In 2011, Simon Abbott left his home in Quebec for what he thought was a three-month visit to Halifax. Only now, five years later, is Abbott saying farewell to Nova Scotia. The 27-year-old director of the Phoenix Community Choir is heading out in August on a bicycle trip from British Columbia to Patagonia, with the […]
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The pop life of Ria Mae, from shy radio listener to hit singer
“Do you like this song?” Ria Mae turns up the radio in her car. She repeats the pattern at least a half-dozen times through the next couple hours: Breaking off from what she’s saying, asking that question, turning it up, stating a fact about the song, then respectfully returning it to just-audible. “I’ve always been […]
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Rebuilding The Pavilion
In the early 1990s, Halifax was living the “next Seattle” indie rock legend. Bands like Sloan, Thrush Hermit and jale were influencing kids who would soon embrace the possibility of professional careers in music. The popularity of rock and punk in Halifax made way for Cafe Ole, Condon MacLeod’s crammed music club on Barrington Street […]
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Catching up to Laura Roy: a track-by-track of her new EP
Try and catch up to Laura Roy. The Halifax singer, based in Toronto, was just named the most popular of 10 Nova Scotia finalists in CBC’s Searchlight Competition, which puts emerging musicians on the national stage with huge cash prizes and recording deals. But after years of vocal study at NSCC, local shows, a songwriting […]
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Erin Costelo talks about “the hardest album I’ve ever made”
“The whole process was exhausting,” says Erin Costelo. “Everything was on my shoulders, so I had a lot of pressure. It was the hardest record I’ve ever made, because it felt like so many decisions and so much work.” Insert every aphorism, saying and inspirational meme about the payoff of hard work right here, because […]
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Taking centre stage after a decade in the background
“The older I get and the more I play, the more I realize the magic of it all,” says violinist Donald MacLennan, on his passion for swing-based gypsy jazz music. For the last decade, the Antigonish resident has been fiddling with all manner of folk artists—including Ben Caplan, Jennah Barry and Michael Dalton—and with quartets […]
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Meet the fresh DJs behind Halifax’s hottest dance party
It takes a bunch of DJs to create a scene like the fourth instalment of BAH-NAH-NAH, happening Friday, April 1 at The Company House (2202 Gottingen Street, 10pm, $5). This soiree is so hot you’ll feel “like summer is right around the corner.” DJ Shyshaya (AKA Shaya Ishaq, pictured above left) I’m from Ottawa, and […]
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Marc-André Hamelin is on an emotional rescue mission
Celebrated pianist and composer Marc-André Hamelin isn’t worried you think classical music is dead. The Order of Canada recipient, who’s performing with Symphony Nova Scotia at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium on Thursday and Friday nights, says the often-misunderstood genre is as alive as ever: “There are many, many immortal masterpieces that will never die,” he […]
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When wrestling tag-teams punk rock
When Adrian Bruhm, Joel Langis and Coleman Johnston got together to form a punk band, they realized what united them more than their love of punk music was their passion for professional wrestling. Or as Bruhm puts it, “the world’s greatest form of sports entertainment.” Joined by newest member Mike Ainslie on guitar, The B+ […]
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Where We Practice: Three Sheet
WHO THEY ARE After years of touring, two albums and multiple music awards, Halifax’s alternative hip-hop group Three Sheet took time to cool off after last summer. The band—including beatboxer and vocal scratcher EMC (AKA Eric McIntyre), emcee Expedyte (AKA Matt Kliffer), vocalist Vanessa Furlong, Kevin Tilley (bass) and Ryan O’Quinn (guitar)—recently added DJ Uncle […]
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Taylor Swift takes on Lady Gaga in a tale of two tributes
This weekend, Halifax honours two of this decade’s biggest pop stars with two different tribute nights: One for the youthful, sugary love songs of Taylor Swift and another for the avant-garde, self-love songs of Lady Gaga. Adria Young breaks down what you need to know. Related Stories
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Internet Daughter’s top 5 sites
For the last few years, Toronto DJ and producer Internet Daughter (AKA Sophia Switzer) has been making music ranging from techno-house to industrial and trap-influenced hip-hop, made possible (in part) by the unprecedented online access to music any good child of the web enjoys nowadays. So you can get to know her better before her […]