Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
May 27 & 28 Duane Steele
Friday and Saturday
Duane Steele is among Canada's top country recording artists and songwriters with a professional career dating back to 1984.
Born and raised in the small Alberta Peace Country town of Hines Creek, music was a big part of Duane's life growing up. He fondly remembers parties at his parents home with everyone sitting around singing and playing various instruments. As teenagers Duane and his cousins started a band spending summers and weekends playing for weddings and community dances.
In 1984 Duane's professional career began, fronting the band Rock 'N' Horse. Their album, Highways, was released in 1991. Despite top 20 singles, non stop touring, and a Juno nomination for Country Band of the Year Rock 'N' Horse disbanded in 1993. Duane took this opportunity to pursue his goals as a recording artist and songwriter, landing a publishing contract with Warner Chapel in Nashville. This full time job as a staff songwriter allowed him the privilege of working with and learning from some of the most talented writers from the United States and Canada
In 1995 a showcase at Canadian Country Music Week in Calgary resulted in his signing a recording contract with Mercury Canada. Duane's solo debut album "PO Box 423" was released in February 1996 and saw his first three singles go Top 5 on the Canadian Country Charts, including the #1 Hit "Anita Got Married". His sophomore release "This Is The Life" was released a year and a half later and furthered his presence on the Canadian music charts with all six singles released achieving Top 30 chart position (two becoming Top 10 hits). In support of both albums Duane released seven music videos on CMT (three of which went to #1).
Touring and promoting became a way of life for Duane once again. He was on the road traveling with his CCMA award winning band opening for some of the hottest acts in country music including Shania Twain, Terri Clark, Trisha Yearwood, Sammy Kershaw, and Prairie Oyster. In 1997 Duane was the winner of the CCMA for Vocal Collaboration of the Year with Lisa Brokop for the single "Two Names On An Overpass".
In the spring of 1999 Duane returned to Canada to focus on his recording career. His third solo album "I'll Be Alright" was released in August 2000 with seven singles released to radio and three videos released to CMT. In 2001 Duane was rewarded for his first independently released album by winning the Independent Male Vocalist of the Year Award by the CCMA.
2004 saw the release of "Set List". A best of album including 17 radio singles from his three previous solo albums and three new songs that were released to radio. A video for the song "Better Man" was filmed in Calgary for CMT.
July 2006 is the release date of Duane's newest project "Ghost Town" which he co- produced with recording artist, songwriter, and producer Steve Fox. Duane is extremely proud of this 100% Canadian album! This is Duane's first time assisting with the production side of the recording process. He is also excited to have national distribution through Icon Records with Universal Canada.
Duane's pure voice and natural stage presence makes his live shows a must see. Fans relate to his lyrics and song writing style. When he is not touring or working on his own projects he is often writing with other artists. Production has been a natural progression and he looks forward to working in this area while continuing his own solo career.
(duanesteele.com)
Thursday, May 5, 2011
May 13 & 14 Jason Kirkness
Currently Jason is working on an album with Jack Shapira to be released in 2010 with national distribution. The album features songs from Roots Three and Ole! writers including Bruce Wallace and Shawn Christian, as well as two songs from up and comer, Steven Lee Olsen. Some new songwriting talent in Winnipeg'er William Prince, came along in time for the recording process.
He has been on tour throughout 2008 and 2009 with his band and they will continue to connect with country music audiences through their live show across Canada in 2010. Dates are already confirmed in Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC and the Northwest Territories. The band has been including more and more of the new songs as the recording procecs continues. A single will be released to CMT and country radio shortly.
Men Without Hats May 12
Door is at 8:00
Before the formation of Men Withouts Hats, Ivan Doroschuk was experimenting with combining electronics & music. He played in several bands with brothers Stefan & Colin during the mid Seventies in Montreal . It was while in High School that he met Jeremy Arrobas. Along with the Doroschuks' other brother Igor, they played some concerts under the name of Wave 21. After graduation, Ivan joined the local pseudo-punk outfit Heaven Seventeen. Recognized as one of the hottest new acts in town. Not content with the group's sound, Ivan left in the summer of '78 and formed the basis of what would become one of Canada's most unique pop groups. The early lineup changed often, but was always a tight-knit group of friends who all came from the rather affluent side of Montreal. This upbringing formed the basis of Ivan's social view while writing his music.
They began rehearsing in Arrobas' garage and soon landed some gigs in some of the city's most 'happening' clubs, where their energetic and creative live show quickly caught on. They soon took the act to Toronto with manager Rick Dundas, who Ivan worked with while in Heaven Seventeen.
They returned to Montreal to record demos for the next album at Listen Audio studios and in the spring of '82 began peddling the tapes to practically every label in North America. Getting nothing but rejections, they continued playing shows to keep the publicity train moving when they received an offer from Statik Records in the UK.
With the success of the lead single "Safety Dance", they secured a deal at home with Warner and signed with MCA in the US. Remixes of "Living In China", "I Like", and "I Got The Message" were also released, and helped push the album platinum.
1984 saw the release of FOLK OF THE EIGHTIES, PART 3. The band followed up their initial album success with the new record's first single "Where Do The Boys Go" which quickly went gold and was followed by "Messiahs Die Young", backed by "No Dancing". . The band released FREEWAYS, a 5 song EP in '85
After switching to Mercury Records, the Doroschuk brothers recruited Lenny Pinkas as the new drummer and entered the studios to record their next album '87's POP GOES THE WORLD.
With the face of pop turning away from the synthesized-sounds that made Men Without Hats a household name across the globe, the band called it quits in '93. The name resurfaced again in '96 when a pair of greatest hits packages were released, COLLECTION in the US on the MCA label and GREATEST HATS in Canada on Polydor. Also in '97 RHYTHM OF YOUTH was remastered onto disc, which also contained the band's first EP and another version of "Safety Dance". Stefan released his first postMWH project in 1999, called The McKenzie-Parker Gang.
Men Without Hats were truly one of the few breaths of fresh air radio stations had to offer during the mid 80's. Bursting with energy, their live shows were events worldwide. Their videos, with their clever storylines and creative flair, were mainstays of the video stations and the numerous remixes of "Safety Dance", "I Like" and "Pop Goes The World" kept the nightclubs hopping. Many other artists have also covered the band's material, including Chinese Detectives redoing "Where Do The Boys Go" and Status Quo and Bang Bang both covering "Safety Dance", and Big Daddy and Weird Al also parodying the song. Colin Doroschuk once declared 'COMFORT BEFORE FASHION !'. Men Without Hats set the standard for keyboard-pop in the '80's, with many clones soon to follow suit. It was fashionable to be like them - and the band settled comfortably into the role.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
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