Saturday, June 1, 8 p.m.
Vern’s Tavern (622 8 Ave. S.W.)
Cover charge: $5
Saturday, June 8, 8 p.m.
Blind Beggar Pub (106-5211 Macleod Tr. S.W.)
Tickets: $10
There’s a turning point in every relationship, a moment when it’s no longer casual. A time to commit or quit. That’s as true for a band as it is for a couple, says Christina Lackowicz, singer and guitarist with Calgary rockers The Implicate Order.
It often happens around the two-year mark. “It’s make-or-break time; either ‘let’s really do this,’ or ‘I’m sick of you guys.’ It’s like a romantic relationship in a weird kind of way,” she says.
Since forming in 2011 – yes, two years ago – the Implicate Order has become a growing presence on the local music scene. As heard on its debut EP, Hollow Process, the band’s sound is a distillation of edgy pop and alternative rock, with plenty of technical chops on display from drummer Josh Nadeau, guitarist Gene Lachica and bassist Tyler Allard. Lackowicz, a product of Whitehorse, Yukon, who ended up in Calgary by way of Grande Prairie, is a voice to be reckoned with. Her delivery is straightforward, honest and musical, with no coyness or affectation.
“People can see through you if you’re not being genuine,” she says. “That’s the scary thing sometimes about being onstage. You know that they know.”
Lackowicz cites Fiona Apple, Evanescence and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as band influences. “We sometimes describe it with one word … ‘indiefolkrockpop’ … I can’t even say it,” she says with a laugh.
Whether or not The Implicate Order’s style can be pigeonholed – or pronounced – the band is OK with its looming two-year anniversary.
“I think we’d all like to pursue music full time, and the opportunities are starting to come.”
The band’s name is taken from the late American scientist David Bohm’s theory that, in essence, the universe is correctly viewed as a single, coherent whole rather than as individual atoms, molecules, photons, lives, space and time.
“I’d like to call our music ‘psychological rock.’ It makes you analyze yourself, and think about what things are a manifestation of a separate order,” Lackowicz says. “To be challenged is an uncomfortable feeling, but that’s where validation comes from.”
The Implicate Order plays this Saturday, June 1, at Vern’s Tavern with Calgary progressive heavy rockers Thrill of Falling, and a week later, June 8, at the Blind Beggar Pub as part of the release event for “Exposed,” the first solo album by accomplished Airdrie-based recording artist Doc Kohler. Thrill of Falling will be part of that show, too.
The Implicate Order on iTunes.