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Selena Gomez To Host 2011 VMAs

Christian Allaire — Mon, 02 May 2011 19:34:54 +0000

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Selena Gomez will be hosting and performing at the 2011 VMAs, which airs live on Sunday, June 19 at 9 p.m. ET. That’s right, singer/songwriter/actress Selena Gomez is confirmed to co-host and perform at one of the hottest award shows of the year.

Gomez currently has more than 18 million Likes on her Facebook fan page and nearly five million Twitter followers. The rising star also took home Favorite TV Actress at the KIDS CHOICE AWARDS this year and her band, Selena Gomez & the Scene, won Favorite Breakout Artist at the PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS, beating heavyweights Justin Bieber and Ke$ha. So it’s no surprise the star will be the host – she’s a hot ticket!

With her band’s third studio album due out June 28, her latest film, Monte Carlo in theatres July 1, and her We Own The Night summer tour, Gomez is no doubtedly busy this summer. But the star is making some time for Canada, kicking off her busy summer up with a few thousand of her closest friends during the biggest street party in the world. This marks Gomez’s first trip to MuchMusic HQ and the MMVAs.

“I am thrilled and honoured to host the MuchMusic Video Awards,” said Gomez. “I look forward to seeing all my Canadian fans and kicking off the summer together.”

“Selena Gomez is a bona fide star,” adds Sheila Sullivan, Executive Producer, 2011 MUCHMUSIC VIDEO AWARDS. “Her films and TV show are seen around the world and her songs are topping the charts. Now she brings her signature smile to the MMVAs stage where her fans are guaranteed to welcome her to the most exciting and loudest award show on earth…don’t worry Selena, we supply earplugs.”

Past MMVAs performers and presenters include Drake, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Nickelback, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Kanye West and more, and this year is sure to be no different. Be sure to tune in!

Interview: DUBBS Plans To Show Electro-House Like You’ve Never Seen Before

Jeremy Singer — Sat, 08 May 2010 19:43:32 +0000

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Don’t say you’ve seen an electro-group perform live, until you’ve seen DUBBS.

It’s only fair really.

Instead of going up on stage like most groups only to then just press a play button on a laptop, DUBBS re-creates every aspect of the beat-pumping tune with a variety of equipment- giving the audience the most real-live dynamic electro-concert experience possible.

The three-man Canadian team consists of brothers Alex (Vocals) and Chris (Drums) Van Den Hoeff, and Ottawa producer Martin Sinotte, who hope to make a name for themselves with their revolutionary club-bopping tracks and unique live sound-experience.

“Most DJ’s just turn knobs to play a hit song. That’s it,” says Sinotte. “But then you have us who play the song with a live beat pad, live keyboard, live everything. You have Alex singing, Chris on drums. It gets wild.”

Adds Alex, “It’s a poppy-techno sound with a twist. We call it a new age of electro-house.”

The recognition so far has been a small fraction of what the unsigned group can do in less than a year: over 130,000 MySpace views, winners of MuchMusic’s disBAND Audition Tour competition, an upcoming gig performing alonside Canadian Pop singer Danny Fernandes, and an invitation to play at the COCA showcase festival this summer.

“It’s honestly been crazy,” says Alex. “But we’ve been working 24/7 over the past few months, just networking, planning the next steps, so we’re just really psyched to show people our potential.”

One of the reasons for their success so far is their uncanny bro-manship and the credentials that each of them brings to the table.

At 13-years-old, Alex and Chris began working with Canadian producers such as Steve Rizun (Illscarlett, Alexisonfire), and Mitch Hall and Martin Davis Kinack (Brocken Social Scene, Stars, Feist). Over the next few years they would release their first demo and full length album which brought hundreds of live performances and radio air-play.

The up-and-coming duo then ended up being introduced to on-the-rise Canadian producer Sinotte, known throughout Ottawa as the “Beat Chemist.” Sinotte’s well-rounded 15-year background experience in the production scene was a perfect match, as he’s worked/recorded with Juno Award Winning artist Belly, Capital Prophets Records artist Danny Fernandes, and D12′s Bzarre- to name a few.

The trio hit it off immediately, and went to work in Sinotte’s brand new recording studio that he opened up in his house a year ago.

“The first night we met, we wrote a hit song,” says Chris. “We were just messing around until four in the morning.

“Ever since then, when we crash at his place, we wake up, go downstairs into the beat chemist’s ‘laboratory,’ and start recording stuff. And the best thing is that we have a relationship where if one of us has a beat that doesn’t really fly well, we’ll just be like ‘nah, scratch it man,’ but we’ll understand.”

As they anxiously await for the release of their debut album in the summer, the group agrees that it’ll be a contagious array of party-rocking tunes- modeling after artists like DeadMau 5, Black Eyed Peas and David Geutta.

“It’ll have a pop radio friendly vibe,” says Alex, “something that will get people partying for sure. It’s also got a few instrumental stuff for DJ’s to mess with and a few upcoming hip-hop artists featured too.

“Even though we wanted to get that house sound, we wanted to also incorporate a hip-hop vibe too.”

It’ll boast their raging singles so far like Here We Go Again, Generation Party, And We Don’t Stop, and Dance Bitch. Add in the music video that they hope to release at the same time too, and the group hopes that it’ll set them on course to eventually take on the international scene.

“Worldwide recognition man,” says Sinote.

Adds Alex, “we’re just starting out, but we feel like we have so much to show everyone, just non-stop tunes to get the crowd wild. I know we can do it.”

Check out all DUBBS info at www.dubbslive.com for new songs and all their upcoming shows:

May 27, 2010, 8:00 p.m, Rockpile Nightclub- Shock Thursday’s Party Night, Toronto, ON

May 28, 2010, 8:00 p.m, Private Yacht Party, Toronto, ON

June 16, 2010, 8:00 p.m, Nightlife with Danny Fernades, Sault Ste. Marie, CA

June 24, 2010, 8:15 p.m, COCA Showcase 2010, London, ON

June 25, 2010, 4:00 p.m, COCA Showcase 2010, London, ON

July 9, 2010, 10:00 p.m, Mansion Nightclub, Ottawa, ON

August 27, 2010, 1:00 p.m, North Bay Festival, North Bay, ON

Canadian Stars Help Haiti

Vanessa Baker — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:07:11 +0000

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Amy Millan is helping out to raise money for Haiti

While Hollywood and the rest of the world organize to provide relief for the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti, Canadian stars are lending their support, reports CBC.

Ottawa poet Oni the Haitian Sensation put on a benefit concert at Babylon nightclub Thursday. Others with family in Haiti also performed, such as Cuban musician Cesar Ricardo and Staff 613, a band who plays Haitian music. About 200 people attended, raising $8,000 for Humanitarian Coalition.

Ottawa’s Haitian community is also planning a fundraiser Jan. 22 at Maison du Citoyen in Gatineau, QC.

Sunday night at Montreal’s Club Lambi, Tim Kinsbury and Jeremy Gara of Arcade Fire, Stars’s Amy Millan and indie rockers Plants and Animals took the stage to raise money for relief efforts.

Silver Starling Dedicate 2010 to the Road

Emma Renda — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:03:19 +0000

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Forming a band in Canada is kind of like raising a barn. You send word to the neighbourhood, calling for all the essential tools, and on production day, whoever wants to lend a hand can get in on the project.

It happened with Broken Social Scene, as Toronto’s indie scene amalgamated into a pre-emptive supergroup of some of the country’s best songwriters. And just when fans began getting comfortable with the lineup, BSS parted ways to take on this century’s music industry from all angles. Emily Haines became Metric, Feist went solo, a large contingent became Stars, and the rest split their separate ways forming Do Make Say Think, Apostle of Hustle, The Weakerthans, Land of Talk and so forth.

Silver Starling made their public debut in 2009, yet another offspring of the ever-expanding aftermath. Founded in Montreal by Marcus Pacquin (who helped in the studios of both Stars and Arcade Fire) and Liam O’Neil (originally of Young Galaxy), Silver Starling was only supposed to be a two-man affair at first. But then Pacquin’s wife, Marika Anthony-Shaw, got in on the deal adding a unique touch of strings (viola, specifically) during breaks from touring with Arcade Fire herself. As the songs began calling for a rhythm section, more musicians were called upon, and soon Gab Lambert (of Marathon) and Peter X (of We are Star 69) gained permanent standing.

It’s something of an inevitability that musicians will find one another when traveling in the same packs – it’s hardly even a surprise that Pacquin and Anthony-Shaw got married. Montreal’s scene, in particular, is known for its incestuous habits. Unicorns becoming Islands becoming Clues, or Wolf Parade spawning Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs.

While the result usually lives up to the expectations, the challenge remains to break the word association.

Silver Starling’s self-titled debut is yet another nod to Canada’s knack for sprawling, lush rock music in the vein of some of the country’s legends (Neil Young, The Band, and, it must be said, Arcade Fire). Sometimes prog, sometimes pop, Silver Starling have all the fixings for a long, luscious career but in a somewhat saturated scene, the struggle will be standing out.

The first step, according to Pacquin, is touring. The band hit the road this summer and plan to spend the better part of a year playing gigs in support of Silver Starling.

“The future is bright – I think we’re just getting started,” said O’Neil, following a gig at Babylon night club in Ottawa in support of Ohbijou. “All kinds of doors are just starting to open. 2010 is going to be a big year for us so we’re really excited for that. Extensive touring, a lot of stuff is kind of in the works right now. A bunch of new tunes are just taking shape right now for the next record.”

From the outset, Silver Starling was a vague affair – not directionless, but as O’Neil says, “without agenda.” He goes on to describe the formation as a “musical pick-up,” in which Pacquin approached him from across a crowded bar in Montreal. Initially it was just an opportunity to jam as the two – a guitarist and drummer – found a groove with one another. When the issue of recording came up, however, two began sounding like an awfully small number.

“We kind of built the band in the studio,” muses O’Neil, scrutinizing his fellow bandmates surrounding him on the sidewalk.

When it comes to touring, however, five can definitely take up a lot of space (particularly if one of those five actually counts for two whole people, according to O’Neil who stands roughly a foot and a half shorter than Pacquin).

But thanks to the members’ collective experience on the road, even a year-long venture without an auxiliary outlet for an iPod in the van looks optimistic.

“I think we’ve all toured quite a bit so we know when to bring up the energy and we know when to pull it back,” says Peter X. “There’s no secrets when you go on tour so you can’t hide too much and you can’t give too much either. You’re going to see each other naked sooner than you want…not just physically,” he laughs.

“You get to know each other quickly and you divulge a lot of information quickly with your bandmates and you just form a bond quickly and then you sustain it.”

Silver Starling were lucky enough to land a spot opening for Last Gang labelmates Ohbijou, a septet from Montreal who necessitate a big enough stage for all seven members. Before this tour, Silver Starling did a headlining run and found themselves playing before discouragingly sparse audiences. Thanks to their opening slots, however, they are beginning to get the kind of exposure necessary to turn any debut album into a listenable hit. It’s becoming more about Silver Starling than “those people who toured with Arcade Fire” or “isn’t that the drummer from Young Galaxy?”

The debut is indeed much more than a spin-off. A heavier take on ambient rock than many Canadian bands venture, Silver Starling aren’t necessarily loud but the dense layers – all pregnant pauses and swelling strings – imply an intense live presence. On stage, without the padded walls of the studio and all five musicians playing at once, that volume makes itself known.

“Live and in the studio is always different,” says Pacquin. “I really think that the energy of five musicians on stage with a room full of people who are really giving you a lot of energy, you want to give that back. I think in a lot of ways that changes the music a little bit.”

Admittedly a gloomier affair than the sweet tinkling orchestral pop of Ohbijou, songs like “Something over Nothing” and “Closer” are dense and yearning, much like the billowing sounds of their headliners. They even managed to ominously title their first single, “Ghosts,” despite its undeniably poppy nature. (The song of is full of handclaps and a riff that would sound quite at home as a whistle.)

“Headlining is a tough sell,” says O’Neil. “For us, it’s actually probably better to be opening for other bands. It’s just a different time in the night when we play.”

Either way, the crowd was thick for the band’s 11 p.m. set. It could have been the posters plastering telephone poles across Ottawa, or the Arcade Fire badge that follows them wherever they go, or the late set. But standing on the sidewalk after their show, giggling at inside jokes about Coronas and welcoming an interview crasher ready to take on Lady Gaga, the band seem to be enjoying themselves. And as they rushed back inside to catch the start of Ohbijou’s set, for what was probably the fourth night in a row, it became clear a year on the road is what they’ve been looking forward to all this time.

“One of the things we’re finding as a band is that we love to be on the road,” says O’Neil. “It’s great camaraderie, it’s great to play all these different venues, it’s great to be playing for people rather than being inthe studio. Which was also fun, but it’s time for us to be on the stage and playing for people.

“We’ve had enough insular time together. We need our music to be heard now.”

Amy Millan Interview on Side B – She Is Not Picturing Us Naked

Dan Busheikin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:00:25 +0000

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Amy Millan

You may know her from her band Stars, but Amy Millan has a strong solo career. Earlier this year she released her excellent sophomore solo album, Masters of the Burial. I sat down for a beer with Amy, and caught up about her new album, music blogs, and Broken Social Scene. Check out www.amymillan.com for more!

Sam Roberts, Stars Head For Hillside Inside

Eva Lam — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:48:39 +0000

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The Sam Roberts Band and Stars have joined the lineup for the 2009 Hillside Inside festival.

The indoor event, which takes over Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ont., on Feb. 7, will also feature Bedouin Soundclash, K’Naan, Great Lake Swimmers, Bell Orchestra and others.

Ticket information and a full list of performers can be found at the official Hillside website here.

The inaugural Hillside Inside festival took place earlier this year and was headlined by City And Colour and The Weakerthans.

The event is a winter spin-off of Guelph’s annual Hillside Festival in the summer, which enters its 26th year in July.

The Sam Roberts Band will preface their Hillside gig with a tour across Canada starting on Jan. 8, accompanied by The Stills.

Meanwhile, Stars will have their own mini-tour in Australia and Japan leading up to Hillside.

Stars To Release ‘Sad Robots’ EP

Eva Lam — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:16:17 +0000

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Stars fans will be happy to know that “Sad Robots” is almost here.

The Montreal-based group have announced they will release their six-track EP exclusively through sadrobots.ca on Sept. 1.

The EP, which was written and recorded this past summer at Montreal’s Studio Plateau, features five new songs and a live version of “Going, Going, Gone,” off the band’s 2001 debut album “Nightsongs.”

Those who go to the web page after Aug. 31 will be able to download an MP3 of the live track for free.

Limited edition physical copies of the EP will also be sold at shows during Stars’ upcoming North American tour.

The tour, which kicks off Sept. 17, will see the band “unveil the beauty and tragedy of Sad Robots with an all new live show, draped in the Sad Robots visuals,” according to the official statement.

They will play material from all four of their full-length albums, including their most recent release “In Our Bedroom After The War,” which was nominated for the 2008 Polaris Prize.

Here are Stars’ Canadian dates, accompanied by fellow Canucks Hey Rosetta!:

• Oct. 29 – Fredericton, NB @ SUB Ballroom (University Of New Brunswick)
• Oct. 30 – Moncton, NB @ The Manhattan Club
• Oct. 31 – Charlottetown, PEI @ The Wave (University Of Prince Edward Island)
• Nov. 1 – Halifax, NS @ The Marquee Club
• Nov. 3 – St. John’s, NL @ Club One

Death Cab For Cutie, Stars To Play Toronto Music Fest

Eva Lam — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:57:52 +0000

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Death Cab for Cutie is coming to Toronto’s Olympic Island.

The Bellingham, Wash., band will headline an outdoor music festival on the island June 7, along with Rogue Wave and Canadians Stars and Young Galaxy.

The event is being presented by ATG Concerts, RMS Concerts and Toronto radio station 102.1 The Edge.

Tickets will go on sale via Ticketmaster at noon on Thursday, and will be available at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern, Rotate This and Soundscapes on Friday.

The Olympic Island mini-concert extravaganza has attracted such acts as Modest Mouse, Sloan, Bloc Party and Broken Social Scene in previous years.

For those that can’t wait until June for their Death Cab fix, the band’s newest album “Narrow Stairs” will hit stores May 13. It is the follow-up to 2005′s “Plans,” which was nominated for a best alternative music album Grammy.

Stars are backing their fourth studio album “In Our Bedroom After The War,” which was released last September. The Montreal band will also be at Toronto’s Berkeley Church on Saturday to tape a concert for a television show called “Beautiful Noise.”

Young Galaxy, also based in Montreal, released their self-titled debut last April.

Feist, Arcade Fire, Stars Nominated for Shortlist Music Prize

andPOP Staff — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:36:33 +0000

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Just three of the 54 albums nominated for this year’s Shortlist Music Prize are by Canadian artists, reports ChartAttack.com.

The award is handed out for the best album released in the U.S. between January and November of last year that sold less than 500,000 copies domestically. Albums from 48 different labels and nine countries were nominated by Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, Ronnie Vannucci of The Killers and four radio personalities.

Lucky Canucks Feist, Arcade Fire and Stars will duke it out against the likes of Bjork, Justice, M.I.A., The Hives and Wilco. Previous winners include Sufjan Stevens, Damien Rice and N*E*R*D.

Arcade Fire, Feist, Stars On Shortlist Long List

Eva Lam — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:39:08 +0000

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Canadians Arcade Fire, Feist and Stars are among 54 acts being considered for the Shortlist Music Prize.

The U.S. award is given to artists considered underappreciated and deserving of greater commercial success by a jury of musicians, producers and journalists.

Albums are only eligible for nomination if they have not been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America ? that is, if they have sold fewer than 500,000 copies in the U.S.

Arcade Fire is nominated for their album “Neon Bible,” Feist for “The Reminder” and Stars for “In Our Bedroom After the War.”

The 2007 long list also includes Bjork’s “Volta,” Eddie Vedder’s “Into the Wild” soundtrack, PJ Harvey’s “White Chalk,” Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky” and Klaxons’s “Myths of the Near Future.”

The jury for the Shortlist Organization, known as the “Listmakers,” is this year made up of Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, the Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci, journalist Rev. Moose, DJ Chris Douridas and the hosts of Hunnypot Internet Radio.

Created in 2001, the Shortlist’s past winners include Sigur Ros, Damien Rice and last year’s winner, Cat Power for her album “The Greatest.”

Musicians Team Up For Lake Ontario

Eva Lam — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:25:28 +0000

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A bevy of musicians, including a few big Canadian names, are throwing their support behind Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

The grassroots environmental charity released “At The Barricades: Volume 1” last week, the first of three planned benefit albums featuring artists assembled by Canadian musician and producer Chris Brown. Among those contributing new and exclusive tracks to the compilation are Stars, Sarah Harmer, Broken Social Scene and the Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie.

Volume 2 and Volume 3 will be released in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

“‘At The Barricades’ reflects the efforts of musicians committed to the fight for clean air and water,” said Brown.

To celebrate the release of Volume 1, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper will hold two shows in Ontario this week. Toronto’s Dakota Tavern will host the first one on Thursday, featuring performances from Citizen’s Band, Tony Scherr, drummer Anton Fier and other artists who appear on the compilation album.

On Friday, the artists will perform at the General Wolfe Hotel on Wolfe Island near Kingston, Ont. The show will be accompanied by a live taping of Waterkeeper’s weekly radio show and podcast, “Living At the Barricades.”

Created in 2001, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is one of 160 chapters of the Waterkeeper Alliance. The group aims to take back the public’s right to safely swim, drink and fish in local waterways.

Here is the tracklisting for “At The Barricades: Volume 1”:
Edgar Mitchell — “Introduction”
Broken Social Scene — “Until It’s Dead”
Bruce Cockburn — “Beautiful Creatures”
Boi Brasiliero De Itaquitinga — “Toada De Cavallo Marinho” (Scotty Hard Mix)
Interlude
Chris Brown — “Oblivion”
Sarah Harmer — “Escarpment Blues” (Live)
Interlude
Sex Mob — “I Like It A Whole Lot”
Gordon Downie — “Nothing But Heartache In Your Social Life”
Mads Mouritz (Mouritz/Hoerslev Projektet) — “Paa Et Kontor”
Kate Fenner — “Old Man”
Pete Seeger — “Walking Down Death Row”
Stars — “1st 5 Times” (Remix)
Dave Bidini with The Scribbled Out Man — “The Monct On Hellraisers”
Tony Scherr — “Natural World”
Interlude
Bill Frisell — “Across The Universe”