EDMONTON -- There are certain advantages to having a gig on New Year's Eve in West Edmonton Mall.
Ask the Philosopher Kings, which rings in the new millennium in Red's tonight.
OK, I will. Why Edmonton?
"As a musician, you never get to party on New Year's," explains guitarist James McCollum. "You're always working. We knew we were going to work somewhere and why not Edmonton? If the power goes out and society as we know it ends, at least we'll have the mall. We'll be secure in our own little world ... We're going to have our own biosphere and I guess we'll be the rulers."
It would be a benevolent dictatorship - as the band name suggests - where everyone would be famous, rich and beautiful. Those who are ordinary, poor and ugly will be cast out into the cold, post-apocalyptic world.
Seriously, no one in the band expects any real Y2K mayhem. But this is still a unique gig and the Kings are primed for action. Like a sportscaster at the final game of the World Series might say: they came to play tonight!
"This is going to be a special show," McCollum says. "No one knows, first of all, what's going to happen. Hopefully the power won't go out at 12. But it's the last time we play this millennium and we're definitely going to be appreciating this night and this moment in time. We're going to make sure the energy is up."
Fans of the band understand that the live stage is where the Philosopher Kings shine. That's why the band decided, after only two studio albums, to release a live CD, One Night Stand.
"This live album is something I knew was in the works from the beginning," says McCollum. "We've always had a strong live show, so capturing that in the studio was always a little harder. Really the best way to do that was a live album. People might think it's early for us to put out a live record. But it's such an important part of the band's identity, just to make sure people understand who we are."
We're still not quite sure. This is a band whose influences are so varied and whose style is so hard to peg that they can play the Edgefest hard-rock festival one year and Jazz City the next. The five members of the group all have side projects of their own, the most notable of which is Prozzak, a cartoon pop duo created by McCollum (Milo) and P-Kings bassist Jason Levine (Simon). Ironially, Prozzak's album sold more copies than the Philosopher Kings last CD, Famous, Rich and Beautiful. And it did so with the kind of electronic Europop the human musicians would never dream of doing. Then again, you just never know with these guys.
"We're headed in a million different directions," McCollum says. "The fact is, we've got a bunch of talented people with different creative influences in one band, and wherever those paths cross, that's been the Philosopher Kings' music. So now you see Jay and I have Prozzak on the other side, and all the other guys are doing different projects as well, production work and stuff like that. But still we've got the home base of the Philosopher Kings, which is what we always come back to. Really, it's just generally evolving over time."
Tickets to the Philosopher Kings are still on sale, from $100 to $150 (depending on whether you want dinner) and available only at Red's. Call 481-6420 for details.
