Columnist Victoria Abraham defines one artist each week so you can impress your friends with your musical brilliance. This week, she tackles The Arkells, a rock band from Hamilton, Ontario.
It’s JUNO week baby, so in light of all the Canada lovin’ that will go down on April 1, this week’s column is devoted to The Arkells. This round, they’re nominated for “Group of the Year.” The band will also perform at Montreal’s Osheaga this August.
Origins: Hamilton, Ontario
Known for: The Arkells are known for their foot stomping, heart pounding, hands in the air, sing along performances. Their second album, Michigan Left, combines the sounds of Bruce Springsteen, Spoon, and Hall & Oates, aka they’re a smorgasbord of awesomeness.
Used in a sentence: “The Arkells rescued Canadian rock from the dark days of Nickelback.”
File next to: Cage the Elephant
Download now: Listen to “Michigan Left” and be prepared to have your mind blown.
Listen to it here:
Notable lyrics: The Arkells sing about song writing and inspiration in their newest single, “Whistleblower.”
“Words, they keep dropping/ They keep spilling from my hands on to paper/ I’m in Virginia/ It’s 3am and I can’t fall asleep/ Just a little bit of faith is what I want/ It’s what I need in my institutions/ So I wait, so patiently…/ But when it happens, over and over…/ Can we hear it for the whistleblower?”
Listen to it here:
Fun facts: In 2006, The Arkells were signed with Dine Alone Records, the label of other Canadian artists such as Alexisonfire, and City and Colour.
The band did a popular cover of Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” with Kesha and Shad at the Much Music Video Awards in 2010. The next year, Dan Griffin announced he would be leaving the band temporarily to go back to school so Anthony Carone has replaced him for the time being.
Career highlights: Their debut album called Jackson Square earned the band a top 10 Canadian rock radio hit with “Oh, the Boss is Coming!” This same hit led to them winning “New Band of the Year” at the 2010 JUNO Awards.
In 2011, CBC Radio 3 named The Arkells “best live act.”
We took a visit to the Junos Nomination Press Conference earlier this month. Despite being stuck in the back corner, we got some awesome interviews with The Arkells, Stereos, Danny Fernandes and more!
Sam Roberts, Divine Brown, Serena Ryder, The Stills and Crystal Shawanda have been added to the list of performers for this year’s Juno Awards.
The show is taking place at Vancouver’s GM Place on March 29 and will air on CTV starting at 9 p.m. EST.
Previously announced performers include Sarah McLachlan, Nickleback, City and Colour and Simple Plan. Additional performers and presenters will be announced in the coming days.
Comedian Russell Peters, who won a Gemini Award for hosting the Junos last year, will return as master of ceremonies.
Nickleback has the most nominations this year with five. Roberts is close behind with four nods, while Celine Dion and Hedley have three each.
The announcement of this year’s Juno nominations on Tuesday was accompanied by word of “The 2009 Junos Awards” compilation, which will hit stores on March 3.
The album features eighteen nominees from the major rock and pop categories, including City and Colour, Michael Buble, Nickleback, Hedley, The Lost Fingers, Sam Roberts and Serena Ryder.
The project, to be distributed by Warner Music Canada, is a joint venture between Canada’s four major record companies and the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS).
Proceeds from the non-profit package will be donated to the MusiCounts music education charity associated with CARAS. The charity is dedicated to helping schools sustain their music programs through Band Aid musical instrument grants and scholarships, as well as by honouring extraordinary music teachers.
“Much of the Canadian music released in the past year was recognized internationally and The 2009 JUNO Awards compilation is just a small taste of this country’s wonderfully diverse music scene,”
said Warner Music Canada President Steve Kane in a statement.
“That this series of albums has been so successful is proof positive of the public’s support of homegrown talent. That the proceeds help MusiCounts is one way of assuring that our culture has an opportunity to grow.”
Nominations for the 2009 Juno Awards were unveiled Tuesday, with Nickelback receiving five nods to lead the field.
The band will contend in the fan choice, best group, producer (with Joey Moi), single (“Gotta Be Somebody”) and album (“Dark Horse”) categories.
The other nominees vying for best album are Hedley (“Famous Last Words”), Simple Plan (“Simple Plan”), Sylvain Cosette (“70′s Volume 2″) and The Lost Fingers (“Lost in the 80′s”).
Close behind Nickelback was Sam Roberts with four nods, including artist of the year and a double nomination for best video (“Detroit ’67″ and “Them Kids,” both by Dave Pawsey).
Hedley and Celine Dion are also multiple-award nominees, scoring three each.
A complete list of nominees can be found on the Juno website here.
As previusly reported, Sarah McLachlan will receive the Allan Waters Humantarian Awards and perform at the awards ceremony. Newly announced performers include Nickleback, City and Colour and Simple Plan, with more to be revealed in the coming weeks.
The Juno Awards, with returning host Russell Peters, will take place March 29 in Vancouver.
You know the performers; now organizers have revealed the names of those who will be announcing winners and doling out trophies at the upcoming Juno Awards.
Among those who will present at the ceremony are IllScarlett, Tom Cochrane, Jesse Cook, Belly, Deborah Cox, Serena Ryder, Sophie Milman, Suzie McNeil, Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, Canadian Music Hall Of Fame inductee Ian Tyson and Canadian Heritage Minister Josee Verner.
The Juno Fan Choice Award will be presented by the winner of the Doritos Ultimate Fan contest. The artists up for the award this year are Michael Bublé, Celine Dion, Claude Dubois, Nelly Furtado and Avril Lavigne.
As previously announced, the show will feature performances by Bublé, Lavigne, Feist, Finger Eleven, Hedley, Jully Black and Measha Brueggergosman, among others.
Comedian Russell Peters will host the festivities at Calgary’s Pengrowth Saddledome.
Pop-punksters Hedley and R&B singer Jully Black will round out the lineup of 15 musical acts taking the stage at the 2008 Juno Awards, organizers announced Wednesday.
They join previously announced performers Feist, Finger Eleven, Avril Lavigne, Michael Bublé and Measha Brueggergosman for the April 6 ceremony at Calgary’s Pengrowth Saddledome.
As well, Anne Murray will duet with Jann Arden and Sarah Brightman, while an all-country musical tribute to the host city and province will feature Aaron Lines, Gord Bamford, Johnny Reid, Paul Brandt and Shane Yellowbird.
Hedley have had a total of six Junos nominations since 2006, and go into this year’s gala with a Group of the Year nod.
Black, who was nominated for her first Juno in 1999, is up for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year and Single of the Year.
The 2008 Junos, hosted by Russell Peters, will air on CTV.
CTV announced on Wednesday that most of Canada would be seeing the Juno Awards on a tape delay, with the broadcast beginning at 10 p.m. in most regions and as late as 11 p.m. in the Maritimes.
But after the immediate backlash from the music industry, CTV and CARAS, the organization that runs the show, changed their minds and the Junos will air live from Saskatoon as planned to most of the country.
“[Members of the music community] were feeling that it looked like we were treating Canadian music in a way that made us look like second-class citizens,” CARAS Chair Stephen Stohn said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon.
The Junos will air live from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. ET in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada with a half-hour red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. The awards will air taped from 7-9 local time in Alberta and 9-11 local time in BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The move means that people attending the Junos, to be hosted by Nelly Furtado, will have to be in the building two hours earlier. Instead of a 7 p.m. local start time, it will now begin with a 5 p.m. local start time, with the red carpet to begin at 3:30 p.m local time.
The initial decision to air the show on a delay in most regions was so a two-hour episode of the Amazing Race could air.
The red carpet would have been shown before the Amazing Race, and the Junos would have aired after the U.S. reality show.
“Many of the artists that are presenting and performing certainly felt that they would have more of an audience in this [revised] time slot,” Randy Lennox, president of Universal Music Canada, said.
Three of Canada’s most successful artists can now add five Juno nominations each to their resumes.
k-os, Billy Talent and Nelly Furtado are each nominated for five Juno Awards, they found out Tuesday.
andPOP was on hand at the nominations announcement at the Mod Club in Toronto to get the reaction from some of the nominees in attendance, including last year’s Canadian Idol winner Eva Avila, Stabilo, Jacksoul, Dallas Green from Alexisonfire, Neverending White Lights and Keshia Chante.
And check out our behind the scenes report in the andPOP Blog
2007 Juno Awards nominations:
JUNO FAN CHOICE AWARD
Gregory Charles
Michael Bublé
Nelly Furtado
Nickelback
Sarah McLachlan
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Devil In A Midnight Mass – Billy Talent
All I Can Do – Chantal Kreviazuk
Pull Me Through – Jim Cuddy
Sunday Morning – k-os
Promiscuous feat. Timbaland – Nelly Furtado
INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Taking The Long Way – Dixie Chicks
Ancora – Il Divo
FutureSex/LoveSounds – Justin Timberlake
Confessions On A Dance Floor – Madonna
Stadium Arcadium – Red Hot Chili Peppers
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Billy Talent II – Billy Talent
I Think of You – Gregory Charles
Hedley – Hedley
Loose – Nelly Furtado
ONE-X – Three Days Grace
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Diana Krall
Gregory Charles
Loreena McKennitt
Nelly Furtado
Pierre Lapointe
GROUP OF THE YEAR
Alexisonfire
Billy Talent
Hedley
The Tragically Hip
Three Days Grace
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Eva Avila
Melissa O’Neil
Neverending White Lights
Patrick Watson
Tomi Swick
NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR
Evans Blue
Idle Sons
Jets Overhead
Mobile
Stabilo
POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Ghost Stories – Chantal Kreviazuk
Atlantis: Hymns For Disco – k-os
Loose – Nelly Furtado
Wintersong – Sarah McLachlan
Stalled Out In The Doorway – Tomi Swick
ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Billy Talent II – Billy Talent
Tomorrow Starts Today – Mobile
Chemical City – Sam Roberts
Never Hear The End Of It – Sloan
World Container – The Tragically Hip
For the complete list of nominations, visit: junoawards.ca
