Great Lake Swimmmers early morning Surprise

Well the CBC Radio One's GO audience was geared up and ready to see and hear "Zeus" perform early Saturday morning. But who shows up, completely unannounced to do the show - The Great Lake Swimmers!

Now you probably know that the Great Lake Swimmers are doing amazingly well. They just came back from performing in China, so they have become music ambassadors of the world. They have a few songs that are getting some radio airplay (wow, in Canada?!), besides the CBC airplay I might add. I was in Pizza Pizza a couple of weeks ago, and one of their videos was on the PP channel. When you hit Pizza TV channel you know you are cooking with hot oil, as the old record industry saying goes!

Check out the three clips from CBC on the DirkFimbob channel...here is one to get you started...

Constantines up for an Indie Award

Canadian Music Fest has announced who the nominees are for the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards, "The Indies". The event will take place on Saturday, March 13 at 8:00 p.m. at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto.

The Indies acknowledge, promote and honour achievements of Canadian and international artists in the independent music sector. Tickets for this event can be purchased for $20 at Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.ca, www.canadianmusicfest.com, www.indies.ca, Rotate This and Soundscapes.

This year's performers include Desperate Union, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Plants and Animals, Great Lake Swimmers and Constantines. The show will be broadcast live to air on XM Satellite Radio's "The Verge" and recorded for future broadcast on Galaxie.

Metric and Alexisonfire lead this year's Canadian nominees with four nominations apiece, followed by Phoenix with three nominations in the international categories.

And the nominees are.........

CHARTATTACK.COM FAVOURITE ALBUM
Alexisonfire - Old Crows / Young Cardinals (Dine Alone)
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels (Nettwerk)
Japandroids - Post-Nothing (Unfamiliar)
Joel Plaskett - Three (MapleMusic)
Metric - Fantasies (Last Gang)

ASTRAL MEDIA RADIO FAVOURITE SINGLE
Danny Fernandes - Fantasy (CP)
Deborah Cox - Beautiful U R (DECO/Image/E1)
Faber Drive - G-Get Up and Dance! (604)
Marianas Trench - Cross My Heart (604)
Metric - Gimme Sympathy (Last Gang)

FAVOURITE GROUP/DUO
Constantines (Arts & Crafts)
Handsome Furs (Sub Pop)
Metric (Last Gang)
Patrick Watson & The Wooden Arms (Secret City)
Tegan and Sara (Vapor/Sire)

FAVOURITE SOLO ARTIST
Coeur de Pirate (Dare To Care)
Dan Mangan (fileunder:music)
Joel Plaskett (MapleMusic)
Julie Doiron (Endearing)
Timber Timbre (Arts & Crafts)

FAVOURITE VIDEO
Alexisonfire - Young Cardinals (Dine Alone)
Danny Fernandes - Fantasy (CP)
Lights - Drive My Soul (Underground Operations)
Marianas Trench - Cross My Heart (604)
Theory Of A Deadman - All or Nothing (604)

FAVOURITE LIVE ARTIST/GROUP
Alexisonfire (Dine Alone)
Arkells (Dine Alone)
Metric (Last Gang)
The Trews (Bumstead)
You Say Party! We Say Die (Paper Bag)

In addition to the nominees above, The Indies will once again present the Galaxie Rising Stars award and $5,000 bursary, sponsored by Galaxie. The award is part of the Galaxie Rising Stars Program, an original program that sets out to discover, encourage and promote emerging artists. Unlike the other award categories, the Galaxie Rising Stars Award is the choice of the nation's music critics. Music journalists from print, TV, radio and online media are asked for their top five Canadian independent releases of 2009. All submissions are then boiled down to a shortlist from which these same critics choose the most deserving recording and select Canada's emerging breakthrough artist of the year.

For further details and voting procedures visit the Indie Awards website at www.indies.ca

Gonna be a great night. Indie bands get your music to these folks to be eligible for next year's awards.

Here are Constantines caught last April Fools day at The Phoenix in Toronto...

Barry Mac the new Ian Tyson?

The very idea of a "romantic cowboy" conjures up images of lonely cowboys on the range missing their woman folk left back at the ranch. There is a long history of romantic cowboys, including the interesting genre of "cowboy poetry." Singer songwriter Ian Tyson has a body of work that merges country music with the poetry of the cowboy.
Barry Mac carries on that tradition. With his songs of love found, and love lost, this urban cowboy sings with his heart on his sleeve.

When he's not in Grant Avenue Studios recording his love songs, you can find him out in his Jeep finding mud holes to get winched out of. Or flying out of Mount Hope airport in a Piper Warrior buzzing the farm fields south of Hamilton.
Mac (as he's known to his friends and fans) lives each day like it was his last. And his music reflects that reality.

If you are in Hamilton on Thursday February 4th be sure to check out Barry Mac and his band has they perform at his record release party. The album release party is being held at at This Ain't Hollywood in Hamilton's north end.

Check you this You Tube clip recorded on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show. It features Barry with Caretakers front woman Lena Montecalvo.

Woodhands rocks on a Saturday morning

One of the best things about going down to particpate in CBC Radio One's morning show GO is the amazing talent you see first thing in the morning.

Case in point is these guys - Woodhands. They have been touring around Europe, have a big following in England and have even performed in China!
So here they are real early on a Saturday morning. They bring a lot of energy, as you can see in the clip.

Check them out and let me know what you think. Being an indie band does not mean you are only able to tour locally. This band is breaking out worldwide, with Canada, their home being the last to get on board. CBC Radio One's GO and DirkFimbob on You Tube will change that!

Basia Bulat - Powerhouse singer songwriter on a Winter Tour

You know an artist is serious about their craft when deciding to tour across Canada in the middle of winter. Basia Bulat is such an artist. Bringing her new music to the Canadian public at this time of year has got to be tough. It is a long drive between gigs, so you know Basia is committed to her art. But maybe it's because she's from London Ontario(in the snowbelt region) that Basia is used to the snow drift driving.

Check out this clip and let me know what you think. Basia was filmed on CBC Radio One's GO stage last Saturday morning. Go to the details area of this You Tube clip for a list of tour dates across Canada.

Do yourself a favour and go and see Basia as she travels across the largest country in the world!

Rae Sun - Live on CBC Radio

This past Saturday new up and comer Rae Sun performed live in the studio on CBC Radio One's GO.

Born in Ghana Africa he immigrated to Canada when he was eleven years old. The family made their way to this Country in the coldest month of the year - January.

He performs here with his crack touring band. Check out this clip and let us know what you think.

Indie Music Company of the Year - CHCanada.com

And last, but not least is the company that has allowed me the time and space to write passionately about one of my great loves - Canadian independent Music.
More precisely, kudos go out to Ryan Swain and Mike Smith. These two innovators see the benefit of new media, to actively promote online efforts to bring Canadian indie music to a larger audience. Through You Tube, blogging, radio, Facebook and Twitter, CHCanada.com has been actively getting the word out there about musical acts, waiting to be discovered.

The parent company has been in Canada for almost 50 years. For most of those years they were able to offer amazing deals on music to the Canadian public. Canadians of a certain age will remember the 12 LP's for a penny promotions. As new formats became popular, the music club offered 8-tracks, cassettes, and then finally CDs.
The compact disk is still the best sound when listening to music - hands down better than MP3 files.

The Internet has been a double edged sword for Canadian music retailers - file sharing essentially decimated the music business. So there is no longer a CD club per se. Instead, a new online company was born, and can be found at:

http://www.chcanada.com

Online CHCanada.com carries all manner of indie CDs, major label CDs, DVDs, Blu Rays, T-shirts, and rock n roll books. The membership fee has been waived, so anyone can access the site to enjoy amazing deals. Your Entertainment Dollar goes a lot farther at CHCanada.com than anywhere else.

All of the blogging, You Tubing, and the Indie Radio Show gives us a chance to interact with Canadians on a whole new level. Getting out there listening, and finding new acts, selling their CDs online, and talking about them has given CHCanada.com a street profile, the parent company never had.

So, big props go out to CHCanada.com. Rocking in the free world, and bringing you the best in Canadian entertainment.
Grab a CD from your fave indie act. It is tough to make a living as a musician in this day and age. Profits from the proceeds of the indie CDs we sell go right back to the artist - we deal with each musical act directly.

CHCanada.com is looking forward to helping you with all of your entertainment needs for 2010!

Tiny Bill Cody - Humourist of the Year - 2009

Tiny Bill Cody, is of course not so tiny. He's well over 6 feet tall, and is hard to miss in a crowd. But as a musical talent he is heads and shoulders above his compatriots. The other thing Bill has going for him is his absolutely knock down funny die laughing lyrics. In this You Tube Clip from earlier this year, Tiny Bill and a few other folks were asked to write a new national anthem. They were given a half an hour and then were asked to perform the song on National radio.
Bill came on and did an interesting and pretty funny first effort (also found on the DirkFimbob You Tube Channel). Once he heard the other versions he begged to do another one - to hilarious results. Once you hear this song you'll never think of Canada's geography in quite the same way again.

Check these clips out and you'll see what I mean. He's got a quirky, subversive streak to his writing. He's also the guy who did a send up of former deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps - in the song he talks about Copps loosing her virginity in an auto body shop! Only Cody could get away with that.

Is Hamilton the new Seattle?

I've had a few days to reflect on my trip down the QEW to Hamilton, for the Hamilton Music Awards. This City has had it's fair share of unemployment and heartache over the last decade, with massive job losses in their manufacturing sector. If you are like most people, your only view of Hamilton is when you are flying along the highway going over the Skyway Bridge on your way to Niagara Falls and the US Border, or on your way to Toronto. It is not a very impressive sight, unless you are in the steel biz. Dirty smokestacks and flames from coke ovens are like a throughback to another era. And maybe they are.

Hamilton is reinventing itself as an arts and music town. With the downtown core neglected and frankly mishandled by local government mis-steps, pricing of real estate is in the basement - a far cry from the high rents and exorbitant costs of Toronto living. So, artists and musicians are flocking to Hamilton - remaking the city. And the whole arts culture is thriving.

Thus the 8th annual Hamilton Music Awards. As host Tom Wilson tells it, many of Canada's musical talent are from Hamilton (including rock royalty such as Daniel Lanois). Lanois has a very nice converted warehouse on Wellington Street in downtown Toronto where he stays when in Ontario, otherwise he owns a house in Hamilton (near Tom’s house) as he always has. Hamilton is Daniel’s hometown. (he also has homes in L.A. and Jamaica). His mother, brother and sister all live in Hamilton. Lanois arrived in Hamilton from Hull at the age of nine with his family, went to school here and established their first studios here, recording with Eno and many others. He still comes to Hamilton a lot to see family and friends. Lanois was the second artist to be given a lifetime achievement award at the HMAs.

Check this clip out of husband and wife team Melissa McCelland and Luke Doucet. This fab couple have come back to Hamilton to live - make the trip down to the Hammer for a show or to see a gallery. You'll be surprised.

Symphony Of Nine - Prog Rock comes to Caledon Radio

Wednesday night we had a great performance by a Toronto Band on the verge of greatness. With their new CD Radio, Symphony of Nine are a band that is unique in sound. All of the members are too young to remember the hay day of progressive '70's rock - in fact some of the members weren't even born in the '70's. But their sound is a throw back to the "Classic Rock" sound. Shades of Styx, Queen, Kansas, and even Wings sneak into their groove.

They came in and played unplugged on the CHCanada.com Indie Radio Show. Check out one of their performances on the attached You Tube Clip. If you like this band check out their entire unplugged set by uploading the podcast of the show. It can be found at the Wednesday November 25, 2009 link. Drop me a line and let me know what you think of this new band...

Funky Ladies heat up the Radio Studio

Saidah Baba Talibah, the Canadian singer/songwriter has been performing most of her life. Singing back up vocals for a who's who of Canadian artists, she is now putting stuff out on her own.

With some solid support from her sisters, including the incredible guitar playing of Donna Grantis, these ladies have to be heard.

Check em out on My Space, or click on the video link below to see and hear the ladies in action!

Dave Bidini Talks about rock, hockey and Canada

Just in time for the hockey seaon, fellow blog readers may like this interview with Dave Bidini. This is part one of the interview. He talks hockey, Canada and rock.

Off the beaten path a bit, but he is always a lot of fun. Bidini is co-founder of Rheostatics (one of Canada's hidden treasures) and is now in BidiniBand. He is currently touring to promote his new album "The Land is Wild".

Montreal Mystique is a website that explores the intersection of sports, the arts and culture.

http://www.montrealmystique.ca/

CHCanada.com Radio Show now a Pod Cast

There is a new Radio Show dedicated to Canadian Independent Artists - it's the CHCanada.com Radio Show, live from the Caledon Radio studios. This new show is in conjunction with Songs From the Woods, the indie radio show bringing Radio-land new and upcoming recording artists.

Once a month (usually the last Wednesday of the month)the CHCanada.com Radio Show will feature live guests in studio. Show hosts Rick Jones and Tom Beyer will talk about upcoming shows, chat about faves, and generally have a great time uncovering new and obscure Canadian independent recording artists.

What is an indie recording artist? This is an act that doesn't have a record deal with a major record company. This is a musical act that uses it's own financing to put out a CD and then goes out on the road to actively promote the record that they have put their heart and soul (and $$$) into.

We like these people! We think they need exposure to music lovers everywhere. That is what the show is all about - bringing you some wicked new artists who believe in what they are doing, and are not afraid to put their money where their mouth is.

So check the radio show out on Radio Caledon, or listen to the pod casts that are available for downloading on this blog. All of the shows will be stored and can be listened to at your request.

http://www.radiocaledon.com