A Vancouver-based pop and R&B artist filmed a music video at the Badlands Motel late last month, another of a slew of artists choosing Drumheller as a backdrop for their art.

Mcevoy, along with a Vancouver production company, was brought into Drumheller by local production company Starland Studios on September 21 to film a one-shot music video for Mcevoy’s song ‘Forgiveness’ on his upcoming album.

Producer Nano Clow of Bookclub Classic productions says he suggested the 13-hour trip to film specifically in Drumheller because his vision of the video was inspired by an experience in Death Valley.

“I wanted to find something similar in Canada that had a similar fantastic natural expression. I’m very into geographical changes and things that are massive, natural things. There’s so much natural wonder in Canada – it’s the stunt double for the galaxy. It could be anywhere,” Clow says.

Mcevoys music is hard to pin down – his early music has roots trap music and rap, but his music now has evolved into something more spacey and ethereal but still retains hip hop and R&B vibes.

“At the end of the day it’s pop music,” he says. “I’m happy there’s not really a genre specified with it.”

He describes the album as whole as concept project, with the song Forgiveness evolving from a past relationship.

“It’s sort of is like when you’re past the point of return in the relationship and some nasty things have been said. It’s about coming to terms with everything – in a way it is a sort of triumphant conclusion.”

The music video was shot over two days at both the Badlands Motel and in an area of landscape south of Extra Foods. The motel scene was shot all in one take as it stretched across three motel rooms and even included Mcevoy getting a real tattoo from a local artist.

Mcevoys upcoming album will be released on November 15 on Spotify and Apple Music, with the music video planned for release before then.

Staff at the Atlas Coal Mine are celebrating the donation of a historic mining truck.

Kent Walker donated a 1935 Ford truck was used by Alberta’s Department of Mines and which had been in his family and used as a farm vehicle for at least 70 years. The truck would have been used by department officials to inspect Drumheller’s once-booming coal industry.

“What’s the point of it sitting in our quonset where no one can see it?” says Kent Walker, who started driving the vehicle on his family farm when he was just seven years old. “At least now 30,000 people a year can see it.”

Walker can’t recall when his father purchased the vehicle, but ‘that it was just always in my life’.

Atlas Coal Mine curator Jay Russell is thrilled to have the piece as it opens them up to interpreting for visitors both Drumheller’s coal mining history as well as farm history. During its use for the department, he says the truck was most likely used here in Drumheller.

“A lot of Canadians, when they hear about coal mining history, they think ‘Nova Scotia,’ but golly, no, Alberta was a huge coal bin for the country. The number one reserves in Canada is in Alberta and the largest coal deposit is the Drumheller coal deposit. It makes sense the department of mines would be inspecting the mines here and making sure laws were upheld,” Russel says.

The truck certainly bears the marks of an 80-year-old working vehicle, with bumps and dings all over and a beautiful tarnish to its metal, and Russell says it just adds to its character. On the steering wheel are etchings of carved names, scratches marking bushels per acre harvested, and even a maple leaf carved by a young Kent Walker to mark Canada’s centennial in 1967.

“Every dent, every scratch has a story. Like with any old truck, they get banged, ripped, torn, and dented, but what I like with this one is its classic ‘farmers fix,’ where someone, instead of replacing the fender, they took a piece of metal and bolted it to the frame. It totally adds to the character.”

The Atlas will be placing the truck on display for visitors, with plans to put it on concrete blocks to preserve the tires.