New music in our library; reviews of new music, old music, albums, and concerts.
The first thing we noticed from Stone River was the awesome artwork for their Euphoria & Lovesick Blues LP. This caught our eye and when we threw it into the CD player we were immediately captivated by the audio as well. We heard distinct notes of Caledonia and Blind Melon mixed together! And this ends up being a winning combination!
Check out their website for more!
http://stonerivermusic.com/
Check out this wicked 3 piece band from Vancouver that sounds awesome! After you check out the tracks above you will wanna go to their bandcamp page and pick up this great album!
http://smashboompow.bandcamp.com/
This podcast was soo much fun to create because we went to see the Gay Nineties play this past Monday in Hamilton and their show was unbelievably awesome! So a little bit of this show is us babbling about how great that show was, then we give them a call before their set at Call the office in London. We chat with Malcolm a bit and then feature a bunch of their brand new tracks from their brand new EP “Liberal Guilt” which is amazing!!! Check this podcast out!
Throughout the past little bit our program has seen more hate mail than in all the 5+ years that we have been doing the show…so much so that we couldn’t fit it all into this show and we will likely have to do a part 2 addressing certain concerns.
In this podcast we issue apologies to various hate mail that we have received, explain the situation from our perspective, hope that we are improving the lives of everyone in the word and play some great tracks to back these issues…..yes, even the Unicorns!
The Wet Secrets, one of our favourite bands, have always put out great video’s going all the way back to their DIY days. We feature two of their newest video’s in this weeks episode of Top Shelf Video, BUT check out all of their great video’s below!
These are the two video’s from the podcast:
These are some other wicked Wet Secret Video’s:
And the DIY AMAZING video for Get your own appartment:
Check out this wicked new band above and their first album “Zubberdust!”
The track listing reminds us initially of the Mars Volta but the music is more Do Make Say Think – esque with a twist! Check it out!
This October we ventured out to Wektoberfest which was an AWESOME day!
I got there after all the Dragons Den festivities went down, but after talking with a few Toronto business owners (who thought I was in one of the bands) they said that the morning was was awesome too! Perhaps they got lucky and Mike Wekerle liked their business!?!
The early part of the festival was a time for business owners to mingle, connect and to pitch their idea and possibly get feedback or funding from the newest dragon Mike Wekerle. Check out the event website here: http://www.wektoberfest.com/
Upon thinking about it later…it would have been good to see if he was interested in a Canadian Arts and Culture promoting Audio Comic…. I didn’t look into all that part before the festival and at one point I had a millionaire (!?!) dancing right beside me! Anyways, I went for the great music he brought in: Kandle and 54-40. Kandle was playing a wicked set (this is the first time I have seen her live) when Mike Wekerle got on stage with Neil Osborne and danced in the background as seen above. The Kandle set was sooo good! I was able to chat with her briefly about it before one of my favourite bands of all time got to the stage!
As always 54-40 played a great flawless set! What was fun, the crowd was challenged to out-sing Mike Wekerle who was singing back-up at one point. The crowd was right into the 54-40 hits and were obviously right into this request. Then to close out the set…I have never seen 54-40 do this before, they invited anyone on the stage to dance with them.
This whole evening was quite exciting and I would have to say that my first Wektoberfest was a HIT! I hope Mike Wekerle will run this event yearly!!!
54-40 has always been a favourite band of the Mano A Mano show, SoundFM and pretty much all of Canada. They are in the midst of recording their new album and “Building Future History”. Right now they are doing a very cool tour where they are playing a bunch of their singles acoustically and giving some cool stories about either the recording or some background information about each of these Canadian classics!
We were lucky enough to check out the last third of the Hamilton show! IT was AWESOME! The stories are great and because the songs are so well written they hold up acoustically and seem to connect even more intimately with the audience.
Although we missed the first two thirds of this show we are not worried – 54-40 is playing here in Waterloo! OCTOBER 19th! More details here: Details
Here is our Second Episode of “Top Shelf Video”, here is another great music Video put out by the Band PUP (formerly Topenga) It is a great video! Check out our “insights” above and then watch this GREAT video below!
In the lineage of “Down The Alley” parties, the ex-owner of “Down the Alley” threw a new party at a new secret location in the Waterloo area that was even more remarkable. Including the re-forming of a few local bands, a rave, food, drink, you name it….it was at Wed-Dig. DJ AdRock and I were lucky enough to be invited and so we had to battle out great tracks pertaining to this event.
This is the third time we recorded the segment for this same video. We wanted to start with this video since it was a tweet by the Gay Nineties that gave us the initial idea in the first place!
Check out our review/commentary of the Gay Nineties video “Letterman” above then be sure to check this great video out below!
This is a reunion that we totally missed out on! The shows were all in August and in the US with only one in Canada but up in Montreal.
We are seriously hoping that the Unicorns will come down to Waterloo and perform here on the Mano A Mano show and continue the great indie rock that we know and love from this band! Check out the podcast above for two tracks recently released that are b-sides from the time of their amazing album “Who will cut our hair when we’re gone?”
Eric Charles is a Canadian Singer/Songwriter and former front man for successful indie band, the Road Poets: a hardworking roots rock act with a devoted following. This seasoned and passionate live performer has stayed true to his indie pop rocker pedigree with his new full length solo studio album, Another Trip. Studded with catchy melodies, ear pleasing rock n’ rock hooks and artful lyrics that repay a close listen. Charles credits some of the following musical influences: Neil Young, Cold Play, The Killers, Radiohead, The Tragically Hip, Son Volt, Oasis, Sloan, Gin Blossoms, City & Colour, Jim Cuddy, Death Cab for Cutie, 55-40, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana, U2, The Jayhawks, REM, Crosby, Stills & Nash and America.
The Eric Charles Band was recently chosen to compete at Kitchener’s Big Music Fest and over the summer Eric and his band’s guitarist / vocalist Nick Maldonado went on a Radio Station Road Trip throughout parts of Ontario and Quebec in support of Another Trip remix – In for The Ride. The single was produced by Gavin Brown (Billy Talent, Big Sugar, Tragically Hip and Sarah Harmer to name a few!) Gavin Brown recently received the prestigious Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award. So Eric and the band were super excited to go down to Toronto’s Noble Studios to work with Brown on the In for the Ride rock remix. And the radio stations have embraced In for the Ride, which is now receiving mainstream airplay.
As the last stop of his radio station tour, Eric Charles returned to Sound FM as my very special guest. We had a wide ranging chat from the first time he picked up a guitar, to Eric’s latest big news. The band just finished playing a highly successful concert at Kitchener’s Eidelweiss Tavern, with musical guests Jessie Treneer, and Henry Taylor. And now The Eric Charles Band has been invited to perform at Toronto’s legendary live concert venue The Horseshoe Tavern this Tuesday night Sept 30! For more on Eric go to http://eric-charles.com/ and here is the link to the piece I wrote for Waterloo Region Record’s Nightlife. http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/4626653-big-music-fest-s-shot-at-the-big-time/
You heard it here first. I think Eric is another musician destined for the Toppermost of the Poppermost! – Coral FM.
Listen here for my chat with Eric Charles of The Eric Charles Band. The interview also features select tracks from Another Trip, and Eric’s In for the Ride remix, plus a live acoustic performance in the studio.
Last week Mano A Mano brought to you the exclusive interview with Paul Jago from the night of the Imbibe concert brought to you by SoundFM/Mano A Mano and Lake of Bays Brewing Company. Now we bring you the concert!
There are a few songs missing from the second set but just wait because Mano A Mano will be releasing video of some of these missing tracks soon! Also, check out the beer list below! Most notably the Mano A Mano Pomegranate Cerveza that was on tap that night and SOLD OUT!!!!
Just before the epic Paul Jago concert at Imbibe in Kitchener, where he unearthed the music of the Gandharvas, we were lucky enough to sit down with Paul and pick his brain about The Gandharvas, Said Dog, Balls Deluxe and more! Check it all out in the interview podcast!
The Gandharvas live concert will be aired over the next few weeks on the Mano A Mano show!
You can hear the awards party above with some great tracks rocked out for each of the winners…But here is your list of winners:
Local Hero Award
2013 – DJ Zach – Highbrau Radio
2014 – Moses Bogart – Str8 outta the pit
Community Champion Award
2013 – Non-Toxic Airwaves
2014 – The Coral FM show with DJ Coral
SoundFM Soldier for behind the scenes work
2013 – Lieutenant Dang & The Nattyphysicist for the station move
2014 – Lieutenant Dang & Dr. Mark for renewing the CRTC liscense
The Most Dead Air Award
2013 – Megaseg
2014 – Airtime
The Best/Worst Teen Moustache Award
2013 – DJ JD
2014 – DJ Jeff E Jeff
The DJ AdRock memorial award for exceptional DJing
2012 – DJ Steel
2013 – DJ Saviour
2014 – The Nattyphysicist
The Freshest Beats Award for the best new program
2013 – Friday Night Rockabilly
2014 – The Electrifying Sessions with DJ Jeff E Jeff
The Best Classic Show
2013 – Mano A Mano
2014 – Mano A Mano
Paul Jago will be rocking out two sets of new and old Gandharvas tracks at Imbibe this August 30th! Go back to school with a BANG this year and make sure to check out this show!
In addition to that Lake of Bays Brewing Company will be holding a Tap Take over! (with a possible one off beer!!! DO NOT MISS OUT!)
Hailing from Waterloo, Ontario, The Royal Streets featuring Sam Keating, drums, Eric Stirtzinger, guitar, Algeron Friolet, Guitar/Vocals, Jillian Dowding, vocals, and Michael Demsey, guitar, have already begun to make their mark on the Canadian folk-rock music scene. Following a year and half of consisting Eastern Canada touring, The Royal Streets released their debut studio effort, Kings & Queen, on March 6th 2014 with the help of Catherine North Studios and producer Dan Hosh whose credits include Canadian acts like City & Colour, Whitehorse, and Rose Cousins.
Although the four of us have gone to school and been friends with each other for the majority of our lives, it was not until recently that we decided combine our efforts musically. The Royal Streets is our way of demonstrating hours and hours of hard work mixed with a variety of musical influences and our own life experiences. We are based out of Waterloo, Ontario and hope to share these sounds with all of you. Have a listen and join the riot, we are The Royal Streets.
They are now on the verge of their first Western tour and I am sure it will not be their last.
**This is strange mix for this podcast – part of it is phone chat, and part of it is in studio. The reason for this – my recorder did not properly record the live broadcast, (with Jillian, Michael, and Al who also sang a new song Sour Diesel) so I salvaged what I could of it and then mixed in the phone chat that I did with Jillian and Michael the day before. And then I mixed in some of the great tunes from their latest CD Kings and Queen. Ah, technology… ain’t it great when it works? – Coral.**
Catch The Royal Streets at The Wax (beside Bobby O’Brien’s in downtown Kitchener) with special guests Amberwood and very special guests 1951 featuring their good pal / producer Dan Hosh from Hamilton’s Catherine North Studios.
For more info check out The Royal’s Facebook page or http://www.theroyalstreets.com/
One of Canada’s hottest bands right now is Royal Canoe and they came by the Mano A Mano and Electrifying Session for an interview and to enjoy an abundance of Lake of Bays Brewing Company Rock Cut Beverages.
Check out their Website and Music here:
www.royalcanoe.com
In the podcast we ask the band never before asked questions and gain some interesting insights into this Rock Cut Feature Band.
Look out for these guys! It was a lot of fun to put together this little podcast. This is a segment from Coral FM July 30 featuring The Suns original song Soul to Waste which was beautifully documented by Phil Bast – a Howling good time! And I thought I would play some Bill Burroughs for The Suns lead singer Scott Metzger – Splat! – Coral FM
(sound file not available)
DJ Adrock always talks about Frightened Rabbit. So there isn’t much more so say about this Rock Cut Feature band called “Owl John” other than it is great and it has members of Frightened Rabbit! Check it out!
As you can hear above initially we (Mano A Mano) boycotted Big Music Festival when they refused to allow the Mano A Mano show to have media passes. Organizers of the Festival said “You guys aren’t big enough to have media passes”. Things changed when Slash refused to perform until we (Mano A Mano) got our “All Access” media passes.
Both Days the weather was just beautiful! First thing we did when we got in there was hit the food tent to see what the artists were eating. I believe that the “All Access” area was catered by The Waterloo Inn. There were many self-serve platters of various salads, breads to make sandwiches, etc. Then the entree’s were a choice between a beef medallion seen here and a chicken breast and some mashed potatoes. Everything looked good and I went with the beef. There were an assortment of Gatorade, Poweraide, coffee, Bob Marley drinks, water, pop etc.
The first day we got there just in time for Moist who in our opinion stole the Saturday show. Their new songs were great and the classics sounded even better this time around.
The second day we were a little braver, and had our camera’s ready. We got there just in time for Big Wreck and walked up and got backstage. This was the most exciting part of the entire weekend. Seeing things from the back of the stage with that many people there and then having the bands walk past was very cool! All the techie’s in the back were very nice! Big Wreck didn’t acknowledge any of us and just walked past but I’m sure they were just “in the zone”.
Next up this guy who was very unfriendly and seemingly like head of security started tightening things up. This was understandable since Slash was up next and then Aerosmith. The only problem I had with this was the way that he was going about doing it….threatening people with kicking them out and having them arrested – it seemed a bit excessive. Anyways, suddenly our “All Access” passes didn’t get us “All Access” anymore…it was more limited to a small section.
I was particularly excited to see Slash, because The Age of Electric front man, Todd Kerns was going to be playing Bass for them. They didn’t want to talk to anyone before the show and their Van pulled up right to the side of the stage (where we were no longer allowed) They got out went right to the stage and put on the best performance of the Sunday night show. They played a bunch of new songs off Slash’s new album and then finished off the set with a few Guns & Roses songs which really got the crowd going. 
We have a photo here of Todd Kerns (the guy who looks like he is terrified to go down the ramp) They decide to go the back way to walk past the “All Access” people so that they could snap a few shots. We were able to get close enough to take a shot of Slash
Then everyone jumped in the van. Todd Kerns noticed my Age of Electric T-shirt and came back, shook my hand and said “Nice Shirt” and then hopped in the van and they were gone. It was pretty exciting! I have met Todd Kerns many times and he is one of my favourite artists and his brief gesture just reinstated why.
I feel that the American bands create a separation between “celebrity” and “radio person” or “celebrity” and “listener” where they are guarded from us. They will allow you to enjoy their music but don’t want you to get too close. For me this makes the music less personal. Although Aerosmith played their stuff perfectly, it felt like a machine up there playing the music that I had no personal connection to. Todd Kerns reaching out (even just briefly) reminded me why I like Canadian music because I feel like the artists are more genuine towards their fans and will do things like sign an autograph or take time to not only perform but also take a photo etc. to make it more of an experience for the die hard fans.
Anyways, next up was Aerosmith. They were great! Equally great was the chocolate cake in the food tent that we were now allowed back into.
At this point I Facebooked Todd Kerns and told him about the great chocolate cake that was happening in the All Access food tent while we enjoyed Aerosmith! I was hoping he would make an appearance to get a photo opportunity. Perhaps the Slash entourage was already out of there or off enjoying Aerosmith somewhere, unfortunately he didn’t show up.
All together it was a great festival! Aerosmith closed things out playing “Dream on”, which I was especially excited to hear and it was a great version of the song. (at least this is how it ended for me as I rushed to beat the crowd to get out of there)
The most disappointing part of the night was how all the people parked (at least where we were) on a side road, all got $20 parking tickets for parking in the same spot for over 3 hours. Who knew! The city of Kitchener made out like bandits not only on Big Music Fest renting out the park but also on all the people attending who now have to pay an additional $20 on top of their possibly $130 tickets. That by-law officer can take the rest of the year off because he probably went well beyond his yearly quota.
This weeks feature is not just one band as it usually is….Last Gang Records sent us their new releases moments before the show and both of these bands are among our favourite Canadian bands so we had to release both of these as our feature at the same time!
To top that off….both of these tracks are AWESOME! Check it out in the podcast above.
These are the tracks I played today on The Hump radio show. Check out the links to find out more about the artists!
Elsa Jayne – Golden (KW)
Will Currie and the Country French – Ontario (KW)
Richard Garvey – Prelude/Save the Arts, Cut the War/Folklore (KW)
Stacey Y – Music (Toronto)
El Gremio – Manifiesto (Chile)
Alysha Brilla – Never Gonna Get Me Back (KW)
Safe As Houses – We’ll Be Dancin’ (KW)
Quiet in the Land – Georgia (KW)
Onion Honey – Frankie (KW)
Fannon Holland – To Whom It May Concern (spoken word, Guelph)
Jesse Maranger – So I Love You As You Are (KW)
Check out this weeks Rock Cut Feature band of the Week. Another band that despises vowels and also has GREAT music. DWNTWN!
