Steam Whistle Brewing presents UNSIGNED, the fifth in a series of Indie music concerts taking place at the Roundhouse on Friday, January 25 2008. The edition and is presented in conjunction with the North by NorthEast Music and Film Festival. The concert will feature the Canadian independent bands Major Maker, Grand Analog and We Are The Take, plus the crew from OPOPO dropping tunes between sets.
Steam Whistle UNSIGNED is a concert series that exhibits Canada's musical talent, as well as helping to develop its future. Each edition of UNSIGNED features three Canadian artists and a DJ, with 100% of ticket sales from each show going to the Artists' Health Centre Foundation. The timing of this instalment was scheduled to bring attention to the NXNE submission deadline of January 31st. To bring these events together, Steam Whistle is teaming up with Pandor Productions, NOW Magazine, Gibson Guitars and NXNE.
"14 years ago, when Indie was not yet fully formed as a State of Music, NXNE launched it's first event from the streets and clubs of Toronto. Believing that new and emerging talent needed a chance to be heard, NXNE was built by music fans for music fans. Today, our passion for independent music remains the same, and we're thrilled to support of the Unsigned Music Series."
– Andy McLean, Managing Director of NXNE.
Riding a wave of popularity following the release of their EP People Mover, featuring the catchy hooks of Rollercoaster and Talk to You, Major Maker is blazing up both the independent and mainstream music charts. Comprised of Todor Kobakov and Lindy Vopnfjord, two established musicians in their own right coming together to compliment each others' styles. Bulgarian-born Kobakov is a classically trained composer with a degree in performance piano from The University of Toronto. Recent projects include string arrangements for Stars, Metric, Emily Haines, Jason Collett, and Sarah Slean, as well as touring duties for both Emily Haines and Small Sins. Lindy is a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter with three solo albums under his belt, a penchant for killer hooks, and a well earned reputation as a commanding live performer. Major Maker's live sound is augmented with the additions of bassist Thom D'Arcy (Small Sins) guitarist Ian LeFeuvre (Starling, Jim Bryson) and drummer John Ocerbian (Sarah Harmer).
Grand Analog is unbalanced and dirty; never clean. Grand Analog is fuzzy with three coats of dust and reads like an old manual no longer in use. The music is a beautiful mess of rap'n'roll dub and soul; a hip hop slop shop of times good and bad. UNSIGNED is excited to have Grand Analog bring their hybrid musical styling to the stage. The sounds they are creating have even been recognized by the renowned hip-hop heads at Okayplayer:
"To most of us, Winnipeg, Manitoba seems as unlikely a place as any to generate a superb hip hop album, but that is exactly what has just happened. Grand Analog, a collective of hip hop artists hailing from "Peg City," (with a couple Torontonians in tow), has just released its debut, Calligraffiti. It's a beast... Calligraffiti is stocked with some of the thickest, sweatiest beats you'll ever want your ears to drudge through... Bottom-line, Grand Analog is about to heat up Canada faster than Bush's environmental policy." (Okayplayer.com)
Click play below to hear "Around This Town" by Grand Analog
Take one singer/guitarist with a penchant for writing songs with catchy, danceable rock melodies combined with heart-wrenching lyrics; add a young singer/guitarist with a bent for upbeat pop songs filled with wry observations; throw-in a world-class drummer with years of studio and road experience that included one major highway crash and a resulting broken back; and lastly garnish with a brash bassist who lays down a thundering foundation.
Together you have WE ARE THE TAKE.
With a string of successful shows in the their pocket and a recent win at the International Songwriting Competition in the Performance Category (for "Montreal Love Song"), the band won the attention of 3-time Grammy Award-winning producer/mixer David Bottrill (Tool, Peter Gabriel, Muse). With Bottrill producing and recording underway on their first record, WATT has their eyes firmly fixed on what their listeners expect will be a very bright future.
Visit We Are the Take's website
Click play below to hear "Montreal Love Song" by We Are the Take
Steam Whistle Brewing
The Roundhouse – 255 Bremner Blvd.
All ticket sales going to the
Artists' Health Center Foundation.
Click here to find out more about this organization.
Sponsored By:
Click on the image below to see the details of the previous UNSIGNED shows.
