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Toronto Dream-Pop Maker ARK IDENTITY Floats Into Existential Territory on “Fading Light”

Eric Alper
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Toronto Dream-Pop Maker ARK IDENTITY Floats Into Existential Territory on “Fading Light”

Some songs chase a story. This one chases a feeling. Toronto dream-pop artist ARK IDENTITY, the project of Noah Mroueh, has released “Fading Light,” a weightless, immersive single that trades traditional song structure for atmosphere and emotional suspension. Built on a soft, pulsing groove and washed in reverb-drenched textures, it feels less like a narrative and more like a state of mind, floating, reflective, and quietly existential.

“The song came together entirely from a feeling and a vibe,” Noah explains. “I wasn’t trying to write a story. I was chasing a feeling.” Written and recorded in a single session, the track emerged organically as he improvised melodies and lyrics over an ethereal groove. Those early takes, unpolished and instinctive, became the final vocal, kept for their honesty.

Unlike a typical emotional arc, “Fading Light” resists resolution. The tension never fully lifts. It simply exists, pulling the listener deeper into its hypnotic loop. “It feels immersive, almost like you’re floating inside someone’s head and consciousness,” Noah says. “I didn’t intentionally try to create that feeling, but I think that’s what gives it its identity.” When he returned to the track over a year later to mix it, the song’s existential tone finally revealed itself.

The production choices stay soft around the edges. Reverb, distortion, and low-end movement blur into one another for a dreamlike sense of drift. Nothing is sharp or aggressive. The music moves gently forward, encouraging stillness rather than release, and its psychedelic openness invites listeners to project their own meaning onto the experience.

ARK IDENTITY has quickly drawn attention for crafting immersive soundscapes that feel both timeless and contemporary. The debut ‘ANNDALE’ EP arrived in late 2024, followed by the sophomore EP ‘Deluxe Nightmare.’ Previous singles earned playlist support from Apple Music US, Amazon Music, and Spotify, and Noah recently signed a distribution deal with ADA, a division of Warner Music.

With “Fading Light,” ARK IDENTITY invites listeners to slow down, let go of interpretation, and simply exist within the atmosphere. It’s a song best experienced without overthinking, letting the mood do the talking, and it lands as one of his most quietly absorbing pieces yet.

Producer Elephant Ears Drags Sia’s “Chandelier” Into Dark, Cinematic Rock Territory

Eric Alper
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Producer Elephant Ears Drags Sia’s “Chandelier” Into Dark, Cinematic Rock Territory

A pop anthem gets pulled apart and rebuilt in shadow. Elephant Ears, the project of producer, engineer, and songwriter Alfredo Paz, has released a dark, cinematic rock reimagining of Sia’s iconic hit “Chandelier,” featuring vocalist Eve Black.

The version strips the song back to the core of its lyrics, a darker emotional truth about escaping pain and the fear of facing yourself once the party is over. It forms part of Elephant Ears’ ongoing collection of dark cover interpretations, and Eve Black’s vocal brings real weight to that reframing.

The single marks Elephant Ears’ eighth release since he returned to music in 2024 after a long break due to burnout. In just under two years, his work has reached over 2.8 million streams, won a public-voted radio competition on RNI, charted in the Top 20 on a major Atlanta radio station, and appeared on one Official Chart. The international fanbase keeps growing, and the listener feedback has been powerful.

Paz brings serious history to the project. His career spans more than 30 years working internationally across live events, world-class recording studios, award-winning films, and broadcast productions. He’s worked with acts including José Carreras, The Black Eyed Peas, and Jamie Cullum, and with companies and institutions like ITV, BBC, Sky, and Oxford University.

His training runs deep too. Paz holds two university degrees, in Film Studies and Sound Engineering, and has attended seminars run by industry-leading sound designers including Walter Murch, Gary Rydstrom, Randy Thom, and Larry Sider. He’s more recently been mentored by multiplatinum songwriters and producers including Andrew Rollins, Paul Statham, and Sie Meadway Smith, and is a permanent member of the Audio Engineering Society and the Music Producers Guild.

This “Chandelier” lands as a confident, atmospheric piece of work, and a strong addition to a catalogue that keeps connecting with audiences. It’s a fresh, genuinely affecting take on a song most listeners think they already know.

Emo-Folk Experimenter Lecx Stacy Wrestles Anxiety and Idealised Love on “Safe In Your Hands, I Clasp”

Eric Alper
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Emo-Folk Experimenter Lecx Stacy Wrestles Anxiety and Idealised Love on “Safe In Your Hands, I Clasp”

A piece of equipment left behind became a lifeline. Lecx Stacy, a first-generation Filipino American from San Diego now based in Los Angeles, found his way into music through karaoke weekends, piano lessons, and early beat-making sessions taught by his older brother. After his brother’s passing, the gear he left behind set Stacy on a path. He was selling beats online by his early teens, and by 18 he had begun shaping a singular voice, using production to process grief, longing, and belief.

His new single “Safe In Your Hands, I Clasp” channels all of that. In his own words, it’s “a soundtrack to my anxieties. It’s about clinging to idealized versions of life and love for comfort, only to feel that comfort slip further away and swallowed by noise and distortion.”

The track opens with raw, plucky acoustic guitar, subtle strings, and breathy, ethereal vocals that feel intimate and effortless. Layered textures gradually build into something fuller and all-encompassing, a swell of distortion and density, before falling back into the softer, stripped arrangement. That push and pull mirrors the song’s central tension, comfort giving way to overwhelm.

The release sits within a wider arc. Earlier singles like “Winter, A Wilted Flower” leaned into stillness and impermanence, while “With You, I’d Be Closer to God” embraced distortion and emotional intensity. This new chapter continues Stacy’s exploration of emotional extremes through dynamic shifts in sound and structure, always rooted in vulnerability and instinct rather than expectation.

The album around it channels isolation and the weight of lived experience, refracting Stacy’s personal history into communal myth. He drew inspiration from his father’s stories of “folkhouses” in the Philippines, bars where men sang American folk songs like John Denver after long nights of drinking, and traced a line between that world and his own upbringing in Ramona, California. The result is a body of work suspended between landscapes, generations, and identities, Americana tinged with spectral echoes of Filipino ritual, rendered through his blend of emo-folk, folktronica, noise, and ambient textures.

On stage, Stacy has toured with Eartheater, Jean Dawson, and Sega Bodega, bringing live performances that are tense, devotional, and unflinching. His music treats memory as distortion, carrying fleeting moments forward and ritualising them. “Safe In Your Hands, I Clasp” is a striking entry in that ongoing study of longing, transcendence, and the fragile boundaries between love, faith, and desire.

British Folk Singer Lucy Kitchen Turns Loss Into Light on New Album ‘In The Low Light’

Eric Alper
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British Folk Singer Lucy Kitchen Turns Loss Into Light on New Album ‘In The Low Light’

Some of these songs began as tiny poems with no intention of becoming anything more. British singer-songwriter Lucy Kitchen has released her new album ‘In The Low Light’ via Bohemia Rose Records/Make My Day Records, a collection of 11 songs shaped by personal loss and quiet resilience. Listen here.

The acclaimed folk artist blends hypnotic folk with subtle threads of Americana and the timeless spirit of 1970s singer-songwriters. Written in the wake of her husband Stephen’s death from cancer in October 2022, the record explores loss, grief, memory, and transformation. Within its sorrow sit real glimpses of joy, gratitude, and rediscovery.

“A lot of it was written in the run up to and aftermath of my husband Stephen’s death from cancer,” Lucy explains. “Some of these songs began as tiny poems I started writing as a way of capturing thoughts and feelings with no intention or pressure to turn them into songs, but over time some of them found their melody.”

For Lucy, the making of the record became something restorative rather than purely sorrowful. “For me, making this album was actually an incredibly life affirming, quite joyful experience,” she says. “I’m interested in exploring the idea of rebirth through creativity, coming back to ourselves through our art and making something beautiful out of something hard.”

Her command of folk runs across all 11 songs. Opener “Winter King” uses chilling imagery as a metaphor for yearning, while “The Boatman” carries the resistance often found in traditional folk. “I like how it’s a grief song but also feels defiant in the face of death,” Lucy notes. “Milk & Honey,” inspired by vivid dreams, is a slow, romantic sway about wishing for things to be simpler and coming to terms with the fact that you can’t have that.

Other songs sit more unflinchingly in sorrow. “The Ways We Were,” recorded with Jon Thorne on double bass, reflects on the disorienting passage of time after loss. “Chemo Song,” written during the final stages of Stephen’s first round of chemotherapy, evokes a suspended reality. “It felt like we were shut off in our own little world, like something out of a fairy tale,” Lucy recalls. Both are carried by raw, intimate vocals, with understated production that lets the words and her voice breathe.

The weight is balanced by lighter moments: the jazz-tinged “Sunny Days,” the country shuffle of “Red Skies,” and the hopeful air of “Olivia,” about helping a friend when all you can offer is time, an ear, and a bottle of wine. “In My Corner” addresses the loss of your biggest cheerleader while still looking forward, and closer “September’s Come,” just vocals and guitar, finds Lucy reclaiming a month once her favourite, now marked by her husband’s passing.

The reviews have been glowing, with four-star ratings from MOJO, Louder Than War, Shindig, and Songlines, and CLASH calling the record utterly beguiling. “Making this album re-built me more than anything else,” Lucy says. “I felt like it brought me back to myself and what I love to do.”

Manchester Five-Piece The Guest List Take Aim at a Post-Truth World With “Something Real”

Eric Alper
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Manchester Five-Piece The Guest List Take Aim at a Post-Truth World With “Something Real”

A pointed message arrives wrapped in an upbeat backing. Manchester five-piece The Guest List have released “Something Real,” a blistering new single that confronts the chaos and contradiction of a post-fact world. It’s a sharpening of both their sound and their message.

The track takes aim at a reality that’s become fragmented and commodified, shaped by AI, algorithmic echo chambers, culture-war politics, and rage-bait media cycles. The song explores how truth gets treated like a subscription rather than a shared foundation, with outrage monetised and empathy drowned out by noise. Frontman Cai Alty’s cutting lines, “hate is on trend / war is on trend,” distil the chaos before the defining admission lands: “And I know that it blows your mind just to hear me saying something real.”

“This is the song that best represents what we want to say and be,” Cai explains. “It’s about finding something meaningful in a world where trolls, comment bots, algorithms and whistleblowers dictate public understanding. Where suffering is normalised, and where our most hateful impulses are nurtured. We hope that people find this song as genuine as we do.”

The praise has been piling up. Rolling Stone UK called it a thrillingly ambitious statement reminiscent of Humbug-era Arctic Monkeys, The Independent tipped the band as one of the UK’s next big guitar bands, and Dork declared that 2026 feels like the year their graft and ambition turns into a breakthrough. Music Week summed it up neatly, calling The Guest List a band to believe in.

Their debut EP ‘When The Lights Are Out’ tackled men’s mental health, environmental collapse, insecurities, and haunting reflections of domestic violence. Together, those songs defined the band’s ethos of unflinching honesty. “Something Real” carries that forward as both a warning and a declaration that truth still matters.

Formed in early 2021 as school friends and music students, The Guest List first amassed over 400,000 followers and nearly 8 million likes posting covers online, before carving out their own lane with original material that drew comparisons to Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead. Their rise has been powered by socially conscious writing and a formidable live set, with appearances at Glastonbury, The Great Escape, and TRNSMT. Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale caught their Glastonbury set, and BBC Radio 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins has been an early champion.

The band are proud of their Manchester roots but keen to break past the city’s tribal associations. “We have been brought up listening to Manchester bands, but we don’t want to be defined by that,” says Alty. “We want to be seen as a band from Manchester, not just a Manchester band.”

With over 5 million Spotify streams already and a fanbase cutting across tribes and demographics, The Guest List head deeper into 2026 primed for a breakout year. The Guest List are Cai Alty (vocals/guitar), Tom Quigley (lead guitar), Leio Hunter (rhythm guitar), Sid Wallace (bass), and Angus Gilchrist (drums).

We Are Scientists Drummer Keith Carne Steps Out Front With Debut Solo Song “Look For The Moon”

Eric Alper
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We Are Scientists Drummer Keith Carne Steps Out Front With Debut Solo Song “Look For The Moon”

For 13 years, Keith Carne has held down the drumkit for indie-pop favourites We Are Scientists. Now the NYC-based multi-instrumentalist is stepping into the spotlight with his debut solo single “Look For The Moon,” out now, alongside the announcement of his debut solo album ‘Magenta Light.’

The single is a tender, skybound love song built on glistening synth textures and a steady pulse pulled straight from the ’90s Madchester era. Carne wrote it for his wife, artist Hayley Youngs, and it captures the strange, measured altitude of touring life, where love gets counted in miles, time zones, and the quiet glow of a shared moon. The lyrics drift between airplane cabins and existential free-fall, landing somewhere intimate and disarmingly human.

“I travel a lot in my touring work with other bands and I miss her profoundly when I’m gone,” Carne says. “I think about her very often on airport runways, especially flights when I’m the one leaving. This is why there are references to 37,000 feet, oblivion above the clouds, falling and, maybe most importantly, Delta airline wine. Hayley and I always talk about our moon-connection when I’m gone, about how we can connect with one another simply by looking at the moon when we’re apart. Just the act of looking for it brings me great comfort because it brings her to mind.”

The single is a luminous entry point into ‘Magenta Light,’ a record that marks both a departure and an arrival. Carne’s role in We Are Scientists continues, but here he steps toward centre stage as songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Across eight melancholic pop songs threaded together by expansive, transcendent passages, the album blurs ethereal tonality and propulsive dance rhythms over an indie-pop spine.

The title carries a striking origin. “I named the album for a psychedelic vision my wife had, she saw sparkling, magenta light pouring from my face,” Carne explains. “I began recording the ideas in my head the very next day with this vision in mind. It’s inspired in equal parts by Pharoah Sanders’s explosive spiritual jazz and Fred Again’s catchy dance anthems. Its implications are both interpersonal and extraterrestrial.”

That duality, earthly and cosmic, intimate and infinite, runs through the whole record. Carne recorded every note in his Midtown Manhattan studio, bathed in literal magenta light from an LED lamp his wife gave him after her vision. Though primarily a drummer, he plays most of the instruments himself. “Drumming in a band is like conducting an orchestra from the back of the bandstand,” he says. “That’s why a drummer-led ensemble doesn’t feel like too much of a creative leap.”

The album moves from the groove-driven existentialism of “Totally Liminal” to the protective fire of “Keep Away,” the blissed-out clarity of “37 Hours,” and the nature-struck awe of “Mist Trail” and “The Falls.” Throughout, the songs grapple with connection and dislocation, the transient spaces we pass through and the people who tether us when everything else feels in flux.

‘Magenta Light’ was written, recorded, produced, and performed by Keith Carne, with additional contributions from Brian Bond (Gem County), Justin “Bestamo” Gaynor (Gem County / Keith and Bestamo), Zeno Pittarelli, and Drew Citron (Beverly). Bond handled mixing, Pittarelli mastered the album, and the cover artwork was created by Hayley Youngs, with design by Benedict Kupstas (Field Guides). It’s a warm, ambitious solo debut, and “Look For The Moon” sits right at its emotional core.

Metal Mainstays Kittie Mark 30 Years With the “Legacy Of Fire Tour”

Eric Alper
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Metal Mainstays Kittie Mark 30 Years With the “Legacy Of Fire Tour”

Three decades of uncompromising metal deserve a proper victory lap. Kittie are out on the “Legacy Of Fire Tour: 30 Years of Kittie,” a 16-date North American headline run and their first full headline tour in over 10 years. It honours 30 years since the band formed in 1996.

The timing rides a genuine wave of momentum. Kittie returned with 2024’s critically acclaimed comeback album ‘Fire,’ then followed it with 2025’s ‘Spit XXV,’ a re-recorded and re-imagined anniversary EP. Kingdom of Giants and Gore join as special guests across all dates, a lineup that spans generations of heavy music.

The run launched June 6 in St. Louis and continues through June 27 in Montreal, hitting New York, Nashville, Toronto, and more along the way. “We’re excited to announce our Legacy of Fire tour on the eve of our 30th anniversary as a band,” the band share. “Thirty years ago, we ignited a spark. Three decades later, that fire is still burning, stronger and more focused than ever.”

They continue: “Legacy of Fire is a celebration of every stage, every struggle, and every fan who carried us forward. Coming back to the US and Canada for our first full headline tour over a decade feels incredible. We’re ready to honor our history while ushering in the next chapter!”

It’s a powerhouse return from one of heavy music’s most enduring names, and the spark Kittie lit 30 years ago is clearly still burning. Tickets are on sale now.

Legacy Of Fire Tour: 30 Years of Kittie (w/ Kingdom Of Giants and Gore):

Sat, Jun 6 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant

Mon, Jun 8 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre

Tue, Jun 9 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot

Fri, Jun 12 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues

Sat, Jun 13 – Phoenix, AZ – Nile Theater

Mon, Jun 15 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theatre

Tue, Jun 16 – Houston, TX – House of Blues

Thu, Jun 18 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl

Fri, Jun 19 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade

Sat, Jun 20 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore

Sun, Jun 21 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage

Tue, Jun 23 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza

Wed, Jun 24 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium

Fri, Jun 26 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall

Sat, Jun 27 – Montreal, QC – Theatre Beanfield

Guitar Icons Joe Satriani and Steve Vai Reimagine Paolo Conte on New Single “Dancing”

Eric Alper
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Guitar Icons Joe Satriani and Steve Vai Reimagine Paolo Conte on New Single “Dancing”

Two of rock’s most expressive guitar voices are trading lines again. Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have released “Dancing,” the new SatchVai Band single, out now via earMUSIC, with a wildly entertaining video directed by Satriani’s son, ZZ Satriani.

“Dancing” reimagines a song by the iconic Italian singer, pianist, and songwriter Paolo Conte, and it shows the SatchVai Band at full throttle. The track runs on momentum, melody, and fearless chemistry, a vibrant conversation between two players who’ve spent decades pushing each other. It captures the spirit of spontaneity and joy that defined their recent European tour.

The video stars actor, comedian, and musician Brendon Small (Metalocalypse, Dethklok), a longtime friend of both guitarists, who plays an overzealous talent manager pushing the duo to cast dancers for an upcoming live show. The chaos unfolds in sync with the fast-moving interplay between Satriani and Vai, a rapid-fire exchange of soaring guitar lines that mirrors the eccentric parade of auditioning performers. Eagle-eyed fans will spot a cameo from powerhouse drummer Kenny Aronoff, adding to the tongue-in-cheek energy.

The single follows the duo’s previous releases, the cinematic instrumental “The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1” and the anthemic “I Wanna Play My Guitar,” which featured powerhouse vocals from Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Country Communion). Together, these tracks preview a collaboration decades in the making.

Despite nearly 50 years of friendship, the SatchVai Band marks the first time Satriani and Vai have formally united in a shared group, alongside drummer Kenny Aronoff, bassist Marco Mendoza, and guitarist Pete Thorn. The result is a live experience built on virtuosity, friendship, and fearless creativity, and “Dancing” is a joyful, high-octane snapshot of where these two are right now.

Leonard Cohen Tribute “The Secret Chord” Lands at Toronto’s CAA Theatre This Summer

Eric Alper
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Leonard Cohen Tribute “The Secret Chord” Lands at Toronto’s CAA Theatre This Summer

Leonard Cohen’s words and songs are heading back to a Toronto stage. After several sold-out engagements in Toronto and Montreal, Soulpepper’s critically acclaimed tribute “The Secret Chord” transfers to the CAA Theatre for a limited summer run, presented by David and Hannah Mirvish. It plays July 8 through August 9 at 651 Yonge St, just south of Bloor.

The show tells the story of Cohen’s life, often called the bard of Montreal, an artist who constantly reinvented himself across a long career and helped generations of fans make sense of the changing world around them. It draws on Cohen’s own words and bold arrangements of his iconic songs to celebrate his extraordinary life, music, and poetry.

The Montreal Gazette called it “part concert, part theatre, entirely magical,” and that balance sits at the heart of the production. “The Secret Chord” was created by Frank Cox-O’Connell, Marni Jackson, and Mike Ross, with Cox-O’Connell directing. Performers will be announced at a later date.

Tickets are on sale now at mirvish.com or by phone at 1.800.461.3333.

Performance Schedule:

Tue to Sat: 7:30PM

Wed: 1:30PM

Sat and Sun: 2PM

Chicago Punk Veterans The Arrivals End a 15-Year Wait With ‘Payload’

Eric Alper
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Chicago Punk Veterans The Arrivals End a 15-Year Wait With ‘Payload’

15 years is a long time between records. Chicago punk veterans The Arrivals have ended that stretch with ‘Payload,’ their first new album since 2010’s ‘Volatile Molotov,’ out now via Recess Records. It’s a triumphant return for one of the city’s most revered and enduring punk bands.

The lead single “Drill Baby Drill” confronts capitalism, neocolonialism, and the global struggle over resources. Guitarist and vocalist Isaac Thotz traces it back nearly two decades. “I wrote this song after the 2008 Republican National Convention, where it was the rallying cry for the McCain/Palin energy policy,” he explains. “The lyrics point to a dystopian future where truly precious resources like clean air, healthy food, and viable ecosystems are sacrificed for a fetishized resource like oil. They point to one of the worst parts of capitalism: that something gains value only if it can be commodified.”

The phrase came back into circulation years later. “The phrase ‘drill baby drill’ was later resurrected by Trump, which is how the song ended up on Payload,” Thotz continues. “The video then addresses the application of this worldview in U.S. geopolitics, looking back at the U.S.’s early involvement in Iran, Venezuela, and Greenland, and nodding to what’s happening with U.S. policy in those places today. The video connects to other predominant themes of the album: the destruction of the natural environment, neocolonialism, and war for resources.”

The Arrivals formed in Blue Island, IL in 1996 and have been a fixture in Chicago’s DIY punk scene ever since. Their sound lands like The Jam meets Dillinger Four (they’ve shared a member with the latter since 2005), something like Naked Raygun revisiting The Kinks. It’s working-class punk rock that’s thoughtful and authentic, pairing melody and grit with sharp, grounded storytelling about working-class American lives and a general disillusionment with civilization. Call it rustbelt realism with a beat.

Each of their four preceding albums builds on the same foundation of proto-punk, street punk, post-punk, surf, garage, mod, and classic rock, with every record expanding beyond the last. ‘Payload’ follows that tradition. “We always have it in our minds to let each song be its own thing,” says Little Dave Merriman. “We try not to repeat ourselves too much. We’ll come in with the skeleton of a song, show it around to the band and one of us will think it sounds like, say, Fugazi and another will think it sounds like James Gang. And both are correct.”

The album’s other early single, “Just Like My Brother,” carries the buoyant, earworm energy of ‘Volatile Molotov’ closer “Simple Pleasures in America,” a sing-along that keeps finding new audiences. Its video was filmed by Thotz’s son, Cyric, and captures a celebration of the families we choose.

‘Payload’ was recorded by Joe Gac (Meat Wave) at Chicago’s legendary Electrical Audio, who captured the band’s powerful, dynamic sound in a way that practically jumps out of the speakers. The Arrivals are Paddy Costello (bass), Isaac Thotz (vocals and guitar), Ronnie DiCola (drums), and Little Dave Merriman (vocals and guitar).

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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