The Mandates are one of Calgary's best bands. That shouldn't sound like a minor compliment just because Calgary is a small-ish city. Calgary has a ton of cool shit going for it! That's what we learned from throwing the Calgary installment of our Downtown Sound party series, along with our friends at HTC Canada. The friendly gentlemen from The Mandates took us out record shopping, drinking, BBQ eating, and explained to us that Calgary's music scene is actually an authentic counter-culture. Good vibes.