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Alt.County’s HemlockHotel Capture the Emotional Upheaval of Youth with “Angry Young Man”

Eric Alper
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Alt.County’s HemlockHotel Capture the Emotional Upheaval of Youth with “Angry Young Man”

Being young often means dealing with emotions you don’t fully understand; it’s only with age that real perspective and true maturity can be gained. Ottawa-based HemlockHotel captures that conundrum with their melodic, smooth-rockin’ Americana anthem “Angry Young Man.”

A warm blend of rich, full-bodied acoustic guitar, wailing electric guitar, and easy beats, “Angry Young Man” tells the first-person narrative about a confused young man in conflict with the people he loves, even though he knows it isn’t deserved.

Well, I am a soldier
Without a cause
Well, I keep on fightin’
The people I love
Come on dear Jesus
I’m not a saint

The chorus kicks in and that’s when the narrator admits in honeyed, soaring melody, “Well, I’m an angry young man/Fighting for something I can’t understand.” The inspiration for the song sprung from Greek philosophy, of all places – though it’s not all that surprising when you consider how the Greeks had a word to identify every nuance of emotion.

“I remember taking this course on ancient Greek philosophy,” frontman Rod Leggett says, “and the teacher was going on about thumos.”

Thumos is an old word for the concept of “spiritedness.” “At its worst, it’s rage — like the rage of Achilles,” Leggett continues. “At its best, it becomes courage.”

At one point, Leggett’s teacher told the class that young men are especially prone to thumos. “That stuck with me,” Leggett recalls. “He’s right, I mean, young men really are prone to being angry.”

Not long after HemlockHotel recorded the song, Leggett knew the band was on the right track as he was listening to another song by another band, “(Nothing But) Flowers” by Talking Heads. Leggett heard the opening lyrics — “‘Years ago, I was an angry young man/And I’d pretend/That I was a billboard/Standing tall” — and smiled. “I thought, ok, David Byrne gets it. I’m good with that,” he says. “You know, I really look up to that guy.”

HemlockHotel proudly calls Ottawa home, and recently added TJ Jones, formerly of the band Dynasty, on bass. The band also consists of Rod Leggett, Mark Paré on lead guitar, and Danny Lee Duke on drums. Despite the pandemic, the now four-piece band is managing to give the occasional live performance and spend time in the studio.

“Angry Young Man” is the band’s first release since their 2020 eponymous album. It will be followed by a second single to be released in April 2022. Both songs were recorded with Steve Foley at Audio Valley Studios in Ottawa, and HemlockHotel plans to return to the studio in the Spring to record another suite of songs.

“Angry Young Man” is available now.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Release Empowering “Never Had Your Back”

Eric Alper
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ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Release Empowering “Never Had Your Back”

Possessing a unique talent for approaching sensitive and relevant issues within the Black community, multi-GRAMMY Award-winning hip hop, rap and soul group Arrested Development channel their trailblazing and history-making talents into the poignant hymn “Never Had Your Back.”

Fresh from their newest album, For The FKN Love, and featuring lyrics from Speech and background vocals from Ke’Andra, legendary British Boom-Bap producer Configa wraps everything up in a well-executed production.

“Never Had Your Back” features a compelling overall concern for the way that Black women are portrayed in modern media and music. Noticing how depictions were demeaning, the group says they went to work crafting a production that would empower “Melanated Black Queens” and raise social awareness.

‘Then pitted your light kids against
The darker kids
Now were conditioned to keeping sparking this
Hating our own women’

“We were excited to make this tune,” Speech shares. “It’s a powerful anthem for all women at the end of the day, but it really is a letter from me to my own daughter. I’m on the turntables and I wanted to hear literal scratching. Then, to top it off, Ke’Andra’s vocals are powerful and complement mine for the chorus!”

Working with British boombap extraordinaire Configa led to some exciting opportunities; the group found themselves recording this song in two different countries — both the UK to work with Configa on the beat, and Georgia to record with Ke’Andra and turntable scratches. They even found themselves working with JG Biggs, who directed the song’s video.

“I immediately put him up at a local hotel and we started shooting immediately; he brought his portable Insta360 camera which shoots literally everywhere at once. I knew we had to get the whole group over, plus Ke’Andra, the guest vocalists, and just do some impromptu performances.”

Arrested Development’s unique catalog of positive and afrocentric music creates an alternative to gangsta rap, and the group continues to dominate the counterculture meant to inspire others.

With 30 years of scene-shaping experience to their credit, Arrested Development was the first hip hop group to ever receive the GRAMMY for Best New Artist while also receiving a Best Rap Single Award after the release of “Tennessee” — a single that went on to be named by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the Top 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

While they’ve continued to perform in sold-out venues across every part of the world for three decades and counting, the group’s introspective yet positive social theming has also been a strong foundation for Arrested Development throughout the years. In September of 2019, the Black Music Honors Awards recognized this timeless group of performers and collaborators with an award that acknowledges artists who have made a significant contribution to African American music.

Experimental Pop Artist CELOGEN Creates Vast Soundscapes & Riveting Stories In New Album ‘Wastebasin Lake’

Eric Alper
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Experimental Pop Artist CELOGEN Creates Vast Soundscapes & Riveting Stories In New Album ‘Wastebasin Lake’

Laced with delicately placed melodies shrouded in what appears to be chaos, Canadian experimental pop artist Celogen creates an entirely unique listening experience with his new single, “The Red Lips Called Snowfinch.”

The brainchild of Calgary-based musician Dominic Demierre, the song is the latest to land from Celogen’s most recent LP, Wastebasin Lake — an unleashing of industrial electronics combined with guitars, keyboards, strings, and horns, all of which make their heady debut in “The Red Lips Called Snowfinch.”

Certain melodic elements tempt to lure the listener into a final resting place while counter melodies and dissonance remind you that this is a journey that is just beginning — for both the main character of the story and the listener.

A tale of two young lovers out for a drive at night, “The Red Lips Called Snowfinch” is a sonic adventure through limbo; one falls asleep at the wheel and, when he awakens, his lover, Snowfinch, has transformed into a silkworm. “In shock, he drives his car into Wastebasin Lake, and the album goes on from there,” Demierre explains.

“I wanted to explore the ability of an album to tell a story beyond a simple emotional arc,” he continues. “This album represented a change for me… The words are deeply personal.”

While “The Red Lips Called Snowfinch” is a stimulating production of its own merit, Celogen prolifically conveys a story that will sit deep in the listener’s gut long after the song ends, leaving them immersed in dramatic and alluring worlds.

‘The red lips called Snowfinch / The air smelling cleaner, you touch her skin.’
‘But warm blood meets cold, long white body spews red flow / you jerk the wheel to the lake below’

Through hauntingly familiar melodies inspired by pop and driven by chaos, the notion is further underscored throughout the release.

For his start on the scene, Demierre found himself playing in a handful of post-punk and emo bands during his years in university; as time went on, however, he found himself boxed in. The chaos of people being drawn into their own separate genre corners drove Demierre to break out — to seek out something unique that he could call his own.

Reaping the benefits of prior experience, Demierre created Celogen: a boundary-stretching solo project.

Three EPs and three full-length albums have been released under the moniker since 2018 – a manifestation of the desire to cut loose from so many readymade aesthetics and seek out something unique. These include 2020’s Celogen Was Built by Ghosts, for Ghosts, 2019’s Goodnight Childsprite, and 2018’s Stonehome, Tameplane, and Doveflood.

Queens of Grunge-Pop Punk BAD SKIN Denounce “Clowns For President” in Deliciously Aggressive Anthem

Eric Alper
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Queens of Grunge-Pop Punk BAD SKIN Denounce “Clowns For President” in Deliciously Aggressive Anthem

Canada’s reigning queens of grunge-pop punk Bad Skin are back with an aggressive and immersive new anthem in “Clowns For President.”

The sonic middle finger, per se, unabashedly denounces control and constraint, and lands straight from their recent EP offering, Live Fast Die Punk.

The glorious 4-piece from Quebec swing truth bombs like axes in this pulsating follow-up drop. Refusing to back down, to be censored, or controlled, Bad Skin slices through the narrative and beguiles the listener in a race against conformity; a punk quid pro quo in sending the message that Gen Z is awake, and paying attention to the global society around them. And punk is here to save the day.

For Dope (lead vox, rhythm guitarist), Caro (lead guitar), Aurély (bass), and Christine (drums), the idea behind the track came from real-life anecdotes from friends forced into situations where they felt incapable of saying “no.”

“We wanted to share with our fans that it’s okay to say ‘no’, even when it’s not easy,” says Bad Skin. “Of course with everything going on right now with the COVID situation, we had to pursue that idea at its largest!”

No doubt the message couldn’t have been larger — or louder — than the group revving up the female punk scene bop after bop. Dope’s husky vox commanding “no government” is a near-nod to Pussy Riot; her attitude is a melding pot of Peaches and Dolores O’Riordan. Caro’s expert punk licks lashed around Aurély’s rumbling bass lay the framework of anarchist punk rock. The track is committed to its rapid tempo thanks to Christine who refuses to back down from the haul — her epic throwdown of the beat snaps together with a familiar nod to original punk masterminds who defined the genre.

“Clowns For President” wouldn’t be complete with a Bad Skin video to accompany the track. As gritty, dark, and hasty as the song, the track delivers on dark visuals to tell the rest of the story.

“For this video, we went completely in another direction from our past videos,” the band explains. “It’s darker and more serious but still with our Bad Skin touch. The video was shot in half of a day and we added actors for the first time. Such an amazing experience! We have a wonderful professional team and we couldn’t ask for more!”

A band raising their voice for the voiceless, talented and brazen, refusing to back down, bow down, or explain themselves, Bad Skin isn’t afraid to call it like it is or say it like it is; refusing to comply or conform.

Even if they’re calling them “Clowns For President.”

“Clowns For President” and Live Fast Die Punk are both available now.

Alt-Folk Rockers Village Manor Implore the World to Put “Gunsaway” with Release of New Single

Eric Alper
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Alt-Folk Rockers Village Manor Implore the World to Put “Gunsaway” with Release of New Single

Canadian alt-folk rockers Village Manor are encouraging the act of “Gunsaway” with the release of their new single.

The imploring plea arrives as their debut release, and was inspired by how “tired everyone is waking up every morning to the news of gun violence on a consistent basis,” co-frontman John Weinberg says.

“It’s every single day!”

“How many times can we wake up, how many times can we hear,” asks the lyrics. “It’s only time – and a time for winning, time for losing, time for loving, and a time to stop saying goodbye.”

Picking up where Mumford and Sons paved the path, “Gunsaway” is poignant prose woven within music that’s well-steeped in roots before it branches out into indie alternative, and incorporating harp and rushing percussion along the way. The track re-imagines a genre marked by the Drive-By Truckers and made notorious by Wilco, and Village Manor succeed in bringing alt-folk rock to the foreground of musical soundscape — stitching themselves into the fabric of the pattern: excellent songwriting, beautiful lyrics, and impeccable musicianship with a message.

Hailing from the indie mecca of South Western Canada, Village Manor sprang up in Toronto, back in 2018. A chance encounter between group founders John Weinberg and Sam Kay during an open mic at the Free Times Cafe set the band in motion; they soon collected up an amazing singer in Mike Levine (Tragically Hits Band), percussionist extraordinaire Corey Weinberg (Numb Tongues), and sound engineer/bassist Mike Grundy (Wychwood Sound), fleshing Village Manor into the soundscape we’re hearing today.

For the guys who lined the halls, cafes, stages, and spaces of Toronto’s open mic community, it’s a testament to the coming together of Canadian musicians. Village Manor became an open door for a collective of indie artists with a common love of songwriting, and performing, and now it’s home to all of us.

And within a similarly welcoming sentiment arrives their plea for a safer world.

Nova Scotia Music Week Submissions Are Now Open

Eric Alper
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Nova Scotia Music Week Submissions Are Now Open

Nova Scotia Music Week (NSMW) is heading to Sydney, Cape Breton November 3 – 6, 2022 for the 25th anniversary of the event. Music Nova Scotia is calling artists and performers of all genres from across the province to take part in the big anniversary and apply to play at NSMW 2022.

Showcase submissions to play NSMW 2022 are now open. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of NSMW, the cost to submit has been reduced to $25.

Showcasing submissions will close March 22, at 11:59 p.m. AT.

To apply, click here.

SUE FOLEY Scores Three Blues Music Award Nominations for Her ‘Pinky’s Blues’ Album

Eric Alper
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SUE FOLEY Scores Three Blues Music Award Nominations for Her ‘Pinky’s Blues’ Album

Pinky’s Blues, the new Stony Plain Records album from award-winning blues guitarist/singer Sue Foley, scored a trifecta of nominations at the recently announced nominees from the Blues Foundation for the 43rd Blues Music Awards. Foley garnered nominations for “Album of the Year,” “Traditional Blues Album,” and “Traditional Blues Female Artist.”

“I’m over the moon about these three Blues Music Award nominations,” said Texas-based Sue Foley after she heard the news. “What an incredible honor to be acknowledged in Memphis. Speaking for everyone who helped create Pinky’s Blues, we’re proud to have made a real blues album and are thrilled that folks are loving it.”

Featuring several Sue Foley originals, as well as songs from some of her favorite blues and roots artists, Pinky’s Blues showcases Sue Foley (guitar, vocals), accompanied by Chris “Whipper” Layton (drums), Jon Penner (bass), and Mike Flanigin (Hammond B3 organ), who also produced the album. The legendary Jimmie Vaughan joins is a special guest on rhythm guitar on the track, “Hurricane Girl.”

Pinky’s Blues is the follow up to Sue Foley’s award-winning album, The Ice Queen, (2018). Foley’s new album is a raw, electric guitar driven romp through the backroads of Texas blues, with Foley’s signature pink paisley Fender Telecaster, “Pinky,” at the wheel.

Foley won “Best Traditional Female (Koko Taylor Award)” at the 2020 Blues Music Awards in Memphis, was nominated for a Juno Award (Canadian Grammy), and she took home the award for “Best Guitar Player” at the Toronto Maple Blues Awards. For the last few years Foley and her band have kept a rigorous touring schedule across the USA, Canada and Europe. Some highlights were appearances at Love Rocks NYC (with Cyndi Lauper, Dave Mathews and Tedeschi Trucks) at The Beacon Theater (NYC), guesting with Jimmie Vaughan (opening for Eric Clapton) at Royal Albert Hall in London, Montreal Jazz Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest (with Buddy Guy), Moulin Blues (Holland), NPR’s Mountain Stage (with Bela Fleck), and The Jungle Show (with Billy F Gibbons and Jimmie Vaughan) in Austin, Texas.

Ronnie Earl And The Broadcasters Deliver a Loud and Clear Shout-Out of ‘Mercy Me’ On New Album

Eric Alper
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Ronnie Earl And The Broadcasters Deliver a Loud and Clear Shout-Out of ‘Mercy Me’ On New Album

Ronnie Earl, a four-time Blues Music Award winner as “Guitar Player of the Year,” follows up the critical and commercial success of his last album, Rise Up, with Mercy Me, a new set of wondrous music with his long-time band, The Broadcasters, on April 15 via Stony Plain Records. Mercy Me will also be released later this summer on vinyl LP.

Over a 45-year career as one of the world’s top blues musicians, Ronnie Earl has transfixed audiences with his distinct sound of emotion-laden blues. On his own and with his band The Broadcasters, Ronnie is a four-time Blues Music Award winner as “Guitar Player of the Year,” with 28 albums and multiple chart-topping compositions in his catalogue.

Ronnie sets the songs of this album into context with a quote from Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr prominently placed in the album art: “The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.”

These 12 songs present triumphant Blues – uplifting and hopeful songs that point to a better tomorrow, including “Soul Searching,” “A Prayer for Tomorrow,” “The Sun Shines Brightly” and “Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher And Higher.” Celebrating artists who have contributed to the theme of hope, Mercy Me includes “Blues for Ruthie Foster,” “Blues for Duke Robillard” and “Dave’s Groove,” co-written with Dave Limina.

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters Can Play Drums With His Teeth

Eric Alper
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Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters Can Play Drums With His Teeth

Dave Grohl reveals the “dental drumming” habit he and Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain shared and demonstrates it for Howard Stern.

Country Rocker Marshall Potts Brings “The Storm” with New Single

Eric Alper
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Country Rocker Marshall Potts Brings “The Storm” with New Single

Available now, Marshall Potts is blowing in strong with “The Storm” — the fierce new single from his forthcoming third album of the same name set to arrive this Spring.

The country rocker from Canada’s West Coast is fusing Americana with classic rock on this heavyweight song — supercharged and ready to rip off the shingles and tear down the roof.

A rural songwriting superstar living on a 160-acre oasis in his native BC, Potts treads the line on folk, country, and rousing rock and roll on an album drenched with his powerhouse vocals. Delivering on his commitment to convey the universal messages of positivity and optimism, Potts creates music he calls “moving beyond your past, taking back your power, embracing the moment and living in the here and now.”

True to form, his crossover track “The Storm” is as buoyant as a thunder rolling cascade of heavy guitar, and raining melody. “This is a song of understanding, realization, and action,” Potts says, adding, “We realize what’s important to us when we have massive change, and like a storm, it will pass but it’s what we learned about ourselves that makes us better human beings as a result.”

In addition to gearing up for the song’s titular album and its upcoming release, Potts has celebrated two previous album drops, international airplay and touring, plus movie soundtrack credits. Of the new album, Potts says: “it foreshadows the positive outcome we can all expect when we take the time to learn about ourselves, seek our own truths, heal our old scars and reemerge standing our ground in our own power. The hero story we are all meant to walk and the gratitude that leads our lives as a result.”

Armed with his band of brothers, Potts has scored label distribution through Sony/The Orchard, with the release at the helm of his 2022 performance plans — including getting back on the road touring. In addition to the singles, Potts provides a visual component to the tracks through music videos available for streaming on YouTube.

“When the wind comes it brings change,” Potts muses on the lyrics of “The Storm”, “and only truth alone remains. ‘Cause it reveals your pain, that’s why the Storm came.” His anthemic challenge on the record implores for self-reflection. “We get the chance to redefine what’s most important to us and where we need to refocus our intentions.”

Forget battening down the hatches, or boarding up the windows; “The Storm” has already arrived and Marshall Potts is commanding it.

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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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