Fredericton’s Grand Theft Bus hits the road across the east coast next month to play some interesting gigs.
As a way to give back to their faithful listeners, GTB have decided to open up a request line for people to vote on old tunes that they would like the band to dig out of the vault.
It’s a pretty simple process – send your song request (one song only, and fans are asked to only vote once) to this e-mail.
On April 1, the request line will close and the band will then put the five songs that get the most votes back to life. These songs will not be posted anywhere beforehand so you’ll have to come out to the shows to hear them.
The request line (e-mail?) is open now.
Joining Grand Theft Bus in Moncton and Halifax will be Snailhouse from Montreal. In Charlottetown, Moncton’s own The Nuclear will open and in Saint John, Fredericton’s Tuque (formerly known as Jellyroll) will join the band.
The dates are as follows: April 10, The Paramount in Moncton; April 11, The Seahorse in Halifax; April 17, Hunter’s Ale House in Charlottetown; April 18, AKHORD in Saint John.
Divorcees, the last free men?
Moncton country band The Divorcees are set to release its much-anticipated sophomore album, The Last of the Free Men (Hay Sale/Outside) on May 5.
The band – Alex Madsen, Danny Roy, Denis “Turtle” Arsenault, Brock Gallant and Jason “J Byrd” Nicholson – formed in 2005. Its debut album You Ain’t Gettin’ My Country yielded the singles “Take Take Take” and “Red Haired, Red Blooded Woman.” In 2008, the band took home the 2008 ECMA for Country Recording of the Year for the album.
The Last Of The Free Men was recorded during the fall and winter of 2008/09 at the Tragically Hip’s Bathouse studios in Bath, Ont. The band worked with producer Josh Finlayson of The Skydiggers.
The band is currently on tour out west, but an east coast jaunt is no doubt in the works for after the album release.
Next ECMAs already in the works
The East Coast Music Awards Show & Conference is scheduled March 4-7, 2010 in Cape Breton. If you missed the original broadcast of the 2009 East Coast Music Awards, you can check it out here. This footage includes bonus footage of The Heartbroken (Damhnait Doyle’s new band), who performed following the televised portion of the ECMAs.
Bands take home awards
Congratulations go out to east coast artists who went home with several awards in the last week or so. Age of Daze won the Canadian Radio Music Award for Best New Group/Solo Artist Rock of the Year.
Meanwhile, several east coast bands took home honours at the 2009 Indie Awards, including Hey Rosetta’s Into Your Lungs winning Favourite Album and the band winning the Favourite Artist/Band Website. The Trews took home honours for Favourite Video (“Hold Me In Your Arms”) and Favourite Live Artist/Band. Plants and Animals won in the the Favourite Francophone Artist/Group category, and Matt Mays & El Torpedo won in the Favourite Rock Artist/Group category.
Contact East 2009 seeks performers
Contact East 2009 is now accepting applications for showcasing in Moncton, October 1-4, 2009. Contact East is a four-day performing arts showcase and conference that attracts buyers from across Canada and internationally. Deadline for applications is March 31.
See www.contacteast.ca for information and application forms. Contact Sue or Joady at 902-836-5519 for more.
