Headstones Announce New Studio Album Little Army

Fri Apr 21 2017
Headstones

Headstones, one of Canada's most enduring and hardest rocking bands, announced earlierthis year that they were heading to the studio to record their forthcomingalbum Little Army. Today they are thrilled toreveal it will be unleashed to the world on June 2nd via Cadence Music and have given fans a first taste of thealbum with first single "Devil's On Fire."

A smart, addictive, dirty rock 'n' roll track, "Devil's On Fire" is acontagious, aggressive rock anthem. Fans have been getting an exclusiveinside look at the making of Little Army on the band's socialchannels since February, in real time. With tours of the Bathhouse,adventures around NYC, and a little inside look at the recording process,Headstones once again kept the fans close and a part of the process.Headstones frontman Hugh Dillon couldn't be more excitedto share this with the world, saying "We set out to write the best rockalbum of our career, and I think that's what we've done."

Hugh’s Room Playing the Blues Again with David Rotundo

Fri Apr 21, 2017

Toronto blues harpist David Rotundo heard James Cotton perform at the El Mocambo in 1991. “He blew one note on the harmonica that hypnotized me...” The next day, Rotundo went out and bought a harmonica. “...and I’ve been playing the blues ever since.” Obsession with the blues led Rotundo on a diesel-fuelled roots tour of blues epicentres of the United States including – New Orleans, Clarksdale, Austin, Memphis and Chicago with little more than his wits and a bag full of harmonicas. “I wanted to hear and experience the real thing.” He returned to Canada with a visceral perception of the blues and a deep knowledge of blues history. After making the stories his own, he earned the right to tell them. Rotundo has developed his own language of the blues, honing the technique that gives the voice power and authenticity. Proof of his impact shows in the fact that he has been nominated for a Maple Blues Award for 11 consecutive years!

BTW- Steph Cameron, Overcoats, Andrew Waines, Luke Nicholson, Nagata Shachu, CMW French Showcase live, CMW picks

Fri Apr 14 2017
Steph Cameron Credit Mark Maryanovich

Saskatoon-based roots singer / songwriter Steph Cameron is sharing “Winterwood,” the latest track from her upcoming album Daybreak Over Jackson Street. “Winterwood” is about “being at the mercy of uncertain forces,” says Cameron. “Of a moment where time is frozen and clear and our own vulnerability is stark and beautiful.”

Cameron supported Daybreak Over Jackson Street with a hometown release show on April 15 in Saskatoon before making her way to Toronto for Canadian Music Week.

In 2014, Steph Cameron arrived on the scene like a bracing gust of fresh musical air with her debut record Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady, receiving unanimously enthusiastic reviews. “This is a monumental, brilliant album… heralds the crowning of a bright new talent,” declared PopMatters in calling it the #1 Canadian album of 2014. No Depression termed it “a stunning debut,” while Exclaim! noted that “ Sad-Eyed Lonesome Lady delights from start to finish. Steph Cameron is the real deal.” The record also made the coveted longlist for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize in 2015.

Shades Introducing Boland

Fri Apr 14, 2017

The debut album by Toronto hip hop/rap artist Boland has been a long time coming but the artist will be here for a long time .

The title of the project ‘Shades’ suits both the album and the artist. The album shows the many “shades” this young poet has observed and documented in his life and “shades” suits for his signature sunglasses.

Miss The 90s? New Toronto band Iduna plays Adelaide Hall May 12

Fri Apr 14 2017
Iduna

Toronto-based alt rock band and Craigslist success story Iduna commands the attention of their listeners through exhilarating rhythms and powerfully rich harmonies and melodies, and I wanted to work with them from the very first time I heard their music. Iduna is heavily inspired by 90's alt-rock, and their debut album COUNTERPART is produced by Mark Makoway (known for his work with David Usher and Moist)! The album is being released at Iduna's May 12th show at Adelaide Hall and wanted to know if you can cover the show.

Iduna is a band bent on bringing back an edgy and mindful brand of alternative rock. Based out of Toronto, Ontario, this quartet spent their formative years playing Toronto-area festivals and the city’s many venues.

Heavily inspired by 90’s alt. rock, their music ranges from heavy and soulful to high energy rock and roll exploring a wide range of melodic flourishes and dynamic flux. With introspective lyrics in tow, sometimes wistful, sometimes fierce, Iduna delivers a unique flavour of rich harmonies, stirring melodies, and rhythms that compel you to move.

BTW- The New Pornographers, Youngblood, Small World Asian Music Series, The Silence Factory, Timber Timbre, Jaymz Bee Birthday Week Celebrations, Said The Whale

Fri Apr 07 2017
The New Pornographers

They're back and harder than ever. Critically acclaimed supergroup The New Pornographers are premiering the title track off new album Whiteout Conditions today. Stream/share the song at https://youtu.be/hXwGX5Es9vM . The album dropped April 7 and is the first release on the band’s own Collected Works Records in partnership with Concord Records and damn fine rock 'n' roll.

Tim Williams a Man Who Has Truly Got the Blues

Fri Apr 07 2017
Tim Williams a Man Who Has Truly Got the Blues

If there is a true mystery about Canada-based,US acoustic bluesman Tim Williams, it must surely be why he’s largely unknown and unrecognised. Williams is no new-comer, no new kid on the blues-block. This is a guy who has sure paid his dues, gigging widely and popularly across his adopted homeland in North America and turning out albums that positively zing with class and style. With his latest release, ‘So Low’, an inevitable play on words, selling well to widespread international acclaim, it’s hard not to think that just maybe his time has come.

Williams himself is a tad self-deprecating about the apparent lack of global recognition, acknowledging the difficulty faced by all bluesmen of whatever stripe and style. He chuckles when asked why he’s remained over-looked for so long, responding with typical humility and modesty: ‘Yea, it’s kinda puzzling at times. I’ve been a pro for many, many years but I guess it’s just the way it is. It can be a tough business, for sure, but I love the life and the music.’

Debbie Green Out of the Shadows

Fri Apr 07, 2017

Debbie Green is not a household name but to the musical giants she influenced, taught and mentored she is a cornerstone to their careers and musical force to be revered and respected.

It’s best to go back to the beginning to get the full story on her influence on the folk music boom of the 50’s in America and beyond.

Deborah Green was born in New York City in 1940, her Dad was Vice President at Macy’s Department Store and her mother devoted a lot of her time and energy to charity work. Her life was middle class normal, growing next to a golf course on Staten Island. Her life changed when her parents split up when she was four years old.

She enrolled in The Putney School, a boarding school in Vermont. The school had a good music program and it was there that Debby showed her interest in music.

Doc Walker Weathervane

Fri Mar 31, 2017

There are a few artists that I personally look forward to hearing new stuff from. Manitoba’s Doc Walker are near the top of that list. So when I caught wind of Weathervane, the boys new 9 nine song set, I was eager to hear what they had come up with this time. And as I had hoped, they didn’t disappoint. It seems every time I review a Doc Walker album it’s “their best to date.” No surprise Weathervane just moved into the “best yet” ranking.

BTW-Nagata Shachu, Your Boy Tony Braxton, Alli Walker, DYAN, Brodie Moniker, Avery Raquel, Tei Shi, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Fri Mar 31 2017
Nagata Shachu

Premier Toronto taiko group ‘Nagata Shachu’ continue their 18th annual concert season titled ‘Toronto Taiko Tales – Global Beats from Around the City’ in the vibrant community of Regent Park. They reach out with a series of four concerts featuring new, original live performance works and launch their new and fourth DVD ‘ Toronto Taiko Tales’, which includes a new 12 track CD (official release date: April 7, 2017), at the Aki Studio Theatre on April 7, 8 and 9, 2017 (includes two weekend matinees).

WHERE: Aki Studio Theatre (inside the Daniels Spectrum Building) – Regent Park – 585 Dundas Street East, Toronto, ON, M5A 2B7.
DATES and TICKETS: April 7, 8 and 9. Advance tickets are $20.00 to $30.00.
Ticket Links:
Friday, April 7 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 8 at 2:00 p.m. (matinee)
Saturday, April 8 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 9 at 2:00 p.m. (matinee)

The Silence Factory Hit the Road for a Cross-Canada Tour

Fri Mar 31 2017
The Silence Factory Photo Credit Maximus Photography

Riding 'High' on the success of their latest single, Windsor rock group The Silence Factory will be packing up the van and hitting the road for a tour across Canada starting on April 1st with a show opening for Royal Ascot and The Sheepdogs. The tour will take the band from coast to coast in April and May and includes 2 showcase events at Canadian Music Week in Toronto on April 19th and 20th. See below for the full tour schedule.

The Silence Factory released their current single 'High' back in January and after 11 weeks on the Canadian active rock chart, they've achieved considerable success at rock radio reaching a peak chart position of #37 this past week. ‘High’ was produced by Juno Award winning and Grammy nominated producer Gavin Brown(3 Days Grace, Billy Talent). The band just finished recording another track with Brown which will be released in early May.

Son of Canadian Music Legend Ian Thomas Needs Our Help

Fri Mar 31 2017
Jake Thomas

A recent appeal to the music industry and beyond has been launched to help the son of Ian Thomas who was recently in a devastating accident.

On Saturday, January 7th, 2017, Jake Thomas was snowmobiling with some friends, enjoying the last of the winter holidays, when he endured a serious accident in his resident town of Bracebridge, Ontario. The accident has left him with life-altering injuries, and his family with life-altering circumstances.

Jake’s injuries include 7 broken ribs, a dislocated hip and fractured acetabulum, but worst of all - a T12 burst fracture. On Sunday, the 8th, the Sunnybrook neurosurgeon confirmed that Jake sustained a complete spinal cord injury, resulting in paralysis from the waist down.

Although the news was devastating , Jake has bravely accepted his new reality; he has displayed the ultimate courage, strength and perseverance anyone could ever demonstrate under these tragic circumstances.

Stony Plain Records Set to Release New Vinyl LP MonkeyJunk– It’s Time to Roll

Fri Mar 24 2017
Stony Plain Records Set to Release New Vinyl LP MonkeyJunk– It’s Time to Roll

Stony Plain Records has announced a March 31 Canadian release date for the vinyl LP edition of Time to Roll, the fifth album by award-winning Canadian blues/rock trio, MonkeyJunk.

Time to Roll is unique in that it incorporates elements of all four oftheir previous recordings with added maturity insongwriting and instrumentation, cementing MonkeyJunk’soriginality and sound as its own. It is also progressivefor the band, as they’ve added electric bass on most of thesongs. No MonkeyJunk recording to date has included bass,but they felt that it would be a welcome addition toMonkeyJunk’s sound. In another precedent, the band alsorecorded one acoustic track for the first time on the newalbum.

Judith Owen Somebody’s Child

Fri Mar 24, 2017

Welsh born pianist-singer-songwriter Judith Owen has been making great records since her debut album ‘Emotions On a Postcard’ in 1996 and has just released ‘Somebody’s Child’, arguably her best work to date. A 15 song collection, 13 tracks and 2 bonus tracks, the album features songs and pictures of a life well lived and experienced. With Judith’s distinctive voice and piano as the stars taking centre stage, the finely crafted tunes give us a glimpse inside the life of a well rounded and observant songwriter.

The title track and opening song is a gem in all its simplicity and honesty, an observation of the human condition in the 21st century. In Judith’s words “Somebody’s Child is about all the things I see, the things that really count in this noisy crazy world where we’re all running around. I’d seen this young homeless girl in Manhattan, middle of winter, a foot of snow, barefoot, naked really except for a couple of trash bags with a huge beautiful, pregnant belly. We were all crossing the street when suddenly I had this moment of clarity where I thought that’s somebody’s child and if my life had been different that could be me.”

Dick Damron Happy Birthday South of Two Borders

Fri Mar 17, 2017

Canadian country music legend and Hall of Famer times three Dick Damron is still pickin’ and kickin’ south of two borders in sunny Mazatlan, Mexico. He is a charter member of three Hall of Fames; The International Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.

The pride of Bentley, Alberta, has been making Canada proud for seven decades and fondly remembers the early scuffling days in the 70’s. “I was touring Europe, Scotland, Germany and England, back in the day where musicians from my area thought a Far East Tour was going to Saskatchewan! We played a lot in Vegas is those days as well. Here I was a kid from Bentley playing in Vegas. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, what happens in Bentley….no really, what happens in Bentley??”

BTW Latent Lounge, Bill Plaskett and Joel Plaskett, Wild Rivers, Ninjaspy, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, Snoop Dogg/ BADBADNOTGOOD , Danny Marks

Fri Mar 17 2017
Cowboy Junkies

BTW Latent Lounge (performances from Cowboy Junkies, Skydiggers, Lee Harvey Osmond, Jerry Leger, Harpacash & The Morals and others), Bill Plaskett and Joel Plaskett, Wild Rivers, Ninjaspy, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, Snoop Dogg/ BADBADNOTGOOD , Danny Marks.

In 1982, while living in the UK, Michael Timmins and Alan Anton, were inspired by the independent label scenethat sprung up around the English punk movement, and created Latent Recordings. Latent subsequently released a 45rpm single of their first band Hunger Project and two albums by their second band Germinal. Upon returning to Toronto and forming Cowboy Junkies, they used Latent to release the band’s first album Whites Off Earth Now!! and then, in 1987, thebands' ground breaking The Trinity Session.

Flogging Molly Announces ‘Life Is Good’ North American Tour 2017

Fri Mar 17 2017
Flogging Molly Announces ‘Life Is Good’ North American Tour 2017

Flogging Molly announces their 2017 North American Headlining Tour, which kicks off on May4th in Oakland, CA and brings the band’s adrenaline-fueled liveperformances to cities including Vancouver, Denver, New York City,Montreal, Toronto, Chicago and more. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 17 th at 10:00 am local time. The tour is insupport of Flogging Molly’s long awaited new album, LIFE IS GOOD, out on June 2ndvia Vanguard Records. Fans will be excited to know that every ticket order(in select markets) will include a digital download of the new album uponrelease. For additional ticket information, visit www.floggingmolly.com, and see complete list of tour dates below.