What Our Editors Are Doing This Weekend: February 8-10

Because we do occasionally leave the office.

Friday Night Fires at the Railway Stage & Beer Café

 It might have a lame new name that speaks directly to its new owners (the Donnelly Group), but what used to be known as the Railway Club hasn’t given up on shining a light on new and exciting bands. On Saturday night (in a seeming betrayal of their band name) it’ll be Friday Night Fires, a Kamloops foursome now based in Vancouver. The band has one, four-song, self-titled EP that was released last year. But that selection of tunes speaks to how many different ways the quartet can jam.There’s the croony ballad “Whiskey”, in which frontman Jonathan Chow sounds like The Tallest Man on Earth; foot-stomping opener “How Far I’d Go” that profiles more in the vein of The Sheepdogs behind a powerful guitar that works perfectly around the rough edges of Chow’s voice; and finale “Janie” which makes use of excellent instrumental work and a mid-song verse that sounds nothing like the rest of it.Mostly it’s just an absolute shocker that the band is currently without a label. The album sounds far too polished for a self-produced debut. —Associate editor Nathan Caddell

Singing Up a Storm at Seattle’s Best Karaoke

If the weather holds up, I’ll be hurtling down the I-5 shortly towards Seattle and, more importantly, Seattle’s best karaoke. Sorry, I should’ve capitalized that— Seattle’s Best Karaoke—given that it’s literally the name of my preferred spot in the Emerald City to belt out some Springsteen. It may be located in a strip mall with zero charm (I think SBK itself might actually be in a former medical clinic, given the look of its decor) but once you take a gander at the extensive song list and realize that, with a $10 banquet license you can legally bring in your own food and booze, you’ll never bother waiting in like at RockBox again. —Executive editor, Stacey McLachlan