Yellowknife (Feb 10/06) - The indefinable genre-blending band Random Order returns to Yellowknife next week to play the annual Folk on the Rocks Spring Dance concert starting at 8 p.m. on March 4 at the Elk's Hall.

The upbeat, high energy Toronto group was an audience favourite at the festival last year, said executive director Tracey Bryant.

The four musicians mix ska, punk, reggae, rock, rap and funk influences with drums, guitars, strong vocals and a trombone. Their songs offer tongue-in-cheek takes on relationships and a few politically-edged themes.

"You know: the good, the bad and the ugly," said lead singer Lynn Phillips.

Many of the lyrics talk about building community by taking care of friends and neighbours. In Toronto, Random Order does that by performing at fundraisers for community organizations like Anti-Racist Action and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.

Phillips said she enjoyed experiencing a taste of Yellowknife's diversity and strong community spirit last summer, calling this her favourite tour stop ever.

"I like Yellowknife a lot," she said. "Everybody seems to know everybody and it's friendly. It's a pretty cool place. I'm diggin' it."

While the licensed concert is restricted to those 19 years and older, all ages are encouraged to join Random Order at the Elk's Hall at 1 p.m. on March 4 for a music workshop.

The band members will cover music business issues such as do-it-yourself promotion, grant writing and how to submit festival applications.

The Leslie Bader Band will open for Random Order at the Spring Dance.

The two bands share a social conscience.

Phillips filed indy radio reports from the Summit of the Americas critical mass anti-globalization protests in Quebec City in 2001.

Bader played flute on the logging roads in solidarity with the critical mass defence of old growth forests in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island in the 1990s.

Bader's bandmate, bassist Al Udell, used to play in a hard rock band in Saskatoon called Critical Mess.