Ferdy Belland
“We’re stoked to share the stage with D.O.A.,” says Curtis Kaldestad, lead vocalist of Kimberley’s hard-rock champions Crooked Line. “As soon as we got the invite to play with them, the command went out: Everybody Book the Day Off! I mean, how could you NOT be stoked? They’re legends!”
Crooked Line joins the lineup for the Winterblast 2019 Festival as local opening support for Vancouver’s hardcore-punk warriors D.O.A. (yes, that D.O.A., the beloved sociopolitical malcontents) at the Cranbrook Hotel Pub on Saturday December 7th. They’ll be in good company, and they’ll certainly earn their ear-splitting keep.
Crooked Line was formed by the hirsute Kaldestad and Paul Bunyanesque lead-guitarist Cody Roberts in 2014. Rounded out by able drummer Kyle Downie, fiery guitarist Joel Weech, and growling bassist David Brown, Crooked Line has proudly flown the metal-clanging flag as one of Kimberley BC’s premier bands, clocking in many high-energy, high-octane performances across the East Kootenays over the past half-decade.
“I was singing with Sketch for a good six years,” says Kaldestad of the band’s origins. “Cody saw me perform a few times, and he kept asking if I’d like to try out for the new group he was forming. Finally I had to say yes. “
“I stole him!” laughs Roberts. “I got Curt over to the house and got talking over a few beers. We soon found out we both loved Dave Grohl, so we cranked up the stereo and ended up drunk on the front porch until two in the morning, singing Foo Fighters tunes!” A fitting audition for a band renowned for having a good time, all of the time.
“We’re building our repertoire of original material, more and more,” says Roberts, “Our goal is to record a full-length album sometime in 2020, but it’s the managing of five dummies to shuffle our schedules together - and make time to do it!”
“Completing the album is our main focus,” adds Kaldestad. “We’ve certainly got an album’s worth of strong material to work with, and once it’s completed and released we’ll go from there, in terms of pushing the band to other levels.”
Kaldestad explains Crooked Line’s songwriting process. “I usually write my lyrics with a melody already in mind. I don’t approach my words as poetry, so to speak, and then try to put music to it. It’s the other way around. Everybody contributes their pwn thing into the song as a whole. Cody’s always coming up with riff after riff. Kyle sculpts his own drum parts, Joel and Dave will find their own place. Our current line-up’s been steady for over a year and a half now, and we’re strong and solid. Everybody’s clicking together really well.”
“The Kimbo live-music scene went down for a long time after the Edge Pub shut down,” laments Roberts of the longstanding live venue formerly found in the Kimberley Platzl. “The overall nightlife totally shut off like a switch. We all missed having a well-equipped downtown club with good staging and good sound where you could really cut loose. But it’s getting hot again. As of late, the music scene around Kimberley and Cranbrook’s been really picking up, especially when it comes to hard rock bands. There’s Elk Hunt, there’s Zero People, there’s Camaro, and there’s us. The local scene centers around the Elks Lodge these days, which is cool. We make sure we’re on stand-by whenever anyone throws us an offer to play.”
“We’re looking into organizing our own headlining show sometime in the New Year,” says Kaldestad, “and possibly tie it in with an Album Release Party.”
The future looks bright - and loud - for the straight-shooting boys in Crooked Line. Keep on the lookout!