Quiet Parade - Interview - May 13/12

I was able to chat with Anthony Phillips, bassist of Halifax-based band Quiet Parade who will be performing at Baba’s Lounge on Thursday, May 17th.  Check it out!

1. Tell me a bit about the band.
- Quiet Parade is a 5-piece band consisting of Trevor Murphy (guitar, vocals), Jay Methot (guitar), Josh Pothier (drums), myself Anthony Phillips (bass) and Julia Weir (keyboards, vocals).

2. What is your sound and influence?
- If I had to describe the sound, the best I could describe it would be Alt Pop/Folk.  The band’s influences are Brian Borcherdt ,Retribution Gospel Choir ,Phil Spector ,and The Ronnettes.

3. If you could open for any musician or band, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
- The band members are all fans of Bon Jovi, and though he’s not really an influence to the band’s sound, we’d love to open for him for personal reasons

4. What is your biggest musical accomplishment as a band?
- Just recently the band was voted “Best Band to Listen to Quietly” for the second year in a row, for Halifax's The Coast Magazine. There is so much great music coming out of the area that it’s really nice to be on the shortlist for something like that let alone being voted 2 years straight. Putting out an album on vinyl in 2011 called Please Come Home (We Hate It Here Without You) was also a big thing for me personally.

5. What is the worst part about touring?
- I really like going on tour so it’s hard to say a bad thing about it.  If I had to choose it would be being crammed into a small car with the gear, but you get used to it.

6. What is the best part about being in a band?
- The best part about being in a band for me is the community.  We played the Shivering Songs Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick and you got a really good sense of everyone being there to just enjoy the music.  It really felt like everyone was looking out for one another.

7. What do you have planned for the near future?
- I’m really looking forward to Quiet Parade's future; we are writing songs in kind of a new way lately.  Before, Trevor would just come to us with a song and that was the song, but now he comes to us with the lyrics and a progression then allows the rest of us to flesh it out.  It’s exciting!  Also, Julia is brand new to the band and it’s really exciting to be working with her.  The band was a 4-piece for a long time and the first practice with Julia on keyboards just completed the sound. She’s also a great vocalist!

8. Final thoughts?
- We’re looking forward to the next step the band is going to take and hopefully we will have a new record out soon for the people that want to hear it.

Natalie Toombs - Interview - Apr 16/12

I go to my share amount of local live shows, and Natalie Toombs is always present at most of the ones I attend with a camera in her hand.  She is a passionate photographer and I was lucky to be able to ask her some questions about her career so far on Prince Edward Island.

1. Tell me a bit about yourself.

- I am a 21 year old female photographer, animal lover, and music junkie who was raised on Prince Edward Island.

2.  When did you start getting into photography?

- It was in December 2010, when I received a Canon Rebel XSI from a friend of mine.  It honestly changed my life in the most positive ways.  I always thought I was going to be a nobody while growing up, now I have so much confidence and motivation to achieve my new dream of becoming a professional photographer.  It’s all about passion.

3. What is your favourite subject to photograph?

- My favourite subject to photograph would have to be capturing my friends when they are not expecting it; candid photos are my favourite.

4. What is the best part about being a photographer?

- Being able to capture moments and sharing them with others.

5. What is something people don’t know about you?

- When I was 6 years old the ball in my hip disintegrated.  I had to wear hip braces for 12 months of my life: 6 months for 24 hours a day and 6 months for 12 hours a day (I could take them off at night).  The disease is called “Legg-Calve’-Perthes” but thankfully the bone grew back properly and I haven’t had any problems in years!

6. What type of equipment do you use?

- I am a Canon lover, I use a Canon 7D.

7. Who or what inspires you?

- Love and support from my friends and family.

8.  Final thoughts?

I want to give a big thanks to The Scene Magazine for interviewing me, xo!

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What a wonderful lady, indeed!  Check out Natalie’s work and be sure to follow her on Twitter on @nhdtphotography

The Trews - ECMA Interview - Apr 15/12

After Sunday’s free concert in the Market Square in Moncton during the ECMAs, I was completely blown away by The Trews and was very excited when I was able to talk with guitarist John Angus MacDonald and get some insight into The Trews and their incredibly successful career.

1. How has the response been so far with Hope and Ruin?

- Very good I think.  It’s a changing industry as you know, so it’s getting harder to gauge the success of a record but as far as resonating with our fans, it has been more profound than any other record we released.  We just did a great tour through Canada that was maybe one of our best headlining runs ever and it’s also helped to bust down some doors internationally.  We’ve done better tours in the UK, Australia, and America.  All around we’re pretty happy about what’s going on.

2. What is the best part about being a musician in today’s industry?

- Doing interviews, haha.  I would say the best part is probably playing because that’s basically what we do as a full-time job.  We make records every couple of years but really what we’re doing all the time is playing, so that’s the part of the job we get to hone in on and really focus on.  I feel like it’s developed so much over the years that we’re at a place where we’re just proud of how we play live.

3. How do you feel about getting Rock Recording of the Year this year?

- We’re happy about it, but as musicians I can’t say it’s ever actually swayed our band one way or the other to win or lose.  Ultimately we’ve lost more than we’ve ever won, so I’m glad it doesn’t sway us because at the end of the day it’s about the work.  It’s about making your songs, recording your records, and playing your shows.  The awards are like a nice little side show that comes and goes.

 4. How does it feel being a band from the East Coast and getting so much international exposure?

- It feels really, really good actually.  We’ve worked our whole lives for this.  I mean I’m only 30 but I’ve been playing since I was 15 so it’s like half of a lifetime towards the goal of being able to have fans everywhere and just having people turned on by what you’re coming up with.  It means a lot you know so when we sit in our bedrooms or our livingrooms coming up with these songs and work them up at rehearsal spaces and studios, it’s funny to think that it goes through cyberspace or through records or CDs, it’s goes into someone else’s livingroom and then they come and see it live.  It’s a pretty magical little process when you slow down and think about it, and it’s something we’re grateful to be a part of.

5. Final thoughts?

- I hope the ECMAs go strong for many more years because it’s a great way to shine a spotlight on a part of the country that is a little underexposed, so I’m proud to be a part of it.

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I was truly grateful to have been able to talk with John Angus, and I think that these guys will be around for many years to come.  Be sure to check out live performances whenever you can, as I can guarantee you from experience that the show continues to get better and better.  Don’t forget to pick up a copy of their latest album, Hope and Ruin while you’re at it!

Carmen Townsend - ECMA Interview - Apr 15/12

I had a chance to chat with the wonderful Carmen Townsend at this year’s ECMA.  With playing so many shows including touring with legends Heart, she has had one amazing year, so I wanted to get a glimpse into her life and what she is planning on doing in the future.

1. Tell me a bit about yourself.

- I’m from Cape Breton island, I’ve been performing since I was about 14 or 15, I’ve travelled all over Canada and decided to go solo after many years of being a backup singer with a bunch of guys.  I took the bull from the horns I guess and moved all over like to Toronto and Vancouver, then moved back to Cape Breton, found a band and debuted at the ECMAs in Sydney in 2005.  The rest is history!

2. How has ECMA been for you so far?

- Well, I’ve been here for the last 6 years and so far it’s been pretty great!  It’s always a great time to come here because you never get to see most of your friends who are musicians because they’re on the road all the time.  Now we’re all gathered at the same place and we can really enjoy eachother.

3. How do you feel being one of the few female rockers on the East Coast?

- There are a ton of female rockers.  For me, I don’t have to play rock music to rock in my world I guess, haha. I don’t know, it’s just been what I’ve always loved to do.  I was a teenager in the 90s: Nirvana came out and Pearl Jam, so my history was kind of written for me.  It feels good though, people seem to dig what I do and it’s different from a lot of things, so I’m going to hang on to that for a little while!

4. Do you have any future plans for 2012 so far?

- Yes, lots of co-writing actually which is kind of a new thing for me, travelling to New York and Nashville to do some co-writing sessions and work on a new record.

5. What is the best part about being a musician?

- The people that it has brought into my life.  When you follow your heart and your dreams, you’re rewarded so many times.  For me to come here and to be reminded of the people I’ve made connections with because I just sing my butt off is really awesome!

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It was truly an honour to be able to talk with Carmen.  She is not only a phenomenal musician but a genuine woman with a great outlook on life.  Be sure to check her out if ever you have the chance.  Her intoxicating voice and energetic performance will just blow you away!

Ben Caplan - ECMA Interview - Apr 15/12

If there was one man I had seen playing all over Moncton, it was definitely Ben Caplan.  If it wasn’t a solo acoustic performance, it was a full band show as Ben Caplan & the Casual Smokers.  I’ve been a big fan of Ben since my days in Halifax, so I made it a point to sit down and talk with him about his experience at East Coast Music Festival.

1. How has your experience been at ECMA?

- It’s been great!  ECMA is a lot of fun.

2. Where did you play during the ECMA?

- We played a bunch of gigs, we played at the Members Lounge on the second floor of the hotel, we did the Gala, we played The Oxygen, that was a big one, and the response at all of them was tremendous.  We’re super happy about it!

3. You have a very different genre than what we’ve seen on the East Coast, have you noticed a good response to your type of music?

- Yeah for sure, people are a little bit surprised and shocked sometimes I think at what we’re doing, but people are excited about hearing something new.

4. What is the best part about being a musician?

- I guess that would be getting to play music all the time, and the ladies haha.

5. Final thoughts?

- It’s a thrill and an honour to be here at ECMA 2012!

Ben Caplan & the Casual Smokers are most certainly a band not to miss!  If you didn’t manage to get to see them at ECMA, you can catch him at the legendary Evolve Festival that runs from July 20th to 22nd!  You do not want to miss this unreal performance!

The Town Heroes - ECMA Interview - Apr 14/12

 I had a chance to sit down with Mike Ryan from The Town Heroes to talk about ECMA and about the band in general.  They played a showcase at the Oxygen Complex on Thursday night and also played an acoustic set at the Spincount, Audio Blood, and Broken Chord showcase in the Member’s Lounge on Friday evening.

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself.

- My name is Mike, I play in a band called The Town Heroes, I’m from Cape Breton and I live in Halifax now.  We’ve been a band for just over two years we play as a two piece band with our other member, Bruce Gillis.

2. Tell me about your most recent album.

- The album feels a little old for us now; it’s been out for a little over a year so we’re getting to the point where we’re just finishing up a new album actually.  The first album, Birds and Fear, was recorded with a friend at his home studio.  We did 11 tracks there, and I did 2 tracks while I was in school for audio engineering at NSCC.  So far we had 3 singles off of it, one of them won the Radio Star Songwriting Competition last year for the East Coast; we went to Canadian Music Week and got to perform on the Tiki stage because of it.  We also got a couple of top 3 rankings on the East Coast Countdown from the album as well.  Our next album will be releasing in the early fall, so that’s our album status right now!

3. What’s the best part about being a musician?

- Probably the free sandwiches we get at stuff like this, haha. I mean as soon as we’re done this I’ll be heading down to the registration room and will stand there and eat for about 20 minutes straight; sandwiches, granola bars, pop, coffee, and everything I can handle!  I actually think the best part of it is meeting other bands, and you just swap albums with everyone you meet so you have a giant pile of albums you can listen to on road trips.  You get to meet so many cool people, get to hear everything they’re doing and learn from them as well.

4. How has playing in a two-piece band been, since you don’t see too many two-pieces around?

- Myself and Bruce played in multiple bands before we put this together.  We lived together and were always playing music.  I had a bunch of songs written and we were rehearsing them together just the two of us.  We actually did originally try out a few musicians for a bass player, but they just didn’t really fit our dynamic so we just decided to try it as a two piece band.  We had to rearrange a lot of our songs to try and make them fit for a two piece to be able to play live.  The songwriting changes quite drastically when you want to be able to have a full sound as two people on stage.  Travelling is pretty easy since we can fit the two of us and our gear into a mid-sized car, and when we traveled to Germany it was just two flights instead of say five flights.  It’s just a lot of convenience for sure.  There are lots of pros to it but obviously there are some cons because we can’t sound as full as a six piece band, but I don’t think anyone expects us to go up and sound like that.  I really like playing as a two piece band; it’s a lot of fun.  You just pray that you don’t break a string because that never ends well!

5. How has ECMA been so far for you?

- It’s wonderful!  We played at the Oxygen Complex and had a great showcase there.  Everyone in Moncton is incredibly friendly just like everyone on the East Coast and I got to see a lot of our friends play.  There are also bands I’ve never seen before that really impressed me.  I’ve met a lot of new people, I’m having a lot of fun, and it’s been a great time all around.  You can never complain about anything happening music-wise on the East Coast; it’s always a blast!

Bad Habits - Interview - Apr 7/12

I had the chance to sit down and talk with Bad Habits Blues Band after their sound check before the Action Against Hunger Fundraising Gala at the Confederation Centre of the Arts.  Getting geared up for a new album and with all kinds of things happening for them in the near future, we had plenty to talk about!

1. How has the Indiegogo experience been for you guys?

Liam: I think it’s safe to say that we’re all really humbled by the amount of contributions that were made.

Matt: We’ve seen a lot more than we’ve initially expected, that’s for sure.

Jason: It’s great to see how much the community has come out to support local artists

Dale: I think the thing that shocked me the most was that we were expecting the $10 or $30 contributions that were going to be the ones that we would see most of because you would be getting that much in return.  What we’ve seen is $100, $250, even $1000 contributions which far exceeded what we were expecting.

2. You’re heading into the studio very soon for the recording of your new album.  What can we expect to see from it?

Matt: Bad Habits.  Through and through, Bad Habits.

Jason: Seriously, if you’ve been to one of our live shows, you would have heard every single song that will be on the album and about two hours of other material as well!

Liam: Capturing the energy of the show, that’s going to be the trick.

Dale: The album is going to be 100% original; there will be no cover tunes on there at all. It’s all our songs; it’s just a matter of narrowing it down to the 12 or 13 songs that are going to be on there.

Amanda: And it’s going to sound a lot like our live shows. What you hear is what you get at a live show.

Jason:  It’s going to be as live as possible and spontaneous.

3. You have the Gala fundraiser tonight for Action Against Hunger (April 7) and I know you’re involved in performing for charity frequently.  Tell me a bit about the shows you’ve done or shows you’re planning to do.

Matt: Toys for Tots has always been one we’ve done.

Jason: We were a couple of months old and Dale and I were like “we’ve gotta do something to support some local charity around Christmas time”.  It was actually Liam who came up with Toys for Tots to be a great idea.  We decided to make it the 1st Annual Bad Habits Blues Bash so that we could headline it and be guaranteed to come back next year, haha!

Dale: We were trying to find a way to market ourselves and still do good at the same time.

Liam: The first time we met Amanda was actually that first annual show.

Amanda: I opened for these guys!

Liam: We’ve raised over $5000 in toys and cash, it’s been really good!

Amanda: Other than Toys for Tots we’re also doing Relay For Life this year.

Liam: We’ve also got the Canadian Cancer Society that we’ve done the last few years and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Haiti Relief… we’ve done a lot!

Jason: As far as charities go, as long as we can fit it into our calendar we’ll definitely be saying “yes”.

Dale: Well the community’s been really great to us.  We’ve had one lucky break after another as far as that goes so to be able to give back and just do it by playing music, which we love to do anyway is really great.

4. I hear you’ve got a big year planned in terms of shows.  What do you have planned?

Dale:  The best ones we can’t even tell you about yet!  It’s going to be our first off-island gig and it’s going to be huge!  It’s going to be REALLY off-island.  We’ve got some big things happening this summer.  If all of it comes through including something very local that we’ve got planned that is another charity type of thing, it’s going to be a really cool summer!   Some other shows we have are the Smokin’ Blues Fest in Nova Scotia, the Red Island Blues Festival which is local.

Liam: We also got invited back to the Beef and Blues which is in Summerside and part of the Fall Flavours Festival, which was actually our first show with Amanda.

5. What’s the best part about being in a band?

Liam: I would say that it’s that I love playing music so that’s always great.

Matt:  It’s not just the music; we’re also just so comfortable with each other.  We’re like a family.  It’s just so much fun on stage and off.

Amanda: And I can handle it, I grew up with a bunch of boys, haha.  Our dynamic is working for sure.  We’ve all got wives, husbands, kids, day jobs, but we’re all on the same page and we all really want this and that’s why it’s working.

6. Any final thoughts?

Liam: I’m definitely looking forward to getting the album out.  Being able to have a product out to go with the excitement of the ECMAs and the Maple Blues Awards and stuff is going to be really great.

Dale: One final thought for me came from a person that came out to the show that told us that they didn’t think they liked blues before they saw us.  So if you haven’t heard us, come on out and maybe you’re going to find that you like blues too!

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You’ll be pleased to know that due to the amazing support of their fans, Bad Habits were able to surpass their goal of $5922.00 on their Indiegogo campaign and have raised over $8400 in contributions online and offline!  That’s such great news, and this band is well worth every cent that was put forward.  Make sure to check them out at Churchill Arms this Saturday, April 14th, you won’t want to miss it!