At andPOP we are all about creating efficient interviews that get straight to the point. In that spirit here is our interview with Chris Rock after the Toronto premiere of Good Hair.
The mastermind behind Sexy Chick and countless other hits, David Guetta is DJ royalty. And you would think with all his success he would have an ego. Truth is – not really! A very approachable guy and we are grateful to have been able to sit down with him.
You can’t help but help and admire this guy. Not only is he a great musician who has received a ton of critical acclaim, he has done it all with a severe physical disability. We had the privilege to speak with the charming Justin Hines before a recent performance.
andPOP got the opportunity to try out 2K Sports’ latest hockey title, NHL 2K10. We had the chance to play the game and talk with the developers.
Season two of “Sanctuary” premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET on Space and andPOP caught up with one of its stars to talk about one of the most high-speed sci-fi series. Why high-speed? Well, the series actually had its beginnings on the web but “Sanctuary” has since grown into a phenomenon of its own and moved into the small screen during its first season.
“We have a blast. I mean, sometimes we think we’re in the wrong genre, we should be doing comedy because from morning to night we’re laughing the entire time, Amanda [Tapping] leading the chart being the constant giggler,” says Canadian-born Robin Dunne who plays Dr. Will Zimmerman on the show. “If she was a superhero she’d be The Giggler…I hate to use an overused cliche but it really is like a family, that’s how it feels.”
But don’t be fooled, “Sanctuary” — which follows the adventures of scientist Dr. Helen Magnus (played by Amanda Tapping) who shelters a population of strange and at times terrifying beings with the help of Dunne’s character — is far from a comedy, although it has its fair share of tongue-in-cheek moments. This time around, things are about to get darker.
On the verge of kicking off a U.S. nationwide tour to promote the upcoming release of Say Anything’s new album, frontman Max Bemis has so far successfully avoided the evils of success.
But there’s plenty more time to come.
The L.A. band’s new self titled album will be their third official release, and it aspires to surpass the startling success of the first two.
“The whole transformation of everything in my life was the inspiration for the album, which centered mostly around the marriage to my wife,” Bemis tells andPOP. “Our music is basically the story of my life in chronological order.”
The biggest shift of ideals on the new album is that its focus is self-empowerment rather than self-loathing. His previous albums had a major focus on frustration with the opposite sex, but his April 4th, 2009, marriage altered his perspective on life and music.
Bemis is critical of the tendency indie bands have of conveying self loathing to their fans.
“Too often you see bands lean too far to one side. They’re either some cookie-cutter bullshit or they’re sulking with anger and resentment toward the cookie-cutter bullshit. There is a space in between, and that’s where we need to be,” he says.
Forget the Gaga comparisons. Little Boots may be Britain’s reigning blonde synth-pop bombshell, but you won’t catch her hitting red carpets with Kermit the Frog or posing half nude on the cover of Rolling Stone. Plus, she’s not opposed to wearing pants.
To put it simply, Little Boots is just a little more low-key.
“All that sex stuff is really not me,” Boots says of the comparison. “We’re both blonde and we both have a lot of synth in our music [but] I don’t really pay attention to it. I’m not offended by it. I’m not annoyed. I’m just kind of like whatever.”
With the matching hair colours, the shared affinity for producing exhilarating electro-pop songs and corresponding friendships with Perez Hilton, it looks like it’s going to take this songstress from across the pond a little bit longer to shed the “UK’s Lady Gaga” tag, whether she pays attention to the pundits or not.
When andPOP caught up with Little Boots at the Cadillac Lounge on Queen Street West in Toronto, she was just Victoria Hesketh—her infamous platinum hair tied back in a messy ponytail, sipping on water, raving about all the nice Canadians she’d met and looking more like the girl you’d sit next to in Psych 101 than an international pop diva.
Hesketh entered the UK music scene back when she was actually a student at the University of Leeds with a little indie rock band called Dead Disco. But when Hesketh’s dreams of making funky, danceable pop tunes clashed with the band’s direction, she ditched the boys and took to YouTube to broadcast her talents. With that, she became a bit of a sensation.
The boys from Mississauga Ontario are back with their fourth studio album – 1-up. We had the privilege of getting a sneak peak of the making of their video for “Take It For Granted”. Really interesting process to watch and it involved a lot of paint (if you have already seen the video you know what we mean)!
Louis Ferreira and I share more than one thing in common: we both speak Portuguese aside from English and both of us were not Sci-Fi kind of guys before Stargate Universe — the latest entity in the space-themed franchise, which premiers today at 9 p.m. exclusively on Space.
Ferreira’s resume includes an impressive amount of TV and film work. His characters range from The Donald himself in a Trump TV-movie, to lead roles in shows like “Trinity” and “Missing,” guest spots on “24” and “CSI Miami,” among tens of other TV series and films, including a a role in this year’s “Grey Gardens” with Drew Barrymore. Still, Sci-Fi remained unexplored territory for the actor (aside from a very short stint on “Star Trek”).
So how did he wind up on one of the most successful Sci-Fi franchises of all time? It’s actually quite a serendipitous story which Fereira (formerly known as Justin Louis) shared with andPOP.
Side story: when the Portuguese-born, Toronto-raised actor kicked off his career in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s, Vancouver was a booming destination for film productions so he’d go there whenever work would dry up in Toronto. “I remember being in my twenties and being like, ‘If I could have the ultimate lifestyle, it would be the farm in Toronto, the apartment in New York’ and I said, ‘a boat!’ If you could live on a boat like “Miami Vice” you would want to do it in Vancouver,” shared the Gemini winner.
Canadians: Want a quick 20 grand? Make an amazing album.
The Polaris Prize awards $20,000 to the Canadian artist or group that creates the best album of the year, based solely on artistic merit. Sales don’t count, marketing doesn’t count. The ten nominees – Elliot Brood, Fucked Up, Great Lake Swimmers, Hey Rosetta!, K’Naan, Metric, Joel Plaskett, Malajube, Patrick Watson, and Chad Vangaalen – all attended and performed at the Polaris Prize Gala, so I made sure to snag a few interviews before the award was given out.
The winner of the $20,000 prize? Well, check out the video and I’ll tell you.
Jordan had the opportunity recently to preview the latest big name from Bungie as he took out covenant scum with some of the best in Halo 3: ODST exclusively for the Xbox 360 out now. I guess dropping into hell feet first ain’t so bad.
So we went to the red carpet for the premiere of the new film (now in theatres) but we also had a one on one sit down with The Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg, and the hardest rapper from the East Coast, J-Roc.
When you think of a red carpet The Trailer Park Boys don’t exactly come to mind, but that’s where we met them. The boys from Sunnyvale are back for the second major movie release and Jordan caught up with them at the Toronto debut. Also stay tuned for an in depth interview with J-Roc and Mike Clattenburg coming soon!
When you think Daughtry understandably American Idol comes to mind, however there is more to the story. Daughtry is a band that actually makes music that people want to listen to, and more importantly music that people actually want to buy! That is no small accomplishment in this day in age. So we caught up with the boys to talk about music, life, G.I. Joe’s, but NOT American Idol.
We are not saying that we are mind readers or we can see into the future, however we are not surprised by Avril Lavigne’s break up from her rocker husband Deryck Whibley. As Jordan explained in our XM radio show last week, we had an opportunity to interview Avril a few weeks ago when she was promoting the launch of her new clothing line, Abbey Dawn. We also saw Deryck there and had a quick interview with him. Although Deryck tried to be as courteous as possible, it was more than clear that he had no interest in being there, and there was something else happening behind the scenes. He just stood in the corner with a pissed off look. You can check out the interview below. Nevertheless we wish both Avril and Deryck the best of luck.
Do you want to know how to make a really great music video? Ask the guys from Boys Like Girls. The secret – put Ashley Tisdale in your video and have a pretty good song. Boom, success. We had a chat before their recent performance in Toronto and also had a chat with some of their dedicated fans.
Oh the dreaded sophomore album. This can be a challenge for an artist, especially when you first album did so well. And that’s the situation Alison Sudol faced with her band A Fine Frenzy. However early reports suggest great things for this release, coupled with the fact that Alison is a really sweet girl. Sounds like a winning combination. We caught up with Alison early in the summer as she was gearing up for the launch of “Bomb in a Birdcage”.
If ‘alt.country’ (as the kids call it) is ‘your jam’ (as the kids call it), then look no further than Cuff the Duke. I’ve been a fan of these boys for years, and I’m really impressed by their latest LP, Way Down Here. The footage in this video is from their in-store performance at Criminal Records in Toronto. Check out www.myspace.com/cufftheduke to hear more of these good Canadian kids.
Glazing the city of Toronto in celebrity magic for one week in September, the Toronto International Film Festival has always boasted the ability to create a buzz and shed the spotlight on industry newbies.
Such is the case for Toronto native Mike Lobel -widely formally known as Jay Hogart from Degrassi: The Next Generation- who is experiencing his first induction into TIFF this year with the rock n’ roll comedy vampire-flick Suck.
Well we were able to speak with two of the cast members who were in a threesome on the newest season of The Real World in Cancun. Jonna who is a drop dead gorgeous girl from Arizona (and who also had a boyfriend at the time) and Pat from good old Canada. We talked about the latest season, their “threesome” and their current relationship status. Yes this is what we call groundbreaking reporting. Also checkout MTV as it reairs at 10PM EST on Sunday!
