Hot off the heels of their latest release We Are The Same, The Tragically Hip are set to rock Virgin Festival Halifax July 4th.
Critically acclaimed for over two decades, The Tragically Hip has been at the heart of the Canadian music scene for evoking a strong emotional connection between their music and their fans that remains unrivalled in this country. A five-piece group of friends including Robby Baker (guitar), Gordon Downie (vocals, guitar), Johnny Fay (drums), Paul Langlois (guitar) and Gord Sinclair (bass), who grew up in Kingston, Ontario, The Hip has achieved the enviable status of a band that enjoys both mass popularity with over 8 million albums sold worldwide, as well as peer recognition through 31 Juno Award Nominations and 11 wins.
', 'links':[{ 'link':'http://www.thehip.com', 'text':'OFFICIAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/thetragicallyhip', 'text':'MYSPACE' }] }, 'offspring': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'THE OFFSPRING', 'bio': 'The Offspring\'s metal-inflected punk became a popular sensation in 1994, selling over four million albums on an independent record label. While the group\'s credentials and approach follow the indie rock tradition of the \'80s, sonically the Offspring sound more like an edgy, hard-driving heavy metal band, with their precise, pulsing power chords and Dexter Holland\'s flat vocals. Featuring Holland, guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman, bassist Greg Kriesel, and drummer Ron Welty, the Offspring released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Four years later, their second album, Ignition, became an underground hit, setting the stage for the across-the-board success of 1994\'s Smash. The Nirvana sound-alike "Come Out and Play," the first single from the album, became an MTV hit in the summer of 1994, which paved the way to radio success. The Offspring were played on both alternative and album rock stations, confirming their broad-based appeal. "Self Esteem," the second single, followed the same soft verse/loud chorus formula and stayed on the charts nearly twice as long as "Come Out and Play." The group got offers from major labels, yet chose to stay with Epitaph. While they were able to play arenas in the U.S., their success didn\'t translate in foreign countries. Nevertheless, the band\'s popularity continued to grow in America, as "Gotta Get Away" became another radio/MTV hit in the beginning of 1995. The Offspring recorded a version of the Damned\'s "Smash It Up" for the Batman Forever soundtrack in the summer of that year; it kept the group on the charts as the bandmembers worked on their third album. Following a prolonged bidding war and much soul-searching, the Offspring decided to leave Epitaph Records in 1996 for Columbia Records. The move was particularly controversial within the punk community, and many artists on the Epitaph roster, including Pennywise and owner Brett Gurewitz, criticized the band. After much delay, the Offspring finally released their Columbia debut, Ixnay on the Hombre, in February of 1997. Expectations for the record were high and it did receive good reviews, but Ixnay on the Hombre failed to become a crossover hit on the level of Smash, and the group also lost a significant portion of its hardcore punk audience due to the album\'s major-label status. Americana followed in 1998, scoring the hit "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)." In mid-2000, the Offspring made controversial headlines with their decision to offer Conspiracy of One free of charge via the Internet prior to the initial November release date. Sony Music did not adhere to such a move and threatened a lawsuit; therefore, the band nixed plans to release the album in such a manner. Individual singles, however, were made available on the band\'s official website and other music-related sites such as /MTV Online. The Offspring returned in 2003 with Splinter. The album was released through Columbia, proving the band\'s flouting of the record biz hadn\'t soured the major labels. It also featured the single "Hit That," which returned to the smarmy, pop-referential feel of "Pretty Fly." The Offspring toured the world in support of Splinter, and in the process they hit nearly every continent at least once. They returned in June 2005 with a greatest-hits set; in addition to their major hits, it included the new track "Can\'t Repeat." In 2008, after several delays, the band returned with its first studio release in four and a half years, releasing the highly anticipated Rise and Fall, Rage. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
', 'links':[{ 'link':'http://www.offspring.com', 'text':'OFFICIAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/offspring', 'text':'MYSPACE' }] }, 'metric': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'METRIC', 'bio': 'Metric may be one of the most road-tested indie rock bands of the past decade, and Emily Haines et al continue to churn out art-rock anthems like butter on the farm. Dynamic, confessional verses with melodies that chill as much as they hook, bass and synth drive home the feeling that we are living in our dreams.
', 'links':[{ 'link':'http://www.ilovemetric.com', 'text':'OFFICIAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/metricband', 'text':'MYSPACE' }] }, 'handsome': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'HANDSOME FURS', 'bio': 'Handsome Furs are not a message band and they are not political, but Handsome Furs are a message band and they are political. The juxtaposition of cold, metronomic, electronic beats, courtesy of Alexei Perry, with the jagged, dissonant and frail, broken or breaking, guitars of Dan Boeckner portray what it is to be a human being at the bottom of the 21st century. It underlines the confusion you feel as your best friends are conveyed to you via a series of ones and zeros passing through lines and cables and microwaves; the same confusion felt witnessing the pure, wholesome thrill of a band of musicians pouring their hearts out on stage, through someone\'s cell phone as pixelated streaming video; the profound and bitter frustration of your long-distance relationship with the world up against a burning, alcohol-soaked sunrise as you admit some things you never thought you would; your constant feelings of inadequacy intertwined with the omnipotence modern technology grants us all. You are there, yet somehow you never are. As we all are and are not. You are left with a rhythmic and empowering programmed beat interrupted by the warm, reverberating fuzz tone of vibrating strings on wood hit hard enough to shatter skyscrapers. Over it all a perfectly imperfect voice roars images of landscapes, maps of forgotten continents ripe with history, and you are left feeling as human and alive and wide-eyed as you should be every single morning
', 'links':[{ 'link':'http://www.handsomefurs.com/', 'text':'OFFICIAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/handsomefurs', 'text':'MYSPACE' }] }, 'dinosaurjr': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'DINOSAUR JR', 'bio': 'Here\'s what you do: Get them to sit down and say, "Listen. Just listen." Then you crank the Dino. I\'ve been getting people to listen to Dinosaur (Jr.) for 25 years now. It used to be my job.
In 1982, when we were in High School, I was the kid who couldn\'t play an instrument, so I booked the gigs. J told me where he thought it might be cool to play, and then I made the phone calls. Back then, the band was Deep Wound: J on drums, Lou on guitar, Scotty on bass, Charlie on vocals. Hardcore punk: fun, loud, fast as fuck. But I wasn\'t making people listen to the band then. For hardcore shows at The Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield or Gallery East in Boston, kids just got together and put on a show. Everyone pretty much knew what to expect.
By 1984, Deep Wound had fizzled. The interim band, Mogo, was over after only one gig on the Amherst Common. It featured Charlie screaming "Fuck the cops!" before the plug was pulled, a total high-point in my personal catalog of rock-n-roll moments. Then came Dinosaur: Murph on drums, Lou moving to bass, and J bringing all his inner Moon and Bonham (Keith and John) to the guitar. And with Dinosaur came the tunes.
The first cassette I had to take around to get gigs for Dinosaur was a raw but vital sketch of two tunes, "Forget the Swan" and "Cats in a Bowl," recorded in J\'s basement on a crappy old tape recorder. J and I were students at UMass but we spent a lot of time at Hampshire College, where the kids seemed hipper and more inclined to dig what Dinosaur was laying down. But this was not always the case. The guy I went to talk to for a slot on Hampshire\'s Spring Concert line-up, half-way through listening to "Forget the Swan," started talking about how great his own lame 60\'s retro-poseur band was. In the middle of "Forget the Swan"! I was incredulous. We did not get the gig, but the real disappointment was that this seemingly tuned-in guy didn\'t get it. Listen to the lead riff on "Forget the Swan" again. If you really listen, it will haunt you. This guy did not listen.
And once you get it, you can\'t do without it. For me, Dinosaur\'s tunes are indispensable; they are songs that have been rattling around my head for as long as the band has been playing them. "Repulsion," from the first record, still knocks me out. The second record, "You\'re Living All Over Me," is an exception in that I can\'t listen to any one tune on that record without needing to listen to the whole damned thing. J once said that he writes songs that he himself would want to listen to, and he\'s got great taste. I never took the Cure seriously until I heard what these guys did with "Just Like Heaven," a monster of a cover that hits the level of what Hendrix did for Dylan with "All Along the Watchtower."
When Brian at Bleemusic floated the original Dinosaur line-up reunion idea a few years ago, I was dubious. J, Lou, and Murph never had a "stable" marriage to begin with. But, of course, the tensions within their layered relationships as a band helped to make them so insanely powerful. Kids seeing the band on the YLAOM tour would come backstage after the show, dazed and transformed. It wasn\'t just the wall of J\'s Marshall-driven guitar or Lou and Murph locked in as tight as any bass/drum duo ever has been. It was vitality of the tunes themselves, delivered with emotion distilled to rock-bottom rock-n-roll essentials.
After examining it from all angles, the guys decided the reunion thing was worth a try. The thawing out period was especially interesting. At one point I dug up photos from when we were kids, and now, as grownups sitting around at an Indian restaurant with spouses and houses and lives that are more-or-less "established," it felt comfortable and right. And then came the tunes again.
"Beyond" was the rejoinder to the worry that Dino was merely flogging the back catalog as a reunion gimmick, and now here\'s "Farm." I\'ve had this record for a week now, playing it constantly; it\'s pure Dino, great Dino. These tunes are now in my head for good, along with all their other tunes. This is what these guys do best, and they are really good at what they do. So do someone a favor: sit them down and say, "Listen." Then crank the Dino.
Jon Fetler
Hadley, MA 2009
Jon Fetler lives in Hadley with his four children and his wife, a girl he put on the guest list in Bedford, England, during the Bug tour of 1988. That same year, he was unanimously voted Worst Roadie of the Year by his fellow roadies in Rapeman and Band of Susans.
', 'links':[{ 'link':'http://www.dinosaurjr.com/', 'text':'OFFICIAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/dinosaurjr', 'text':'MYSPACE' }] }, 'heyrosetta': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'HEY ROSETTA!', 'bio': 'Riding on the waves of their acclaimed live show & 2007\'s Plan Your Escape EP, Hey Rosetta! surges forward with Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood). Based in St. John\'s, NL, the six-piece group is comprised of Tim Baker (vocals/piano/guitar), Adam Hogan (guitar), Josh Ward (bass), Phil Maloney (drums), Kinley Dowling (violin), and Romesh Thavanathan (cello).
Recorded in the dead of winter in two East Coast harbour towns with producer and singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman, Into Your Lungs began with a beautiful naivety and confidence. An \'off the stage\' feel and vigor reminiscent of the bands powerful live performances rooted the recording sessions and everything was bred from and expanded from there. Conceptually, the new record is a shift from Tim\'s earlier compositions often written in isolation within his bedroom, to a new depth and space that comes from experiencing life on the road as a touring band. The new record packs more grit while allowing the bands infectious energy and vulnerability to flow freely.
', 'links':[{ 'link':'http://www.heyrosetta.com', 'text':'OFFICIAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/heyrosetta', 'text':'MYSPACE' }] }, 'plantsandanimals': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'PLANTS AND ANIMALS', 'bio': 'Like all great flora and fauna, Montreal trio Plants and Animals know that evolution is a simultaneously delicate and rough endeavor. It\'s important to have solid roots and serious chops (which this bands has in folds), but you\'ve also got to know when to go out on an newly sprouted limb that\'s just steady enough to blow minds. And that\'s pretty much what they do.
The first seeds of the band were originally planted on Canada\'s salty-aired East Coast in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Young Warren C. Spicer and Matthew \'the Woodman\' Woodley had begun playing together in high-school bands. The sea winds eventually carried them through the vast plains of Quebec to Montreal (a journey they would come to know intimately as the years wore on). It was in the now hallowed halls of Concordia University\'s music department that they would come upon Nicolas Basque, a strange francophone native that shared their musical inclinations (and a trappeur\'s finely-tuned taste in cuisine). It wasn\'t until then that the three boys truly became men, signified their union with a name, and that Plants and Animals truly emerged from the wildlife.
By 2003 they had bat out an instrumental menagerie of song-like folk-beasts, and put some of them to tape in the form of a recording that local label Ships at Night would later release. By 2005 the three young men were taming the sprawling wilderness of their sound and sculpting real songs, as Spicer also lead the way to a (hitherto unheard of) vocal domination of their material—as if he had been possessed by the ghost of some recently departed soul singer. During this time Spicer and Woodley would occasionally stop by to care for some of the neighbour\'s Timber, the Socalled…Katie Moore\'s of the hood, and play. All the while, the Halifax-born were jamming and pruning with Basque, harnessing the band and its songs like a wild horse. Some called it post-classic-rock. Some called it folk-prog. Those who knew better didn\'t say anything at all.
In the summer of 2005 they carried a 24-track bull up the stairs of Spicer\'s apartment and split their time between their new makeshift studio there (aka Le Carilion Tropical), and the Treatment Room. By fall 2006 the foundations of what would later become Parc Avenue were layed, the band was playing shows (and singing), and a relationship with Montreal label Secret City Records was formed. By summer 2007 the once-monster was complete, temporarily tamed, housed, and ready to be unleashed again upon the world as the blossoming love-letter that is Parc Avenue.
', 'links':[{ 'link':'http://www.plantsandanimals.ca/', 'text':'OFFICAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/plantsandanimals', 'text':'MYSPACE' }] }, 'arkells': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'ARKELLS', 'bio': 'Sharing a love of the kind of raw, soulful "Springsteenesque" rock that inspires a teen to pick up a guitar and start a band, the Arkells formed in Hamilton, ON, in 2006. The ambitious and prolific five-piece quickly found its groove, and recorded debut EP "Deadlines" in 2007. From the strum of the first track, the six-song EP showcased the Arkells masterful blending of traditional blues hooks mixed with modern rock-laden riffs, and a touch of classic Motown era rhythms. Their catchy melodies and unbridled energy live garnered critical acclaim with NOW Magazine describing the Arkells as having "an awesome muscular quality that sets it apart from the output of so many of their sad-sack indie rock peers..."
Since the release of "Deadlines" the band has traveled across Canada sharing stages with Bedouin Soundclash, Matt Mays & El Torpedo, Sam Roberts Band, Constantines, Alexisonfire, and City and Colour. More recent performances include a stint opening for legendary rockers Black Crowes, MTV Live and V-Fest. With live shows fueling the buzz created by the EP, the band quickly caught the ear of Dine Alone Records (home to City and Colour, Bedouin Soundclash, Attack in Black and Black Lungs) who re-released "Deadlines" digitally in March 2008.
The Arkells\' are gearing up for the release of their first full-length album titled "Jackson Square" to be released October 28, 2008 on Dine Alone. Featuring undeniably catchy tracks like Oh, The Boss Is Coming, No Champagne Socialist, and Ballad of Hugo Chavez, "Jackson Square" captures the essence of the band\'s hard-hitting live show and their boundless passion for making meaty, rootsy rock that any listener can relate to.
', 'links':[{ 'link':'http://www.arkells.ca', 'text':'OFFICAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/arkellsmusic', 'text':'MYSPACE' }] }, 'inflightsafety': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'IN FLIGHT SAFETY', 'nophoto': 'true', 'bio': 'Bio coming soon!
', 'links':[/*{ 'link':'http://www.futureoftheleft.com', 'text':'OFFICIAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/futureoftheleft', 'text':'MYSPACE' }*/] }, 'dogday': { 'stage':'stageone', 'name': 'DOG DAY', 'nophoto': 'true', 'bio': 'Bio coming soon!
', 'links':[/*{ 'link':'http://www.futureoftheleft.com', 'text':'OFFICIAL SITE' }, { 'link':'http://www.myspace.com/futureoftheleft', 'text':'MYSPACE' }*/] } }