Sydney, N.S. band Carleton Stone Drives the Big Wheel is releasing its debut record tonight with a show at Smooth Hermans in their hometown.

The new record was recorded at Gordie Sampson’s Lakewind Sound Studios and was produced by Mike Sheppard and Stone. The band won a Battle of the Bands in their hometown last summer, which helped fund the debut release.

In the last year, the band has played local shows with Hedley, Matt Mays, Hey Rosetta!, Slowcoaster, Tom Fun Orchestra, In-Flight Safety and Gordie Sampson.

Buck & Kitch will open the show tonight, which starts at 9 p.m.

Joey Kitson releases debut solo CD

Joey Kitson, lead singer of seven-time East Coast Music Award-winning and JUNO Award nominated Celtic rock group Rawlins Cross, released his debut solo album STAN (Ground Swell/Warner), a tribute to folk legend Stan Rogers, in stores nationally this week.

STAN offers 10 of Rogers’ best known songs, including “The Field Behind the Plow,” “45 Years” and “Fogarty’s Cove.” The CD was produced by Chris Corrigan and features “A-list” Maritime musicians, including Brian Bourne (bass), Dave Burton (drums, percussion), Chris Corrigan (guitars), Kim Dunn (keyboards), Ray Legere (fiddle, mandolin) and Vishten members Emmanuelle LeBlanc (bodhran, tin whistles, backing vocals) and Pastelle LeBlanc (accordion, backing vocals).

Kitson will launch the CD with a special performance at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso, N.S. this Sunday at 4 p.m.

He will also be performing in the Charlottetown Festival’s production Stan Rogers: A Matter of Heart this summer.  The theatrical celebration, honouring Rogers’ body of work, has a 72-show run throughout July, August and September at The Mack in Charlottetown, PEI.

Stan Rogers Folk Festival goes this weekend

Speaking of the legendary musician, The Stan Rogers Folk Festival is set for this weekend in Canso, N.S., July 3-5.

The 2009 Stan Rogers Folk Festival, an award-winning festival of songwriters, is once again set to showcase a stellar line up of international, national and regional talent.  This year’s headliners include legendary “American Pie” songwriter and national Academy of Popular Music Songwriters’ Hall of Fame inductee Don McLean, Canadian Country Music Award winner Corb Lund, and JUNO Award-winning songstress Sarah Harmer.

Other artists performing include multi-award-winning Canadian songwriters Bruce Guthro, Jimmy Rankin, Lennie Gallant, James Keelaghan, Bill Bourne, Thom Swift and Dave Gunning; Nova Scotia’s ECMA award-winning pop artists Christina Martin and Melanie Doane; Canadian female folk veterans Cindy Church, Susan Crowe and Raylene Rankin; Newfoundland multi-instrumentalist Allan Ricketts; Halifax-based songstress Amelia Curran; New Brunswick bluesman Matt Anderson and many more.

Weekend passes are $80, Friday tickets are $32, Saturday tickets are $36 and Sunday tickets are $36 (plus tax).  Tickets are available at all Ticketpro outlets, by phone at 1-866-311-9090 and online at www.ticketpro.ca.  Major credit cards are accepted and services charges apply.

Songwriter night returns in Moncton

The next edition of Songwriters Association of Canada Moncton Songstage, Moncton’s open mic night for original music by singer-songwriters, takes place on Tuesday, July 7, 9:30-11:30 p.m. at St. James’ Gate.

This show features a line-up of talented singer-songwriters of various genres and language of performance. Registered artists include S.A.C. member Robin Anne Ettles, Lisa LeBlanc, Julien Simon, Rob Comeau,  Ashley Bernard  and André Saulnier. Each performer showcases 3 - 5 songs in an environment friendly to original music.

One performance spot remains open for July 7. Pre-registration is required via e-mail to monctonsong@gmail.com, with demo or link to a site where your music can be auditioned. Songwriters are also welcome to register for the Aug. 4 show. Participants must bring their own instrument. All languages of performance are welcome.

This event, occurring on the first Tuesday of each month, is officially endorsed by the Songwriters’ Association of Canada. They are put together by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Robin Anne Ettles.

St. James’ Gate is located at 14 Church St. in Moncton.

Black Moor signs with DFR

Diminished Fifth Records has announced that Nova Scotian thrashers Black Moor will be joining their growing roster and releasing their debut album ‘The Conquering’ on Tuesday, Aug. 25.

The long overdue album almost didn’t see the light of day after the band was in a near fatal automobile accident in June 2008. Now fully recovered, Black Moor have been continuing to impress audiences with their stunning live performances which most recently led them to be crowned the winner of the Molson Canadian Rocks Battle of the Bands in Nova Scotia and a finalist in the regional contest to open for rock legends KISS.

The band’s upcoming album will be released by DFR and distributed across the country by Sonic Unyon/Universal Music Canada.

Formed in 2005, Black Moor are quickly becoming one of the fastest up and coming names in the Canadian underground metal scene, having shared the stage with such titans as Anthrax frontman Joey Belladonna, Martyr, Toxic Holocaust, Rammer, Goat Horn, Cauldron and Priestess.

Congrats to MMVA winners

Congratulations to Classified and Wintersleep who took home MuchMusic Video Awards recently in Toronto.

Classified won Best Hip Hop Video for “Anybody Listening” and Wintersleep won VideoFACT’s Best Independent Video award for “Weighty Ghost.”

Got an e-mail from Aaron Wallace from Halifax band Sleepless Nights. The generous band has offered us all a free download of an album full of unreleased tunes.

Head over here to get your free tunage.

Caledonia tours New Brunswick

Halifax indie rockers Caledonia, who recently released a new album, We Are America, are touring through New Brunswick over the next few days.

Here are the band’s dates:

June 27 – Fredericton @ The Capital
July 3 – Sussex @ Mason Jar
July 4 – Saint John @ Blue Olive

Moncton art show features local tunes

On Friday, June 26, starting at 7 p.m. at Aberdeen Cultural Centre in Moncton, there will be a “live art show” featuring artists Janet Mlodecki, Pascal Leo Cormier, Andrew Robson and Ian MacMillan.

The concept of the event is that the four artists will have four canvases and will simultaneously work on the canvases together, interchanging pieces and creatively collaborating with one another. The live art will be filmed and a fast-motion video of the evolution from blank canvases to completed pieces will be posted online.

The event will also include mood music from DJ Bones, as well as performances by Morse Code Alphabet and Jonah Hache.

Cost at the door is $7.

ECMA announces board of directors

The East Coast Music Association (ECMA) recently announced its 2009-2010 board of directors, elected at the association’s annual general meeting in Sydney, N.S.

The 2009-2010 ECMA Board of Directors include:

Representing mainland Nova Scotia:
Heather Frantsi (2nd Vice Chair)
Michael Kennedy (Treasurer)

Representing Cape Breton:
Mike “Sheppy” Shepherd (Executive Member at large)
Albert Lionais

Representing New Brunswick:
Hilary Mombourquette (1st Vice Chair)
Lynn Daigle
Shawn Bostick

Representing Prince Edward Island:
Doug Gallant (Secretary)
Ray Brow

Representing Newfoundland & Labrador:
Wade Pinhorn (Chair)
Rik Barron

ECMA’s honourary directors are Sheri Jones, Heather Ostertag and Sam Sniderman. The ECMA 2010 event committee chair is Ian McNeil.

The 2010 East Coast Music Awards, Festival & Conference will take place March 4-7 in Sydney, Cape Breton, N.S.

(Jessica Rhaye. Photo contributed.)

Six years passed between Jessica Rhaye’s debut self-titled album and her 2006 follow-up, Short Stories.

She wasn’t about to let that happen again, and the singer-songwriter from Saint John has proved that by releasing her third album, Good Things, only three years after her sophomore effort.

“There was a huge gap between the first record and Short Stories, but I think that was because I was in school, and I think I really needed to take the time and mature and really own my craft of songwriting,” she tells EastCoastNoise. “And I wrote a lot of tunes that didn’t make Short Stories, so I had a lot of tunes left over, so the whole songwriting process didn’t take quite as long.

“But yeah, I’d definitely like to keep moving at this pace.”

Rhaye’s third album is a more acoustic-based, stripped-down affair than Short Stories was. The new album, released independently only a few weeks ago, came out of a tour of England Rhaye did with New Brunswick’s Matt Andersen and Nova Scotia’s Dave Gunning a few years ago.

Usually when Rhaye performs, she does so with just her vocals and an acoustic guitar, so she decided to take that approach on Good Things.

“I was (in England) by myself, and we were each doing our own solo acoustic shows,” Rhaye says. “It was going along really well, and I think people were looking to buy the music as they had heard it. And at the time, I was playing a lot of the new tunes which are on the new record. That’s kind of where it started. I thought maybe it was time that I record something that sounds like what I do acoustic.”

Rhaye’s earlier efforts weren’t over-produced, but they had a bit of a pop sheen that is less present on the new record.
The new album, produced by Ed Woodsworth in Cape Breton, features a few of Rhaye’s earlier tunes which she wanted to revamp a bit, as well as a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” which has been a staple of Rhaye’s live show for some time.

“I brought back Time Out, which was on my very first record. I just thought it would work well with the new tunes, and I kind of thought it was time to bring it back and, I don’t know, kind of make it a little bit more mature sounding, which I think it does … (I) got rid of the children’s laughing. And I brought back Holding Out (from Short Stories) too, which is kind of funny. It’s probably the version which we should have started out with first because it’s kind of the root of the song. On Short Stories, we did the more produced, almost dance version of the song.”

Rhaye wrote some of the new album herself, but she relied on help from songwriter friends – or “song doctors” as she calls them - Dave Gunning, Ken Tobias and Asif Illyas (Mir) for others she co-wrote.

And for the title track, Rhaye met up with legendary Canadian songwriter Ron Sexsmith.

“I was definitely nervous,” she says of working with Sexsmith when he was in New Brunswick for some gigs. “But once I got talking to him and kind of settled into the songwriting mode it was no big deal really. It was a big deal, but it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. He really brought that song around. I had a verse and sort of a chorus and he really helped me fix up the chorus and he helped me write the second verse and he wrote the bridge, so he really brought that song around.”

With Good Things now out, Rhaye has some summer concert dates lined up, a proper fall tour and even some possible gigs planned for outside the east coast.

She also has a DVD called Good Things From The Stage in the works. Produced by Hemmings House Pictures, it will feature live performances, interview footage and behind-the-scenes clips from the making of Good Things.

“We were in Riverview last June when we did the live recording part of it. It was originally just supposed to be an EPK, a press release we would send around to different people to try and book shows so they could see what I do live.”

The project quickly turned into something more expansive that Rhaye hopes will be released as soon as next month.

A sample of the new DVD along with tons of other information on Rhaye can be found at her new online home here.

Rhaye’s upcoming dates include:

June 26 - The Mason Jar Speak Easy & Cabaret - Sussex, NB
July 4 - Harmony House - Hunter River, PEI
July 11 - Salty Jam Festival - Saint John, NB
Aug. 16 - Outdoor Ampitheatre - Cambridge Narrows, NB
Sept 2. - The Carleton - Halifax, NS
Nov. 13 - Brush of Hope Event at the Delta Brunswick - Saint John, NB
Nov. 20 - Capitol Theatre - Moncton, NB

(The Novaks, left-right, Mark Neary, Elliot Dicks and Mick Davis. Photo contributed.)

Mick Davis bemoans the loss of spontaneity and of real guitar heroes in rock music. The Novaks singer and guitarist says technology allowing bands to fake things in the studio to get a perfect sounding recording is killing emotion and feel in rock music today.

But Davis hopes his Newfoundland band can help change that.

“Singers today in these power-pop, whatever you call them, punk groups on the radio, they never sing through a whole track, you know, or at least it doesn’t sound like it to me,” he says. “Because of ProTools, they can sing the chorus, and if they get it right the first time, they cut-and-paste it into the other two places where the chorus is.

“Instead of, when you listen to a Lenny Kravitz song, when he goes, ‘ooh yeah,’ or ‘rock on, guitar solo,’ you don’t hear that anymore because nobody’s actually sang through the whole take, and you’ve lost all that feel and improv, you know. And it really sucks. There’s no guitar solos on the radio anymore … there’s no guitar heroes. That video game is huge now, and I think that might be in our corner,” he says with a laugh.

“I’m not saying I’m a guitar hero, but at least there’s guitars prominently on the album.”

Davis was chatting with EastCoastNoise recently about The Novaks new album, Things Fall Apart (Sonic/Warner), which was released two weeks ago. The trio’s sophomore effort comes four years after the band’s self-titled debut, a long time for any band to wait around.

Tonight at The Rock House in St. John’s, the band hosts an official CD release show.

Apart from a concert here and there, the band has mostly laid low since touring finished for its debut a few years back.

But a lot has changed for the group. Most notably, guitarist Chuck Tucker left The Novaks prior to the recording of Things Fall Apart last year, leaving Davis (vocals, guitar), Mark Neary (bass, vocals) and Elliot Dicks (drums) a trio.

“Just before we made the record, (Chuck) said he had a job offer and he wasn’t sure he was gonna do, so we said ‘Well, if you’re going to leave, you should leave now before you put your face on the album.’ That wasn’t any big deal or anything, he just wanted to go that way and we said, ‘Well, best to ya.’

“We all sort of knew that he’d sort of go off that way, be a regular person,” Davis continues. “He got a great job offer and I think he’s more of the type that would like a family and a house and all that. The rest of us are crazy. I don’t think he was so meant for the road as the rest of us.”

It takes a special type of person – or a crazy one, as Davis describes – to want to live a life on the road. While the hour or two each night of playing to fans is supposed to make the lifestyle worth it, many bands will tell you living away from family, friends and your own bed gets to you after a while.

“You’ve got to not mind scrounging, just going in the hole, making it work no matter what,” Davis says. “Everyone else in the group now will do whatever it takes. When we’re home we play gigs or do whatever work we have to do to keep it going, but we will never latch on to anything that will keep us here.

“You’ve got to be crazy in a sense; you’ve got to believe in it. I can’t do anything else, I have to do this. Sometimes, you, in a town like this, like St. John’s, you hang around with so many people who play .. it’s a real close-knit scene and everything, but sometimes you forget that most of the people you’re with are not going to be doing this forever, you know. A lot of groups or bands start in college and when they get their degree, it’s over. That’s not us. The Novaks or bust for me.”

Davis says he’s always known the rock n’ roll lifestyle was for him.

“I never went to school. I had a couple little jobs that didn’t last very long, washing dishes one time when it got really bad. Besides that, it’s been from playing for pizza to playing for $50 to being in all the papers and playing for nothing,” he says, laughing.

The singer says playing as a three-piece has forced The Novaks to work harder and it’s made them a better band because of it. In the last few years, the band has gotten to be more business savvy as well.

“The new record to me is very honest, for me. It was just songs that I wrote, you woke up in the morning and this is what came out, whereas the first record was sort of … when I wrote those songs I didn’t even know that we’d ever make a record. There are songs on there where the influence is on the sleeve. Like, I think I have a Rolling Stones song, so I’m going to write one like that.’”

But the band has come into its own on Things Fall Apart, 12 tracks of classic rock n’ roll sounds that wouldn’t sound out of place next to old Tom Petty records.

Davis doesn’t deny his influences, but he says he gets tired of hearing comparisons to Petty, The Rolling Stones and other bands.

“The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty always come up with us,” he says. “And that’s fine because people love those guys. That’s no insult or anything. But it just gets tired after a while.

“The key is longevity because then they’ll start comparing young bands to you. That happened to us really early on. I remember somebody getting one of those (Canadian Music Week) report cards from ChartAttack, there was a young band and they said that they sound like us. It was like, ‘Jesus, we just got here ourselves. They were probably highly insulted,” Davis says with a laugh.

Davis, wanting to get away from comparisons to other bands, actually didn’t want one of the new album’s tunes, ‘Under Those Wheels,’ to be on it as it sounds too much like a tune by The Faces, ‘You’re So Rude.’

But Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Grady), who helped the band out on the new record, loved the tune and threw in his bid to keep it on the record. He went so far as to play the tune for his neighbour in Austin, TX, Ian McLagan, keyboardist for The Faces.

McLagan liked the tune and agreed to play keyboard on it. Needless to say, Davis put his concerns aside and the tune is on the album.

“So if anyone says, ‘you ripped off the Faces,’ I can say, ‘well, one of the Faces is on it,’” he laughs.

The Novaks host its CD release show tonight at The Rock House in St. John’s, and the band’s next Maritime date will see the group on a bill with The Trews, Thornley, Econoline Crush and headliners KISS on July 18 on the Halifax Common.

For Davis, the gig is a bit of a dream come true. He says growing up he was a huge KISS fan.

“The other guys, no … me, yes,” he admits. “I was a maniac. I think most kids were about KISS. Not so much anymore, but I’ve got a soft spot for them. If you’d told me about this when I was 10 years old, I’d have shit my pants. But the boys, Mark and Eliot never listened to a KISS record in their lives.”

Going forward, Davis is just looking to play for people again and promote the new album. The band has Ontario dates with Matt Mays & El Torpedo and a reunited Change of Heart over the next few weeks.

A video will also be shot for the band’s single “There Goes The Night.”

If you haven’t heard the new album yet, Davis says it represents just how The Novaks sound on stage, playing scrappy, guitar-based rock n’ roll.

“I’m proud of the record, but it was made in 10 days,” he says. “Ideally, I’d love to go in and make a Beatles record and spend a year on it, but if I look at it like, ‘Well this represents the group live,’ then I have no qualms with it. It’s full of flubs, full of mistakes. We didn’t use a meter, drummer didn’t play to a click, nothing like that. It’s very real. It’s going to be tough competing on the radio with all the robotic, sort of sterile stuff, but hopefully it’ll help change it.”

(Moncton-based singer-songwriter Melanie Keith will release her debut album this week. Photo contributed.)

Moncton singer-songwriter Melanie Keith promised me just over a year ago that her debut solo effort would be released in June.

She didn’t lie, but I was expecting she meant June of last year and not June of 2009.

Another year has passed, but finally - officially - Melanie Keith & The Strombachs will release its seven-song debut this week with a show at Moncton’s Empress Theatre on Thursday.

The release has been marred by delays and disasters.

After recording with Moncton songwriter and producer Robin Anne Ettles in 2004 for the Imitating Hercules project, Keith started her solo project, The Strombachs.

Fast forward to 2007 and Keith recorded her debut album, which soon had to be scrapped due to a serious production error. The album was tracked and ready to be mixed, but there were problems with what the studio delivered for tracks to the mixer. The studio refused to fix the problem, and Keith was left with tracks that were unusable.

She ended up getting a grant to help fund the album, but it wound up only covering the cost of the initial, unusable recording.

When she was finally able to re-record the album, with Ettles producing and playing every instrument but drums (Al Bourgeois), Keith had no money left to have the CDs manufactured.

“It’s killed me to make all of these decisions all the way along,” she said in an interview this week. “It really has. It’s embarrassing. You do an interview or you say something’s coming out and it doesn’t happen … but by the same token, it was a really good decision because things that have led up and have happened since then have kind of made it more useful to be releasing it now.

“I think things kind of got fast-tracked really fast for me in 2005. We entered this battle of the bands thing, and we won it and there was pressure to get an album out, and I didn’t even have time to sit and think of where I wanted to go or develop myself as an artist.”

Since that time, Keith says her sound has drifted a bit from pop-rock to an Americana sound in the vein of Lucinda Williams and Sheryl Crow.

She’s also started her own record label, MerleSong Records, and she has national distribution through Fontana North/Universal Music and online through MapleMusic.

A lot has happened, and Keith admits she’s both nervous and excited for Thursday’s CD release show. For it, Keith is arranging to have the hour-long show broadcast on her website. She will also Twitter throughout the day so fans can keep track of the CD release chaos.

“I’m nervous more about all that technical stuff because I’ve never done it before,” she says. “So I just hope that it all works.”

She’ll also be shooting a video over the next few days for one of the tunes from the new album.

In addition to playing all the shows she can around the east coast, Keith is preparing a cross-Canada and potential U.S. tour for the fall. She’s even in early discussions to possibly tour the U.K.

The Strombachs were also chosen to be one of about 45 bands showcasing at the Contact East convention Oct. 1-4 in Moncton, which could land her more gigs.

In the meantime, she has an album to release.

“I just hope it’s worth waiting for,” she says with a laugh.

Watch Keith’s CD release show online here Thursday at 6 p.m. If you’re in Moncton, the show is free to attend.

Here are Melanie Keith & The Strombach’s upcoming tour dates:

Thursday, June 11 – The Empress – Moncton, N.B.
Friday, June 12 - Relay For Life in Moncton, N.B.
Saturday, June 13 - Ruthie’s Pub & Eatery - Victoria, P.E.I.
Friday, June 19 - Sessions Café – Rothesay, N.B.
Friday, June 26 - Bridge Street Café - Sackville, N.B.
Tuesday, June 30 - The Capital - Fredericton, N.B.
Saturday, July 25 - O’Brien’s - Riverview, N.B.
Saturday, Aug. 22 – GreenFest – Clairville, N.B.

Nova Scotia indie-rock act Kestrels tour will tour eastern Canada this month and next in support of its debut LP, Primary Colours. The album will be released on Tuesday, July 7 on Noyes Records.

The only Atlantic Canadian date thus far is July 9 at Halifax venue The Paragon.

In the fall of 2007, Kestrels, made up of Chad Peck (vocals, guitar), Marcus Fiddes (bass) and Adam Hartling (drums), marked their arrival with a 7″ single called, “Seaside,” before ever performing a live show.

In their short time together the band has opened for Jay Reatard and was named Best New Band in The Coast’s 2009 Best of Music reader’s poll.

Two years and six recording “studios” after their first show, Kestrels has delivered Primary Colours.

The Got To Get Got release debut

Led by North of America’s Mark Mullane, The Got To Get Got will release its debut LP, Sahalee (Noyes Records), on Tuesday, July 14. On this swirling collection of pop songs, the seven-piece band stacks violins, guitars and powerful rhythms over intricate arrangements and memorable melodies.

While The Got To Get Got started as a bi-coastal collective (with outlets operating simultaneously in Halifax and Vancouver, B.C.), the band trimmed down to its east coast line-up only for the recording of Sahalee. The album was tracked in December 2008 in various studios around Halifax and Montreal. Aside from the group’s own extensive cast, Sahalee also features special appearances from Samir Khan (Weights & Measures), Jennifer Mecija (Ohbijou), Annisa Hart (Ohbijou), Warren Spicer (Plants And Animals), Angela Desveaux, Ron Bates (The Memories Attack) and Leon Taheny (Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains).

“Sahalee was three years in the making but recorded in four short weeks,” Mullane says in a press release. “The philosophy behind the album, much like our band, is to have as much fun recording as we do playing live and somehow capture that on the record. I wanted to make a pop record with some atonal/structural influences that I still hold dear.”

The Got To Get Got’s debut EP, Canadian Arts Collective Blues/Huge Zig Zag (Noyes Records), was released in the summer of 2006.

SappyFest announces 2009 line-up

Early bird passes are on sale now and until June 19 for Sackville N.B.’s SappyFest. The festival’s 2009 line-up features Wintersleep, Women, Destroyer, Eric’s Trip, Ladyhawk, Timber Timbre and Ohbijou, among many others.
The event takes place July 31 to Aug. 2.

SappyFest is the “happy child of its disgruntled parents at Sappy Records,” a press release for the event describes.

Now in its fourth year, it’s produced collaboratively alongside the Ok.Quoi?! Arts Festival and the good people at Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre in Sackville. The festival’s main stage is a large street tent in downtown Sackville with an old movie theatre, church, tavern and decrepit music hall serving as satellite stages.

In addition to an extensive list of bands, SappyFest is happy to host its very own Writers Block, Zine & Craft Fair, which will feature a diverse collection of productive artists.

Early bird festival passes will be on sale until June 19 for $50. Sappyfest will also be offering accommodation packages in partnership with Mount Allison University. For more information, visit: SappyFest’s website and TicketPro.

Halifax-based singer-songwriter Erin Costelo released her first full length album, Fire & Fuss, this week, and she’ll be touring in support of the project throughout the summer in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario.

Produced by Karl Falkenham and executive produced by Glenn Meisner and recorded at Halifax’s Studio H, the album features esteemed Halifax musicians Phil Sedore (guitar/lap steel/cello/dobro), Lukas Pearse (bass), Alex Porter (drums) and Benn Ross (percussion).

Guest performers on the album include Rose Cousins, Amelia Curran and Pam McInnis, Kim Dunn, Chris Lanetti and more.

Costelo’s dates are as follows:

May 29 - Halifax, NS - The Company House with a full band
May 30 - Chester, NS - The Playhouse with Thom Swift
May 31 - Halifax, NS - The Company House with a full band (MATINEE)
June 5 - Sussex, NB - Mason Jar Speakeasy
June 6  - Rothesay, NB - Sessions
June 7 - Riverside, NB -  Harvey Hall
June 20 - Hubbards, NS - Trellis Cafe
June 26 - Mount Stewart, PE - Trailside Cafe
Aug. 27 - Corner Brook, NL - The Blackthorn Stick Cafe
Aug. 30 - St. John’s, NL  - The Ship Inn

Trews, Novaks to open  for KISS

East coast rockers The Trews and The Novaks have been added to Halifax Rocks 2009on the Halifax Common on Saturday, July 18. Tickets are on sale now at the Ticket Atlantic Box Office and select Atlantic Superstores. Tickets can also be ordered by phone at 902-451-1221 or online here.  For the latest updates on the artists and event go here.

Sleepless Nights tour east coast

Indie rockers Sleepless Nights are touring this week with Regina, Sask. band Rah Rah. The two bands will be touring coast to coast from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Check out the dates below:

May 27 - The Paragon Theatre - Halifax NS
May 28 - A Khord - Saint John NB
May 29 - The Capital - Fredericton NB
May 30 - Ale House - Moncton NB

ECMA announces new executive director

The East Coast Music Association has announced that Su Hutchinson, general manager of Quinlan Road, has accepted the position of executive director. Su will take over from out-going executive director Steve Horne, whose tenure will wrap up at the annual general meeting in June.

More interviews coming

Over the next week or so, I’ll be putting up interviews with Newfoundland rockers The Novaks regarding their new album Things Fall Apart and with New Brunswick songstress Jessica Rhaye regarding her new album, Good Things.

Check out the video above for a brief greeting from Halifax hip hop artist Classified.

Many thanks to Classified and the folks at Groundworks Lifestyle Marketing and Sony Music Canada for the very cool greeting you see above. For an interview we had with Classified a few weeks back, see here.

Uncooperative Death releases album

Halifax’s Uncooperative Death has released its self-titled debut album (CTLO Records). Formed in 2006, the band (Dan Cormier, Liam McLaughlin, Tristan Mailman and Paul Sarrazin) has been thrashing away since on the east coast.

Uncooperative Death’s debut features 11 tracks, including nine originals and two bonus tracks:

1. The Blame
2. Bloody Bathroom
3. Murderous Apotheosis
4. Let Me Bleed
5. Left Behind
6. Chew the Leg Off
7. Cavity
9. Ambivalent Disclosure
10. Murderous Apothacary - bonus
11. Solanum (Raunch Dressing Version) - bonus

Thy Flesh Consumed joins D5R

More metal news tonight as Nova Scotia record label Diminished Fifth Records has announced the signing of another east coast metal band - death grind group Thy Flesh Consumed.

The band will release its fourth album, Unrepentant, later this summer under the D5R banner.

“We are not only honoured but we are excited to be working with a band as focused and committed as Thy Flesh Consumed,” commented label owner Josh Hogan in a press release. “They need little introduction in the underground metal world and we hope this release will shed even more light on their already impressive career.”

The band is also pumped to be releasing its fourth album on the ever-growing metal label.

“Carrying the torch and lighting the way for east coast metal, Josh and D5R make the unimaginable very very possible. I am proud to be part of this movement, it truly is history in the making,” said vocalist Peter Mestre.

Formed in the fall of 2001, Thy Flesh Consumed evolved quickly into a serious band covering themes of animal rights, religion, socio-political issues, warfare and the environment.

The band is made up of Mestre, Gerald Smith, Dan Jamieson, Dave Burns and Ross Vickers.

Giant unleashed on the east

Moncton rockers Iron Giant, a 2009 ECMA winner for Loud Recording of the Year, has announced some upcoming Maritime tour dates that include performing on a boat as it floats across the Halifax Harbour during the 2009 Maritime Tattoo Festival VIP After Party as well as sharing the stage with the thrash masters Toxic Holocaust.

The boat cruise gig takes place Sunday, and you can find more details here.

The band’s other gigs include:

May 21 – Moncton, NB @ The Manhattan w/ Toxic Holocaust
May 22 – Halifax, NS @ Pavillion (All Ages) w/ Toxic Holocaust
May 22 – Halifax, NS @ Gus’s Pub w/ Toxic Holocaust
May 23 – Charlottetown, PEI @ Benevolent w/ Toxic Holocaust
May 24 – Fredericton, NB @ Nicky Zee’s w/ Iron Fist

(The Motorleague, from left: Ryan McDonald, Dana Robertson, Don Levandier, Nathan Jones.)

The Motorleague rose from the ashes of Moncton rockers The Ditchpigs a few years back. They’ve quickly developed a reputation for high energy shows and catchy-as-hell songs that blend poppy hooks with an onslaught of noisy, loud guitars and a driving rhythm section - feelings of frustration and anguish turned into anthems that have rocked bars from Halifax to Toronto.
The band features the talents of singer-guitarist Don Levandier (The Ditchpigs), guitarist Nathan Jones (I Capture The Castle), bassist Dana Robertson (HOPE) and drummer Ryan McDonald (Broken Radio Sound).
Tonight in Moncton, the band will release its first full-length album Black Noise (the follow up to EP White Tape). The band has teamed up with Fredericton-based Forward Music Group to release the album nationwide on Tuesday, May 19.
Black Noise was recorded in June 2008 in Toronto at Chemical Sound studio with producer and guitar-god Ian Blurton at the helm as producer.
First single “Hymn for the Newly Departed” is now at radio and the band has a video in the works for the tune. A series of east coast dates are planned (see their official site for details).
The Motorleague singer/guitarist Don Levandier answered some questions from EastCoastNoise via e-mail this week. Guitarist Nathan Jones pitched in a few comments of his own. Read on …

EastCoastNoise: Black Noise is coming out May 19, CD release is Friday in Moncton … what else is happening or on the horizon?
Don Levandier: Right now we’re excited to get the first video out and see how that goes.  We’ll be making the usual stops around the Maritimes for May then gearing up to break our ‘we’ve never been further west than Toronto’ mould. That won’t happen until the fall though.  Other than that we were supposed to do a gig with Fred Penner in Newfoundland at a conference – but it looks like we’ll be playing the day after him with Tom Fun – which is equally cool – but not really – I mean … FRED PENNER.

ECN: What’s the scoop on the video for “Hymn for the Newly Departed”?
DL: The scoop is that it should be out soon – I’m not 100 per cent sure on the timeline but we’re going to show a version of it at the CD release – then launch it officially on Eastcoastnoise.com. After that we’ll see who’ll play it.
The video itself was shot by The PostMen who are a local production company that shoots for CBC / CTV / STARS and more – they wanted to try making a music video because they’d never done so before – we wanted to make a music video for the same reasons – voila.
Nathan Jones: Video was produced by our friends at The Postman. We were lucky enough to have 40 friends come and hang out with us for a day while we put everything together. The final version is going to be publicly debuted on Friday, May 8 at The Paramount during the album release party. After that it will sent to Much Music/MTV and other places as well as being plastered all over the Internet. Special thanks to Marc Savoie, Marcel Gallant, Felice Grana, Michael Cowie and Mel Flanagan.

ECN: You guys recorded this album last year with Ian Blurton in Toronto … what was that experience like for you as a band? How did it compare to recording CDs here in Moncton in the past and what did you learn from it?
DL: It was a lot tighter.  We had one week to do the entire record – where at home you record as you please – and take as long as you like. It was also weird having more than one person (record) your band. In Moncton we’re used to working with Kyle McDonald, so it’s very one-on-one, whereas in Toronto we had Ian as a producer and two engineers for the drums and bass parts.

The guitars and vocals were done with Ian after that – it was really weird playing or singing in front of the guy.  It wasn’t too bad until we’re sitting in the studio and a studio hand starts going ‘OH MY GOD…THAT’S IAN BLURTON’ – then it started getting a bit weird.  But after the first day or two of doing vocals and guitar – the jitters were gone and it was down to business.

As far as Blurton goes – he’s way smarter than you think.  I always got this hairy caveman vibe from him – but he’s actually really articulate and well spoken.  You don’t expect that from him – because at shows he’s quiet – but the guy is very smart and great with computers.

As for learning – I think he took away a lot of my crutches.  Things like doubling up vocals or tons of vocal harmonies are what I’m used to doing – but in this case 90 per cent of the vocals are straight – one vocal, no harmonies – so it really made me push to sing better rather than rely on layering.  He taught us that simple is often the best approach.
NJ: It was awesome having an outsider’s opinion on the songs, especially an opinion that we all so obviously respect. Ian has had a hand in some of the best rock records this country has produced, whether it’s his own bands or something he’s produced.

Being in Toronto was probably the best part of making this record. When you’re at home trying to do something like this there’s a lot of distractions going on - work, family, day-to-day life stuff. When you’re away from home and out of your comfort zone, all you have to really focus on is the task at hand, there’s no putting things off until next week or next month. Things had to be done so they got done.

ECN: Why did you choose Blurton to produce and what was he specifically like to work with?
DL: Originally we wanted to do the next Ditchpigs record with Jon Cummins (Doughboys / Bionic) and that plan carried over to The Motorleague.  We never had any solid plans – just an idea of that’s what we want – and we had heard that Cummins was up for the idea (although I never spoke to him personally).  At North-by-Northeast 2007, I mentioned to Ian – who was hanging out with PJ (Dunphy, former Motorleague bassist) - that Cummins was hopefully going to produce.  Ian said, ‘Fuck him, I’m doing it.’ EXACTLY one year later we were in Toronto making the record.

Blurton produced 2 of my all time favourite records (by The Weakerthans) and played on another two (Steel Teeth by Change Of Heart and Blurtonia) – it was a no brainer.  We knew the guy a little, so that helped too, it wasn’t like going into the studio with a stranger. And we knew he’d know our sound – we weren’t worried about him changing it too much.

ECN: On this album, and the last EP (White Tape) … the songs, at least on the surface, sound pretty pissed off - frustration over jobs, relationships … what gives? Will we ever see a happy Motorleague tune?
DL: No. I heard Gordie Johnson speak once – and he said it best – ‘write what you know about.’  A lot of the anger is introspective – while other songs are 100 per cent specifically aimed at certain events and people.  I spend a lot of time biting my tongue with Monctonlocals.com (website and message board Levandier runs)  – I don’t do that with The Motorleague.  I think the songs need to be angry to be good – so ‘You Wear Me Down’ is probably as happy as you’ll ever get.

There’s also a line – I’ll bring a song to the table and if it’s too far wuss or happy – it will get knocked down to ‘not a Motorleague song.’ I have an albums worth of stuff that went that way.

ECN: Does the album name signify something? Black Noise … and hey, White Tape?
DL: Black noise, while not the mathematical opposite, is the figurative opposite of white noise.  White noise can be used as a masking agent – this really can’t be used as such.

We wanted to continue to point out the irrelevance of mediums – hence the tape on the CD (artwork).  Now we’ve got an iPod playing a CD with the picture of a tape on it – it’s just ridiculous – so we knew that Black Noise had to stay on theme - to be a true successor to White Tape. For a while the title was You Know This To Be The Truth but that didn’t feel right – Black Noise felt right for the songs.
NJ: Black Noise is kind of a play on words. We were going with the colour theme and White Noise is an audio signal that spans the full audio spectrum at an equal level, not moving. So black noise is music? Yeah, we made it up.

ECN: You’ve got a professionally produced album in the can, a single on radio locally and a video in the works and I suspect tours are in the works as well - clearly you guys are serious about this … how far do you want to see the band take things? Do you want to stick to Moncton and do the occasional tour outside of the Maritimes, or are you guys prepared to drop everything and make this a full-time gig?
DL: I doubt there are any bands that wouldn’t want to make it a full-time gig. The minute bands make a poster, book a gig, and sell something (merch, CD) then they’re pretty much saying – they’d go that route if offered, and so would we, but it will never come to that. The ideal situation for us would be to get the single doing okay, tour as much as possible without losing our jobs /houses – and get to see the world  in the context of the band.

Bands with tons of success still have to lay down jobs when they’re not on the road – and I don’t think we’ll ever be any different.  We’ve got our goals set on seeing the west coast, and getting off the continent and those are attainable goals now – after that it’s all frosting.

ECN: Each of the band members have varying degrees of experience and success playing music with other Moncton bands over the years - how can you benefit from the experience you all have?
DL: For me personally, it’s what I write about, things that I’ve seen/done/been subject to - it’s where all the angst and sarcasm comes from, in addition to other things like the corporate American workforce. I think not being successful with The Ditchpigs has given me more drive to be successful with The Motorleague – to show people that we were on the right track – and could have done okay doing what we were doing.

Kind of a ‘fuck you’ to your old girlfriend by showing off your new one – immature for sure – but there’s some of that in there for me.  I’d like to say all the booking contacts and all that jazz were a plus – but honestly when we started The Motorleague it wasn’t as easy as going, ‘Hey, we used to be in The Ditchpigs, can we play your bar?’ We had to start from scratch.

ECN: Since the band’s inception, you’ve added a new drummer and bass player - is this the line-up you see will stick together going forward? Is everyone committed to the project with so many other things (bands, jobs) to consider?
DL: Everyone is as committed as they can be without having the house of cards collapse down around them. We do all have jobs and other demands on us – so we’ll move forward with this lineup until it’s not possible to do so - but we won’t miss tours or dates that are worth doing – we’ll make due.

ECN: What challenges do you face on the road ahead trying to get the album on radio and the video on TV?
DL: Money, money, money, money, money. Getting the song on the radio is expensive. Touring is expensive. We’re applying for every grant out there – if we get some real money coming in we’ll be able to give the record the attention it deserves.  If not it – there will likely be boxes of it in my attic next to my copies of Someone To Hate More Than Yourself (The Ditchpigs’ swan song record).

ECN: The Motorleague’s sound sort of straddles a fine line between really catchy choruses and almost poppy hooks that seem a natural for radio, but you have a certain edge and a bit of a punk sound that still gives you credibility amongst those who wouldn’t turn on a radio station to save their lives … is that something you’ve ever given any thought to? Is there effort made to try to make the band sound a certain way or is this just what you do?
DL: The older you get, the easier it is to write songs that are radio friendly. With age, there seems to be a certain ‘okay’ level with making music your parents like. I didn’t get wussier on purpose and honestly I can’t tell the difference with how I wrote for The Ditchpigs to how I write for Motorleague except for in The Ditchpigs I’d bring songs to the table and the pussy ones would get cut out.

In The Motorleague, that happens less - still happens though. I’ve got tons of songs that are completely soft, not heavy at all. One day I’d like to put out a solo record with all that other shit on it. But I think the guys in The Motorleague have all been in loud bands that weren’t cut out for radio, they’ve been there and done that, now they’re willing to try something different – at least that ‘s how I see it – they may have a different view.

I think if a song is good enough anyway – it will become radio friendly.  I mean – you can go from Sum 41 to Marilyn Manson – who sound nothing like each other but both pushed the envelope of what the radio was playing.

The Motorleague is hosting two release shows tonight (Friday, May 8 ) in Moncton. The first show is an early, all-ages show to be held at Moncton’s Aberdeen Cultural Centre on Botsford Street with a start-time of 6 p.m. Slain on Second Ave., Twelve, Sigil of Aeons, The Short Fused and Neverdie are also on the bill. Price is $5 at the door.
The second show is a licensed show at The Paramount Lounge on Main Street in Moncton. Joining the band will be Shelter With Thieves, Myles Deck And the Fuzz and Static in Action. Admission to the late show is $10 or $15 with a CD.