In these parts, it's an all too common story. A musician finds their groove and departs for the bigger, more fertile grounds of Montreal or Toronto. For every Jenn Grant or Joel Plaskett , there are ten bands that broke up or left Canada's ocean playground behind like it was a sinking ship, hoping that the bigger, less accessible scenes would be the ticket to more shows and more fans. For Gianna Lauren , the intimacy and community the North End provides were the reasons she made the journey to [...]
It's not hard to be impressed by the hustle displayed by organizers responsible for the Long Live the Queen festival about to take over Halifax. Honestly, they are doing everything right to help a grass roots, community focused festival get the traction to stick around and grow. Family friendly? Check. Kids under ten are free. Diverse attractions? Check. The festival has local art, yoga, music, literature and clothing on display. Affordable? Check. Most festivals jack up the rates so high that the community can't afford to attend, but for $50 bucks [...]
Ok folks here's the last episode in our Christmas Party series, the Xmas eve edition, where we post some of the hill's favorite holiday songs - Canadian and otherwise. Christmas In Hollis, Boney M, Hall & Oates, a live Jenn Grant and Daniel Ledwell duet, and a new old favorite from our home province's favorite cowboy: Hank Snow. Hope you enjoy them. And we also hope you all have a fantastic Christmas or whatever holiday you'll be celebrating over the next few days. Things might be slow around the hill as we get into holiday/family [...]
Last night found a collection of low flying stars gathering in Halifax @ The Seahorse Tavern. We had Guthries, Kinley Dowling and her stlying boots, Share, In-Flight Safety, Heavy Blinkers and many many more. Out of nowhere, Matt Mays keyboard man Adam Baldwin delivered a country fused, Tom Petty-inspired collection of rocker to warm things up, and then Matt Charlton flooded the stage with at least 8 friends including Christina Martin, Jason MacIsaac, Andrew Sisk, Dan Ledwell and Jon Mullane. The band ran out of outputs, so Charlton was forced to bust out interpretive dance moves and drink instead of [...]
Pretty well says it all doesn't it? Your good friends at herohill want to give you the chance to see two terrific artists in one terrific spot. Jon is putting the finishing touches on his new record (and his last effort was nothing to scoff at)and if you are a fan of herohill, you've no doubt read about how much we loved Dan's stripped down folk release, Two Over Seven ( review ). On September 16th, Jon and Dan are playing @ The Carleton and the chance to see both artists [...]
When it comes to promoting East Coast acts, there aren't many people working harder than Matt Charlton (well, except us of course). I remember when herohill first started getting emails from his PR firm – efficient, easy to download snippets without any of the glowing hyberbole that plagues not only music PR people, but bloggers as well – and I assumed Matt was just a guy that loved music and wanted to find a way to make a living from it. Now, a year or so later his roster has grown and [...]
myspace The good people at Gooseberry Records certainly know how to make a band feel good about their catalog. With successful tribute records for Thrush Hermit ( review ) and The Inbreds ( review ) already under their belt, they've proven that the new generation of East Coast rockers still holds the bands that shaped the scene in the 90s in very high record. Before I start, I have to admit the amount of music on these two discs is somewhat staggering - 50 songs - and when [...]
The In The Dead of Winter festival is called that for a reason, I mean it's January 31st, we're right in the heart of winter. However, the weather for the festival's openning night was more like the dead of winter in Vancouver rather than Halifax. A balmy 4 degrees and constant rain might not ordinarily be ideal weather for an evening out, but compared to the -15ish temperatures we enjoyed the last week or so, it isn't so bad. Plenty of folks agreed with me too, as when we arrived at the venue (I was joined [...]
Herohill
Diplo - "Climax" (MP3 Stream)
Out This Week 2/14
Jack White – Love Interruption [Music Video]
Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
[listen] Diplo ft. Usher - Climax
