcia in Sancti Spiritus are putting up their own version of the Solidarity Rock photo show in the AHS gallery. This is a really special event in that we will get the chance to show our work to people who have been involved with it in one way or another since the begining. It’s also a very special because it’s our friend Sam’s first photographic show, and we’re all really happy that we get to be represented there with him on that night. If you’re in any of these cities, come check out our photography and music, and take part in a really great night knowing that there we’re in this together. SOLIDARITY ROCK

Check out some of the images from our photography show.