CM @ ECMA 2012
Thursday, April 19th, 2012It really is an event like no other.
Each year, the music makers and industry shakers from the four Atlantic provinces come together to celebrate just what it is we do under the ECMA Week & Awards banner, and each year, the host city and even the list of showcasing performers do little to influence our decision as to whether or not it’s “worth” attending, as the event has come to be more than the sum of its individual moving parts.
As long as you can reasonably get there (why so far away, Corner Brook?), you’re there, and you’re there with the local city’s faithful music fans and those that, like a yellow camper van with haze sneaking out its cracked front window behind the Grateful Dead tourbus, will follow the event wherever it decides to park itself that year.
For 2012, the host city was Moncton, NB, and what a great one it ended up being. Here’s my ECMA diary:
I pulled in Friday evening a little later than I’d hoped, meaning my leg was shaking with some extra vigour while waiting to get checked in. The moment I had my room key, bags hit floor and the room barely had time to breath as the door opened and closed like an uninterrupted pendulum.
I made it into the Oxygen club in time for my interview with Radio Radio, only to find the band amidst the chorus to “Cargue dans ma chaise” from Belmundo Regal (such a fun record) as part of their soundcheck. I got my first fill of music, however brief, before getting out into the sun with the band to ask some questions. The vid will be posted soon!
I wandered back to the Delta Beausejour, the host hotel, through Assumption Square, passing a few familiar faces on the way. Once I had my pass in-hand, I bumbled around the lobby for some hellos, handshakes, and hugs. My pal Colin from Paper Lions was being interviewed for ECMA Radio, so I stuck around to say hi, only to realize it was Music PEI’s fearless leader, Rob Oakie, conducting the interview.
The scene nicely embodied why it’s close to impossible not to be wearing a huge smile as you make your way through the ECMA crowds: that, ay any moment, you’re not only bound to run into someone you know, but to also realize that someone you know knows someone you know and that these connections are so strong and webbed that your place in it is both integral and, at the same time, meaningless.
Our friends with SpinCount and Audio Blood Media were presenting the second annual “Suitecase” in the ECMA Members Lounge on the mezzanine, sponsored by some other friends of ours: Roland Canada. I stuck around and enjoyed a brew while catching bits and pieces of stripped-down sets by Halifax rockers Gloryhound, the velvet-voiced Coco Love Alcorn, Alert The Medic (“The Weatherman Pt. 2″ will thin your blood out), and The Stogies between catch-ups.
My next interview was with Fredericton-based singer-songwriter Andy Brown who’s been a friend of the magazine since being featured in our Showcase section a couple of years back, having kept in touch with updates on his (impressive) progress leading up to this point. Andy performed his new single “Tinman” on Sunday night’s gala and man, I really like the song. I think Grey’s Anatomy fans would lose it for this young man’s voice. Again, vid will be posted soon.
From there, I made my way up to some room on some floor of the Delta where a tetra pack of celebrated songstresses were staying – Ashley Condon (look for her Vocal column in the May/June issue), Norma MacDonald (a Showcase alumnus), Kim Wempe, and Carmel Mikol. We shared some lagers, shared some laughs, and then took off to catch The Motorleague on the rock stage at Oxygen.
As a testament to how zoo-like this event can be, my good friend David, the drummer for PEI’s Paper Lions, and I spent about two and a half hours trying to sneak away to grab a bite, only to be swept away by mutual friends for chats and sips every time we approached the door. Finally, we snagged a couple of slices at Cutthroat Pizza (“Dear Lord!” delicious) before hitting O2.
Sets by The Motorleague (who presented Cystic Fibrosis Canada with a cheque for $3,000), Les Breastfeeders, and Radio Radio made the O2 feel like home before we snuck out for some fresh air. I got lost in a chat with Tian Wigmore and Brien McCarthy, members of Tim Chaisson’s band Morning Fold, about the feature I wrote on Tim in the March/April issue of CM before heading back in for Scientists of Sound and Whale Skin sets, for which we were joined by some beauties from the Island scene – some Lions and their ladies, some North Lakes, photographer extraordinaire Mikey Wasnidge, and a few others.
Saturday started with some Vitamin Waters and beef jerky before heading over to the Moncton Lions hall for the Musicians Swap Meet. Being a left-handed guitar player is agonizing at these kind of events. A vintage Gibson Melody Maker a la John K. Samson for $1,000? Yes please, but no thank you.
Our first sets of the day came courtesy of Tim Chaisson and Morning Fold and Jimmy Rankin – a cool back-to-back if only because we had one of the Maritimes’ most impressively developing pop/country/roots/rock songwriters next to one of their most accomplished. I won’t tell you who I enjoyed more…
We slid over to the Tide & Boar Gastropub for lunch (very tasty) and then to catch Halifax’s fragile art rockers The Belle Comediennes (also very tasty) on the upstairs stage. Back at the Delta, we caught sets by Mo Kenney and Dale Murray, the latter of whom will be featured in the Guitar Special of our May/June issue, and who’s album Dream Mountain Dream has been muscling its way into regular rotation chez Andrew over the last few weeks.
Got a call from Roland Canada’s Caitlin Campbell who was onsite and we met up to take in some music. Another late dinner was in store, this time at the Delta’s restaurant, at which point another night of
music began. Sets from ‘70s swagger-rock band The North Lakes, indie poppers Two Hours Traffic, and hometown rock hero Phil Flowers rounded out the night, after which we headed for the lobby bar to join CBC’s Bob Mersereau, Kim and Kevin Sinclair and Nikkie Gallant from SpinCount, Warner Music Canada’s John Poirier, and for a brief while, Andy Brown and his partner in crime Laura Noseworthy, for some laughs around the table (and some killer fries – thanks John). Maestro Fresh Wes was enjoying some fish and chips at the next table, which was pretty cool – the man that paved the way for Shad and Drake and k-os and K’Naan and Cadence Weapon and… A nice cap to a nice night.
The drive back to PEI the next day wasn’t as dreadful as the hour on the clock when we laid our heads the night before would have led me to believe. Instead, it was a pleasant drive on a pleasant day with the pleasant sounds of Steven Bowers reminding us of the weekend’s wonders.
As an industry event, it’s a top-tier production; yet it’s equally as (if not more) rewarding for the inner music fan, and its ability to appease the inner and outer circles of the music community out here is what makes it a winner year-after-year.
Catch you in Halifax for 2013.