I Heart Edmonton

"This Is It" (2009) by The Wheat Pool "F ROM the very beginning, the first songs possessed a haunting quality, dark subject matter and melodies that wouldn't get out of our heads," said The Wheat Pool 's Robb Angus (vocals, bass, guitar), explaining the Edmonton band's sophomore album Hauntario (2009). Guitarist Glen Erickson added, "Ontario wouldn't go away, as a lyric, as a destination, or as the home base in our industry. For a western band it remains a necessary evil, a difficult girlfriend to win over, yet on a different level it possessed so much of what we love about our country." According to the band themselves--also featuring drummer Stephane Dagenair and Robb's brother Mike Angus sharing vocals, guitar and bass-- Hauntario picks up where their acclaimed debut Township (2007) left off. Part of that is because both records were helmed by the same production team of Edmonton singer-musician James Murdoch (the "Canad...

"The Last Saskatchewan Pirate" (1995) by Captain Tractor If you partied in any number of local bars during the second half of the '90s, then you may very well have drunkenly jigged to Edmonton-based Captain Tractor 's rowdy cover of The Arrogrant Worms ' "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate." The Celtic-themed ditty told of a desperate farmer who resorts to stealing shipments of grains and farm equipment in order to keep himself afloat. It has since been covered by two more Canuck acts, in country singer Brad Johner and a cappella group De La Hoja . The video for Captain Tractor's popular rendition, which appears on their East of Edson (1995) album, was partially filmed at the famous Santa Maria ship in West Edmonton Mall .