Charlie Watts, the heart and soul of The Rolling Stones has died at age 80.
From AP: “The quiet, elegantly dressed Watts was often ranked with Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and a handful of others as a premier rock drummer, respected worldwide for his muscular, swinging style as the Stones rose from their scruffy beginnings to international superstardom. He joined the band early in 1963 and remained over the next 60 years, ranked just behind Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as the group’s longest lasting and most essential member.”
Let’s take a listen to some of his greatest drumming, and it’s easy to hear why he was so understated, and so great.
Charles Bradley sings the powerful cover as part of another session of the Newsroom Concert Series. Bradley’s album, also called ‘Changes’, was released in April, 2016.
With a speakeasy style that lulls listeners into an entranced state, Inuk hip-hop artist Shauna Seeteenak releases her powerful and spine-chilling new single, “See The Light” — available now.
The song serves as a preview to her forthcoming debut album, Therapy Sessions. The release sees Seeteenak focus her music on telling her truths, and shining light on the struggles that Inuit people face in Canada — a humble cause, and often a very dark and sobering reality.
Shrouded in uplifting pop-piano chords and dance-worthy bass lines, these “truths,” as Seeteenak calls them, include “mental health, sobriety, breaking stereotypes, overcoming barriers, surviving the north, and trying to heal.”
Featuring lines like ‘you can change your life if you pick up where you left it,’ and ‘life would be easy, life would be perfect, but then, believe me, it wouldn’t be worth it,’ Seeteenak has audiences right where she wants them: inspired and emboldened, ready to be uplifted into greatness.
Listening to “See The Light” helps give insight into Seeteenak’s ability to speak directly to her listeners. Speaking directly to the thousands of young Inuit whose parents were taken away to residential schools, Seeteenak reassures them: ‘I know you’ve been hurt before, but I want you to know it’s not your fault.
‘Keep on fighting for us. Someday we’re gonna see the light.’
Not only is the production style finessed to a tee, but the lyrics also speak to Seeteenak’s fight with her internal struggles; while her music may sound light-hearted and poppy, one listen reveals Seeteenak to be an authentic storyteller overcoming powerful vices.
On a personal level, 2021 marked a landmark milestone in Seeteenak’s sobriety journey. “Yesterday marked my two years being alcohol free!” she said of the occasion this past May. “Man, I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot these couple years. I’m able to think clearly, get dedicated to something worthwhile like writing music, or exercising.
“It’s nice to not wake up anymore thinking ‘wtf did I do this time?’ she continued. “Today, I want to stay sober for my health — physically, mentally, and emotionally. It makes dealing with stressors much easier.”
As an Inuk living in Iqaluit, Seeteenak is surrounded by Inuit culture. This has given her a unique perspective on songwriting, music production, and performance and, in 2019, she began working with Iqaluit-based record label, Hitmakerz, to develop her career and produce Therapy Sessions.
On top of this, Seeteenak has been busy collaborating with others for the rest of her fantastically inspired album, including Greenland’s Peand-eL, as well as Nunavut’s current Member of Parliament, Mumilaaq Qaqqaq from the NDP.
She has also teamed up with fellow Inuk artist, Aasiva, in one of her more emotional songs, “Better With You.”
Seeteenak recently performed a virtual set list that featured songs from Therapy Sessions for the Indigenous Music Awards. Sponsored by SiriusXM, the Indigenous Music Awards features the Star Catcher Youth Performance Series, spotlighting up and coming musicians from Turtle Island.
If that moment in any action flick where the hero or heroine struts away in slow motion, wind in their hair, as something ignites and then explodes at their backs, needed a perfect soundtrack, Canadian singer-songwriter Jennifer Lauren’s new single “Kingdom Come” — available now — is it.
Dark and synth-y, with industrial, dissonant beats, the vocals soar, taking the listener on a cathartic journey over hills and valleys of loud-quiet-loud. It’s a song of courage and power — one meant to rouse the royalty we all have within.
When Jennifer originally came across the instrumental track from Russian music producer, Sighost, last Christmas Eve, it was titled “Throne,” and she and her co-writer, Miranda Boutros, instantly knew it was something they could work with. “We loved the mood and power of it, and felt inspired by its title,” Jennifer shares.
An avid watcher of movies and series, she thought of those gratifying scenes where the ‘good guys’ win. “It made me think of the moment where the antagonist’s smug smile falters as they realize they’ve just lost, and the protagonist takes back what was theirs, what they’ve built.”
She nicknamed the finished song, fittingly, “the good guy’s comeback anthem.”
Like so many artists during the pandemic, Jennifer had to find new ways to execute the creative process. “Miranda and I had to meet and write over Zoom,” she recalls. “We listened to the track a few times, and wrote key words that came to mind while listening to it.”
They also scoured Pinterest for visual inspiration, and Jennifer eventually chose a crowned lion in black and white with flowers in its mane as the single’s artwork.
“Kingdom Come” is one of eight singles Jennifer aims to release in 2021, and comes on the heels of “Enemy” and “Now or Never” — which were used in the Russian television drama, Silver Spoon (in Russian: Mazhor), and netted her more than 474k in discography streams.
In 2017, Jennifer was accepted into the prestigious ISINA Mentorship Program in Los Angeles, where her professional career took flight. She was mentored by industry professionals like Tim Davis, Walter Afanasieff and Randy Jackson, and recorded at the Sunset Sound and Henson Studios.
With a genre similar to current pop stars like Halsey and Billie Eilish, Jennifer sings with a unique dark and soulful depth. Like a night alone on a starry beach, her artistry evokes those moments that are both private and universal.
“Kingdom Come” is no exception, and takes us on a hero’s journey — the kind that is sometimes public, though oftentimes only very personal… But nevertheless, always deeply satisfying.
Proving again that Florida-based Morning Trips will not be confined to a genre, the boundless energy of the Florida four-piece flows through their latest release, “We Have No Time (For Now)” — available now.
“We Have No Time (For Now)” shape shifts the group’s defined songwriting ability, and carves an electro-pop vibe capable of inviting you to the dance floor. The track follows their previous effort, “Assault” — a pulsating exploration into dark, heavy industrial metal with a subsequent music video slapped with an 18+ warning label.
“We have a lot of exciting concepts and visuals planned for what will be our first formal EPs,” the band explains. “We are a guitar band at heart, but in our minds, we’re redefining what it means to make guitar-driven music in 2021 when the modern world is so hyper and phonetical.
“We feel we are making music that really puts a stamp on the times, and that sounds like what we think of when we hear ‘THE 2020’S’.”
With many groups and artists forced into stalemate during 2020’s epidemic, Morning Trips utilized their time off the stage to recreate and formulate their sound they’re debuting over a series of singles. As a result, their recently released records each etch a painting of who the group is gradually becoming — each an evolution to who they’re becoming as songwriters, performers, and producers.
“Being isolated and getting into the post-COVID years, we found ourselves observing and yearning for moments and times lost to a year of isolation,” they say. “Remarking on how friendships drift and develop in new ways due to the distance and quite frankly, time.”
Calling on veteran producer Jeremy SH Griffith to finalize the self-produced sonics on “We Have No Time (For Now),” the band says they are laying the groundwork to future visual and sonic expressions. “This was a song we felt we really took a step forward, visually tying together a bit of everything we had done before — but also serving as a launching pad for our next visual moves,” Morning Trips reflects, adding that they take a huge interest in concepts like Surrealism and Dadaism. “Visually, we incorporated elements from those art movements into the artwork.”
The group’s love affair with the pop-punk era of the late 2000s shines brightly on the overall embodiment of their work. And while they themselves don’t necessarily seek out to become the next emo-pop-era group, they’re aware their influence is markable on their soundscape. “We don’t intentionally create with the theme or spirit of ‘nostalgia’,” the group muses. “But this song was very nostalgic to our youth and helped us find ourselves in a lot of ways.
“When you’re a kid, your thoughts and feelings are very raw and earnest, and finding that again as an adult when creating was important.”
Drawing influence from turn-of-the-millennium staples like Third Eye Blind, Semisonic, and Sum 41, Morning Trips has found a way to incorporate what made time tick for them as teenagers, with enveloping a sound that is meaningful for their generational audience. “Visually, we were inspired by so much: New Radicalz, LIT, Semisonic, Sum 41, blink-182, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtracks, Smash Mouth, Fall Out Boy…” they say.
“We Have No Time (For Now)” pushes the group sonically in an exciting new direction, with the band pushing themselves past their normal, and into a stratosphere that found them expanding on their already high-energy sound. “We did a lot of cool things producing this song,” Morning Trips explains, “Reamping the drums in this big church hallway to get this nice booming room sound, really messing around with the lengths of VST synthesizers. We did a lot of the vocals and guitars in house, but it took forever to finally finalize everything once we had a whole picture we were analyzing.”
Featured on the track is frequent back-up vocalist, Marilyn Lehman, whom the band affectionately refer to as their “fifth member.”
And in true Morning Trips fashion, the band cannot simply deliver a record of this caliber without a visual punch to the gut to amp up the excitement. “We Have No Time (For Now)” boasts an accompanying music video, highlighting the spirit of the song and the energy of the band.
“The music video, we did in house, literally,” they explain. “We put quite a bit of silver wrapping paper on the walls and wanted a very timeless, chrome look. The idea is we were a band traveling through time and playing on the ‘nostalgia act’ vibe but wanted to look completely timeless and fresh and the chrome served that purpose well. It was tons of fun setting it up with all our friends and making the idea come to life.”
As the band amps up for another stint on the road, preparing to hit the stages in a post-pandemic world, Morning Trips is taking the time to carve out their place in the pop sonic sphere.
Sonic Reducers. 1 topic. 2 music nerds. 5 minutes.
Join us as we mourn the passing of Don Everly, try to figure out why The Everly Brothers are criminally underappreciated and us almost getting into a bar fight in LA right before meeting the man himself.
The real Prince in the words of those who knew him best—from award-winning author Touré.
Nothing Compares 2 U is an oral history built from years of interviews with dozens of people who were in Prince’s inner circle—from childhood friends to band members to girlfriends to managers to engineers to photographers, and more—all providing unique insights into the man and the musician.
This revelatory book is a deeply personal and candid discussion of who Prince really was emotionally, professionally, and romantically. It tackles subjects never-before-discussed, including Prince’s multiple personalities, his romantic relationships, his traumatic childhood and how it propelled him into his music career, and how he found the inspiration for some of his most important songs, including “Purple Rain,” “Starfish and Coffee,” and the unheard “Wally.”
Nothing Compares 2 U paints the most complete picture yet written of the most important and most mysterious artist of his time.
There’s palpable electricity in a kiss between two people meant to spend their lives together, and multi-award winning Americana Blues artist Francine Honey draws from her very own moment of romantic epiphany for her evocative new single, “Lightning” — available now.
For Honey, that life-changing moment happened 10 years ago during a train trip through the Canadian Rockies with a friend who had been, at one time, more than that. “We started the trip as old friends with no expectations of anything other than to have a travel companion on this once-in-a-lifetime trip on the Royal Canadian Pacific Express 1800’s steam train,” she recalls. “As the train weaved its way through the mountains and into the spiral tunnels of Yoho National Park, it was clear the old flames were still alive.”
The two shared a pivotal, emotionally charged kiss, and the realization they should be together forever hit them like… Well, lightning.
“This song is about the exact moment of the kiss that changed it all,” the Leamington, ON-born, now Ottawa, ON-based Honey explains. “That magical moment when you ‘know’…
“You are swirling in the clouds,” she continues. “You have been seized by a force, and heat enters your veins that is stronger than both of you. ‘Lightning’ embodies that moment when love takes hold of you, and there is no going back.”
“Lightning” lands ahead of the much-anticipated release of the prolific singer/songwriter’s forthcoming fourth — and fifth — albums, set for release this Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, respectively; both are recorded and mixed in Nashville by GRAMMY-nominated producer Neilson Hubbard at Skinny Elephant Studios.
Speaking of Nashville, this hauntingly beautiful and cinematic new track features the area’s cream of the crop players — including Megan McCormick on lap steel and singing backgrounds, Will Kimbrough on guitars, Danny Mitchell on keys, Dean Marold on bass, and Hubbard on drums.
The intimate and elegant video for “Lightning” features Honey dressed in a beautiful midnight-blue gown, performing the song at an antique upright piano with dramatic lightning and smoke effects interspersed throughout the clip. Filmed in Kentucky, just prior to the first pandemic lockdown, the video was executive produced by Honey and directed/edited by Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard of Neighborhoods Apart Productions.
“It was the last time I got all dressed up,” Honey recalls. “I remember feeling like a princess — as I did on the train in that moment.”
Honey celebrated the video release with an online video premiere and livestream open to the public, and with a lead-in, private VIP Zoom Party for her Hive fan club members; it’s access to the artist her 20K+ fans are fondly familiar with, as she regularly performs online shows called “Honey in Your Coffee” for her followers around the world.
Honey’s path to music is a classic tale of the head versus the heart. Initially a mathematics and computer science specialist, but always a songwriter in her soul, she left her tech career with the federal government to pursue music full time in 2013. Since then, Honey has dedicated herself to writing, recording and releasing music that has garnered numerous finalist and semi-finalist honours from industry organizations and competitions, such as the International Songwriting Competition, Canadian Songwriting Competition, UK Songwriting Competition, and a first-place honour from the Austin Songwriting Group for “Stay.” Honey’s 2019 holiday album, Take Me to the North Pole, made Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 50 Christmas Albums of the Year list.
As a graduate of the Berklee College of Music Professional Singer-Songwriter Certificate Program, Honey regularly makes the nine-hour drive from Ontario to songwriting workshops in Nashville, where she has been mentored by icons like Beth Nielsen Chapman (who contributes backup vocals to Honey’s Snowflakes On My Eyelashes), Mike Reid (I Can’t Make You Love Me), Mary Gauthier (Mercy Now), Verlon Thompson (Boats to Build), Gretchen Peters (Independence Day), and Jonatha Brooke (Put the Gun Down).
Francine is a member of the Songwriter’s Association of Canada (SAC), Nashville Songwriters Association International, Canadian Country Music Association, and Americana Music Association. She co-ordinates the SAC’s Leamington/Windsor Regional Writer’s Group, mentoring other songwriters, and has showcased at the Texas Songwriters Symposium four years in a row, as well as NSAI Tin Pan North Festival, Hugh’s Room, the WinterFolk Blues and Roots Festival in Toronto, the Kingsville Folk Music Festival, and the Folk Music Ontario conference. Francine’s music and songwriting have not only taken her through Canada and the U.S., but the U.K., Switzerland, and Italy.
Canadian rock band Melted Fro is wasting no time filling ears with the unique sound of this, their jet-fueled new single, “Lost At Home” — available now.
This filthy blues song takes on the tumultuous relationship we can have internally with ourselves; the idea is to introduce an objective perspective on being an introvert without sacrificing the energy in the music.
Mission accomplished; the epitome of “gutter rock,” the track boasts the sonic equivalent of dirt and grime usually found on an old gem in your grandfather’s record collection.
Melted Fro’s forthcoming and third album, Honey Pot — set for release August 27th — is far more than just a new collection of songs; the EP is an eclectic cacophony of musical emotions that mimic the highs and lows we all endure. You’re just as likely to navigate somber tones accenting more mature themes, as you are to find lightning rock riffs that are sure to please the soul.
Frontman and renaissance musician Kayne Calder knew he had something special on his hands with this release, saying, “I went into it just wanting to make an old school blues album like The Doors’ L.A. Woman, but ended up coming out with something completely different.”
The polished grit of Calder’s latest musical endeavor is the intense effort that comes with being in total control of your sound. Armed with the necessary tools in his signature basement studio, Calder carefully crafts and conducts every meticulous detail to give Melted Fro its unmistakable identity — and with all of the love that only a multi-disciplined singer/songwriter can provide. “I write, arrange, record, mix/master everything myself, so it’s a lot of work, but I really love music. I couldn’t imagine life without it.”
Melted Fro was founded through the singular effort of Kayne Calder in the small town of Tweed, Ontario, where his musical journey began in 2013. The evolution of his sound would draw from a range of rock genres all through one singular vision. His sonic operation is now located just outside of Peterborough, Ontario, where he performs live with various members to deliver a hard-rockin’ blues set that is embellished with all of the style and character of Melted Fro’s recordings.
“Lost At Home” is available now. Honey Pot is available August 27th, 2021.
Award-winning Toronto-based musician, educator, and “folktivist” Kenny Kirkwood is sharing his heart-truth and hopes for a future of healing in this, his new single featuring singer/activist Alana Bridgewater, “A Oneness Without Sides” — available now.
A thought provoking soul-anthem for peace on Earth, “A Oneness Without Sides” is the third single released in advance of the JUNO Award-winner’s upcoming album project, DEBWEWIN: 13 Songs for 13 Moons.
Debwewin is an Anishinaabemowin expression referring to one’s heart-truth. With the album’s songs created with Indigenous people’s guidance for reconciliation, “A Oneness Without Sides” joins the forthcoming LP’s previous singles, “Let’s Turn the World Around” and “Spirit You.”
“It reflects my journey to acknowledge the heart-wrenching truths about global capitalism and environmental damage,” the Toronto-based artist explains of writing “A Oneness Without Sides” in 2002, during a time of tremendous personal growth and discovering his own debwewin. “Now, in 2021, there is tremendous opportunity for Canadians for collective human healing.
“Following the painful acknowledgment of the past and present genocide happening on Turtle Island, many settlers are seeking peace by connecting with Indigenous ways of knowing and being. I’ve found a few good paths. Build good relations with our treaty partners in Canada. We can help each other find the way back to talking like we’re people.”
Kirkwood’s beautifully honest, forward focused lyrics in “A Oneness Without Sides” are showcased by a supremely talented and lauded collective of Toronto area musicians. Alongside Kirkwood, Gemini Award-nominated actor, singer, and activist Alana Bridgewater lends her powerfully soulful vocals to a string arrangement by Andrew Downing, with Michael Occhipinti on guitar, Carlie Howell on bass and Dave Clark on drums; the track was mixed by Joe Lapinski, and mastered by FEDGE.
“I’m honoured to be a part of this project,” Bridgewater — best known for her role as ‘Killer Queen’ in the Mirvish rock musical, We Will Rock You, as well as roles across a multitude of theatre, film, and television titles. ”I really hope it resonates with the masses.”
“The music conveys a hopeful longing for a better future,” Kirkwood says. “One found through community, and that honours Indigenous people and wise teachings.
“Care for the earth, and celebration of differences…” he adds, underscoring the inspiration for the song’s title. “‘A Oneness Without Sides.’”
Addressing hard societal and political truths in song requires conviction, and Kirkwood credits two very highly regarded Canadian musician-activists with helping him find his courage to do so. “Along with Buffy Sainte-Marie, who is a guiding light for so many worldwide, I grew up listening to Bruce Cockburn — and, at a time in my 30’s when I was looking for the meaning in my music, my parents suggested I take inspiration from his messages and actions.
“I then had a pivotal moment while playing saxophone with Gord Downie in 2003,” Kirkwood recalls. “He answered a fan’s question about whether musicians should be political, saying ‘Artists are citizens, citizens are people. If a mic is thrust in front of your mouth, you can decline to comment, but if you have one, I guess you should let ‘er rip. GIV’ER!’
“That gave me a lot of courage to keep writing and sharing my meta-political views through music,” he continues. “Downie said it would take Canadians 150 years to build an actual nation…I figure we may as well get started. Why wait to heal?”
Some of that writing and sharing has come through Kirkwood’s collaborations over the past decade with Indigenous people on Turtle Island, and worldwide, in working towards reconciliation. He worked with Anishinaabe and Onkwehón:we 2-Spirit people to create “Reconciliation Through Music 2017,” and has performed with award winning Haudenosaunee blues-jazz-rock artists such as Derek Miller, Lacie Hill, Joshua Arden Miller, Cheri Maracle, Murray Porter and The Ollivanders. He has also worked with other notable Canadian artists, including Kim Mitchell, Jacksoul, Kevin Breit, NOJO, and Paul Reddick.
DEBWEWIN: 13 Songs for 13 Moons has been designed to platform and engage the Reconciliation discussion, Kirkwood shares, with each track helping keep that discussion — and others about our world’s future — engaged and vital.
“A Oneness Without Sides” is available now. DEBWEWIN: 13 Songs for 13 Moons is available Spring 2022.
