Listen, Listen - Meredith Bates, Beau Wheeler and Devours

VIAS presents: Listen, Listen...ALBUM RELEASES!

A Roundhouse partnership with Vancouver Improvised Arts Society --

Join us for the exciting release of not one, but TWO albums by local musical giants, Beau Wheeler and Meredith Bates. If that's not enough, the evening will be capped off with a set by the incredible Devours!

Doors will open at 7:30pm and the first set of music will begin at 8pm. There will be a cash bar and snacks available before the show, during the short intermission, and after the show. Please join us for an artist talk at 7:30pm in the lobby and stay for a social time together after the music wraps up.

Beau Wheeler is a queer non-binary composer and singer based in Vancouver, Canada. Blessed with a set of pipes that would be the envy of Torch and Twang era KD Lang or a young Robert Plant, Beau is about to release two new albums of music that capture the breadth and diversity of their musical vision. On June 3rd, he releases Flying Colours in the company of his full band!

Theirs is a music that encompasses a wide spectrum of human experience. With songs that touch on love, loss and redemption, and an unflagging ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again, Beau, who recently came out to the world as trans, is one of Canada’s brightest lights and an artist to watch out for.

https://www.beauwheeler.com/beau-wheeler/

Violinist Meredith Bates has become a staple of Vancouver's vibrant local music scene, as both a generous collaborator and, especially following the release of her spellbinding debut If Not Now (2020), as a one-person musical force. She's a powerful and versatile player, contributing to many different projects across a broad range of styles. Her solo output, however, doesn't serve as the vehicle for violin virtuosity that one might expect. Instead, it showcases her painterly compositional imagination, using her instrument as brush to apply thick, luminous coats of electrified colour to her auditory canvas. On June 3rd, she releases her second solo double album, Tesseract.

Bates' melodic material is more kaleidoscopic than ever on Tesseract too, thanks to her unique resourcefulness with electronics. Listeners do hear violin—there are several gorgeous sections where its natural timbre comes into focus—but they also witness it transforming into everything from a waterlogged piano to distant celestial bells, and from a pipe organ to string orchestra.

https://meredithbates.com

Devours is simply the coolest. There's no denying it. And, no need for words.

https://devours.bandcamp.com/album/homecoming-queen

FREE SONGWRITING WORKSHOP AT THE ROUNDHOUSE WITH BEAU WHEELER!

Open to the public. No experience necessary. Please RSVP via Eventbrite here.

June 2nd, 1-3pm (exact studio TBA)

Format:

Introduction, everyone shares their name, pronouns, music background quickly.

We talk about chord structure.

We talk about the elements of a song and how they function in the form, and the form itself.

We brainstorm lyric ideas.

We write melody for the different sections of the song working on them individually one by one and adding lyric ideas

We sew all of the three main parts of the song verse, pre-chorus, chorus together together.

We perform the song together.

THANKS! Please email [email protected] with any questions or concerns.

Special thanks to Creative BC, the Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, The Roundhouse Society, and Vancouver Improvised Arts Society for their generous support!

Host or Publisher Vancouver Improvised Arts Society