519 Magazine March 2019 - Corey Hart (Juno Awards Issue)

SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO’S ENTERTAINMENT NEWSPAPER

519

Issue 9 -March 2019

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Where the Stars Hang Out In Southwestern Ontario

COREY

HART The Return of The Boy in the Box

2019 JUNOS SPECIAL EDITION

Elijah Wood x Jamie Fine | Tim Hicks | Megan Nash Classified | Jess Moskaluke | Grammy Nominee Victor Wainwright

Local Connections with John 5 | Children of Bodom| Next to Normal

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March 2019

Dan Savoie Publisher / Editor dan@519magazine.com April Savoie Director of Sales april@519magazine.com Matt Cave Regional Sales Manager matt@519magazine.com

TIM HICKS

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Melissa Arditti Assistant Editor Kim Cushington Art Director Writers and Photographers Bill Woodcock John Liviero Kirk Harris / Maureen Stewart 341 Parent Ave. Windsor, ON N9A 2B7 519magazine.com / YQGrocks.com Office: 519-974-6611 Award of Excellence 2019/2018 Canadian Web Awards 519 Magazine is published monthly and available at various locations around the Southwestern Ontario region.

Printed in Canada on recycled paper using vegetable oil-based inks.

ISSN 2561-9640 (Print) ISSN 2561-9659 (Online)

NEXT TO NORMAL

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4 ELIJAH WOODS x JAMIE FINE

COREY HART

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Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine Juno Nominees Without an EP

By April Savoie The country got to know them as contestants on The Launch, but the music world is predicting big things for songwriter and producer Elijah Woods and singer-songwriter Jamie Fine. The Canadian pop music duo are nominated for two Juno Awards this year and their debut EP only gets released a week before the ceremonies.

We spoke with them ahead of their tour with Marianas Trench, kicking off in Windsor on March 6.

Even though you guys have been around as a duo for a couple years, everything seems to be moving pretty fast lately. Hope it’s not going so fast you won’t remember any of it later?

Elijah - Oh no, I think that Jamie and I are really good with that; I think we’re lucky to have each other. We kind of remind each other to slow down and try to appreciate this every step of the way. There have been a lot of accolades over the past few years and it’s been wild. It’s gone by really fast and I think it’s really important to slow down and appreciate what’s going on.

It really began when you guys went on The Launch. What a life changing moment that was.

Jamie - Yeah, it was a big decision.

It was a tough decision for us to come to because when we first started this, - especially together, but definitely separately as well - we never really saw ourselves doing music television, specifically Canadian music television.

We spent a lot of time and had a lot of arguments trying to figure out if that

was the right move for us to make. We are absolutely glad we did. Obviously it worked out for the best. So we’re really glad that we took that as our next step.

Did having mentors like Jennifer Nettles (of Sugarland) and Ryan Tedder (of OneRepublic) help shape you guys beyond just your episode on the show?

Elijah - I think what was nice about having the two of them on the episode as mentors was that they saw who Jamie and I were and that was really important to maintain. So in terms of shaping, I think it was more of a “hey you guys have something really special, let’s try to augment that and let’s try to take that and run with it while staying true to yourself.”

I think that was one of the most important things that Ryan said to us when we were in the studio in L.A. After the show, he said “the music industry is missing something and I think you are it” - it was a bold statement, but those are not my words. We took that as the validation we needed. It was just one of those things that helped drive us. We can stay true to ourselves, we can do this! Coming from somebody who’s written for Adele and Beyoncé, it was super nice to hear.

You guys are nominated for, not one, but two Junos this year. It’s pretty big news considering your first EP hasn’t even been out yet Jamie - Yeah, we were very shocked to find out that we had two nominations.

I think for us it was that moment where it was kind of a “big breast moment” where we were like ‘Oh this is real and

this is really happening.’

I think as Canadians we grow up watching the Junos and seeing it as something that’s a little bit more unattainable or a little bit more out of reach than some other awards here or some other things that you can kind of achieve. So I think when we found out, it was kind of the big moment for us when we get to realize that all this is real and this is really happening. What we’re doing is paying off.

Where were you guys the exact moment you were told you were nominated?

Elijah - I was at our manager’s place and there was a Facebook livestream of the Juno nomination ceremony and he was like “Hey you, come over, we should watch this”, and I think Jamie had an appointment that morning, so it was just him and our assistant manager and we’re all kind of sitting there. It was funny because we’re sitting there and I wasn’t expecting anything, but when they announced the last two nominations and that we were in both categories, I was kind of surprised. I went from thinking that we’re getting absolutely nothing to being nominated for two categories. So it was pretty wild.

Jamie - I did have an appointment that day. That hour I was in an appointment and I told Elijah and our manager to text me. I said as soon as I’m out of my appointment I will read it and see if we got nominated for anything. And I got that text, and as soon as that hour was up I looked at the phone and saw that we had the two nominations. It was pretty surreal.

somebody feel something enough to nominate us for an award and that is the most rewarding thing in the world.

Now let’s talk about the EP. It comes out about the time you begin your tour with Marianas Trench starting in Windsor. It’s all coming together all at once.

Jamie - I think it’s overwhelming for sure. Elijah and I are pretty good at taking it day by day, moment by moment, and we have a great support system around us to help us do that and kind of stay grounded. I definitely think that we’re gonna feel it halfway through. Everything is happening at the same time - especially those Junos - but I think it’s more exciting than anything stressful. And I think it helps that we have each other. Elijah and I have each other throughout all of this and it’s made a huge difference for both of us.

The EP has an interesting title: 8:47. Does it represent anything?

Elijah - So Jamie and I decided to call the EP 8:47 after one of the most important songs we’ve ever written.

It’s called 8:48. So for those of you who tuned in to The Launch, it was the song we brought and performed in our audition, and to date we get thousands What do the Junos mean to you ? of messages still talking about that Jamie - Everybody jokes that the song. People want to know when’s Junos are like the Canadian Grammys. it’s being released. Emotionally, I I think as I said before, it is really the think it’s one of the most important awards ceremony that seems a little bit songs we have ever written and I think more unattainable for Canadian artists. people felt that, so this EP is called It seems a little bit more prestigious, 8:47 because it’s the transition from but I think for us that’s exactly what the launch to 8:48. And it’s sort of the it will feel like, win or lose. I think next chapter of all this leading up to for Elijah and I, it’s kind of the first hopefully one of the most important time and we’re really content with songs we ever do. the nomination. We’re really proud of Marianas Trench is a larger the nomination and whatever happens than life act to tour with. What an given how big of an achievement we amazing way to start your national see it as. The Junos, at this point in our journey. career, validates what we’re doing Jamie - I think we’re really and really shows us the next excited because the thing with step.

Marianas Trench is, as you Elijah - I think it’s just said, they put on a Elijah Woods the ultimate Canadian show and they put on a x validation to be big show. With Elijah and Jamie Fine nominated. Once we I, we have an incredible Caesars Windsor took a step back, we had March 6 band that we tour with tons of people messaging and when we get onstage and just being like wow this we try to take the music that is really special. I remember I we release and put on a really called my dad and he cried. That was big performance and make it more of one of the first times he’d really teared a rock show - and that’s exactly what up about my music. Our parents are Marianas Trench does as well. So I extremely supportive of what we do, think that energy wise it’s the perfect but it was one of those things that I fit for us and we’re excited to see how think everybody was a little taken it goes on stage together. But we’re aback. really confident that it’s going to be a Music is one of those things that is really great mix. so reliant on emotion that when it’s The trenchers are known for their received well it gives you this level of practical jokes on tour, so I hope satisfaction. It’s not about the success, you have some of your own in mind it’s not about the financial aspects when you’re touring with them. of anything, it’s more about that Jamie – (Laughter) emotional validation.

Elijah - We did not know that Okay, we wrote this song and it Jamie – Yeah, we did not know that, connected with somebody and made now I’m terrified. So thank you.

Grammy Nominee Victor Wainwright Describes the Experience

By Dan and April Savoie As the Juno Awards take over the region in March, a nominee for its US counterpart, The Grammy Awards, is visitng the area.

Victor Wainwright, is a honky-tonk piano bluesman who was nominated at this year’s Grammys in the Best Contemporary Blues Album Category.

He’s visiting Chatahm’s KBDC Club on March 29 and Windsor’s Rockstar Music Hall on March 30.

He checked in with 519 in February during band rehearsals.

This is a really great time to chat with you. You were nominated for a Grammy this year. That must have been thrilling?

Oh man, we were thrilled. It’s hard to describe any other way. I mean excited, pumped, just floored really by the nomination. And then we got to go to the Grammys, which was another huge thing for the whole band. We got to see the whole ordeal and be in the audience and witness everything. It’s something that I won’t soon forget, that’s for sure.

Awards are not new to you. Does each one humble you in a unique way?

Definitely. Exactly. Starting back with the very first award for Piano Player Of The Year with the Blues Music Foundation, Blues Music Awards. I had been nominated the year before (I think it was 2012) and I didn’t win, but just seeing my name amongst people like Marcia Ball was very humbling. Then the very next year I got nominated again and of course that year I did win. None of us expected that. And for me to have won what was called the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Award was thrilling.

Pinetop Perkins is a historic huge name with blues piano and blues music.

So the honor is huge and also to just carry the torch forward feels like quite a bit of responsibility. They’re giving me this award and this person’s namesake who was a titan of blues music. Here I was, the youngest participant in this category. I found it became extremely inspirational for me, not only to know that my contemporaries and also the fans of the music were putting in votes for me to win this award, but also that I’m allowed to and I get to carry this forward.

The B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award is the biggest award that the Blues Foundation gives out and that one felt huge to me. B.B. King! I just want to live up to that name and live up to those awards.

I still do.

Tell me how the blues found you?

My dad and grandpa brought me into the music. My grandpa played piano and my dad played whatever instrument that my grandpa needed in the band at the time. That could have been guitar sometimes it was drums - it was whatever he needed. When I was born, they were already playing music out and about and of course around the house and at home. I

was just brought right into it. They would which obviously made its way into my lean more towards the boogie woogie, heart. genuine rock and roll, honky tonk roots, You’re known for your honky tonk country and western roots and some and boogie woogie sound, so how did blues. Jim Reeves meets Jimmy Reed. that develop?

They played songs that were popular in I really wanted to play like my nightclubs, honky tonks and juke joints at grandfather and that’s who I want to the time, so they covered a wide gamut play like today. I can’t really mimic any of music. other blues piano player and blues piano I was brought right into that from players find it very hard to mimic me. a very early age - basically by the time It’s kind of interesting because I don’t I could waddle up to the piano, reach know how to read notes. I don’t know up and start banging on the keys. My how to read music. I play by ear. My granddad wanted to show me something grandfather taught me to play by ear. I to play or what to play so that I just learned to play boogie woogie, genuine wasn’t banging on it. rock and roll or honky tonk first. Later, Did you always realize that music when I moved down to Florida, I started was going to be your life? discovering guys like Pinetop Perkins I always did. My parents and and understanding how to maintaining grandparents had slightly different plans. my original beginnings that I had with all They knew how hard it was making a those lessons with my grandpa. living playing music, so my parents knew I developed a very unique style which that even though I was being brought up I can probably say is all my own. within being surrounded by music, and The blues is usually known for obviously showing a great deal of its guitar and here you are interest in music, they knew it a Grammy nominated was hard, so they wanted me to Piano Man. Victor go to college.

Yeah, who would After I graduated high have thought that?

Wainwright school, they asked me to pick It’s funny if you think Chatham - March 29 something that I wanted to Windsor - March 30 do besides music, which was a very hard choice for me. I didn’t really want to do anything else. And almost in spite, I told them I wanted to be an air traffic controller.

So they so they called my bluff and I moved from Savannah, Georgia down to Daytona Beach, Florida to an EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University where I studied air traffic management, air traffic control for five years.

When I was doing that, I was also forming my own bands. I put out a record and met some new people down in Florida.

I did get my degree. After I graduated, I was doing quite well at music out of Florida when the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, called me up and they gave me two choices to work.

One was in Ohio and the other was Memphis.

I chose Memphis knowing its ties to roots, genuine rock and roll and blues music in particular, so I was really excited. I did it for a couple of years and I couldn’t really make it into work without wearing sunglasses and having red eyes, so I decided to just make music my full time job. It won out over air traffic in the long run.

Do you think Georgia or Florida plays any part in your love of southern music?

I think both played a huge role, but I think Georgia in particular was really important. I spent most of my developmental years in Savannah with my family and their love for music really shined through. Family gatherings always had music, whether it was somebody playing live or just records they were playing, but it was always roots music

back to some of the biggest piano stars in the world. Who do you think of? Pop guys like Elton John, Billy Joel, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Before that, obviously there were a lot of huge classical musicians. Ben Folds Five is more contemporary, but there’s just not a lot of piano players period anywhere in comparison to how many other types of musicians there are.

With blues music you have a predominance of guitar of course. In the history of blues you have, maybe on one hand, the amount of front man piano players. Piano was always considered an accompanying instrument, meaning that it was considered best used in blues music as something that you would play as a rhythm instrument behind someone else that would be leading a maintenance group.

It took a long time for the first Pinetop Perkins record to come out. He was always featured as a piano player sideman for Muddy Waters. Eventually people like Marcia Ball, Mike Finnegan, and David Maxwell became more of a thing, but still it’s not nearly as popular as guitar.

And why is that?

I think it’s just because it’s slowly increasing, but it’s going to take a long time. I think people gravitate more to guitar when they hear the words blues music or they think more guitar because that’s just what they’ve heard for a long time over and over again.

When I first started, the guitar was a much cheaper instrument than a piano.

An acoustic guitar was a better choice for a very poor family, especially a poor family in the South. Heck, some of the earliest blues musicians were using wire that they strung up. You know, whether it was a broom handle or a board and they were using wire to plug notes and things.

This is an instrument that you could put together almost improperly. You know like I just put it together last week and now I’m playing something of the making a melody and forming chords.

A piano, on the other hand, was seen mostly in very rich homes, so the piano wasn’t as normal to see in some of the poor regions of where blues music came from.

It works out for me though, because there are not as many piano players and it’s easier to get noticed as a piano player in a guitar world.

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Rap Veteran Classified, Celebrating Nearly 25 Years With Juno Nomination

By Dan and April Savoie Next year, Nova Scotia rapper Classified will celebrate 25 years in the music business and the release of his debut album Time’s Up, Kid. He’s nominated for Video of The Year at this year’s Juno Awards in London on March 17 and he’s excited to return to the city.

Classified spoke with 519 ahead of his visit.

Is there anyone that you’re hoping to accidentally bump into at the Junos this year?

A lot of people that I just don’t get to see that much, like some real friends. You know, those friends that you bump into at award shows or on tour. I’m a fan of Sarah McLaughlin, who I haven’t met before. She’s an East Coast girl and supposed to be at the Junos this year. Who else, there’s Alyssia Cara, I’m a big fan of her, and my daughters love her. Jim Cuddy, it would be good to catch up with him.

Like I said most of the time its people that I’ve kind of bumped into or had a bit of a relationship with, but you just never get to see them and never talk to them.

What does the Junos mean to you?

The Junos are all about the industry side of Canadian music. I mean I don’t think it necessarily means every person who tours and has a fan base

is going to get invited to the Junos or has to be involved in the Junos to have a touring fan base and a real career by any means. But I think it is definitely that recognition of OK. Like you said even outside of my hip hop world that the fact Powerless is nominated with a bunch of different songs from different genres. I think the main thing about the Junos for me is people recognizing your music of what you’re doing outside of your typical fan base, your typical circle, and your typical genre of music. It’s more of a broader thing and people say the Grammys of America but I’m not a big fan of the Grammys, so I think the Junos are better. I think Junos are the top level of recognition in the country for music and putting it out on it on a national level. But really, it’s just a great time to go and reconnect with artists. That’s my favorite thing about it. I’ll be out till 3:00 in the morning every night bumping into so-and-so who I haven’t seen since the tour five years ago and things like that. That to me is the real excitement, bumping into people you haven’t seen in a while.

One of the cool things that I love about the Junos is that they travel every year to different communities.

So this year they’re in London.

The Embassy Hotel, London is everything to me. I’m not just saying

that because we’re talking about London, but London is probably my most hardcore fanbase that I’ve had in the last 10-15 years. If I had to pick one town in the country, I always say London. I don’t know why, like I said right back to the Embassy Hotel days of playing our first show there and people being so supportive and always coming out even the last tour we did in October. London or Calgary was either the biggest show on the tour so I always have a lot of love for London I always have great shows there.

You are not afraid of showing your patriotism.

Thank you. Yeah. I’m not scared.

I’ve been around the world and we live in the best country in the world.

So if you’re embarrassed to say you’re living here you ought to be proud of it.

Go somewhere else and you’ll come back and be like “Yeah OK, I’m pretty happy that I live here and I’m sure I’m here.” In Nova Scotia, we don’t have earthquakes, we don’t eat poisonous snakes. We have it pretty good out here..

Next year will be the 25th anniversary of Time’s Up, Kid. Can you believe it?

25 years did you say! What year is it right now? Holy fuck... it is. WOW, you just opened my eyes... whoa that’s trippy. That’s crazy.

What do you remember about it?

I remember everything about it. I feel like I just never grew since I was 21, so it feels like it was five or six years ago. I lived outside of Halifax about a half hour drive outside, so I remember hitchhiking into the city to meet up with a guy named Joe Rudd.

He was the only guy I knew who had a sampler, could make beats and then record people on his four track.

For thirty bucks, he’d make me a beat recording and then I would go to press the cassettes, pressing up to 100 copies and taking it around my school and selling them to the other kids. It’s fun. Everything was brand new then, there were no expectations, there was no rhyme or reason, no this is how you do it. We were just kids having fun figuring out; oh jeez if we come up with a couple hundred bucks we could press our own cassette and sell them to the people. Even making the album cover, that was before the days of Photoshop and everything.

I remembered the way I made that, I took a picture of myself in my backyard , cut out a picture from The Source magazine which was like the big hip hop magazine, it was someone else’s picture but it had a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge in the background, it looked all city and hip hop like, and I cut out my picture laid it on top of

that, wrote out my name and laid that on top of it, photocopied it and that’s how we made our album covers. So yeah I remember all that stuff pretty fresh in my mind.

Was it tough growing up in Nova Scotia beeing a teen rapper in the 90s?

Well a white teen rapper too because I was still in the 90s. If you were a white rapper it was still like, Are you kidding me, this was before Eminem. This was before the million white rappers that are out now. It was definitely I guess a challenge, but like I said we had no expectations. So it was like as soon as we did a show and there was 15 people there, we were like oh shit we just played a show for 15 people. Once it kind of grew a little bit and we started doing interviews and stuff like that, the small town white rapper from Nova Scotia was taken more serious. This was way before Drake came onto the scene.

Canada was still looked at as kind of a joke in hip hop and no one outside of Canada really took it seriously.

It was a different thing, but it was exciting and it was all brand new. So that’s what kinda disguises a lot of those moments that seemed hard and tough to get through. It was like well we just did this yesterday and oh we got a new album out, oh we pressed CDs now and there was just so much growth that was happening and kept me interested.

You’ve really come full circle from Time’s Up Kid to Having Kids Is Easy on the last album. What’s it like having kids and still trying to be a touring, recording rap artist?

It’s good. The touring is definitely something that I slow down on. Not that I slow down on it but I’m just kind of picky and being a little more choosy of the shows I take, when I’m going, how long I’m going to stay and whether or not it makes smart business-wise sense. Like my kids are only going to be five and six and seven and eight years old once and I’m not going to going to be like oh let’s go do shows and miss all that, because I hear a lot of horror stories of people who just tour their whole life and they come back and their kids are grown up and they kind of missed a lot of those moments. So I didn’t want to miss any of those, so I really do my one big tour a year. I do my festivals when I’m gone out for a couple of days but never for long periods of time. And then my studio is right in my house, so I’d probably see my kids more than anybody else that has a normal job and see their kids. I’ll go in for lunch.

I’m up with them in the morning. I see them when they come home from school but then I’m just right back at the studio and do my work and go back in for supper. So it’s actually worked out pretty well that I can have a pretty normal life.

Jess Moskaluke Bringing Small Town Saskatchewan Friendliness to the Junos

By Dan and April Savoie

The Juno Awards aren’t new to country sensation Jess Moskaluke. The Saskatchewan countryprincess was nominated twice in 2015 and brought home the award for Country Album of the Year in 2017 for Kiss Me Quiet.

Jess is once again up for Country Album of the Year for A Small Town Christmas on March 17 in London.

She spoke with 519 while on tour with Paul Brandt last month.

Country music seems to treat award shows differently, it’s almost like a social gathering, rather than a scratch-and-claw awards show.

Yeah, no kidding. It honestly feels like that, and I say this about the CCMA Awards as well as the Junos or any awards show. To me ,the way that I try to view them is that we’re all getting together at the same place at the same time, which doesn’t happen as much as you would like. And we’re kind of just celebrating each other’s successes over the

year and that’s no different from what the Junos are. So the cool thing about the Junos is that it’s obviously all genres, not just country music, so we also get to celebrate with peers that we may have outside of the country genre.

How did a small town in Saskatchewan shape you as the artist that you’ve become today?

Honestly I think that’s probably the reason I’m in country music, because Saskatchewan obviously has a massive country music loving community and growing up that’s all that we had in terms of radio stations. That’s what my parents grew up listening to and it’s what they still listen to now for the most part. Country music was all I ever knew - I think that’s because of growing up in Saskatchewan, not to mention that I grew up in a small community.

You learn a lot about how small communities thrive growing up and the country music industry itself is like a small community in a different way, so I’m no stranger to how those kinds of things operate.

It’s tough to pinpoint exactly how it shapes me because I don’t have anything else to compare it to,

but Saskatchewan and country music is who I am.

You’ve been releasing some pretty long EPs rather than a full album. So is there pressure for you to put out a full album or is the record company happy with the EPs? Honestly there is zero pressure for me to put out a full album because they’re just not what this day and age is asking of us anymore. It’s rare for any artist to release a full album unless they’re quite established. People’s attention spans don’t really care about a full album these days, so this is why I had to satisfy my own appetite by releasing longer EPs. I’d love to be able to craft an album from start to finish, but the financial requirements that something like that entails just isn’t realistic when compared to the amount of sales that are happening. People are going to stream the music rather than purchase albums more often than not.

With releasing EPs I found that I could release music more frequently and people are more excited by things that are new rather than things that are released all at once. So there’s zero pressure - if

anything, it’s myself wishing that it would make sense to release a full album.

What else is up for you in 2019?

Once I’m done with Paul Brandt’s tour, I’ve got two days at home, and then I’m going to join the national cast from Telemiracle - so that’ll take up my weekend with meetings and things like that. Then a couple of my girlfriends are getting married, so I’m busy planning more weddings because I thought I was off the hook from last year.

We’re really just focusing on getting some new music out there later on. We’ve got a single out right now called Save Some Of That Whiskey on Canadian country radio that’s in the early stages, so we’re really looking forward to seeing what that will do. And then it’s summer and before you know it, it’s 2020 already. It’s crazy to think that in February when people are asking you about 2019 and I’m sitting here being like: what are you talking about, it’s over. But it’s already so jam packed full of things that are about to happen that we just think so far ahead.

2019 Grammy Nominee

Best known for his massive world-wide hit Sunglasses At Night, Montreal pop-rocker Corey Hart disappeared from the music industry in the late 90s and has rarely been seen on stage or in a a studio.

At the time of his early retirement, Corey performed in arenas from Montreal to Manila and Tokyo to Toronto (where he sold out the 25,000 capacity CNE Grandstand in 1985).

With over 50 million albums sold, Stone Temple Pilots roared on to the scene in 1992 with their raucous debut, Core. A breakout success, the album peaked #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and dominated radio waves with hits like “Sex Type Thing,” “Wicked Garden,” and the GrammyAward winning, “Plush.”

STP founding members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo, Eric Kretz, along with new lead vocalist, Detroit singer Jeff Gutt, released their seventh studio

Following the birth of his third daughter in 1999, Corey

Detroit in Windsor and around album, Stone Temple Pilotsstepped this year. away from his recording and touring career to raisethe his four children area. with his wife, Quebec chanteuse Julie Masse.

After about a year of silence, lovesinto hisCanada’s hometown and is a big In 2016, Corey wasHe inducted prestigious Walk Fame, but his triumphant fanonly of the thebeginning Detroitof Tigers.

Jeff officially joined theOfband inthat’s return.

November 2017 and played his The band is currently on the road across Canada with and first concert with the band at the On March 17, 2019, Corey will be inducted into Seether the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2019 JUNO Awards in London, infamous Troudabour in Los Angeles. Default and will make an appearance Ontario and later in the year he’ll release his first studio album During the year prior to his in debut, in the - Nov. 7 at Budweiser over 20Jeff years. twice Dreaming Time519 Again is a heartfelt recording produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin and will impress andin was spending time getting to know gardens in London and Nov.old10 new fans alike. And he’s doing all of this while embarking on a his new role in the band and to write Kitchener at Centre in the Square. major arena tour across Canada and Asia - his first since the and record songs for the new album.

We spent a little time with Jeff 1980´s.

Jeff is no stranger to the 519, having to chat about his new gig and the He currently lives in The Bahamas with Julie and his children mighty spent some time on the other side of River, (India, Dante, Rain). D. The couple will celebrate 25 years

Photo byJohn Liviero

together in 2019.

COREY

HART The Return of The Boy in the Box

88

Story by April Savoie / Photos by John Wagner

2019 is really shaping up for you.

There’s so much excitement going on. Let’s start with the tour; it begins on your birthday month in May. Yes ma’am it does. I chose to start the tour in Newfoundland because when I first headlined arenas, back in the summer of 1995, it was in St. John’s Newfoundland that I played two nights at Memorial Stadium. So it’s kind of sentimental for me to go back there.

Are there any goose bumps or a little anxiety as you prepare for this tour?

There’s a bit of both. I think if there is an anxiety or goose bumps or nerves or adrenaline and all those things, I think they are all combined to make you feel real and to let you know that you’re alive and in touch with your feelings.

So I’ve got all those things, but I’m super excited about it. It’s something that I haven’t done in 20 years and I haven’t done an arena tour across Canada since the 80s. It’s obviously something that I used to do in my other life, before I took up full time dadhood and I’m super grateful that I have the opportunity to go back and do this again.

Why now?

Well predominantly because I’ve got four kids, three girls and my son, but only because the three oldest now are out of the house pursuing their own lives, in their own career choices and it’s just Julie, myself and my son Rain.

So it gives me a little bit more time to do this, because for the last 20 years I’ve been a 24/7 dad. So there’s that component, which is the timing and giving myself a little more flexibility and I’ve had offers over the last decade asking me to go out on the road or make another record.

But through social media and through Facebook, I really got the feeling that there was a true desire from my fans to hear me and see me again. That was another thing that kind of coalesced at the right time where I started noticing as people would write me on social media. I only have one outlet really, Facebook. I’m not a big social media guy, but it was great to read their comments and get the feeling that they missed me and that they would love to hear new music and see me.

What’s in store for your show?

There’s so many new toys and special effects since 1986. So what can we expect?

(Laughter) Well you can expect an older Corey Hart that’s for sure. I don’t go to a lot of concerts, so I’m not one to judge all the tricks and gimmicks that are out there. I say tricks, but I just mean the toys that people use onstage.

I know there’s a big video component now. I did do one show in 2014 at the Bell Center in Montreal which literally I did so my kids could see what I used to do in my other life and also to sort of say goodbye to my fans because I

just disappeared in 1999 and sort of went off the grid and never really got a chance to say goodbye or anything like that. When I did that show we incorporated a lot of video content and I think that’s what fans expect and I’m giving that some thought. I definitely don’t want to do a show A to Z with video content but there’ll be a lot of that, I’ve created a B stage so I can get closer to the audience and I’ve got some nice little plans that I don’t want to discuss right now because I’d like it to be discovered in the moment, but yeah to get closer to the fans.

In May you also have a new EP. After hearing it, it’s quickly became my favourite of all your albums, because it’s so personal.

Wow! Thank you. I’ve always been the sole songwriter for my words and music from the very very beginning.

It was something that was super important to me as a young musician that I will always write and record my own music. So the personal aspect of it, I’ve always tried to write personally into it and to be as honest and as open about my life and my experiences or my observations in my songwriting, but as I’ve developed as a writer and as a man, this record is very personal.

I mean every song is how I feel and in the present day and I talk about my relationship with one of my daughters, I talk about relationship with my mom and I talk about my relationship with my wife Julie. I talk about my feelings about the music business in First Rodeo. I talk about cutting back on the road in Dreaming Time Again. So yeah it’s pretty much a Corey Hart diary.

Was it harder to do this time because of it being so personal?

No it wasn’t harder, I actually felt freer to write on this record than any other. And by the way, it’s my first record in 20 years. So it was a joy to actually write and not feel any pressure to try and compete with another hit that I had or to try and write a song that would be a hit on radio. It was an emancipation of my songwriting where I felt no pressure and in that sense there was a period in my career where I did feel pressure to try and outdo the last hit that I had or to try and keep up the pace. And in a body work of an artist you go through those phases, and in this case I didn’t feel that at all. So I felt quite free.

The music on the EP is also very warm. You can hear all the real instruments that are being played.

It’s a more mature feeling, but not in an old way. With technology now allowing for more fake music than ever, you went all real.

Well first of all Bob Ezrin produced the record. When we go back to the original comment about my kids now being older and the fact that I felt my fans wanted to see me, Bob Ezrin and I met for the first time in 2017 at a fundraiser for the Canadian Walk of Fame. We struck up a friendship and he was very instrumental in encouraging

me to share my music again with people. He saw me perform live at that event and he was really struck by my performance and he says “Wow you’re really good Corey. Where’ve you been?” And I pointed over to that table where my family was seated and I said “I’ve been over there with my kids” and he goes “Well they’re not in diapers anymore you know, get back out there.”

He wasn’t thinking of working with me, I think he just genuinely felt that I was like a fine wine and that I developed into an artist that he felt that should still share his creativity.

And then he said look I’ll give you a shout and we’ll talk. We struck up a friendship long before we started talking about making a record. But to tie back into what you’re saying, I told him that I really wanted to make an organic record musically and that we would have no programming and that we were not going to auto tune anything and that it was going to be recording my vocals while the band is playing and he was all for that. And he’s a master genius at his craft. It was a joy to work with him. I think what you’re hearing is so much a credit to his production skills because we really did take the record away from how records are generally made right now.

If your hearing that in the vocals, you’re hearing it in the instrumentation.

You’re not hearing programming which is what you hear 80 percent of the time, there’s nothing wrong with that either, it’s just I went back to how I made my first record because that’s how I did that first record when I was 20 years old.

On the new song First Rodeo you talk about your voice being a little raspy. Was there a moment when you heard that small change in your voice?

There was always rasp in my voice even way back on my first record. If you listen to Sunglasses and listen to

the chorus there’s some rasp in my voice there, but as I’ve aged and as I’ve used the voice in the last 20 years, I’ve only used a voice to write songs not to perform or to record myself. It started in the mid 90s where my voice started to change a little bit where it started to get a little more throaty a little raspy or just by wear and tear I guess from touring and from just using it. I actually like the tone a lot more now than I did and I think I’m singing much better now than I did when I was a younger man. I was a teenager when I did my first record - I was just 19 or 20. But in any event, yes, I don’t think that I noticed per se a moment when it happened, but I could feel it starting to change in my mid 30s.

So you’re embracing it?

Oh yeah. I definitely I love it, there’s a song on the record called Shawnee Girl and there’s just a texture and tone to my voice now that I really like hearing and if you listen to early Billy Joel or early Elton John or anybody like that sometimes you think wow the voice sounds so different and sometimes it sounds better or it sounds worse. It’s a subjective thing but I’ll listen to an early Billy Joel thing and I say “Wow”, it’s almost like he’s singing three keys out of his range - it’s so high.

There are only 5 songs, but they’re all choice cuts. Have some of these songs been around a while or were they specifically written around the same time for the EP? No not at all. Every single song was written in 2018.

In the video for Dreaming Time Again, I like how you start it out as a conversation with your son.

Yeah... I speak Spanish with my son. And I was explaining everything to him because he’s at the age now he just turned 15. And when we shot the video he was 14 and he knows that dad was gonna’ go back and do something.

I wanted him to know that it’s really important to do things in life that you

feel passionate about and I always was passionate about music - it’s my life’s work.

Based on my upbringing and not knowing my own dad, I wanted him to know that I stayed at home to be with him and I wanted to know how he felt about me going out for the summer and going back to work.

I thought it would be a nice touch because it is the reality of my life right now. My children and my family are so important to me and I enjoyed having him be involved in this.

I love how you encouraged him to pursue his dreams.

Yes, that’s what Julie and I have always taught our kids to do - to find something in life that they feel passionate about. But also to be prepared to work very hard and to focus and be prepared to sacrifice long hours. They need to find something that they love and to keep chasing the sun, keep chasing whatever it is that inspires them and not to stop because life is challenging.

My mom instilled that spirit in me and if I can instill that spirit in my kids, which I believe we have done, I think that it gives you a good leg up on life.

Before we go, I want to say congratulations for being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame this year.

Well thank you. Thank you. I’m very very very excited about that.

Has it sunk in yet?

No it hasn’t. I still kind of have a ‘pinch me’ moment. I guess it will really hit me March 17th in London at the Junos. I think that’s when it’ll really sink in because truthfully when I start to think about it I get really emotional and I also I get nervous about the whole thing. I’m going to sing on the Junos.

It will be my first time singing on the Junos since the 80s. It’s my first time back at the Junos in 20 years. So it’s going to be special and my four kids will be with me and I can’t wait.

Photo by Bill Woodcock

Tim Hicks Says He Still Gets Excited Watching The Junos at Home on his TV, but not this year

By Dan and April Savoie Last year, up-and-coming country sensation Tim Hicks enjoyed a lot of success with his big headlining tour, aptly called Get Loud - named after the firey rocker Loud on his latest album New Tattoo.

He’s at it again with his latest single What A Song Should Do and a nomination for 2019 Country Album of

the Year. It’s his first nomination since 2014 when he was up for two awards that year.

He took some time out for 519 to chat about the awards and his latest single.

In Canada we’ve grown up with the Junos on TV every year. Was there a special moment when you saw something on a past broadcast that really connected with you?

Yeah. I can tell you exactly what it was. And it wasn’t too long after my career broke. It’s the guys from Billy Talent. I was watching them perform and they had it. I think it was an interview segment, whether it was on Much Music back then, or maybe I heard it on the radio - it was the guys just talking about performing on the Junos and being up for all these awards in the previous year. Then watching it on the couch from their homes, kind of dreaming about it.

That, for whatever reason, always stuck with me because there came a point in my career where I started to know a lot of people that were actually doing it. Guys that were out touring with artists or that were artists themselves that were from Ontario that I had known from the bar scene, because I played bars for years and years before I ever had a song on the radio.

I remember having that exact same experience watching the CCMAs one year with my wife at home and it almost made me a little bit emotional, especially when you start to see your friends performing at the national level and you’re just so proud of them. At the same time I’m longing to be a part of that. And then it wasn’t too long after that, “Get By” broke and I was performing on the CCMAs and amazed myself. So I always remembered that

interview that Billy Talent gave where they talked about that very thing.

For the past decade or so, the Junos travel to new communities – this time its London – and you’ve been to the city a few times. Any fond memories of London?

Oh my God, I used to live in London.

I played all those places in London. I played in bands with two brothers that went to Fanshawe and I used to sleep on their floor a lot. So that’s why I say I lived in London. I didn’t technically pay rent there or property taxes, but I was in town a lot and I just have a special place in my heart for London.

My vocal coach lives in London, Brian Vollmer (of rock band Helix), who I haven’t taken a lesson from in years.

Anybody that asks me about him, I always explain that he really whipped me into shape and gave me the ability to sing night after night after night and not wreck my voice. He has since become one of my good friends.

Then of course, there are two country radio stations in London, which is a wonderful thing.

So there’s a special place in my heart for London Ontario. I’m so pleased that the Junos are going to be hosted there this year.

What a Song Should Do is making its way up the charts. That’s awesome.

I’s kind of nice to see the whole

thing come to fruition from the day we wrote it all the way to being released.

It seems to be making some noise, so that’s fun.

It brings out a lot of different emotions and in essence, it’s doing what the title says it’s supposed to do. Tell me what it is specifically that this song means you?

Oh that’s a good question. For me, music has obviously been a big part of my life and the way I equate it is the very first time I performed in public.

I was in bands for a long time when I took music lessons as a kid.

They put these little bands together and we would perform maybe one or two songs at these little Kiwanis competitions and from the very first time that happened, I got such a rush.

I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.

It’s almost like the feeling an athlete has the first time he plays in the big game. You’re just kind of trying to get that feeling every time you perform.

And you’ll never have another first time, so it’s actually the chase that’s fun about it.

That’s what music does for me, it’s always been a part of who I am or what I do and just being able to get out and sing and make noise and fill large spaces with music is a whole lot of fun. I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since I was a little guy.

Megan Nash Will Enjoy Taking In Her Juno Experience

By April Savoie Saskatchewan singer-songerwriter Megan Nash is up for her first Juno Award this year on March 17. She’ll be vying for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year for the album Seeker.

She spoke with 519 about the

awards and what that means to a small town girl.

This year you’re nominated for a Juno in the Contemporary Roots Album of the Year category. That’s a huge accomplishment for a small town girl.

You know, it really is, and it’s one of those things that as soon as

you start making music in Canada, it’s always in the back of your mind - the idea where maybe you can get nominated for a Juno some day. It’s really a dream come true.

What were you doing the moment you found out you were nominated?

I was having coffee with my mom, staying in my parents’ house. We had so much hardship in the family right at that point. One of my moms friends passed away that morning and my grandma passed away just four days before. So we were really looking for some good news, to be honest with you.

So that’s what we were doing. I was having a heart to heart with my mom and the next thing I know, I got a message on my phone that says “Hey you’re a Juno nominee”. I went, yeah right, and then I called my label to confirm and they were like, Yeah you’re a Juno nominee. So I said mom, we finally have some good news.

You’re in an amazing category with some great company. Have you met your other fellow category nominees?

Well Kaia Kater and I are actually on the same label in Canada. We’re both on Acronym Records. She’s awesome. I’ve met her before. Yarrow, there’s some some Saskatchewan ties

with Yarrow as well. I know Ryan and I respect everybody’s work.

Everyone is a great songwriter and great musician.

It’s really great company and I look forward to hopefully getting to meet everybody else in the category too.

What do the Junos mean to you?

It’s really a huge feather in the cap of any Canadian musician of any style to be able to get nominated and to take home a Juno. I think it’s a huge honor to get from your own industry.

It doesn’t get much bigger than this in Canada. It’s pretty great.

One thing I love about prairie artists is that the music really resonates about life on the prairies.

There’s a bit of home in your music.

It’s all natural.

Well I grew up on a farm so I’ve always felt very close to nature. I didn’t grow up in an urban setting. So I’ve been rural.

I feel very connected to the land and I love the prairies. I draw a lot of influence from nature, not necessarily in my writing, but I just find being out in nature to be very inspiring.

I do work with a program in Saskatchewan, Songs for Nature, that is all about bringing people out to parks or different wildlife areas and drawing inspiration from nature. So

for me, I can’t skate very well. I’m not a hockey player; I’m not one of the prairie musicians that also can skate.

I have weak ankles, but I have great love for nature and in the prairies that I’m lucky to call home.

So I have to ask, are you a Rider fan?

I have to be by default because I was born in Saskatchewan. It’s a very popular part of Saskatchewan culture.

Do I understand football? No. I don’t know the rules, but it’s nice to have something to cheer for.

Your new music is with Bears of Hazenmore. How did that connection happen?

They asked me to open for them once for a Christmas show they put on few years ago. We started working together when they asked me to be part of a music camp for youth in Swift Current. Every year they bring out a feature artist to talk to the students and in 2016 they asked me.

They also arranged a few of my songs because prior to that I’d been just performing solo. That’s really how that came about. And then next thing you know a few months later we’re doing a tour of Central Canada.

We actually played Phog Lounge in Windsor on our first ever tour. It all happened pretty quickly.

2019 Juno Awards Nominees at a Glance JUNO Fan Choice Alessia Cara Avril Lavigne bülow Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine KILLY Loud Luxury NAV Shawn Mendes The Weeknd Tory Lanez Single of the Year Growing Pains - Alessia Cara Not A Love Song - bülow Body - Loud Luxury In My Blood - Shawn Mendes Pray For Me - The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar International Album of the Year Camila - Camila Cabello Invasion of Privacy - Cardi B Red Pill Blues - Maroon 5 beerbongs & bentleys - Post Malone ASTROWORLD - Travis Scott Album of the Year Darlène - Hubert Lenoir These Are The Days - Jann Arden Shawn Mendes - Shawn Mendes My Dear Melancholy, - The Weeknd Outsider - Three Days Grace Artist of the Year Alessia Cara Michael Bublé Shawn Mendes The Weeknd Tory Lanez Group of the Year Arkells Chromeo Metric The Sheepdogs Three Days Grace Breakthrough Artist of the Year bülow grandson Johnny Orlando KILLY Meghan Patrick Breakthrough Group of the Year 88Glam Dizzy Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine Loud Luxury The Washboard Union Songwriter of the Year Afie Jurvanen Donovan Woods Frank Dukes Jessie Reyez Shawn Mendes Country Album of the Year We Were That Song - Brett Kissel A Small Town Christmas - Jess Moskaluke Country Music Made Me Do It - Meghan Patrick Feels Like That - The Reklaws New Tattoo - Tim Hicks Adult Alternative Album of the Year Earthtones - Bahamas More Or Less - Dan Mangan Gabrielle Shonk - Gabrielle Shonk Blood - Rhye Queens Of The Breakers - The Barr Brothers

Alternative Album of the Year ken - Destroyer Baby Teeth - Dizzy Dose Your Dreams - Fucked Up TPC - Tokyo Police Club In A Poem Unlimited - U.S. Girls Pop Album of the Year Damaged - bülow Head Over Heels - Chromeo Darlène - Hubert Lenoir Shawn Mendes - Shawn Mendes Intuition - Tyler Shaw Rock Album of the Year Rally Cry - Arkells True Rockers - Monster Truck Changing Colours - The Sheepdogs Civilianaires - The Trews Outsider - Three Days Grace Vocal Jazz Album of the Year Love Is Here To Stay - Diana Krall & Tony Bennett solstice/equinox - Diana Panton Holly - Holly Cole Sun Songs - Jodi Proznick ft. Laila Biali Laila Biali - Laila Biali Jazz Album of the Year: Solo Sandstorm - Alexis Baro So Here We Are - Alison Young In the Moment - Larnell Lewis Beloved of the Sky - Renee Rosnes Old Soul - Robi Botos Jazz Album of the Year: Group Wander Wonder - Allison Au Quartet Atwood Suites - Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble The Seasons of Being - Andy Milne & Dapp Theory Live at U of T - Liebman/Murley Quartet Path of Totality - Quinsin Nachoff’s FLUX Instrumental Album of the Year Group Manoeuvre - Aerialists China Cloud - Gordon Grdina Johnny Goldtooth and The Chevy Casanovas - Kevin Breit Live from the Art Farm - The Fretless The Space Between Us - Toninato / Thiessen Francophone Album of the Year en cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé - Cœur de pirate Darlène - Hubert Lenoir Une année record - Loud Le silence des troupeaux - Philippe Brach Désherbage - Tire le coyote Children’s Album of the Year Let’s Go Bananas - Beppie It Takes a Village - Ginalina Dog on the Floor - Raffi It’s Cool To Be Kind - Sonshine and Broccoli You, Me and the Sea - Splash’N Boots Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 & 8 Andrew Wan & Charles Richard-Hamelin - Scarlatti: Sonatas Vol.2 - Angela Hewitt Ravel & Debussy: Sonates - Blake Pouliot with Hsin-I Huang The End of Flowers: Works by Clarke & Ravel Gryphon Trio Schubert: Piano Sonata in B Flat Major D.960; Four Impromptus D.935 - Marc-André Hamelin Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble New Worlds/Nouveaux Mondes - Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra Newton Howard & Kernis: Violin Concertos; Tovey: Stream of Limelight - James Ehnes with Seattle Symphony and Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 4 - Louis Lortie with BBC Philharmonic Jordan Pal: Into the Wonder - Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra Vaughan Williams - Toronto Symphony Orchestra Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Vienna: Fin de siècle - Barbara Hannigan with Reinbert De Leeuw Bernstein: A Quiet Place - Choeur de l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal David Braid: Corona Divinae Misericordiae - Elmer Iseler Singers featuring Patricia O’Callaghan Écho - Joyce El-Khoury Ayre: Live - Miriam Khalil Classical Composition of the Year Golden Slumbers Kiss your Eyes - Ana Sokolović Granitic - Bekah Simms About Bach - Cassandra Miller Katana of Choice - Nicole Lizée Arctic Symphony - Vincent Ho Rap Recording of the Year 88GLAM RELOADED - 88Glam IMMIGRANT - Belly Surrender Your Soul - KILLY RECKLESS - NAV LoVE me NOw - Tory Lanez Dance Recording of the Year Gotasoul (ft. James Baley) - AZARI Jackie Chan (ft. Preme & Post Malone) - Dzeko & Tiësto Avatar Beach - Jacques Greene CURA - Keys N Krates Body - Loud Luxury R&B/Soul Recording of the Year Presented by CBC Music Twos - Anders Pain & Pleasure - Black Atlass Stone Woman - Charlotte Day Wilson Being Human In Public - Jessie Reyez My Dear Melancholy, - The Weeknd Reggae Recording of the Year Money Don’t Grow Pon Trees - Blessed Genesis - Chelsea Stewart Sly & Robbie meet Dubmatix - Dubmatix Narrative - Exco Levi Talk Or No Talk - Kafinal ft. Queen Ifrica Indigenous Music Album of the Year Presented by APTN The Ballad of the Runaway Girl - Elisapie Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa - Jeremy Dutcher Standing in the Light - Leonard Sumner Nitisanak - Brothers and Sister - Northern Cree The Average Savage - Snotty Nose Rez Kids Contemporary Roots Album of the Year In Our Time - AHI Both Ways - Donovan Woods Grenades - Kaia Kater Seeker - Megan Nash Yarrow - The Deep Dark Woods Traditional Roots Album of the Year The Broken Heart of Everything - David Francey Sweet Old Religion - Pharis and Jason Romero Queen City Jubilee - The Slocan Ramblers Fifteen - The Wailin’ Jennys Horizons - Vishtèn Blues Album of the Year Miles To Go - Colin James Checkmate - Jack de Keyzer Myles Goodwyn and Friends of the Blues - Myles Goodwyn Run To Me - Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar The Ice Queen - Sue Foley

Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year Grateful - Brian Doerksen Tired Of Basic - LOVECOLLIDE Into the Wild - Manic Drive The Buffalo Roadshow - Tim Neufeld & The Glory Boys Speak - Warren Dean Flandez World Music Album of the Year Zoubida - Ayrad San Cristóbal Baile Inn - Boogát Naath - Emmanuel Jal and Nyaruach Fuerza Arara - Telmary y Habana Sana Rapadou Kreyol - Wesli Jack Richardson Producer of the Year David Foster and Michael Bublé Eric Ratz Greg Wells Mike Wise Thomas D’Arcy Recording Engineer of the Year Ben Kaplan Jason Dufour Robbie Lackritz Shawn Everett Steve Bays Album Artwork of the Year Left to Our Own Devices – Jack Pine and The Fire Crossworlds – Joshua Van Tassel Rally Cry – Arkells Blood – Rhye Viens Avec Moi – Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire Video of the Year No Depression -- Bahamas - Ali Eisner Places -- Alaskan Tapes - Andrew De Zen Powerless -- Classified - Andrew Hines Hang Ups -- Scott Helman - Ben Knechtel Have A Nice Day - -SonReal - Peter Huang Electronic Album of the Year Crystal Eyes - Ekali Next Season - Felix Cartal Give It a Rest - iamhill Deception Bay - Milk & Bone Certain Kind of Magic - REZZ Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year Algorythm - Beyond Creation The Spark That Moves - Cancer Bats Loved - KEN Mode Prevail II - Kobra And The Lotus The Wake - Voivod Adult Contemporary Album of the Year These Are The Days - Jann Arden Love - Michael Bublé Meaning To Tell Ya - Molly Johnson Distant Danger - Nuela Charles A Whitehorse Winter Classic - Whitehorse Comedy Album of the Year The Chanty Show - Chanty Marostica Good Friend Bad Grammar - Dave Merheje Lady Jazz - Debra DiGiovanni Awkwarder - Mayce Galoni Chicken! - Pat Thornton

Canadian Music Hall of Fame Corey Hart Humanitarian Award David Foster Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award Duff Roman

John 5 Brings KISS and Mötley Crüe Vibe to New Music and New Tour

By Dan and April Savoie John 5 is a fairly recognizable guitarist is hard rock and his resume reads like a who’s who of rock ‘n roll.

He’s played with Marilyn Manson, David Lee Roth and is currently Rob Zombie’s guitarist of choice.

The avid KISS fan hits the road with his band John 5 and The Creatures with a stop in the 519 at London Music Hall on March 24.

We couldn’t chat with him without

talking about KISS and his latest venture with Mötley Crüe. Knowing you’re a hug Kiss fan, I can’t help but get chills thinking John 5 and the “Creatures” are going out with the Invasion Tour. It can’t just be a coincidence can it.

It is, to be completely 100 percent honest. I was looking for an album title that was like Destroyer or something powerful like that - like a one word thing and I said well how about Invasion, because that sounds really powerful. But of course with

KISS fans they’ll know the Vinnie Vincent Invasion. But, there was that movie Invasion about Aliens and all that stuff and I just thought it was such a great title, very strong. With Creatures, of course there’s KISS Creatures of The Night, but John 5 and The Creatures really came from Creature From The Black Lagoon, because I love Creature From The Black Lagoon. But again I love KISS too. It’s that love that started everything in the first place, but that’s the honest answer.

On your Instagram account

Knights In Satan’s Service, you heart. I love it more than anything. And recently posted that you obtained let’s be honest it’s a hard sell. Guitar Ace Frehley’s original belt from his music isn’t the same anymore, but I’m 1973 costume. Where did you find going to go out and I’m going to have that? fun with it. So I really enjoy doing it.

Oh boy, how can I start? I guess And I think the crowds can really what it was – there was this guy named sense that passion and emotion. It’s so Bill Baker and I apologize if I get the real - from the heart and true - and I name wrong, but he was close with think people just really enjoy it.

Ace back in the day and he would do They come out in droves and I’m things for him because I think so happy about this. So that’s he worked on his guitars why I’m just releasing these and Ace would just give songs like once a month JOHN 5 him stuff. So you know and saying ‘Hey check AND THE years and years and it out’. decades later the guy You can buy the song CREATURES just started selling stuff. and here’s a video for London Muisic Hall So I got that not from March 24 free and check it out and Bill himself, but someone have fun with it. that sold it to someone else I notice Mötley Crüe and it passed through a couple popped up on your Wikipedia of hands. So all of this stuff comes page as something being worked on. around eventually. People need money Is that the new tunes for Dirt? or a blah blah blah. So luckily people Yeah I worked with Nikki Sixx on are coming to me and asking if I’m some of the new Crüe songs - like interested in this. And I say yes I am, The Dirt and a couple more coming because it’s a part of KISStory if you up. Nikki and I just to got together will. for those, but everybody in the band Where are you at with the worked on it. I didn’t play on the Invasion record? Is it on track to be recordings at all. That’s all the Mötley released later this summer?

Crüe guys. But I was a writer for that Yes it is going to be released in July and it was great. and I have been releasing a video once The Dirt chorus is so good. I think a month. So I’ve been really kinda Nikki just put up a bit of the song today changing it up as much as possible to and it sounds so good. I’m so excited. I just put out a new song every month remember when we were working on it and advertise it that way, because I just at it at his house and it’s like Whoa this want people to know the song. sounds rad and here it is. I love Mötley When I do this John 5 and The Crüe and I’m so happy they did such a Creatures thing, it’s totally from the phenomenal job on it.

Children of Bodom Return With Hexed Finnish extreme metal band Children of Bodom have been giving metal heads a reason to shout for more than 25 years. After 10 albums and countless tours, the band is releasing their latest album Hexed this month, with 11 crunchy tracks.

We Skyped with vocalist and lead guitarist Alexi Laiho, who was getting ready to return to Finland to start band rehearsals for their next North American tour.

Photo by Marek Sabogal

So what are we going to see on this tour? What can we expect?

We’re going to play songs from each album or at least we’re gonna’ try, because it’s definitely not easy to come up with a set list after 10 studio albums.

We’ll be changing set lists as well maybe not every night - but still, we’re going to mix it up a little bit and make it more interesting for everybody.

We want it more unpredictable, because nowadays when you do a show setlist, it is gonna be out there on the Internet, so people expect those songs and in the order they’re played, so we’re

gonna try to change that up.

Hexed has some punkier songs. Is there a risk when you put in some melodic elements and some of the crunchy rock stuff into the metal?

Well I don’t really think about this stuff at all. I just try to block everything out of my mind and just write and just hope for the best. I’m not trying to please anybody. It just doesn’t work that way. If I start thinking about stuff, it just messes with my head and it’s a distraction. The fact of the matter is that you can’t please everybody.

You just can’t do it. You can’t be everybody’s friend. So all you can do is just be yourself and hope for the best. If somebody likes it that’s great, if somebody hates it, what are you gonna do? It’s my choice and I will live with it.

This is Daniel’s first album. Were there some adjustments you had to make to get comfortable?

No, not really. It was basically a perfect fit from day one. He really works hard. He practices hard and he’s just like us on and off stage. When you started touring with somebody and you’re stuck on a tour bus for two years, that’s when you get to know the person

and that’s when you make a decision whether or not he should be in the band.

Where did you find him?

He’s from Helsinki and I’ve just known the guy forever. It’s like one of those things that you just know.

Sometimes we would go out drinking and stuff like that, so we were friends already. He played in his band Norther, so I knew that he was a guitar player and even a good singer.

It’s great to see the reaper on yet another album cover at this point in time you guys must be really good friends?

With the Reaper? Oh hell yeah.

Where did the Reaper concept come from?

We were looking for an album cover for the first record and back then it was a little bit different. I think we actually had to go to the library and we were flipping through these books with random pictures and this picture of the Reaper with the red background just came up and we’re like Holy fuck that’s awesome. We bought the rights to use that picture. So then he just sort of stuck around and has been a part of Children of Bodom ever since.

Live Photos by Jess Lynne Photography

By Dan Savoie

Talented Cast of Windsor Actors Ready to Tackle Mental Illness in Next to Normal that won a Tony in 2009 also helps and last but not least the opportunity Next to Normal is not your to perform a musical that won the average musical. It’s not a fairy tale Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010. I story with a happy ending, it’s about often hear that actors in musicals can’t as real and raw as it gets. Cardinal act and that musicals are primarily fluff Music Productions will tackle the and this show dispels all those myths emotional show later this month. in one fell swoop.”

Audiences come to know the story For Cardinal, who produced the of Diana Goodman and her family show in 2013, the issues of mental through a dynamic and energetic illness are just as relevant now as they pop-rock score. were then.

Traumatized by the death of her “Mental illness has touched every infant son from an undiagnosed one of our lives in one form or another intestinal obstruction, Diana has and it is important to talk about,” he lived with bipolar depressive noted. “ In 2013 I was receiving phone disorder and delusional episodes for calls from people thanking me for the past 17 years. The illness has bring light to the subject and telling affected everyone in her life, and me their own personal stories for has nearly torn her family apart on weeks after the show was finished. As several occasions. Next to Normal an actor and a director, that show took expores pressing contemporary so much out of me. I never experienced issues of trauma, loss, mental health anything like that for other shows I treatment, and the meaning of performed and there have been many. family.

I do recommend it, but be warned it is “I chose Next to Normal for raw and real and it will bring you to several reasons,” director tears.”

Joseph Cardinal explained The show not only tackles to 519. “I love the heart bipolar disorder, but also of the show and the the treatment itself. The Next to way it tackles mental use of pharmaceutical Normal health issues, and how and medical treatments Urban Field House the issues affect every is pretty bold.

March 22-31 member of the family “You can’t tone down in different ways, and this show it is what it is each member of the family and that’s what makes it so is allowed to bare their soul great and I wouldn’t have it any and journey to the audience. Very other way,” Cardinal said. “That is powerful stuff. The fantastic score part of the reason for having my own

By Dan Savoie

company - no boundaries to contend with. The show is not a satire nor is it dark - it is real and emotional. There is no happy ending, but there is always hope and that is a start.

Directing the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama is an emotional thing for Cardinal, who saw the production live in New York.

“Watching the struggles of the all American family who lives next door to you from the inside is very dramatic,”

Brantford

Chatham

Mar 09 - Murphy’s Celtic Legacy, Chatham Capitol Theatre (8pm) Mar 16 - DESTROYER Canada-KISS Tribute, Champz Sportz Grille (10pm) Mar 20 - Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium Adventure, Chatham Capitol Theatre (6:30pm)

Kitchener – Waterloo

Mar 04 - Donovan Woods -The Opposition, Centre In The Square (8pm) Mar 08 - The Cat Empire , Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Mar 08, 09 - The Four Seasons, Centre In The Square (2:30pm, 8pm) Mar 09 - Ed the Sock: War on Stupid Comedy Tour , Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Mar 09 - Marianas Trench - Suspending Gravity Tour, The Aud (7pm) Mar 14 - Electric Light Orchestra , Centre In The Square (8pm) Mar 14 - Ezra Jordan, Myles Castello, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Mar 16 - The Mudmen, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Mar 20 - Wintersleep - In The Land Of Tour, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Mar 22 - Fleetwood Mac Mania, Rhapsody Barrel Bar (9pm) Mar 22 – Spoons, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm)

The cast for this show includes Lindsay Norris (Diana), Joe Cardinal (Dan), Regan White (Natalie), Drew Beaudoin (Gabriel), Nick Palazzolo (Henry) and Sydney White (Dr. Fine, Dr. Madden).

Cardinal Music Productions presents Next to Normal on March 22 to 24 and 39 to 31 at Urban Field House in Emeryville. Ticket are $25. For more infotmation, visit, cardinalmusicproductions.com.

Lindsay Norris as Diana Goodman

MARCH EVENTS IN THE 519 Mar 06 - Murphy’s Celtic Legacy, Sanderson Centre (2pm) Mar 07 - Matthew Good, Sanderson Centre (8pm) Mar 13 - Jully Black - Canada’s Queen of R&B Soul, Sanderson Centre (8pm) Mar 19 - Jesse Cook in Concert, Sanderson Centre (8pm)

Cardinal added. “We all think our neighbors have fantastic lives but do they really? We expose their lives with this piece and that is the beauty of it.

The hand picked cast was not auditioned. Cardinal based his decision on several compontents: acting and singing ability, proper look for the different roles and most importantly team players who truly understand the concept of working together for one common goal.

Submit your events to 519MAGAZINE.COM

Mar 27, 28 - Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella , Centre In The Square (8pm) Mar 28 - Lost Cousins, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Mar 29 - U2 Tribute: Elevation - fundraiser concert , Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7:30pm) Mar 30 - Ripopee, Centre In The Square (11am, 2pm) Mar 30 - Scott Helman - The Hang Ups Tour, Maxwell’s Concerts & Events (7pm)

London

Mar 05 - Lynyrd Skynyrd, Budweiser Gardens (7:30pm) Mar 05 - Matthew Good, London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 07 - Cat Power, London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 08 - Josh Taerk, London Music Club (8pm) Mar 08 – Slander, London Music Hall (10pm) Mar 08 - The Jesse James Medicine Show, Old East 765 (9pm) Mar 09 - Tech N9ne’s Live in Canada Tour 2019, London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 10 - Heather Russell, The Aeolian (7pm) Mar 12 - Don Amero, London Music Club (7:30pm) Mar 12 - Justin Rutledge, The Aeolian (7pm) Mar 12 - NERD OUT, Old East 765 (8pm) Mar 14 - CBC Music presents - LIVE at the JUNOS, London Music Hall (6pm) Mar 14 - Wolfe Island Records Artist Showcase, London Music Club (8pm) Mar 15 - JUNO Comedy Show , London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 15 - JUNOfest ft. Beyond Creation, Sumo Cyco, Kavara, Smrtdeath, Old East 765 (9pm) Mar 15 - JUNOfest ft. Chelsea Stewart & Emmanul Jal wsg Jully Black, Wolf Performance Hall (8pm) Mar 15 - Moccio & Friends , The Aeolian (7pm) Mar 16 - Junior JUNOS, Wolf Performance Hall (10am)

Mar 16 - JUNOfest Classical, The Aeolian (12:30pm) Mar 16 - JUNOfest ft Whitehorse, Gabrielle Shonk, Marty Kolls, The Aeolian (8pm) Mar 16 - JUNOfest ft. Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Just John x Dom Dias, Casper, Old East 765 (9pm) Mar 16 - JUNOfest ft. SUE FOLEY, Twin Fin & more, London Music Club (8pm) Mar 16 - JUNOfest ft. Tokyo Police Club, Texas King, Basic White & more, Rum Runners (9pm) Mar 16 - JUNOfest ft. WESLI & EXCO LEVI with Gypsy Ghosts, Wolf Performance Hall (8pm) Mar 16 - Priors / Red Arms / Brutal Youth / Yeah Bud, Call The Office (9pm) Mar 17 - The 2019 JUNO Awards, Budweiser Gardens (8pm) Mar 21 - Hello Hopeless , Old East 765 (8pm) Mar 21 - Jack de Keyzer, London Music Club (8:30pm) Mar 21 – Wintersleep - London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 22 - Jesse Cook, London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 22 - KIM CHI, Wolf Performance Hall (2pm, 8pm) Mar 22 - SKA and WILD, Old East 765 (7pm) Mar 23 - March Break FutureShock, Old East 765 (10pm) Mar 23 - Molly Johnson, The Aeolian (7pm) Mar 23 - The Cocktail Show, Budweiser Gardens (3pm) Mar 23 - The Interrupters w/ Masked Intruder & Ratboy, London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 23 - Up In Smoke Tour ft. Subtronics + Blunts – Blondes, Runners (10pm) Mar 24 - Anne-Lune: Mon baluchon, The Aeolian (1pm) Mar 24 - John 5, Rum Runners (6pm) Mar 25 - The White Buffalo, London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 26-BAHAMAS w/ Ben Rogers, London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 27 - Blaze On3 & Trey Mark, Old East 765 (9am)

Windsor - Essex

Country star Luke Combs headlines Budweiser Gardens in London on March 28.

Mar 28 - Enter The Haggis, The Aeolian (7pm) Mar 28 - Luke Combs -SOLD OUT, Budweiser Gardens (8pm) Mar 28 - Scott Helman, London Music Hall (7pm) Mar 28 - The Wooden Sky w/ Casper Skulls, Rum Runners (7pm) Mar 28, 29, 30,31, Apr - 3, 4, 5 - 1949 by David French, Palace Theatre (2pm, 8pm) Mar 29 - Mudmen , London Music Club (8:30pm) Mar 30 - Dom Dolla, Rum Runners (10pm) Mar 30 - Ellevator w/ Basement Revolver, Rum Runners (7pm) Mar 30 - Sara Davis Buechner at The Aeolian, The Aeolian (7pm) Mar 31 - Louder Now! Smash Wrestling filming for Fight Network, London Music Hall (4pm) Apr 01 - The Tea Party - Black River Tour, London Music Hall (7pm) Apr 03 - Brit Floyd, Budweiser Gardens (8pm)

Sarnia

Mar 09 - Altameda , Cheeky Monkey (2pm) Mar 09 - Shamrocks & Murder! , Bottoms Up Bar & Grill (7pm) Mar 09 - Comedy Tour in Sarnia, Imperial Theatre (7:30pm)

Mar. 05 - My Son The Hurricane, Nola’s (7pm) Mar. 05 - Wax Collective Vol. 15 Blood Orange : Negro Swan , Phog Lounge (9pm) Mar. 06, 07, 08, 09, 10 - God of Carnage, University Players (2pm, 8pm) Mar. 08 - The Myskow Brothers/The Universe Featuring Ray, The Thirsty Butler (8pm) Mar. 08 - A Concert for Hope, Water’s Edge Event Centre (7pm) Mar. 09 - Cedar and Pine, Alone Together, Blurred Trees, Dane Roberts, Phog Lounge (8pm) Mar. 10 - Foreigner - The Cold As Ice Tour, Caesars Windsor (8pm) Mar. 16, 17 - Blue Man Group, WFCU Centre (2pm, 5pm, 8pm) Mar. 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 - Love and Information, University Players (2pm, 8pm) Mar. 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31 - The Wiz, Capitol Theatre Windsor (2pm, 8pm) Mar. 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31 - Next To Normal, Urban Field House (2pm, 8pm) Mar. 23 - The Mojo Wailers Band & Shannon Golla , The Thirsty Butler (9pm) Mar. 23, 24 - KIM CHI, Rockstar Music Hall (6pm, 8pm) Mar. 24 - 519 Premium Concert Series with DTB and Flower Face, WFCU Centre (1pm) Mar. 28 - Jimmy’s Comedy Nights, Jimmy G’s Bar and Grill (9pm) Mar. 29 - Anderson Cooper, Caesars Windsor (8pm) Mar. 30 - Who Made Who AC/DC tribute, The Back Stage (8pm) Mar. 30 - ERTH’s Prehistoric Aquarium, The Chrysler Theatre (2pm) Mar. 31 - Danno O’Shea, Phog Lounge (4pm)

10 FUN QUESTIONS WITH ACTRESS LINDA KASH Without using the word fun. What is your definition of fun?

People, music, walks, dogs, sex.

What is the most fun I’ve had in the last 24 hours?

Reuniting with Tracey Atin (from Kordazone Theatre). We have known each other since we were three. She is my oldest dearest friend, it’s fantastic. We lost touch for many many years, but it’s so neat that we are both in the same umbrella of the world of the arts. It was fairly obvious back then. We made up songs and we wore costumes, we did a lot of make believe.

We did a lot of theatrical pretend.

What is more fun Chocolate whipped cream?

Chocolate. Whipped cream gives me a stomach ache.

What was the most fun you’ve had watching the movie?

I don’t like horror movies, but I screamed so loud in Jaws, like twice. And I can’t remember who I was with - hopefully a boy. I’m a very physical movie watcher so if I’m scared I’m all over you because I just remember when that head comes out from in the boat like I’ll never forget how scary that was; it really surprised me.

When was the last time you were made fun of?

Sometimes when I hurt myself, like stub

my toe. My kids have a horrible, horrible habit of laughing because I become a 4-years-old instantly. I cry or I kind of whine like a baby and they all find that hysterically funny. Then it just makes me mad which makes me look even more driven.

Have you had fun in church?

I was brought up Jewish and I did have some fun. I wish I had had more fun because I would have probably stuck with it. I had lots of Christian friends and I found it so exotic and so cool to be in church. The most fun I’ve ever had in a church was when I was playing a very religious Catholic woman and my friend took me to a service and I really enjoyed the rituals.

What is more fun, a mother-in-law or going to the dentist?

I’ve had a couple of mother-in-laws because I had two partners. I loved those women so much, so I don’t have a lot of mother-in-law jokes because I really, really, really, love those women.

So definitely they’re more fun than the dentist.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had with your clothes on?

Probably improvising. Probably doing a scene where I don’t know where it’s going.

And it’s just really clicking and it’s kind

JUNO AWARD NOMINEES

Jamie Fine The Weeknd Cardi B Arkells Meghan Patrick Jessie Reyez Brett Kissel Monster Truck Raffi Colin James

Alessia Cara Shawn Mendes Metric Washboard Union Tim Hicks Rhye Robi Botos Exco Levi Ayrad Loud Luxury

Bülow Michael Bublé Sheepdogs Dizzy The Recklaws Destroyer The Fretless Elisapie

of magical. I think that it’s the most fun, when you don’t know what’s coming next.

And it just works.

Not being too risky, What is the most fun you’ve had with your clothes off?

It’s one of the most funnest things I ever did was I went to Wreck Beach in Vancouver, which is a nude beach. I was the only one with clothes on because I didn’t know if I could do that. Then I realized that I was embarrassed to have clothes on, so I took my clothes off because it seemed absurd that everybody was so cool. There was even a guy I was with at the time who was selling fig leaves for people. But I did take my clothes off and it was fantastic. And I have to tell you, once in my life - and I may not have a perfect body - but I will be nude on stage because I think it’s really important to try that once.

Has being an actress made you a more fun person?

I don’t know what I would be if I wasn’t an actor. I honestly don’t know. I think children make me a fun person more than being an actor. I think I need to be around kids because they just remind me of things that I think I would forget. As my children get older - I’m not a grandmother yet, dammit - I still really love teaching children and teens.

Music for flute and strings. In benefit of The Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Warrior Women Against Poverty.

$35 Reception by MIAM French Crêpes and Koolini Italian Eatery.

2879 RIVERSIDE DRIVE EAST KAREN@WATERSEDGEEVENTCENTRE.CA 519-977-2065