Belliveau leads Music N.B. Award winners

October 17th, 2011

Music New Brunswick held its second annual awards night in Moncton on Sunday, with 27 awards handed out.

Memramcook’s George Belliveau walked away with the most awards on Sunday, winning six. The Backyard Devils and Phil Flowers won three awards while Babette Hayward and Bruno Jacques Pelletier each won two.

The gala awards event was co-hosted by CBC’s Bob Mersereau and Espace musique’s Amélie Gosselin. The winners were selected by Music N.B. members’ votes (50 %), a jury vote (25 %) and the general public (25 %).

Anglophone Recording: Phil Flowers – People People
Francophone Recording: George Belliveau – Whisky amer
Anglophone Male Recording: Phil Flowers – People People
Francophone Male Recording: George Belliveau – Whisky amer
Female Recording: Babette Hayward – You Might Be Somebody
Group Recording: The BackYard Devils – Self Titled
SOCAN Singer Songwriter (Anglophone): Chris Colepaugh
SOCAN Singer Songwriter (Francophone): George Belliveau
Emerging Artist: The BackYard Devils – Self Titled
Anglophone Country Recording: The BackYard Devils – Self Titled
Francophone Country Recording: George Belliveau – Whisky amer
Folk Recording: The Olympic Symphonium – The City Won’t Have Time to Fight
Pop Recording: Babette Hayward – You Might Be Somebody
Rock Recording: Phil Flowers – People People
Spiritual Recording: Mike Biggar – The Season
Classical Recording: Bruno Jacques Pelletier – Musique Ancienne/Early Music
Electronic/Urban Recording: The Arka Teks – Evolver
Classical Artist: Bruno Jacques Pelletier
2011 NB Expat Artist: David Myles
Musician of the Year: Christien Belliveau
Video/DVD of the Year: George Belliveau – La Grange à GB
Music Industry Professional of the Year: Carol Doucet
Event/Venue/Festival of the year: Plan B
Visual artist of the year: Jessica Rhaye – Jessica Rhaye Design
2011 Educator of the year: Isabelle Thériault
2011 Fans Choice Anglophone Artist: The Arka Teks – Evolver
2011 Fans Choice Francophone Artist: George Belliveau – Whisky amer

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Roch Voisine to host ECMAs 2012

October 7th, 2011

The 24th annual East Coast Music Week will be held in Moncton, April 11-15, 2012. The festivities began today at a press conference in Moncton with New Brunswick Premier David Alward, Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc and members of the East Coast Music Industry officially announcing the event.

“Our Support of ECMA is part of our commitment to support the growth of the cultural industries in New Brunswick,” Alward said.  “This event is instrumental in helping to promote East Coast Music both at home and around the globe.”

New Brunswick native Roch Voisine will host the awards show in Moncton, which will take place on Sunday, April 15, at Casino New Brunswick.  Other main stage venues for the week include the Delta Beausejour Hotel, the Capitol Theatre, the Oxygen and Manhattan clubs.  Other venues will be announced closer to the event.

The 2012 Gala Awards show will be live webcast to the world by Bell Aliant and musical events throughout ECMA Week 2012 will be widely broadcast on radio through CBC and Newcap radio stations across the region.

More than 6,000 people are expected to attend ECMA events during the four days in April that will provide $2.5 million in direct revenue and over $6 million in indirect revenue for Moncton and surrounding communities.

There are some shows this weekend to kick off the event, including tonight’s show at the Tide & Boar on Main Street featuring Les Païens, Andy Brown, Babette Hayward and Chris Colepaugh and The Crew. Tomorrow morning at The Moncton Market on Westmorland Street, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., Mike Biggar, Dann Downes, The Divorcees and Samantha Robichaud will perform. In the event of rain, that show will be moved to the Tide & Boar from 4-6 p.m.

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Fridays with … Lovestorm

October 7th, 2011

Nina Khosla and Tim Isaac are Lovestorm.

Moncton area duo Lovestorm, comprised of Tim Isaac (Isaac & Blewett) and Nina Khosla (Great Balancing Act), is releasing its sophomore record this weekend with shows throughout Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick (tour dates below).

Written and recorded in the sweltering heat of Mexico’s Pacific Coast, new album Overripe finds the musicians without their trademark instruments (cello and harmonium). Instead, Isaac and Khosla rely on seedpods, an improvised washtub bass, tin pans and a borrowed viola, as well as ukulele, flute and keyboard.

They join us this week to discuss the new record and more …

1. How are things in camp Lovestorm? How do you feel as you’re about to release album #2 this weekend?

Nina - Things in Camp Lovestorm are exciting! Our second album is Read the rest of this entry »

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Jon McKiel launches Tonka War Cloud

October 5th, 2011

Jon McKiel released his latest record this week.

Halifax native Jon McKiel released new record Tonka War Cloud (Youth Club Records, Saved by Vinyl) this week.

His latest effort was recorded in The Old Confidence Lodge in Riverport, N.S. Built in 1929, the building was used as an Odd Fellows Hall until it was recently converted into a studio and venue.

Some the tunes on the new record were released earlier this year on the Confidence Lodge EP, which was a preview for the new record.

The recording approach often saw McKiel playing multiple instruments (guitar, bass, synth, large chains and percussion) over his own voice, building songs in layers. This proved challenging since the massive building did not yet have the luxury of heat when the album was being recorded in the dead of winter.

David Myles heads Into The Sun

Folk singer-songwriter David Myles spreads his wings a bit on new album Into The Sun (Tiny Little Records), also released this week. Read the rest of this entry »

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Interview with … Construction & Destruction

September 20th, 2011

David Trenaman and Colleen Collins are Construction and Destruction.

Rural Nova Scotia art-rockers Construction & Destruction are currently in the middle of a tour supporting their latest record, Mutatis Mutandis.

The duo of Colleen Collins and David Trenaman recorded the new album in the Quarantine, their living room studio located in their house buried deep in Port Greville, N.S.

The band formed in 2005 and have released four records so far – Homebodies (2007), The Volume Wars (2008), and Video et Taceo (2009), along with their latest.

The new album has garnered acclaim from critics such as Weird Canada who touted the duo’s “caravan of hyper-text lyrics, dense guitar riffs, detached drumming and Kohakian meditations,” FFWD Magazine who highlighted the “one-of-a-kind union” between Trenaman and Collins’ voices, and from The Coast who called the album “a great work of and for the imagination.”

Collins and Trenaman are supporting Julie Doiron on their current dates. The band played Sackville, Halifax and Sydney last week and continue this week with the following dates:

September 21 – Hampton, NB – Vintage Bistro
September 23 – Albert Co., NB – Parkindale Hall
September 24 – Charlottetown, PE – The Green Man (All Ages)
September 24 – Charlottetown, PE – Baba’s Lounge (19+)
September 25 – Fredericton, NB – Gallery Connexion

They join us this week for to chat about the album, the tour and more …

1. How are things?

Things are right on, thanks for asking! Hope this finds you well too…  We walked down to the beach with the dogs this morning, and Dave’s now getting some paper ready to print our vinyl covers on.

2. You guys met in London, ON in ‘94 or so … are either of you originally from the east coast? What led you to coming to moving down this way? Read the rest of this entry »

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Tons of east coast albums on the way

September 19th, 2011

So I’m way behind. You’re not honestly surprised, are you?

It’s been more than a month and I’ve been swamped with work and busy with a touch of vacation. But I’m back with an update on a ton of albums either just released or about to be released. And honestly, there’s way more coming, but I don’t have time to list them all tonight. I’ll try for another update in the next week or so to fill you all in on more of them.

Here we go …

Cheers!

Eric

Alt-country duo Madison Violet release new album

JUNO Award nominees and winners of the 2010 John Lennon Songwriting Competition’s Maxell Song of the Year Award Read the rest of this entry »

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Fridays with … Mia Martina

August 5th, 2011

Mia Martina will release her debut album on Aug. 30.

The village of Saint-Ignace, New Brunswick isn’t known for producing pop stars, but Mia Martina hasn’t let that slow her down. Born Martine Johnson, the small-town NBer started performing at a young age, singing in talent contests in Moncton. She left her hometown after finishing high school in Saint-Louis-de-Kent, and enrolled in psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Hoping for a career in music, Martina landed an internship with indie label, CP Records, which is now based in Toronto. She soon put her musical talents on display and was signed to the label as an artist.

In the last year, Martina’s name has become known for her remix of Edward Maya’s Stereo Love (which originally featured Vika Jigulina singing with Maya), which was nominated for a Juno (Dance Single of the Year) and became a smash hit over the last year. Her follow-up single Latin Moon has also garnered considerable play.

Martina’s debut full-length record, Devotion, comes out on Aug. 30, and today (Saturday) she’ll be performing at the Summer Rush festival in Halifax with the likes of Classified, Pitbull and more.

Martina joins us this week for a brief chat.

1. Hey Mia, I hear you’re on a bit of a whirlwind lately gearing up for your debut album. How are things going?

LOL! Yes it has. Things are going so amazing, I am really excited for Aug. 30. I have been working so hard for the last three years on my album, and now it’s finally ready.

2. What’s it like putting your first album together? Being relatively new to the music business, what have you learned so far?

It has been very challenging, I started as an intern at CP Records Read the rest of this entry »

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Fridays with … Eldon Thiele

August 5th, 2011

Eldon Thiele recently released a new EP.

Eldon Thiele has had a unique career on the east coast. Known by day as Jason Betts, Thiele took his stage name from each of his grandfathers and adopted the band name Zwerg – a Dutch word meaning “dwarf.”

A talented pianist and singer, the Moncton native began performing at an early age and at 18 formed Zwerg, which has released four albums to date. The band’s music, a polished pop/electronica mix with sometimes cryptic lyrics, hasn’t always been well received by the masses. Thiele says when he was younger, his intention was to “provoke a response,” but today he’s just looking to create music for people to enjoy.

Recently, Thiele released a new EP, Package Up My Soul, and he joins us this week to talk about his music’s new direction and his future plans. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dog Day’s new record in stores

August 3rd, 2011

Dog Day is now a two-piece, Nancy Urich and Seth Smith.

Halifax-area two-piece Dog Day released its new record, Deformer, this week on the band’s own label, Fundog Records.

Deformer is the follow-up to 2009’s acclaimed Concentration and the band’s debut as a duo. Prior to recording the new record, Read the rest of this entry »

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Fridays with … Eric Bourque

July 22nd, 2011

Careers in Science

We’ve spoken to Moncton native Eric Bourque a few times in the past about his band Knife Party (here and here). That band went on hiatus when drummer Bourque left for Toronto to study audio engineering.

But Bourque is headed back east this weekend with his new punk band, Careers in Science. In just over a year, the Toronto band (also featuring Dave Proctor, vocals; Callum McPhee, guitars; Matt Winkler, bass) formed and released its first record, Whateverwolf, in pretty quick order. A new album is already in the works, and the band has a handful of east coast dates planned over the next few days (dates below).

Bourque joins us again this week to talk about Read the rest of this entry »

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