Showcase - April 1997
By Karen Bliss

Emm Gryner
Style: stirring singer-songwriter
Lineup: Emm Gryner (vocals, bass, piano, keyboards, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Mark Stewartson (electric guitar and E-bow); Jason McComb (cello); T.E. Peacock (drums and live drum loops); Ryan Ferrando (drums); Bwana Moto (percussion)
Contact: Emm Gryner, PO Box 67680, 576 Dundas St. W., Toronto, ON M5T 3B8; GAT Productions (416) 598-1536, FAX (416) 598-1360,

Emm Gryner 21-year-old Emm Gryner's voice is a presence unto itself commanding, arresting, gently powerful. It cries LISTEN, sinks in your soul and stops you dead in your tracks. Hailing from smalltown Forest, Ontario, the graduate of Fanshawe College's Music Industry Arts program has already won several songwriting awards the Mix 99.9 Songwriting Contest (1996), Q107's Scott Liddle Memorial Award (1995) and a CMPA Songwriting Scholarship (1994). Uprooting to Toronto, she helped produce her second CD, The Original Leap Year, with Stu Brawley at Sonic Poutine and Kevin's Art Gallery, and produced four songs on her own in "Emm's Temporary Little Bedroom". Whether it's the vibrant, full
arrangements of the brilliant wry send-off "Hello Aquarius" and self-doubting lyric "Your Sort of Human Being", or the stark piano and voice heart-wrenchers "This Mad" and "Fetching Decay", Gryner is always stirring and passionate. She's far too good to remain independent; she should make the major leap this year.

DSK
Style: terrorizing punk
Lineup: Blair Dobson (vocals); Rich Priske (bass); David Genn (guitars); Brad McGiveron (drums)
Contact: Divine Industries, PO Box 309, 1001 West Broadway, #101, Vancouver, BC V6H 4E4 (604) 685-0143, FAX (604)682-8572;

In 1992, Vancouver's Dead Surf Kiss recorded Narcotic Nevada for Onslot/BMG which made zip of an impact. Fast
forward several years, and some former band members totally abandon the DSK name as an acronym (now it means nothing), get a new vocalist (Blair Dobson), change their sound to no-nonsense dementia and emerge as an entirely new entity. An indie video for "Targets", directed by frontman/director Blair Dobson, rears its ugly head first and wins a 1994 MuchMusic Video Award. Finally, two years later, the CD appears, and Exploder! proves to be an appropriate title. Dobson's cigarette-charred
vocals growl nastily (still often melodically) from beneath a noisy, pounding onslaught on "Landmine", "Cementhead", "Butt", "Whine" and a host of other deluge-ful offerings. Produced by DSK, the album was recorded and mixed by Tridon at Profile and Crosstown studios with assistant engineer Jeff Bond. It was mastered by "The Brothers Gunny" (Anthony Valcic, Mark Cohen, Judas Bullhorn) at Fropile Audio Kitchenette. As a footnote, "the most dysfunctional band in Canada" has disbanded
yet again, emerging under a new monicker, Meeker, with a new singer, ex Another White Male's Nathan Dillon. Whether the Exploder! material will be laid to rest is still in question. The saga continues . . .

Ballroom Zombies
Style: gender-bending glitter pop
Lineup: Robin Black (vocals, harmonica); Brad Garinger (guitars, backing vocals); Charles Garinger (bass, backing vocals); Marky (drums)
Contact: Cult of the Ballroom Zombies, 112 Stockdale St., Winnipeg, MB R3R 2G6. Contact Shelley Breslaw @ (204) 453-0015, FAX (204) 284-1190,

It's strange just listening to the Ballroom Zombies, without taking in the whole artistic expression of the live show the shiny latex, the feather boas, pancake make- up. No, on the CD EP JoJo, with no danger of getting lipstick on your collar, the Winnipeg glitter-pop band has only the songs. It's like waking up in the morning sans make-up and facing your new lover. Oooh, scarrry. So what are these strutting look-at-me glam boys like in an Adam & Eve state, when they're not "cumbered up in hosery (sic)"? First off, JoJo sounds pretty fresh and raw considering the six songs were recorded on an eight-track.
Produced and engineered by Marty Kinac and Damon Hill, the songs actually benefit from a live-off-the-floor, less than perfect recording. Because there's a highly melodic quotient to songs like "I Know", "Impotent Fantasies" and the single/video "Twiddle Bug", there's a danger that the pout and punk could have been wiped out in a bigger studio turning the Ballroom Zombies into. . . yeek, a pop band! Shudder at the thought.

Credit: Karen Bliss is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

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