Even though the Johnny McCuaig Band had recently changed their name to the Arcana Kings, the band’s previous tag tends to stick with most folks. This is likely because the Regina-based band is still very much centred on the talents and persona of Johnny McCuaig.
Although every member in this five-man, rocking quintet are talented and energetic musicians, the kilt-wearing, bagpipe-playing Johnny McCuaig tops everyone on stage because of his inner-charisma and easygoing, talkative charm. No matter if the Arcana Kings decide to choose another name, the band will always be the Johnny McCuaig Band simply by default.
Nearly 150 people attended the Arcana Kings gig at the Prince of Wales Cultural and Recreation Centre on Saturday, September 27 as part of Assiniboia’s Culture Days. It was remarkable, but perhaps somewhat unusual to see a such a mixed crowd of younger people along with seniors enjoying this band who specialize in a heavy, post-grunge style popular in the later 1990s, although there weren’t any mosh pits or stagediving scenes on Friday night. No surprisingly then, McCuaig lists the Foo Fighters – the band formed by Nirvana’s drummer David Grohl – as one of the band’s principle influences.
In the manner of post-grunge, the Arcana Kings’ sound could be described as a jigsaw puzzle of metallic riffs borrowed from the scorching, guitar-laden thrash music of the 1980s along with tinges of punchy ska and the buzzy, droning sound of grunge. But the Arcana Kings are especially distinctive with their Celtic intrusions, including those raging bagpipe solos performed by McCuaig.
Between tunes, McCuaig often engaged the audience by discussing lots of interesting topics, such as the appearance of a military jet in one of the band’s videos filmed near Area 51 in Nevada. He’s a friendly, humble and talented musician with a talent for storytelling.
There were quite a few standout moments in the band’s first set, such as their cover of Slade’s 1984 hit, Run Runaway. Of course, the band also played the unofficial Scots anthem, Scotland the Brave, as well as Amazing Grace. McCuaig, a British Columbian native from the Kootenays, had taken traditional lessons with the Nelson Kootenay Kiltie Pipe Band in a previous life. His band have managed to successfully fuse the Celtic sound with rock music in the manner of Vancouver’s the Real McKenzies and the Pogues, which is certainly an admirable and inspiring feat.
