It is great to see live music happening in the Zoo at the University of Lethbridge. Live acts have been far and few between up there, but back in the day the Zoo was the place to be.
So I made a point of checking out the Frostbite.2 wind up cabaret, Friday, Jan. 17.
While 
I missed Gray Area and Nikki Valentine and the Gypsy Riders, I caught most of Edmonton based ambient rock band Foam Lake.
They put on a strong, capable set of original spacey rock which sounded like a mix of Radiohead and the Pixies, which had everybody enthusiastically cheering.
So there was plenty of keyboards and a couple of guitars, which they combined into a very tight set.
But the main band I wanted to see (The Lytics closed off the night) was Vancouver based blues rock duo Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer.
And while they were a hit at last summer’s South Country Fair, with good reason, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of the students in to he room were so excited to see them.
They did not disappoint.
Shawn ‘The Harpoonist’ Hall sang lead vocals while blowing wild harp solos and stomping out bass with his feet on a bass pedal plus extra percussion with a couple of tambourines attached to a drum pedal.
Meanwhile, one man band Matthew ‘The Axe Murderer’ Rogers was a blur playing gritty bluesy guitar and stomping out and unstoppable rhythm on a snare and bass drum set at his feet as he weaved, bobbed and danced in his seat.
They played a lot of music from their 2011 CD ‘Checkered Past, including one of my favourites ‘Wake Up’ and ‘Roll With The Punches,’ which Hall played after asking if there were any boxers in the audience.
They played another cool one called ‘Come on back’ which had a riff that sounded a lot like ’60s classic ‘Tequila.’
The band had a couple of firsts for their first Lethbridge visit, including their first request for ‘Are You Listening’ and by having one enthusiastic fan jumping on stage with them to clap along with them.
People were definitely listening and dancing a lot, which was great to see.
‘Blow Your Top’ was one of many highlights.
They saved the best for last as they played ‘Get Out’ and followed it up with a sizzling version of blues classic ‘Got My Mojo Working.’
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
