Canadian Musician magazine showcases unsigned Canadian acts in our Showcase section. We publish this section online to help further promote Canadian artists.
Archive for May, 2007
Friday, May 11th, 2007
Who: Morgan Mayer
Where: Regina
What: teen power
Contact: Management, Terry Mayer; 306.525.1311 / 306.584.5711; FAX: 306.565.3741; ; www.morganmayer.com and www.myspace.com/morganmayer
Morgan Mayer has achieved a lot in her 16 years on the planet – and now she wants to rule it. iF I Ruled The World is her second solo album, so she’s already ahead of most. But is it good? Well, yes. It’s not adult music by any means, leaning more towards a cross between Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson, but the songs are good enough for airplay, as radio is discovering with the first single, “Hang On Every Word.†By late April it was on its way to cracking the national top 50 Hot AC radio chart and has remained bulleted in the MediaBase Hot AC Top 100 and was a Top 20 success in Regina. Of the eight songs on the album, she co-wrote six, and while the lyrics may be young in sentiment, it wouldn’t work if they weren’t. “Let It Go,†which she wrote by herself, is a fierce pop song about a girl trying to get over someone, while “Hang On Every Word,†a lyric she had no hand in, is about an obsessed girl. The songs are straight-up pop/rock, more aggressive than the self-described “girlie-pop†on her 2004 solo debut, A Little Of This. Mayer, who is classically trained as a vocalist and released her first recording of two Christmas songs when she was just 11, says iF I Ruled The World is influenced by what her father’s taste in rock music, which she heard growing up. All the songs were produced by David J. Taylor (Sylvie, Despistado) at Regina’s Ze Studios, with Mayer co-producing “Everything†and “Average Girl.†It was engineered by Dave Fries and mixed by Jared Kuemper.
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Friday, May 11th, 2007
Who: Paul James
Where: Toronto
What: blues man group
Contact: www.pauljamesband.com;
Paul James gets invited onstage sometimes by Bob Dylan, his friend since 1986 when the enigmatic legend unexpectedly asked to guest with him at the Nag’s Head North, but the Toronto-based roots/blues guitarist and singer is just as content entertaining in clubs, at festivals, colleges, and private functions. He’s Canada’s Dick Clark of the blues guitar, never aging, and playing with as much enthusiasm as he did in the seventies. Along the way, he has performed with Bo Diddley, John Hammond, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Spencer Davis, Sunnyland Slim, and released a series of albums independently, often paying tribute to the artists whose songs he covers in his marathon sets, such as Willie Dixon, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, and, of course, Dylan. His newest album, Lost In The Blues, contains 14 originals, all in that same bluesy, early rock ‘n’ roll vein. From the trippy-tongued jitterbug swing of “Boogie Woogie Baby†and so-titled “Jitterbug Swing,†to the strange milk cow lament “Bull Calf Blues†and Spanish-flavoured love song “Rosie,†James is so embedded in the tradition his originals can stand up to the classics.
He is backed on the recording by Gary Gray (piano, organ), Henry DeClemente (drums) and Alec Fraser (bass). James, who plays all guitars, harmonica, and percussion, co-produced the album with Fraser at Liquid Sound. Fraser engineered.
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Friday, May 11th, 2007
Who: Crush Luther
Where: Toronto
What: pop-pourri
Contact: High 4 Records 31 Jarwick Dr. Scarborough, ON M1H 2H1; Tel: 416 466 8307; ; www.crushluther.com
Groovy pop band Crush Luther is one of the acts that prompted Darrin Pfeiffer, the drummer in SoCal’s Goldfinger, to get into management after he moved to Toronto. “Matt Fury, the guitarist, e-mailed me in 2004 or so to check out his band’s tunes on their site,†recounts Pfeiffer. “The songs grabbed me right away and I wanted to manage them even without seeing them. When I first saw them at Rancho Relaxo, I was convinced I made the right decision.†Formed in 2002, with members from London, ON and Arnprior, ON (near Ottawa), vocalist Luther Mallory, drummer Brent Mills, guitarist Giggi Bongard, bassist Bodan Mulholland and Matt “Fury†Leitch have released demos before, including a self-titled, self-produced, self-released CD in 2006 that they sold off the stage. This new album, available on Pfeiffer’s High 4 Records, is also self-titled and contains seven songs from the 2006 demo – “City Girl,†“Slowdance Anywhere I Go,†“Big Sky,†“Don’t Fight About It,†“When We Were Golden,†“Trouble,†and from the second pressing, “Dear Ensenada.†The vibe ranges from the light island-flavored big pop of “When We Were Golden†to the quirky spy-cool killer pop of “Jody Looks Out For Himself.†The dozen songs were produced by the singer at Iguana Studios, Pocket Studios, and Crush Luther Studios and engineered by the drummer. The video for “City Girl†reached #1 twice on MuchMoreMusic’s Top 10 and the new video for “The Cools†is due in mid-May.
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