TRANSCANADARADIO is proud to celebrate Canada’s Current Cultural artists and their locations! Traveling across Canada’s vast surface and finding the best of the under and above-ground artists, and where to check them out in your favorite Canadian city! Pack your bags! We’re going on a road trip!
While I was in Toronto for NXNE, I got the chance to sit down with Toronto’s singer/songwriter Mia Sheard to talk about NXNE as well as what opportunities there are for Canadian musicians. We also touch on what Canada and the world expect from musicians.
Mia Sheard, as you may recall, is a talent to be reckoned with! If you don’t quite remember the profile of Mia Sheard that was featured on TransCanadaRadio, go ahead back and check it out. Then be sure to come back and check out the exclusive interview!
Mark Berube is an artist that has proven to be very popular among our readers time after time so I’ve listed upcoming concert dates so that you can be sure to check him out in your area soon!
As you may or may not recall, the NXNE event I was looking forward to the most was seeing Julie Doiron perform at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. Well, let me tell you, that day was working very hard against me. I was having some accommodation issues so I was lugging around all of my equipment with me in a backpack. It then proceeded to totally down pour — thunder and lighting and cats and dogs and all that.
So here’s me, running in 6 inches of water from venue to venue in flip flops with a bag full of electronics while the rain just absolutely pours down on me. Doug got absolutely stopped up by the rain on his way into Toronto, so I was trying to hit as many venues I could and check out as many bands that night as I could. Around 10:45pm I decided to make a run for it (in what seemed to be the heaviest part of the down pour) from the Velvet Underground down the street to The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. To continue reading about Julie Doiron’s show at the Horseshoe, click here.
Little Foot Long Foot, born out of necessity. This two member Toronto-based band was conceived from a tribute act. Isaac Klein (drums) bought his second tom to bash like Bonham, and Joan Smith (guitar and vocals) did her best to carry off Plant’s feminine machismo without stuffing her pants. After discovering that the smartest business decision for a tribute band is to add as many midgets as possible, Joan accepted her inability to shred wicked solos, strapped on a fat loud guitar and dug out her originals. Isaac put away the second tom so that Joan’s amp would fit in his car, and they journeyed towards a new horizon where White Stripes comparisons were lush and unavoidable.
While at NXNE, I managed to steal away some time from Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sonicbids, Panos Panay, for an interview.
Sonicbids is a web site that helps bands get gigs, and promoters book the right bands. Their community includes over 150,000 bands, singers, songwriters, and performers of all kinds, and 14,000-plus music buyers of all kinds, including promoters, licensors, festival programmers, and much more. Bands go there for gigs; promoters go there for bands. They have lots of both!
Panos’s childhood dream of being alternatively the next George Best or the next George Benson came to an end when each canceled the other out. The idea for Sonicbids came to him while reading the book “Blur” and decided to go for it in September of 2000. Before that, he worked on the “dark side” of the business as an international talent agent. Panos hails from Cyprus and is a self-described “voracious” reader, usually traveling with more magazines than clothes (that’s a LOT). He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1994 with a degree in Music Business. In 2005 Panos was named as one of Fast Company Magazine’s “Fast 50″ entrepreneurs and is currently serving as co-chairman of CREATE Boston, an initiative launched by the Mayor of Boston to bolster the creative economy in the city. He is a diehard supporter of English football club Arsenal and by last count he owns over 25 jerseys of “The Gunners” dating back to 1983. He loves his coffee extra strong and blames Elvis for his lifelong fascination with America.
Check out part one of my interview with Sonicbids‘ Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Panos Panay, where we talk about what Sonicbids does and why artists should be all over it like glue.
Doug’s ‘Impressions’ posts gave me an idea — now that my NXNE hangover has passed (caught up on sleep, did endless loads of laundry, sewed my poor, abused travel bag…), I’d like to talk about a few of my experiences and sum up my time at NXNE in Toronto. Alright, here goes. Doug style.
**Wifi is damn hard to find in downtown Toronto** Seriously. I could not believe how difficult it was to find wifi free or otherwise! As a blogger, it’s likely I should have secured several places from which to blog. It was just ridiculous. More than once I found myself sitting on the sidewalk outside of a random apartment building err… tapping into someone else’s unsecured network or sitting on the floor of the Holiday Inn facing a very specific direction in order to keep the weak signal connected. Bah, I say. Bah!
**I really like 70’s-esque funk/pop/psychedelic** Yep. Turns out I like psychedelic music a whole lot. It seems that some of the acts I enjoyed the most at NXNE all had elements of psychedelic pop or funk: The Hoa Hoa’s, The Wet Secrets, Spiral Beach… all totally awesome bands. This was a learning experience for me. I never knew this about myself. I feel like I’ve grown as a person. Now I can listen to the B52’s and grow out my beehive unashamed and rooooooooam if I want to! *totally grooves*
Caught these guys sort of by accident while walking through Yonge-Dundas Square on Thursday on my way to see Sabrina Korva, Stand, and David Martel play at Sunrise Records.
They certainly caught my attention with their rockin’ guitar licks and the massive crowd that had gathered to watch them play.
On Saturday night Doug and I got a chance to see Hey Rosetta at the Horseshoe Tavern. I really enjoyed these guys. The vocals were stellar! And I’m a sucker for string instruments, man. The upright bass and violin definitely won me over. And it’s always great to see a lead singer get totally in to the music they’re making – shows a real love for the craft.
If you haven’t seen them perform before, I suggest you do. But if you absolutely can’t, do yourself a favour and watch the above video.
On Thursday night, I also stopped off at Free Times to see Andy Sheppard in action. I’ve heard his name from dozens of sources as someone impressive to see in person so I had to check it out for myself. I’ve never enjoyed folk music this much!
But Andy is not just a great guitarist and songwriter, but he’s also a storyteller. He told crazy tales of musical adventures to every — from launching rockets in South East Asia, to dodging bandits in North Africa, to living through earthquakes in the South Pacific.
