Ss 28 - North Shore News - Friday, February 25, 2000 Smugglers host Rosi Lecat band set to earn more than baitle returns on tour Bob Mackin News Reporter bmackin@nsnews.cam TO some female viewers of TSN, The Smugglers’ singer Grant Lawrence could be known simply as “that guy from Off the Record.” The avid sports fan was a guest on Michael! Landsberg’s daily TSN round table talk show Feb. 9. Silver medal speed skater Susan Auch and model Cathy Dudzie were the others. “{ talked to the producer and he asked me a couple of vague questions about sports, | answered them fairly quickly, 1 had soars SOME Strong Opinions and he booked me on the show,” . 7 Lawrence said. “it was a lot of fun. | heard quite a bit about it since. I stirred the pot quite a bit.” The topic of discussion shifted to Canada’s Wamen’s Hockey League. Lawrence skated into politically incorrect territory when he jokingly suggested the players were les- bians. Auch and Dudzic gave him a verbal bodychecking. “They got very, very upset. The model said ‘I'm really furious with that comment’, and { said this at the very end of the show: ‘Why? Are you a lesbian?’ She said ‘No’, then I said ‘Are you free for dinner?” She was just mortified.” Evidendy, the producers thought the lively argument made for exciting TV and are eager for Lawrence’s return, “This woman was ready to hit me, in fact she challenged me to a fight. She was six-foor something.” Lawrence, who is well under six-foot something, will be ™“e® bouncing around the Commodore Ballroom stage in his gum- boots tonight when he leads the Smugglers in the local release party for Rosie, the West Vancouver band’s sixth album. It’s an independent rock and roll blowout featuring the Donnas, Black Halos, Chixdiggit and the comeback performance of West Vancouver's Nardwuar the Human Serviette with the Goblins. It’s likely the Smugglers’ only local gig until summer: the band is heading south for an American tour next month with the Donnas — they’ even play New York City with Joan jett and the Blackhearts —~ before a series of shows in Japan with Supetsnazz and Australia with Mach Pelican in May. Lawrence’s Off the Record appearance came amid the Smugglers’ brief tour of Ontario and Quebec. In Quebec City, Lawrence, David Carswell (guitar), Graham Lloyd (drums), Beez (bass) and Nick Thomas (guitar) had their first Winter Carnival experience, tobogganing near the Chateau Frontenac and partaking in “booze canes.” “With this Bonhomme bizarre snowman character, they have this tradition of selling long, red, hollow canes. On the top of the cane is Bonhomme’s head as a handle. If you pull the head off, it’s a hollow cylinder which you fill with booze. You just walk around the streets of Quebec City with these bizarre long, walking canes with Bonhomme’s head as a handle and every @# once in a while rip it off and take a drink and the booze just shoots down your throat.” They got their fill of “antifreeze” in Quebec’s capital on Feb. 10. But on Feb. 11 in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, they received some cxotic meat. “Some of our rural fans came to the show and showed their appreciation by, the weekend before, going out and shooting a deer and then making venison sausages and presenting them to us.” It’s one of the most unusual gifts bestowed on the quintet. CDs, demo tapes even porno magazines are more common, Lawrence said. “People have also been giving us Rosie artifacts. One person gave usa rose that lights ap and flickers and then another a bouquet of roses. Someone - gave us this old tea towel of “Rosie the Riveter,” which was a question on Who Wants to be A Millionaire. in World War HH, when all the men went off ta fight, the women who worked on the assembly fines were known as “Rosie the Riveter,” [ guess because Rosie is a hard working name and a lot of them wore red &* handkerchiefs in their hair.” ‘She Smugglers jammed with Danko Jones at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern Feb. 12, where several North ~Shore exiles gathered in the front row and chanted “West Van, West Van” and “Hillside, Hillside”, referring to the defunct high school where the band was formed 12 years ago. “That's what happens in Toronto and Montreal, peo- ple from Vancouver are invari- ably living there and come to © 1 Pre-Out * CD c) Reg $349 www.audiovid.com Bip Ba KENWOOD KDC-315S Cd receiver with cd/md changer central Removable face plate * 4x45 watts « anger control * only $299 KENWOOD CAR AUDIO-TWENTY YEARS OF SUCLESS NORTH e SHORE 980-2071 AUDIC VIDEG 1191 West 18th @ Pemberton ~~ eae ss a EY ease Smugglers’ road stories From Niagara Fails (above): Hey now, North Shore News — it’s your Smugglers of West Vancouver, B.C. reporting from the first few days of the Rosie 2006 tour! Everything is wonderful so far, and ne trip to the east would be co:nplete without a urip to Niagara Falls! It’s a famous spot for lovers, so since we're five stinky, lonely guys we're not going to hang around too long ~ Next stop, the nation’s capi- tal, Ottawa! — Love, Grant + the Smugalers Photo Mint Records THE Smugglers: David Carswell (feft}, Beez, Nick Thomas, Graham Lioyd and Grant Lawrence play the Commodore Ballroam tonight with four bands. our shows, which is nice because it’s a bit of a homecoming for them and for us. They often remind us of the weird shows we played on the North Shore. We played some real strange ones.” One of his favourites was in 1990 at the North Shore Winter Club. It wasn’t the performance, but how the band was remu- nerated that stuck in Lawrence’s mind. “They couldn't pay us, so the back raom was filled with empties, We loaded thousands of empties into our van in the parking lot in the North Shore Winter Club. As we were driving home on Marine Drive, these things were all stacked high in the van and this cap started to pull us over because our brake lights went. Dave turns the corner and as he’s turning the corner, the momentum knocks ail these bottles al} over the van, spilling the gross beer that was left at the bottom, covering the van. The cop pulled us over and looks through the back and sees 3,006 empties and had us all lined up spread cagled against the side of the van at 22nd and Marine. It was messy.” Cash in your bottles and cans and buy a ticket to tonight's show for $12 advance or $15 at the door. 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