Doubting Paris 
Who: Doubting Paris
What: no doubt
Where: Langley, BC
To Contact: www.doubtingparis.com

Dakona singer Ryan McAllister engineered the original Doubting Paris demos that wound up in the hands of producers Daniel Mendez (Eve 6, Lit, Dakona) and Dwight Alan Baker (The Box Gods, Podunk). McAllister had worked with Mendez before and gave him the tracks, which led to a spec deal for the rock band, whose organic sound is reminiscent of The Counting Crows and The Tragically Hip. Vocalist/guitarist Timothy Lindberg, guitar/keyboardist Zaac Pick, bassist/vocalist Benjamin Rogers, and drummer Jay Stewart recorded the nine song album in the summer of 2003 at Matchbox Studios in Austin, TX, where the production team also mixed it. Mastering was done at The Mastering Lab in Los Angeles by Gavin Lurssen. The self-titled debut came out in the fall of 2003, but still doesn't have mass distribution. However, the band did hook up with major management, Gold Mountain Entertainment. Lindberg is hoping that a label with step up and give this album a shot. From the reflective poetical "August" to more pumping "Queen Of The Radio", Doubting Paris has a way with words, melodies, and hooks no doubt.

Go!
Who: Go!
What: '80s revivalists
Where: Toronto
To Contact: Coalition Entertainment, 10271 Yonge St., #202, Richmond Hill, ON L4C 3B5 (905) 508-0025, www.gorockandroll.com.

Starting out as a trio known as The Scenes, these '80s-inspired new wavers - frontman Mike Condo, synth player Evan Huson, and drummer Lee Campbell renamed themselves Go! and cut their second demo at the singer's brother Dom Condo's SoundWerx Studios and Arnold Lanni's Arnyard Studios. Produced and mixed by Lanni, best known for his work with Our Lady Peace and Simple Plan (with additional production by Dom), the Toronto band is immensely influenced by synth-driven pop act The Cars. Lanni and Dom share writing credit with Mike on all three songs, "So Free", "Hot Step" and "Crazy" (original guitar players Pat Alessi and Gasper Barone also co-wrote "Hot Step"). Since that sampler EP, Go! has added bassist Craig Mailman and guitarist Dan Kanter (ex-Fefe Dobson) to the lineup. They are currently working on another four songs that Lanni produced at Arnyard and are back at SoundWerx tracking them with Dom as the engineer. The band's management, Coalition Entertainment (Our Lady Peace, Simple Plan), says Go! is close to signing a record deal and expects it to cut the album in the summer.

Kuba 
Who: Kuba
What: soul man
Where: Vancouver, BC
To Contact: Digniti Recordings Ltd., 1128 Leonard St., Victoria, BC V8V 2S4 or , www.kuba.ca or www.digniti.com.

Winner of this year's National Songwriting Competition for the song "Never Meant To Hurt U"" co-written with Darren Glover, Kuba is once again getting label attention. Six years ago, after building a buzz with his unique groove collective, Velvet, the man born Ohani Kuba just bowed out of the industry, leaving a trail of "what the hell happened to him" behind. While Velvet has been resurrected in Victoria, BC, Kuba is back in a big way as a solo artist. His album, Ride On, is full of soulful rockers ("Wonderful") and emotive ballads ("Wherever U R"), much in the way that Lenny Kravitz stacks his recordings. "My goal was not to have one fast-forward song on the album," says Kuba, who wrote or co-wrote everything. Co-producing the material over the last year at various studios (Baker; Mushroom, Profile, and Jeff Dawson's home studio) with Joby Baker, Chin Injeti, and Dawson, Kuba has made a stellar recording full of potential hits, unlike anything Canadian labels have in their stable.

Credit: Toronto-based music journalist Karen Bliss is the Canadian news correspondent for Rollingstone.com, and operates a Canadian music industry news column, Lowdown, at http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Lowdown. She also edits Gasoline, and contributes to Elle Canada, Audience, Tribute, Words & Music and others.

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