‘Dude, that’s my car!’
Interview interrupted by stupid vandals — consequences to follow
Mike Warkentin

If you’re going to mess with someone’s ride, stay the hell away from the metal community.

I’m not advocating vandalism, but if you are going to mess up a vehicle, you’d be better off finding a scrawny pop singer’s car or maybe getting busy with a singer/songwriter’s scooter.

Just stay away from vehicles owned by singers in metal bands.

Obviously that wisdom hasn’t been communicated to at least one dumbass in Winnipeg...

“Somebody just hit my car... I’m gonna have to run out there,” JAW singer Emmanuel Olarewaju says after a loud crash sounds over the phone and is followed by the wail of a car alarm.

Olarewaju says he’ll call me back and heads outside his house.

Turns out the vandal only whacked an air conditioner next to the car — but that still isn’t cool.

And really, why would you mess with these guys? JAW — Olarewaju, drummer Kevin Kornelsen, bassist Pablo Riedel and guitarist Jason Dokken — is one focused and driven prog metal band, and you don’t screw with angry guys who get obsessed with stuff. Rent Cape Fear if you’re in doubt.

JAW’s obsession is clearly in evidence on sophomore album Swings Humans, an absolutely meticulously crafted eight-song affair that was recorded over three months of intense sessions in the band’s converted South End jam room — now called “The Space Behind a Garage.”

“Rob Shallcross, the producer, gave us all the specs that we needed, and we did it to spec and it cost us a shitload of money,” Olarewaju says.

He adds: “We converted (the space) so that we could have place where we can hang out for 24 hours a day and just create music without any of the pressures which go along with renting studio time.”

While owning a pretty sweet studio might bring dollar signs to the eyes of many a capitalist, JAW’s space ain’t for rent.

“Girlfriends aren’t allowed in there,” Olarewaju says. “People, basically, all they can do is stick their head in if they want one of us. Nobody’s allowed in that space. It’s all about our vibe. We don’t want anyone to put in bad mojo.”

And that’s good policy considering Swings Humans is a fully realized prog disc that easily mixes gentle moments with metal fury. The thing sounds great, and you do not want some pack of hacks wrecking the studio’s vibe by rehashing Nickelback tunes.

In fact, crummy music isn’t even allowed in the space. Olarewaju says Tool can stay, Good Charlotte goes. Radiohead takes a seat, anything related to American Idol hits the road.

Sounds fair, don’t it?

• • •

In the Awesome News category is the recent announcement that the West End Cultural Centre is two-thirds of the way to reaching the $3.2 million needed to rebuild and expand the crumbling venue.

“We’re planning to build the most environmentally friendly cultural centre on the continent,” West End general manager Nan Colledge said at a June 20 press conference, where it was announced that the venue had received $965,000 from the Winnipeg Partnership Agreement.

The cash will be added to that already contributed by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Winnipeg Foundation, and a private-sector fundraising campaign is in the works.

The West End hopes to break ground in 2007, and the revamped centre — which will feature reused materials, geothermal heat and solar panels — should open in fall 2008.

At a later date, friends of the West End will be invited to play a giant game of Jenga with the building’s badly leaning left wall — although artistic director Dominic Lloyd believes he can blow it down with only his lungs.