Photo by Kurt Cuffy
Skye Wallace has the voice of a gypsy, singing you a dark lullaby on a cross-country caravan. Her music will make you feel good, but not in the way pop songs by Pharrell Williams or Bruno Mars might make people feel good. It’s more raw than that. The songs make you feel good because you can empathize with the stories she tells in her music. I asked Skye what inspires her to write and she told me that other people’s stories and folklore are her biggest inspiration for writing. These stories are noticeable in her lyrics and her music allows you to feel them. Skye Wallace and her band recently completed a tour of Eastern Canada which included several stops here in Newfoundland.
the first time I saw Jim perform they were his backing band which is pretty cool. I saw him play and we’ve been in contact for years since. We’ve been talking about this for a while. It’s half done right now and we are finishing the rest early June.
Rock Island: You have a new album coming out called Something Wicked. Tell me about that. Skye Wallace: Yeah, it’s going to be released in the Fall I believe. It’s produced by Jim Bryson who is a big hero of mine. My favorite band of all time is The Weakerthans and
RI: How different is the new album from your last release Living Parts? SW: I’d say there is a bit of a departure from the folk thing. I feel like the folk element is very much a part of the structure and the sentiment of the album but, in terms of the energy it’s got a bit of the punk or indie rock thing going
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RI: So you have a lot of the tracks already recorded? SW: Yeah, they’re actually all mastered and everything. We’re going to release a single on May 12th as a little teaser. *Listen to Skye’s new single here: https:// soundcloud.com/skyewallacemusic/blood-moon
on. It’s really full and it makes me feel the things that I wanted to feel. I feel really good about it and I’m loving the way everything is coming together. We are actually going to shoot a music video for it on the Steam Whistle party bus when we get back to Toronto. RI: Okay, speaking of that, why did you come to Newfoundland? SW: My family is from Newfoundland and we kind of did it as like a pre-cursor to the album coming out. We wanted to bring this full, new sound to a place in the world that is, first of all, really inspiring for me because it’s been entrenched in my upbringing; but also it’s a really awesome place! RI: What places have you played on this tour? SW: We’ve played Corner Brook, Norris Point, Port Rexton, Tilting on Fogo Island, Grates Cove and here in St. John’s. RI: You mentioned earlier you also played “the shed” in Tilting, was that the highlight of your trip so far? SW: It’s hard to say, it was one of the highlights. I’d say one of the highlights would also be when we were in Norris Point. There is
a guy named Tom Cochran who is this amazing photographer and videographer and he did some live videos with us in the park and then at night we recorded a music video in this old hospital. *Watch the live video shot in Gross Mourne here: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=5KQbjg06Dsk RI: Yeah Tom’s the best. SW: Oh you know Tom? Everybody knows Tom! RI: Tell me more about this shed party on Fogo Island. SW: So my cousin is Paddy Barry and he’s like a prevalent member of the Fogo Island community. He realized that we had an extra day off during our Newfoundland portion of the tour and he said why don’t you come to Fogo? And I’m like I can’t come to Fogo, why would I come to Fogo? And he’s like you can play in the shed! And I was like… okay! So we went down and we stayed in the Tilting Harbour B&B which is run by a guy named Tom who is just incredible. He fed us really fresh mussels and crab. Then we played in the Shed and it was just jam packed full of people. It’s a really cool place! RI: So is it a bar or...? SW: Kind of… it’s kind of a shed and kind of a bar. It’s right in the middle. It was just an amazing show. It was somewhat unplugged and it was just ROCKus [ruckus].
@skyewallace skyewallacemusic
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The first full length release is always an exciting time in the career of any musicians. Alternative rockers, London Above, finally got a taste of that feeling when they released their album Lazar in March. Rock Island caught up with the band to talk about their first time working with a producer and what they’ve got planned for the future. Rock Island: You were already playing most of the songs on the album live before/ during the making of the album, how many songs did you take into recording? How did you decide which ones to stay and which to cut? Were there any you wanted to keep but didn’t end up making the cut? Harry Parsons: We had 14 songs, and [Chris] Kirby chose 12 that he felt were the strongest. So we recorded 12, but 2 didn’t make the cut. We would have loved to put all 12 on there, but there were a couple that just really ROCK ISLAND | 4
weren’t sounding right. The only remedy would have been to scrap them and start from scratch, but we decided to go with 10. Perhaps we’ll rerecord them and release them in the future in some way. RI: Why did you decide to work with Chris Kirby for the album? Were there any other producers you wanted to work with or was it really just Kirby? HP: We had initially set out to just do the whole album on our own, and we had already started recording it when Chris Kirby came into the picture. He saw us play a MusicNL showcase in Corner Brook, and approached us immediately after the set, offering to produce our album. We kept some of the parts that we had already done on our own, but we then started to play around with the songs with Kirby at the wheel. Some of the songs changed a lot, some
didn’t change that much. You can definitely hear Kirby’s influence on the record. It was our first time recording a full-length album, and the first time working with a producer. It was a great experience. We became friends with his parrot too.
Photo by Ritche Perez
RI: There’s some pretty interesting stuff behind the album title, what’s the story behind Lazar, why did you choose it and how does it relate to the songs on the album? HP: The album is named after Bob Lazar. He’s an American scientist who claims to have worked at Area 51 in the late 80’s, reverse-engineering extraterrestrial space craft. I suggested the name in the very early stages of recording and it stuck. It ended up tying in nicely with some of the lyrical themes on the record... the mysticism of the unknown, being insecure, fear of failure. He tells a great story, whether you believe it or not. And trust me, I’m still trying to figure that out for myself. His website is pretty interesting if you wanna kill some time... https:// www.unitednuclear.com/ RI: Is there any plans for an official release show? HP: Yeah! By the time this goes to print
we should have our order placed for a small run of CDs, so we’ll book a release show once we have those in our hands. We released the album online back in March. CDs are more or less a novelty at this point. But we’re all fans of physical copies, so we thought we make a few. RI: You did an atlantic tour in support of Creatures, any plans on doing something similar for Lazar? HP: We don’t have any touring plans at the moment sadly. RI: Slab Fest is a new all ages festival featuring local acts, which is really the first of its kind in Central - what kind of effect do you think it’ll have on the all ages scene (that doesn’t have much of an existence) in central? Do you think it’ll help get people excited about young talent? HP: Shows like Slab Fest don’t really happen at all in Central, so we’re hoping that it’ll help show people young and old what kind of talented artists there are in Newfoundland. It would be great if we could inspire younger kids to pick up instruments. We’re hoping that Slab Fest can become an annual event. London Above’s debut album, Lazar, is now available through londonabove.com @londonabove
Photo by Tara Thompson
/londonabove
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member of The Monday Nights has the musical prowess to show off at any time but the simplicity of many of the songs makes the individual moments shine. The almost two minute solo in Map in my Hands stands out as one of the highlights of the album, where the guys really show off, growing in complexity until it’s almost bottom falling out ending.
Goodnight Monday Night by The Monday Nights by Jordan Coaker The latest release from The Monday Nights, titled Goodnight Monday Night, is beautifully crafted and methodic. The 9 tracks have a sense of familiarity with catchy hooks, acoustic grooves, and nitty gritty guitar solos, but somehow with every listen you can hear something entirely new. Generally in order to create something familiar to everyone you’ve got to follow a tried and tested equation. I think what’s so special about The Monday Nights, especially this album, is that they manage to achieve this familiarity while throwing everything tried and tested out the window. Purposely out of key guitar solos and out of time percussion are just some of the nonconventional methods used by the guys. Each
Photo by Chris Ledrew
Lead singer Kalem Mahoney’s distinct vocals are both soothing and powerful so that each individual song, whether rocking or ballad, is served with the right approach. The songwriting itself delves into metaphors of changing seasons and relationship difficulties. The line “Like a train leaving the station delays hang ups and complications sometimes...” is just one of the many parallels drawn about human interaction. The songwriting is reminiscent of work by Bob Segar and the Silver Bullets, and is enhanced through their live show. Overall, this album is an excellent piece of art and the perfect company for all your summer driving. Listen here: https://play.spotify.com/ album/4bF2GeBqODVKbj9S8HtF9s Tracklisting: 1) Heart Like Mine 2) Tokyo 3) Leaves of Summer 4) Lonely Days 5) Map in my Hands 6) No Blue Sky 7) Skin and Bone 8) Slow Burn 9) July Moon
Electropop rockers, Repartee, have unleashed their long-awaited studio album All Lit Up, to fan and critical adoration. On the steps of the war memorial in the heart of downtown St. John’s, vocalist Meg Warren caught up with Rock Island to share her thoughts on the album, as well as the bands Cross-Canada tour and die hard Newfoundland fan base! Rock Island: You guys have finally released your long-awaited and highly anticipated studio album All Lit Up. How do you feel? Anxious? Excited? All of the above? It’s been a long time coming. Meg Warren: Yes! It’s been a super long time coming. Basically, we were writing, rerecording and reworking this album for almost two years. It feels incredible to have it out and have people listening to it.
RI: You guys recently started a huge Canadian tour, which you kicked off here, in your hometown of Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland. How did that feel? MW: Oh it was awesome! I grew up in Grand Falls-Windsor so it was really wonderful to see a lot of my old neighbours. My Nan was there! She can’t come to any shows, so it was really nice to have her there. She’s 85, so we don’t want her coming down on George Street to The Rock House or anything. Getting to Grand Falls and having the big kickoff here in St. John’s with the official album release was really, really nice. We were really excited we could do it. RI: It totally made sense. In terms of Cross-Canada tours, a lot of bands start or end here. It would be fitting either way, but for the album release show it was definitely fitting to start here.
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MW: For sure! This is our home. This is where we started, where we grew and we’re still kind of based both here and in Toronto. It made sense to start it here. RI: Kind of a bias question, but what are Newfoundland crowds and Newfoundland audiences like compared to those across Canada? Better, worse, any noticeable difference? MW: There is a noticeable difference. I feel like everybody says this, but honest to God it’s not a cliché and I’m not just exaggerating or whatever. The crowds here are so much more supportive, enthusiastic and passionate. They love to dance. It’s just incredible. There’s a couple of places across the country like that. We found Vancouver and Charlottetown were like that. The people from the East Coast are generally like that. It kind of spoiled us growing up, with the band forming in St. John’s and our first gig out of the province being a wakeup call. It’s like ‘oh wow! Not everybody is super supportive and enthusiastic and passionate like the crowds back home!’ I mean that with 100 per cent honesty. There’s no other place like it. It’s really beautiful. RI: It seems like there are a ton of amazing local bands today who are getting off the island and touring. Does the music climate here feel at all different than a few years back? MW: That’s a good question. I think one of the biggest changes is something that we talked about with this album release, that people are really not buying cds anymore. It started to change when we put out our first album. People are streaming on Spotify and iTunes and that sort of thing. My Macbook doesn’t even have a cd drive. You know? There’s nowhere in my house that I can actually play physical cds. We don’t even really know now if people will be interested in buying cds at our shows, we’ll have to figure out once we start touring and going across the country. That’s something that certainly has changed in the last five years.
@reparteemusic
RI: It feels like vinyl is coming back in /reparteemusic ROCK ISLAND | 8 Photos by Sean Jessome
a big way (points to Fred’s Records directly behind us). MW: Yeah totally! And that’s something we’re going to look into doing probably for the fall. RI: So thematically, how would you describe this album? It’s certainly upbeat and designed to be seen and heard live from my first listen. MW: Totally, and that’s a good accurate description. We kind of like to consider our music to be top 40 pop hooks over indie band music. That’s kind of what we are hoping to do and we hope that’s what comes across with this album. I think our writing has gotten better and more cohesive since the last album, up-tempo, synth pop stuff that you can dance to. We like to bring that to the live show as well. RI: What are some of your influences musically? I can really hear Metric when I listen to you guys. MW: Absolutely! We actually had the opportunity to open for Dragonette a couple of times. Their drummer is good buddies with us. We got to open for Lights in Vaughan, Ontario last year. Those two are up on our high list … There’s a lot within the scene in Toronto we’ve gotten to see. RI: You’re getting a good chunk of touring out of the way before the crazy summer music rush. Any plans lined up for the summer? MW: We have two right now in Ontario and we’re trying to hop on to a few last minute summer festivals. The problem was we didn’t have an album out and you had to book them really far in advance. So hopefully, we’ll get a few last minute ones! Repartee’s new album ‘All Lit Up’ is available for purchase on iTunes, to stream on Spotify, as well as your local music retailer. The bands Cross-Canada tour concludes June 11th in Kenora, Ontario. Visit www.reparteemusic.ca for all things Repartee! 9 | ROCK ISLAND
Rock Island: Let’s talk about the new EP, Striking the Colours, what was your track selection process? Newspaper Fashion Show: The album doesn’t necessarily include the first songs we put together. The first two songs we had written were left off of it. A couple of the songs on the EP are ones that we wrote together years ago and others we threw together during smoke breaks in John’s basement. We went with the five that we thought were the strongest because we wanted to make to best first impression we could. RI: How did you decide where the tracks appeared on the album? NPFS: It’s kind of based on the way we play our live sets. RI: I thought it was a really good track selection. In particular, the first two songs have a very playful tone and then the third song, Leave Me Something, is a very sincere track which kind of gives the album a new ROCK ISLAND | 10
energy. The last two songs sort of wind it back and end with this playful rhythm. Was that intentional or just sort of coincidental? NPFS: I guess there was probably not as much thought into it as that haha. There was a bit of debate regarding the rising and falling of the album as far energy goes. We wanted to keep the strongest at either end and the middle just kind of happened. RI: That’s interesting because a lot of bands will save tracks like “Leave Me Something” until the end but, I think it is really nicely punctuated by having it in the middle. NPFS: We also released a couple live demos of the first two tracks earlier so we figured that people who had checked out our bandcamp page had already heard those songs so we threw those in the beginning and then have the new stuff as tracks 3, 4 and 5. RI: You bring up an interesting point about releasing content online. I imagine
it’s a struggle to decide how you are going to get your content out to your audience. Do you release it all online? Do you sell it physically? Do you do some blend of the two? What sort of thought process went into how you decided to release your music? NPFS: We just kind of went with everything we could. We have the EP on Spotify and iTunes. We also have physical copies. You know you will sell a couple of physical copies, but really for us it was mostly to our friends and neighbours haha. So the accessibility of putting something on Spotify is a good thing for us. Maybe you won’t get as much money for it, but since it’s the first thing we’ve released we’re not really expecting to make money off it anyway. It’s on everything we could get it on because it was kind of just about getting heard with this first EP.
sound pristine. When you record it, you want it to sound a lot better, quality wise, but still organic. I think the energy in a live show makes up for all the missed notes. That energy is hard to capture because you are not playing the songs in front of a live crowd. RI: Looking forward, to things like say music videos, some bands have difficulty venturing into these new artistic mediums. How do you guys feel about trying those kinds of things in the future? NPFS: I’ve been itching to give that a try… to work with somebody who might have a good idea after hearing a song and really try to put a cool spin on it. I don’t know about the acting and lip syncing tho haha. We couldn’t even take band pictures seriously a few months ago haha. RI: What was it like working with producer Dylan Piercey on this EP? What did he bring to the table? NPFS: He was great to work with, very accommodating and constantly checking in with us to get our input while he was mixing the tracks. He played drums on the album and spent nearly 12 hours straight in his basement recording drums. The only thing that could have been a bit better is that he lives in Toronto…so it would have been cool to sit down with him a bit more but he was a great producer. Listen to Newspaper Fashion Show - Striking the Colours here: http://newspaperfashionshow. bandcamp.com/
RI: You guys had some live experience going into this EP. Some bands like to release a recording that is very distinct from their live show and some bands pride themselves on being the same live as on the record. Were you trying to emulate your live sound on this record? NPFS: I would say yes. There is nothing really different on the record that isn’t in the live show. There are some setbacks when you are playing a live show and it is difficult to make it
@npfashionbros NewspaperFashionShow
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Ouroboros by Ouroboros by Chris Hynes Ouroboros may need no formal introduction; if you have found yourself dancing over the past year or so, they are probably responsible for it. The St. John’s quintet oozes an energetic smorgasbord of far away rhythms that almost require a passport as much as they require dancing shoes. Greg Bruce (alto sax), Susan Evoy (alto sax), Chris Harnett (tenor sax), Nicole Hand (bari sax) and Andrew McCarthy (drums/percussion) simply, albeit masterfully, are creating party music. And that my friends, is a beautiful thing, no? The eponymous offering, released in May 2015, takes its audience on a sonic journey. Beginning with some Eastern European folk, some West African beats and smothered in jazz and funk, its product yields an upbeat cacophony that sizzles and swoons. It’s almost as if, wishful thinking notwithstanding, the Cantina band from Star Wars were actually deadly. Try not moving to that!
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All nine pieces on the album are either originally composed or arranged by band members; no small feat given the complexity of the project, so kudos for that! “Pass (h)Over” has a slick, slow, jazz influenced introduction, which immediately jolts straight into a fast klezmer dance beat. It made this review difficult to finish as clapping and foot stomping became inevitable! The middle section exhales into slower tempo and 2/2 feel, which then transitions back into the klezmer dance groove for which I am now dancing again. BRB. My personal favourite is “Bay-O-Tuck”, which begins with a trance like percussion pattern featuring some of West Africa’s finest (agogo bells, shakers and congas!). An alto sax solo in a jazz style rips smoothly over the African percussive groove, just before the funky main theme comes in and keeps the party going. Vocal harmonies, a recurring theme on the album, take us home towards the end of the piece. We’re delivered to an instrumental reiteration of the main theme as it slows its run down to a strut, this time with more ornamentation and a different harmonic structure. Wherever in the world these well-traveled music scene staples have been, we are sure glad they have all arrived back together in St. John’s. Ouroboros is a fascinating, upbeat modern day ‘dance-mix record’ with all the faraway spices needed to keep you coming back for more. It is ‘dancey times’ that will leave you klezmer-ized! Tracklisting: 1) Yaida 2) Spoitoresa 3) Porchico 4) Fix 5) Pass (h)over 6) Baroc 7) Portuguese Waltzes 8) Kiniwe 9) Frances Advances 10) Bay-O-Tuck
by Jeremy House SlabFest is a one-day, all-ages outdoor festival on June 25th, 2016 located on the original site of the town of Gander. This year’s lineup features Kat McLevey, Brianna Gosse, London Above, Everglow, Cabbages & Kings, and Hear/Say. Rock Island: Can you give a general overview of Slabfest? How long has it been going on, what brought this festival into being? Melissa Tobin: This is the first year for SlabFest. Myself, Dean and Stevie Stairs, of The Citadel House in Lewisporte, were talking about the lack of all-ages events anywhere on the island. And it was an issue we had heard many bands talk about at the MusicNL conference in 2015. We’re all based in Central, and I heard about The Slab Shows set up by the Gander Band, Union, back in the late 90s/early 2000s, where the b’ys would just get a generator and set up a pop-up show. We LOVED the idea, but we thought we’d make this a more formal event. We wanted to focus on youth because I grew up going to all-ages shows. It was such an influence on my life and we wanted to pass that on to another generation. There are such great bands in this province and we wanted to create a venue to share that music with an audience who wouldn’t normally get a chance to see most of these bands.
RI: I see the acts are all up and coming Newfoundland artists. How excited were the bands to do this show? MT: All the bands seemed pretty pumped to be a part of this. It’s a new venue for them, allages AND in Central Newfoundland. We all just want to grow the music scene here. RI: Was it challenging to get the idea of an all-ages show off the ground? MT: Things for SlabFest moved pretty quickly since January and everyone we mentioned it to LOVED the idea, especially the bands. There’s always the fear, especially the first time you do something, ‘will it work?’ but I think there’s a huge need for something like this in Gander, it was an easy sell. RI: What are the biggest takeaways you want the audience to have when they leave SlabFest? MT: We want the audience to experience some of the up and coming musical acts in the province, and to learn about the many genres the province has to offer. We hope to create new music fans who will support local shows. Who knows, maybe they’ll start a band one day too. Tickets for SlabFest are available through TicketPro: http://ow.ly/YxGj3016Fuz
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drum recordings are not terrible nor reflective of the drummer’s talent, the drums themselves would serve the music much better in the right room with the proper mic set ups – you particularly notice this as the cymbal wash has a tendency to overpower the rest of the kit at times. The mixing also tends to favour the guitar. With that being said, the EP is short and sweet so we’ll cut them some slack because the 4 songs that make this EP are definitely bangers.
Eletric Moves EP by Carlyle by Andrew Boyd If you’re a fan of funky blues rock with a modern edge, Carlyle is the band for you. Carlyle just released their first EP, Electric Move, on June 3rd and the 4 track EP is a great representation of the new age, underground blues being produced in this province. Jake Davis (Bass) and Brian Knee (Guitar) share a lot of the vocals and complement each other well throughout. It’s worth nothing that Jake’s voice is reminiscent of Jody Richardson during his Fur Packed Action days. The bass lines and some of the guitar licks seem inspired from the Frusciante-era RHCP while the song-writing itself has a lot of feel to it which is a very important attribute of any piece of music. The regularity of instrumental breaks in between vocals actually enhances the impact of the vocal lines while Carlyle’s drummer, Stu Collins, is the proverbial glue that holds it all together by keeping the songs in the pocket. A couple constructive criticisms would be how the album was recorded. While the ROCK ISLAND | 16
Overall, the song writing is great and the guys are definitely going to make some waves in the scene if they keep doing what they’re doing. Looking forward to seeing them release a full-length studio album in the future. Favorite Track: Hooch Listen here: http://carlyle.bandcamp.com/ Live video for Black Sheep: https://youtu.be/sKV9weGrShA Tracklisting: 1) Electric Move 2) No Name Love 3) Suburban House Blues 4) Hooch
Rock Island: What is the Make Music Happen Conference and how did it come into existence? Paul Heppleston: Make Music Happen is a two-day songwriting and performance conference where young, aspiring musicians workshop their songs with experienced musicians. Students also learn about other aspects of music, such as DIY recording, professionalism, and sound/instrument choices. Make Music Happen came into existence while day-dreaming about next-steps for my performers. My youth music project, Mr. H Presents, already had several regular series on the go. Always keen to invite musician-friends into my classrooms, I have seen the effect visiting professional musicians have on students. Using Jerry Stamp as my sounding board (Jerry had already been a guest in a number my classes and at a number of my events), I got to work on the biggest undertaking I had ever faced. Since Mr. H Presents had, up to that point, operated on a zero-dollar budget, planning an event costing several thousand dollars made for a big lump in my throat. RI: What kind of sessions are a part of the conference? Mr. H: In small groups, students do three 90-minute songwriting workshop sessions, each with a different workshop leaders. This year’s leaders were Adam Baxter, Bryan Power, Jody Richardson, and Kat McLevey - an exciting lineup, for sure. Though I give some suggestions about what could get covered in each, I don’t want to be prescriptive. As long as the students get some insight into different songwriting methods, and get to try those
methods out with a little feedback from the leaders, I’m happy. There are also four 30-minute sessions focused on various aspects of making music which are lead by local professionals like Dave Connors, Nick Hamlyn, and Tom Cochrane. Beyond the formal workshop sessions, there’s a songwriters circle concert (featuring the four professionals), a student showcase (featuring the students themselves), and some downtime which, I was very pleased to see, lead to fervent practice and collaborations. RI: Tell us a little bit about the talent that exists with young artists in this province. Mr. H: It shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody who knows about the rich artistic tradition of Newfoundland and Labrador that there are young people making wonderful music. On a monthly basis, at our Open Stage for the Underage, students wow me with their skills, as vocalists, multi-instrumentalists, and composers; students have also impressed me with their willingness to step outside of themselves - to take chances on developing new skills. After almost six years doing shows in the Corner Brook area, I took my first show to Stephenville, and a whole new group of performers from that area wowed me too. RI: What is the best part about working with these young musicians? Mr. H: Music is such a big part of my life - it’s a life essential, really - and I know how vital it has been to my growth as a person, so when I watch a young person performing, I’m also watching them grow. I love that I get to witness that. To be a part of their stories.
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