Kate Morgan

I didn’t recognize the title I was typing into the YouTube search bar, nor did I recognize the pretty young face that popped up in several thumbnails when the page finally loaded (the Delta’s “high-speed” internet is a bit of a misnomer). When I played the “Boys With Girlfriends Official Lyric Video” for the song I’d been told to search, however, I knew the tune. Right away. I couldn’t tell you how – I’m not big on commercial radio, nor do I watch a lot of “music” television, but I knew that song. And I liked it, because frankly, it’s a hit.

Why was a searching the tune? Well, leading up to the 2013 edition of the Vancouver Island Music Business Conference (VIMBC), happening May 15-20 in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, organizer Susie McGregor (she’s rad) called me and told me the story of how a young artist, all of 14 at the time, met with Midas-touched songwriter/producer extraordinaire Brian Howes at the first-ever VIMBC a few years prior and, thanks to a professional relationship that’s spanned years and probably seen dozens of songs written, re-written, and re-written again, the two had recently hit metaphorical (and probably soon-to-be-literal) gold with the single “Boys With Girlfriends.” It was a bona fide tangible success story that’s solely the result of a driven young doing what it takes to make a career in music.

We at Canadian Musician are always trying to inform artists of the benefits of attending – and working – an event like VIMBC or its bigger brothers in CMW, NXNE, SXSW, BreakOut West, and on and on. Having the opportunity to speak with two talented people who could offer up the story of EXACTLY how this can pay off would be some kind of vindication – a sweet “See what I mean?” kind of victory. And I bit…

Howes, who actually grew up in the Comox Valley, has had fingerprints on hit records by acts like Nickelback, Hedley, Simple Plan, and Airbourne. Despite his LA-based success, Howes still makes it a regular practice to attend industry events like VIMBC because, as he explains, “You never know what you’re going to learn or who you’re going to find.”

Howes puts a lot of weight in artist development, partnering with young songwriters and performers to help them bolster their brands, hone their crafts, and build their businesses. “I’ve stepped in every pothole you possibly can during my career, so I can at least tell artists what not to do,” Howes laughs, describing what he brings to the table in this kind of partnership. “I just love working with talent and helping people avoid the common pitfalls.

Brian Howes

Howes would’ve been one of the “big fish” at a humbly-sized event like VIMBC in its first year, much like he’ll be at this upcoming edition. (Granted, VIMBC is a conference that brings in industry talent and knowledge like few others in the country of exponentially larger sizes.) Everyone probably wanted his attention. Or at least they should’ve. Kate definitely did.

“I was really just looking for an introduction to the industry – to get more of a handle on the business and meet the people in it,” Morgan explains of what first led her to VIMBC. “I was very green at the time, having just been writing songs for maybe a year, so it was about learning what I was getting myself into.”

She travelled the nearly 600 km from Kamloops to Courtenay, BC for the conference and, en-route, was devising her agenda. She’d done some research on the panelists who’d be attending and had her sights set on Howes. “I was a big fan of Hedley and some of the other bands he worked with. I knew he was an important person,” she says, going on to list the achievements of her collaborator as though she’d been studying to write a school paper about him.

With a confidence belying her years, Morgan stood in front of Howes after a session and told him (there was no “asking”) that she was going to play for him, and he was going to listen

She did. He did. And he saw “it.”

“It’s got to be something that’s fresh; just a little left of centre but still undeniably good,” Howes shares about the type of artist he looks to work with. “I’m looking for people who can’t breathe outside of the music business, and that do something that comes from the heart. I can spot that from a mile away.” With Morgan, he spotted it with her just a few feet from his face.

Kate on CTV’s eTalk during the 2010 Lilith Fair

“I wasn’t going to run into the studio with her the next day, but we worked together over the next few years. I gave her free studio time, got her some live dates, and helped her develop. She just took it all and ran with it,” Howes explains. “She’s just so good and so smart. She’s a hustler.” And he’s not the only Canadian industry luminary who’s been on the receiving end of her hustle. Morgan also landed a coveted slot on the 2010 Lilith Fair after proving herself to Nettwerk Music Founder Terry McBride.

All the while, she worked on her songwriting with Howes guiding her along. In the first half of 2012, Morgan started strumming a song she’d been working on and, with little ado, Howes told her it was time. Morgan moved into Howes’ home in SoCal, recorded several songs with him, and together, they strove to find the musical direction that would bring out her confident-but-quirky personality in a true and transparent light.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun – and it still is,” Morgan muses about her (excellent) adventure thus far. “There’s always plenty to learn and people to meet, but I’m ready for it. I love it.”

What Howes first saw in 2008 has now been seen (and heard) by hundreds of thousands. Maybe millions. I mean, I was one of them and didn’t even know it. She’s caught the attention of Darren Gilmore with Watchdog Management, was named BellMedia’s emerging artist for April, has been climbing the pop radio charts, and now has an offer from Universal Music Canada on the table. “She’s the real deal – willing to bleed for it,” Howes says succinctly, “and I wouldn’t have found that out if it wasn’t for VIMBC.”

**UPDATE**

So Kate’s well on her way. She’s been making a hell of an impression at VIMBC 2013, this time being approached by other young artists for her attention and advice. The Universal deal is done and there’s an official video coming up for “Boys With Girlfriends.” In the meantime, have a listen. The song is still pretty damn sticky…

Studio 2 Live Room at The Warehouse Studios

Andrew here, checking in courtesy of BC Ferries’ free WiFi. I’ve been out in Vancouver for the last few days and am now en-route to Victoria for the Vancouver Island Music Business Conference (VIMBC). Should be another great edition, as there are some real heavyweights out this year.

Anyhow, up until today’s ferry trip, I’ve been wandering around Yaletown and Gastown in Vancouver and dropping in to meet a bunch of people and see some sights – The Warehouse Studios, the Vancouver Musicians’ Association, UBC, and the famous Commodore Ballroom. This city as a whole is amazing, both geographically and culturally. Looking out the window of my rented condo, 22 stories up, I can see everything from the library to BC Place to the harbour to the mountains. Simply breathtaking. And everyone is incredible polite. Nobody gets off the bus without thanking the driver. The service everywhere you go is top shelf. Very much like PEI in that regard.

The Chan Centre at UBC

My first day, I ventured to the UBC campus to check out the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, a beautiful venue for classical/world/choral music which I’m actually writing about for one of our sister publications. The room is absolutely gorgeous, and in the correct applications, sounds amazing. It was interesting speaking with Marcos, the head of audio, and Owen, the technical director, about some of the challenges they face – specifically about their location being so far from downtown that they have to ensure they stick to a specific niche with programming to actually draw people that far west.

That night, thanks to Marcos, I went to the Commodore Ballroom with an old friend from high-school to see Nashville psychedelic rock act The Black Angels and opener Hanni El Khatib. That room is also pretty impressive – a nice mix of history and chic design that seems to permanently smell of the art teacher’s room, if you catch my drift. The room sounded great. It was indeed an experience.

Yesterday, I was invited to tour Bryan Adams’ studio, The Warehouse, in Gastown. What a cool space – a revamped warehouse building in the heart of downtown. From the outside, it looks like, well, nothing. But once you go through the locked door, there’s an inside courtyard and private parking lot that leads into the main lobby, backed by a huge collection of vintage microphones.

The main room is Studio 2, with its full-of-character live room and massive Neve console in the control room. It was also cool getting to see Mike Fraser’s room, Studio 3, draped in flags and decorated with skulls. Mike’s a legend, having worked on projects by massive acts like Rush and AC/DC as well as some personal favourites like Glassjaw and, more recently, Halifax’s The Stanfields.

We’ll have more for you from VIMBC, and I’m back in VanCity for a few days next week as well with plans to visit the folks at Radial Engineering and Roland Canada. Stay tuned…

It’s a rainy morning on the Atlantic, we are in the belly of the ship, in the van, waiting to exit the ferry and be rid of the financial burden of Newfoundland. A curious smell has manifested itself from the last three days of having eight dudes living in one vessel, and we laugh about it as we slowly pull back onto the mainland.

It’s Tuesday May 14, and we play Charlottetown, PEI tonight. The six days since my last update have been busy as hell, and expensive to boot. Last Thursday we played a waterfront bar in Sydney, Nova Scotia called Governor’s. It was one of our our best eastern shows to date, and after getting back to our place of rest in Waterford (as mentioned in the previous post) we went to sleep at 4 a.m., only to wake up at 7:30 a.m. to catch the ferry to Newfoundland.

With tired eyes, and hopeful smiles we left our Chevy Astro behind in Waterford, and hopped in Fire Next Time’s 15 passenger beast in order to cut ferry and fuel costs for our three day, four show, Newfoundland leg of the tour. That night — after a six hour dull, grey, foggy boat ride and a two hour drive of the same vein — we played in Cornerbrook at a bar called the Whitehorse Lounge. It was a fun show, and financially the most successful of the Newfoundland stint, but the crowd seemed to be there for the barstools and not the live music, which was slightly disheartening.

After the show the bar owner thankfully put us up at his house in town, where I enjoyed another short sleep on the floor in my sleeping bag, and awoke to his dog Taylor’s playful eyes and wretched breath two inches away from my face. Within five minutes of this, I was in the van and we were all on our way to St. John’s, which was a nine our trek from Cornerbrook.

We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and parked a block away from CBTG’s — the venue where we would play that night and twice the next day. Having slept most of the ride, me and a few of the other boys got out to walk about town in the dreadful Saturday wind and rain. We didn’t load our gear in until past eight, and the show wasn’t scheduled to start until nearly 11, so we took the bartender Davey up on his continuos offer of free beer.

“Now that’s the Newfoundland hospitality I have heard so much about,” I thought to myself as he slid a Black Horse lager my way.

Despite being less financially prosperous, the show that night was much better than Friday’s in Cornerbrook. Most of those who attended were seriously interested in our music, and we befriended many people. The free beers slid to my end of the bar all night, and into the early morning when both us (The Penske File) and Fire Next Time became honorary Newfoundlanders via a “Schreech in” ceremony. The venue owner and staff were super cool and made us feel right at home. We stumbled thirty minutes uphill to a new friend’s house after the “Schreech in”. It was daylight by the time we arrived.

The next morning — or afternoon I should say – we woke up at 2 p.m. to a pancake breakfast, and hustled out the door, as our all ages matinee show started at 3 p.m. Upon arriving at CBTGs things were looking good. There were plenty of kids at the show and the first band was excellent. Unfortunately by the time we played there were only six people left watching us besides the bar staff and the boys in Fire Next Time. This was a huge bummer for both bands, and the whole Newfoundland trip was begin to look grim.

Despite this feeling, and the looming realization that we would lose hundreds of dollars due to the stint, we drove out of town 30 minutes to Cape Spear. The most eastern point of Canada, Cape Spear was ominously beautiful and overall unexpected. We arrived in the sight’s parking lot just as the sun was descending behind the mountains that graced the distant shoreline to our left. A thick layer of fog rose above our heads, but did not quite reach the mountains’ peak. We stood transfixed at the edge of a cliff much smaller than the mountains to our left, and looking down we saw the water’s edge. As furious topaz waves crashed upon cascading rocks a silence fell over us. In that moment we were the most eastern people in all of Canada, and as the waves washed over the rocks they washed away all our practical concerns, and it was understood that the whole trip — despite being a financial bust — was worth it.

The range of “hidden sounds” the guitar can produce is incredibly vast. In this video, guitarist, clinician, and author Jeff Gunn shares a lesson on “Exploring Percussion on Guitar,” based on the third installment of his series, Hidden Sounds: Discover Your Own Method on Guitar, out now via Mayfair Music.

This time out, Jeff shows guitarists how they can create percussion and accompany themselves on guitar, either with a drummer or without.

After taking up the guitar at the age of 14, Jeff has drawn inspiration from the full spectrum of musical genres including rock, classical, jazz, Eastern European, electronic, reggae, calypso, Thai, Brazilian, and African music. While completing his BFA in Music and English, along with his BEd at York University in Toronto, Jeff had the privilege of studying under such Canadian greats as Lorne Lofsky, Phil Dwyer, and Mike Murley.

During this period, Jeff played the Toronto circuit and beyond in rock bands, jazz quartets and duets, Big Bands, solo performances, and fusion groups, opening for such Canadian acts as Treble Charger and serving as the guitarist in Bulgarian fusion group Afrodisiac.

He currently performs with internationally-celebrated hip-hop artist Emmanuel Jal. For more on Jeff, visit: http://jeffgunn.ca.

 Checking in from a friend’s mother’s house in New Waterford, Nova Scotia — a small town just outside of Sydney. Located right alongside the Atlantic ocean, the air is cold, but the smiles are warm. After a much appreciated home cooked meal I am sitting in a homey basement with seven road worn friends. All is quiet excluding the dull blow of the old dehumidifier sitting in the room’s corner, and the relative silence seems to be welcomed by all.

The past five days have been a lot of fun despite the dismal turnouts in Ottawa, Quebec City, and Moncton. Being our first time playing Quebec City and Moncton, and picking up a last minute show in Ottawa, the turnouts haven’t come as a surprise and spirits seem to still be sky high at both The Penske File and Fire Next Time camps (our vans).

All the venues, promoters and the few people who have come out to watch have been interested and hospitable. We have made many new friends, and have had some wonderful experiences.

We drove straight through the night Friday from Ottawa to Quebec City and spent all day Saturday exploring the city — which is so unique to Canada and is ripe with architectural and cultural charisma. We made some new friends and fans at our show that night, and were fortunate enough to be offered their place to stay for the night. The next day, we were on the road again and after a long day of driving we parked for the night in a Walmart lot in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Walmart parking lots are good for this because no one will ever bother you and any necessary road supplies are available to you readily in morning.

That day (monday) we had a show cancel and decided to find a beach to hang out at, play some baseball and have a couple drinks. We managed to find a place just outside of Moncton and upon exiting the van it was unspoken yet understood by all that the beach would be a phenomenal place to post up for the night. And what a night it was, ending with an inebriated smile and me in my sleeping bag on the beach looking up at the stars and silently thanking the night for its potent beauty.

The next day (tuesday), I woke up sandy to the sunrise and we played at Plan B in Moncton, which was a really cool venue. We played to the bar staff and a few others, and were put up for the night in the apartment above the venue. Feeling very much at home, we talked feverishly, played dice, and sang songs. I passed out on a pull out couch in the apartment’s living room an hour after the sun rose, and awoke with a headache. We cleaned the apartment and left Moncton for our present home in New Waterford in the late afternoon.

Tomorrow we have a show in Sydney, Nova Scotia, at Governors and have been told that it will be a good one. For now, though, it’s time to catch up on some sleep.

PEI’s Meaghan Blanchard has achieved a great deal in just two years, from performing for the Duke and Duchess of York during their highly-publicized visit to her home province to performing 47 shows in 15 days at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver to recording her latest full-length, “She’s Gonna Fly,” with in Athens, GA with John Keane (R.E.M., B52s, Indigo Girls).

Here, CM Editor Andrew King speaks to Meaghan about her hugely-successful crowd funding campaign, what it’s like creating a career in music on Canada’s smallest province, and where she’s headed in 2013.

Her previous album, “Chasin’ Lonely Again,” won a 2011 ECMA Award while her first album, “Changing Things,” won four Music PEI Awards in 2009. She has toured in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario as well as select Maritime dates.

Meaghan recently appeared in her first television special “The Songs Of Gene MacLellan,” which aired nationally on CBC. Keep an eye on this talented young lady.

CM’s Andrew King had the chance to speak with Maritime music man Matt Mays during CMW 2013 in Toronto. In the interview, Matt talks about the unique writing and recording process behind his latest album “Coyote,” mentoring up-and-coming acts, and much more.

This interview was shot just days before the country was shocked with the news that Matt’s long time guitar player, Jay Smith, was found dead in his Edmonton hotel room. The East Coast music community has since banded together to support Jay’s family and friends. To donate to the Smith Family Trust, visit www.jaysmithtrust.ca.

Our sympathy goes out to Jay’s family and friends. We look forward to Matt Mays & Co. sharing his spirit as they continue bringing great rock to the masses.

By Travis Miles

I woke up in a panic this morning. Utter confusion jolted my body upright as my eyelids rose off my eyes. This happens a lot on tour, waking up in a moment of ignorant mayhem. “Where am I? What city is this?”

This is all common, for the first minute after slumber on someone’s couch, floor, or in the van. This morning — May 3rd — I awoke in Pickering, Ont., and it slowly came back to me — as it always does — “Oh right I’m in Dave’s house, he’s cooking us breakfast. Sweet.”
So, I woke up chatted with all the boys, drank two coffees with rum, ate a very much appreciated breakfast, and me and the guys took off.

Now, as the sun sits high in the sky, the sounds of The Clash echo out of a brazen Chevy Astro. The gas tank is full, and the road ahead is a long one. As indicated in previous posts, my name is Travis Miles. I sing and play guitar in Punk/ Folk Rock band The Penske File and I am a correspondent and a freelance writer for Canadian Musician magazine and blog. In coherence with an upcoming Indie Insider series for Canadian Musician magazine entitled In the Van and On the Road, I will be updating my first hand accounts of playing in a touring band across Canada.

The first week of our two month Canadian tour is behind us, and the long drives are ahead. The horizon’s magnetic pull will dictate the following posts. Every day a new city to be in, a new venue to play at, connections to be made, fun to be had, and inevitable mishaps to endure.

We are on the road with our new friends in Fire Next Time (Edmonton), and have spent the first week buzzing around our homeland of Southern Ontario. Every show has been within an hour of the last and has been stellar. We kicked the trip off in Hamilton last friday at the Casbah to a packed house in celebration of our debut full length album, A Restless Symphony. Since then we have enjoyed shows in Brantford, St. Catharines, Waterdown, and Toronto. But that is all in the past, and we are on the edge of constructive summer — both as a band, and in our minds.

We are rolling down the highway 401 east to Ottawa. With many new markets to hit, excitement and wanderlust seep through the cracked window and wash over my tired eyes. We have never toured the Canadian east past Montreal before, and some of us have never been.

The next six weeks will take us through Quebec, the quintet of Atlantic provinces, northern Ontario, the plains of the prairies, and the mountains of the west. With fingers crossed, minds focused, and hearts rattling we edge closer to tonight’s show, and the best 35 minutes of everyday. So much goes into a tour, but we do it for one main reason, to play our music as much as possible, as many places as possible, as often as possible.

As I reach to the radio’s dial to turn up the music, a warm feeling rushes over me. So I roll the window all the way down to stick my head out, and let the rushing highway air cleanse my unkempt hair. I think it’s safe to say the road bug is starting to kick in.

Tim Hicks

CM’s Kristian Partington explores the ideas of breaking down genre barriers with Three Days Grace’s Neil Sanderson and rising country star Tim Hicks.

A pretty wide variety of music can ring through the speakers in the grocery store in my one-stoplight town. Rural communities, I suppose, can be like that. On any given day you’re as likely to hear Emerson Drive while perusing the five aisles as you are AC/DC or a Top 40 boy band from another era.

I went there the other day to get a sandwich from the deli, just ahead of a wave of high school kids on their lunch break, and I smiled when Tim Hicks’ “Get By” came on. I’d just spoken with Hicks on the phone about his rise up the Canadian country charts with his debut single, and as the song played, I noticed the kids in front of the deli counter singing along. I pictured them cruising the back roads on a Friday night in a beat-up truck headed for a raging bonfire in the middle of nowhere.

He must be onto something, Tim Hicks. You know a song’s got the ear of the public when you catch teens singing along in a grocery store. It’s no surprise that “Get By” has broken the Top 10 on the country charts, spent week after week as the most downloaded country song on iTunes, and Hicks is preparing for a busy summer playing the country festival circuit.

What might surprise people is how the St. Catharines, ON native went from playing cover tunes in Toronto bars to becoming one of the fastest rising artists on the Canadian country scene.

Almost three years ago after a typical set finished on one of his regular bar nights, Hicks was approached by Three Days Grace drummer Neil Sanderson and Casey Marshall, a fellow songwriter and business partner with Sanderson through their project, Public Artist Development.

Neil Sanderson of Three Days Grace by Roland Wilhelm, MannequinMedia

They wanted to get together with Hicks and see what might emerge if they started to collaborate through songwriting. They soon had a few demos and, unbeknownst to Hicks, Marshall and Sanderson visited RGK Entertainment Group President and CEO Ron Kitchener in his Nashville office. They later worked on the demos with Florida-Georgia Line and, from there, things started rolling for Hicks.

Sanderson says he couldn’t be more inspired through his connection to a fellow Canadian musician and songwriter who’s finding a place in a tough business where the spirit of collaboration is proving to be an important asset as markets continue to change.

Sanderson writes all the time and is breaking down any semblance of barrier between genres. As one of the key songwriters for Three Days Grace, a group that has dominated active rock for the past decade and just landed its 10th No. 1 single on Active Rock charts in the U.S. with “The High Road,” Sanderson continues to write in Nashville whenever he can with Marshall and the likes of Craig Wiseman, who he describes as “arguably one of the best songwriters out there.”

“Collaborative songwriting has always been a big part of Three Days Grace,” Sanderson notes. “We all bring lyrics, melody, and music to the table and then, as a team, build the song until everyone high-fives in the studio. The process of being able to openly share and bounce ideas off of each other is what turns a good song into a great song.”

He has also recently collaborated with rock groups Art of Dying and My Darkest Days, Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, and Aerosmith producer Marti Frederiksen, all while pursuing a long-held passion for the life of an electronic producer/DJ through his latest project, PublicWurks; lately he can be seen been going from behind the drum kit at sold-out Three Days Grace concerts to packed clubs as a guest DJ.

“It’s exciting today how a lot of artists are crossing genres with the belief that good music is good music,” Sanderson says. “It’s all about emotion and people feeling something through song and relating their own lives back to it. When it is real to you, it becomes real to others . . . and that’s the greatest thing about songwriting, I think.”

He’s been playing and writing music and lyrics since he was a kid, and today he’s at a place where he’s free to pursue his passions and use his experience to help launch new ideas and push the envelope.

Neil Sanderson of 3DG in-studio by Mark McGrath

Discovering talent like Hicks and exploring the songwriting process with him in a different genre has been and continues to be a welcome challenge. Sanderson has always placed strong songwriting upon a pedestal, “because with great songs, everything is possible and without great songs, nothing is possible,” he says.
“It’s about the listener hearing a song and feeling something; songwriting is a craft and becoming more experienced at that is something that can only come through writing every day and being creative.”

He says sharing space with a range of songwriters between Nashville, his home outside of Toronto, and the tour bus with his Three Days Grace band mates sparks a continual evolution of the craft.

For his part, Hicks says finding his voice as a country singer has been a beautiful ride. After a lifetime spent looking for a break in the business, one came when he chose to stop looking.

“It took me 30 years to figure out who I was as an artist and get comfortable in my own skin,” Hicks says with a laugh.

He’s loving the fact that people are responding to his music in new and exciting ways, and he’s certain to never take for granted that anything is possible if you remain open to collaboration in songwriting.

“You feed off one another,” Hicks says of the shared writing process. Each writer brings sparks of concepts and possibility for others to build from, “and at the end of the day, a good song is a good song,” Hicks says.

I think the kids at the grocery store would agree.