[John Kastner Is Busy On Multiple Musical Fronts]
According to chartattack John Kastner, founder of the Montreal alternative rock band The Doughboys, and currently fronting Canadian punk band All Systems Go!, is putting out his first solo album and guess who plays guitar on it? From the article:
... His solo debut, Have You Seen Lucky, combines elements from each period of his two-decade pop-punk career. The album, scheduled to be released in late spring, boasts contributions from an impressive cast of musicians, including Lee Ving (Fear), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo), Trevor McGregor (Treble Charger), Adam Franklin (Swervedriver), Michel Langevin (Voivod) and Jonathan Cummins (Bionic/Doughboys). Cummins' appearance marks the first time the two former Doughboys guitarists have worked together in eight years. ...
John's bio page on his personal website also has this to say:
... John Kastner is a busy man. Since moving to Los Angeles with his wife Nicole Deboer he has co-founded Cobraside distribution, toured and recorded with his band All Systems Go, scored film soundtracks (including Phil the Alien, the indie hit of last year's Toronto International Film Festival) and written songs with numerous rock legends (Marc Lanegan, Evan Dando, etc.). Now he has recorded his first solo recorded, "Have You Seen Lucky", which he describes as "a cross between everything I've done over the past 20 years. Alex from Rush plays guitar on it and Lee Ving from Fear sings on it – so it's really all over the place. That's my crazy 70's upbringing in a nutshell". ...
This will not be the first collaboration between Kastner and Lifeson. In March of 2003 Alex worked with Kastner's punk band, All Systems Go on the Facination Unknown single. From Power Windows:
According to Anthem Records, this "was just something fun he did that was for his own enjoyment and not be confused with 'work'". Alex later teamed up with All Systems Go guitarist/vocalist John Kastner and Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy to perform two covers, The Beatles' "Rain" and Neil Young's "Don't Cry No Tears", at the White Ribbon benefit concert against violence against women held at The Phoenix in Toronto on June 7, 2005.
"Alex is simply a good friend of mine. We're both from Canada and have been friends for very long. Because he also has a studio over there, I thought it would be a good idea to send him our single. He then re-mixed the track in his studio and sent me the result...his version distinguishes itself very much from the original. His mix has this Rush Feeling, meanders and has more effects. That's also precisely what I wanted, so yes, I am very satisfied." - All Systems Go guitarist/vocalist John Kastner, purerock.de, March 6, 2003
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