Lynn Miles plays the Greenbank Folk Music Society Jan 21 2023

Will McGuirk January 6, 2023

By Will McGuirk

The Greenbank Folk Music Society launches the new year with a performance by one of Canada’s finest, singer/songwriter Lynn Miles. Miles will be accompanied by Keith Glass (Prairie Oyster). The show takes place at the Greenbank Centennial Hall, Greenbank, on Saturday Jan. 21 2023. Also on the bill will be Benj Rowland, one half of the Mayhemingways, who will be supporting their performance.

Tickets are $35 and are available in person at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge and P O E Design, in Port Perry. Tickets can also be reserved by phoning 905-985-8351.

Doors open: 7:30 PM. Showtime: 8 pm.

Gigs This Week: Interview with Stephen Stanley, plays Kops Records Dec 22

Will McGuirk December 21, 2022

By Will McGuirk

So great to have Stephen Stanley do a show at Kops Records in Oshawa. Thursday Dec 22 2022. Stanley will be playing with Chris Bennet. Opening is Evan Rotella. Performance starts at 5:30 p.m. We had a catch-up emailer with Stephen.

Slowcity.ca: Obv folks know you because of LOTL but you have been a successful solo singer/ songwriter for decades - can you give me an idea of what you have been doing in terms of performances and tours, and albums released?

Stephen Stanley: “This past year ended up being a big surprise on the touring front. Guitarist Chris Bennett and I headed out to BC and The Yukon for a bunch of shows this past August opening for New York singer/songwriter Willie Nile and his band. That felt so much like the old days with LOTL - getting to spend an extended time with another band and forming strong friendships and memories. Also, we were greeted consistently by audiences that were more than expressive about the return to live music.

“Then in October, Hugh Christopher Brown, Ron Hawkins and I - put together a unique one-off tour through Ontario and parts of Quebec. Playing songs from all three of our catalogues, with a slightly different interpretation in each case. This was a soul affirming trip, playing to packed houses, we started out with the goal of a two hour show and by the time the tour wrapped up in Toronto, we had played somewhere in the range of 3 hours and twenty minutes...

“Spell that off with a large clutch of shows in the Ontario corridor with my band (The Stephen Stanley Band) and as a duo with Chris Bennett, this has ended up being a very successful year of live music for us, beyond anything we could have imagined from where things were when the year started.

“My band made our first record, Jimmy & the Moon, released in early 2018, on the label Wolfe Island Records. The label is a wonderful artist collective, and the recordings are overseen by Hugh Christopher Brown on Wolfe Island... Frankly, the next album, which will be called "Before the Collapse of the Hive" should have been done by now. The remote location and the pandemic didn't really work in our favour as there were at least two very long periods of time when we had to put recording on hold. But, the album is almost done, and I'm hoping it will be out before spring 2023.”

SC: The Radio show is exciting, how did that come about and what do you think you would like it to grow into?

SS: “Northern Wish on Hunters Bay Radio in Huntsville, Ontario... Yes, I love doing the show. It has become a weekly search to find new Canadian music that isn't really getting the mainstream treatment (although, so much of it should be). I love it because it has changed my listening habits. I was someone who would find one or two albums at a time and listen to them until I couldn't stand them anymore. . . Now, I'm listening to everything. The show has really opened my eyes and ears...

“It really stemmed from my long relationship and love with Muskoka. I worked in the area for five years when I was a kid. Made some lifelong friends that are still a big part of my life today. . . Always being in the area, I would regularly listen to Hunters Bay Radio, and I liked the format, the diversity of shows, music and subject matter. That led to doing their artist-based one-off hour called "My Tunes" - programming an hour of music with songs I was listening to at the time. I really enjoyed that, so I reached out to the station manager and said, "if you ever need someone to fill in. . . " and I think it was a couple months later that I got the weekly gig. . .

“I just delivered my 91st episode this past week... And where would I like it to go... Well, this is a volunteer position as HBR is a community radio station. I would love the idea of doing more in radio, but I consider that a pipe dream, so I will likely ride this wave for as long as it feels fun and fulfilling. . .”

SC: You seem to be around East Ontario a lot, not just cottage country but PEC and Wolfe Island too, where are you based and why there? is being in the country more attractive than the city, and how does this affect or influence your songwriting?

SS: “I love the last part of this question, because it really made me consider the reality that I am a city boy, and my songwriting is mostly affected by living in the city. I'm still based in Toronto, but as you said, I have been spending a lot of time outside of the city. Especially while making records on Wolfe Island. By extension PEC somehow became a hotbed of gigs for us this past year, so I was there a few times playing and hanging out with friends. . .

“Honestly, I think I write about the people in my life more than anything else, and that's a borderless experience, so it likely doesn't matter where I am. . . This next album is a group of songs with an overriding worldview, more so than I have ever done before, but it's still through the lens of the people who I'm surrounded with. I have always been a write what you know person. It just so happens that for the last many years, I have really liked the idea of creating music outside of the city. Where studio life doesn't feel like a 9-5 job, and you immerse yourself in a lifestyle that includes recording but also so many other things that inform the process. . .”

Gigs This Week: Interview with Nerima, they play Kops Records Dec 23

Will McGuirk December 21, 2022

By Will McGuirk

Our pals in Nerima are gigging a lot of late, including a performance at Kops Records Oshawa Friday Dec 23 2022. More shows for the indie pop band is great to see, they did came of age so to speak during the pandemic

“We're absolutely loving the amount of shows we've been able to play recently, they're so much fun!” Nerima says. “Having not been able to perform any live music over lockdown, it really feels surreal to us that we're actually able to get on stage and play to real people. It's like we're finally doing something that we've dreamed of as a band, and because it was locked off due to quarantine, it feels that much more rewarding!”

Rewarding enough that the band plans to continue on in to 2023.

“This past year has been a lot of us testing the waters and taking our first big steps, so we're going to take what we've learned and apply it to what we do next year! Our release schedule, our sound, our aesthetic, our shows, we're aiming for all of it to be more concrete. We'll also make sure you're able to hear and see us in this fresh, new era by touring as much as we can in the summer!”

Hearing them live is of course the best option, they are such a gang together, but recordings are ongoing and a new EP is in the works.

“Right after our debut EP came out, we were already working on new songs and brainstorming the sounds for our next release. We'd had ideas that weren't going to fit on HAVE MORE FUN, as they were a bit darker and more grunge, so this time around we're trying to follow the feel of those previous ideas.

“We're for sure going to have our next EP out in 2023, and we really feel more confident about our plans this time around,” the band says.

Gigs This Week: Jolly Shwally Holiday at Kops Records Oshawa

Will McGuirk December 19, 2022

By Will McGuirk

Wednesday Dec 21 - Rhyme Jaws, Gal George Gjurin

Thursday Dec 22 - Stephen Stanley, Evan Rotella

Friday Dec 23 - Nerima

All shows are PWYC with a suggested $20 donation to the band.
Kops Records is located at 156 Simcoe St S. Oshawa. Shows start at 5:30 p.m.

Gigs This Week: Converts at the Horseshoe Tavern

Will McGuirk December 19, 2022

By Will McGuirk

Converts at the Horseshoe Tavern Friday Dec 23 2022. Tickets here.

Gigs This Week: Barenaked Ladies at Massey Hall

Will McGuirk December 19, 2022

By Will McGuirk

Barenaked Ladies at Massey Hall Thursday Dec 22 2022. Tickets here.

Gigs This Week: Jerry Leger at Kops Records Oshawa Sat Dec 17

Will McGuirk December 13, 2022

By Will McGuirk

Jerry Leger is such a student of music history he will know exactly what it means when I say the Big Time is just around the corner. For those unlike Jerry who don’t, it was a favourite saying of the late Ronnie Hawkins when chatting with his Hawks, the gang of lads destined to be The Band among them.

Jerry Leger also knows the big time is around the corner, he has been championed by the great Ron Sexsmith, who called him one of his favourite songwriters, but while Jerry is waiting to turn that corner, he will continue to write and sing and release records, winning fans one show, one song at a time. He has, if you include his band projects, 16 albums so far. Thats a long corner.

His latest album is Nothing Pressing, witty title given the state of the record industry during the pandemic. He has just issued too, two Christmas songs; his own composition, Christmas Without You, and a cover of the Kinks ‘Father Christmas’

Jerry will be performing these along with others from his catalogue when he performs at Kops Records in Oshawa Saturday Dec 17, kicking off the store’s Jolly Shwally Holidays.

Christmas brings back joyful memories he says, but some bittersweet.

“Fondest memories, Christmas mornings with my older brothers and parents, then we'd go to my Grandparents, and that would be a packed house of a lot of my Mom's family. Another fond memory is waking up before my brothers and having a hot chocolate with my Dad. He would let me open one present while we waited for the others.

Also, when I was 11 or 12, I got all The Beatles albums on CD in that breadbox-style set. That was pretty exciting! I had all the vinyl but they were the Canadian versions and the CDs were my introduction to the UK albums, the way The Beatles intended them. At the time it was the happiest day of my life!”

Jerry has been happy too to get back on the road after the pandemic restrictions. He toured Germany, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, England, Scotland and Spain, and has been gearing up for more Canadian dates but like many artists the cost of touring adds up.

“We had a great and successful 5-week Spring tour overseas, while taking precautions. Maybe we got lucky, I'm sure there was some luck involved. Back here in Canada, it's been hard to get out on the road again, mainly due to touring costs like vehicle rentals and hotels being so inflated. I'm hoping that'll change for all of us, especially those that don't have a lot of money.,” he says.

The Kops Records show starts at 5:30 pm. It is open to the public, PWYC with a suggested donation of $20.

Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Spotlight - Evangeline Gentle

Will McGuirk December 12, 2022

By Will McGuirk

“It has been challenging to write about the ‘Gay Bar’ video in the wake of the recent mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. I can’t help but imagine the video’s cast of queer people – including my sister, my best friends, my peers, killed in a similar mass shooting. I feel righteous anger and profound grief, and it is because of these feelings that I want viewers who aren’t queer to imagine this: the beauty and joy of us dancing in this video, of celebrating our lives, destroyed by a gunman, like those who murdered 5 at Club Q in Colorado Springs and 49 at Pulse in Orlando.

“But this is not all that I feel. I also feel deep love and gratitude for my community, and eternal hope for our collective healing. This part of me wants viewers to see only the celebration of our lives, the warmth of our joy, and our resistance against acts of queer-phobic violence and terror.” - Evangeline Gentle

Evangeline Gentle is a Scottish-Canadian folk-pop singer/songwriter based in Peterborough, ON. Her debut self-titled album was produced by Jim Bryson.