Halifax Pop Explosion 2006
Vancouver's Kristen Cudmore recently played the Halifax Pop Explosion under the name Language-Arts and managed to take in a bunch of shows and lectures too. Here she shares her thoughts on the festival.
This past week I spent in Nova Scotia showcasing my group Language-Arts music in a solo setting with sampling and looping with my band in a box at Halifax's One World Café.
Broken Deer, Language-Arts and Christian at One World Cafe
It was like stepping into the kitchen of your Grandmas house and the room was first packed with DKD's enjoying the opening set of Broken Deer a Halifax trio of silent mid 20's girls recreationally playing atmospheric white noise with vintage keys, drums, violin, guitar and teary vocals.
Before Broken Deer was Christian a talented guitarist and songwriter. The music seemed simplistic in nature but there was actually an undertone of definite technical capabilities. He used mouth percussion to accompany the music and had tunes that punch your heart sweetly.
The room suddenly seemed filled to the brim when the clock turned to my showcase. Filled with friends, family, people from the conference and other performers, I felt exposed while rapping and playing my classical guitar and igniting sounds from the petals. People were grooving and seemed to really enjoy the set of hip-hop mixed with classical technique, honest and humble lyrics and the live prerecorded band in a box instrumentals or build ups I did with loops. Now I have so much to share with you about other bands that I saw.
Since I arrived much too late for my own good, I can only comment on the happenings of Friday and Saturday night.
Industry Conferences with Allison Outhit and Joel Carriere
I got into town in time to check out the first talk with Joel Carriere, manager of Alexisonfire. Learning about raising a career in music from nothing to something, the talk was more of a background overview of Carriere, then on to question and answer. He offered tips on FACTOR Grants and cheap promo, to choosing a label. Mostly interactive banter, I felt that it was very useful to see how the industry works and how to make reasonably sized goals and meet them.
Next I was onto a conference for the next 3 hours. Learning about: Being a Business, Rights and Royalties and Legal 101 with Allison Outhit, writer of the Music School section of Exclaim! Magazine. This was the most learning I have done since University. I really took a lot from this conference. Eager to ask questions, I will share tidbits of what I learned:
- If you are a band, you should claim Sole Proprietorship and count yourself as a business for possible tax write offs while you claim your earnings as a band. This way you won't be paying taxes on business expenses like gas while on tour or as simple as GST/PST on supplies to make your products.
- Grant writing is very specific. If you are going to apply for a grant, check out someone's application that the grant has been awarded. If this isn't possible your provincial music chapter (for BC its Music BC) sometimes offers clinics on how to do good grant applications.
- SOCAN is your best friend as a musician. You should register all of your songs, which is free. This provides a legal copyright on your work; as well you could receive adjusted amounts on royalty cheques for airplay and performances.
- A publisher could be more help than you ever thought. Publishers offer no strings attached contracts to try and collect royalties for your music. If you have a publisher, they would advance you cash that you would then pay back in royalties. When they get a hold of your music (through a signed contract between you and them) they would shop your music to obtain these royalties. This is a win- win situation, you get paid to give them the rights to shop your music, while you later pay them back in a percentage of royalties that they have obtained through shopping them for you.
- A label has a right to sell and reproduce your recordings. Never allow the label to hold your master recording or you surrender all power to the label. If you want to see a percentage of record sales in your bank account, it is best to sign a decent contract with a smaller label that you know well and are comfortable with.
- Booking Agents are good people to have working for you when you can afford them. Their job is to act as if they are in your shoes or are in the band. They will book you where they see it working. You would want to hire an agent that obviously doesn't put you on the back burner. So make sure that you don't throw your money away on one if you don't act involved.
- A manager is there to keep your life simple. If you know how to manage your band but simply don't have the time. That is when you should consider hiring a manager.
Basically keep the control in your playing field so you can still afford to play your music. This session was so useful and an interesting in depth look into all of the positions of the music industry and how the money rotates into the hands of people it doesn't need to. Ignorance is not bliss in this event.
The Bicycles and dd/mm/yy at The Pavillion
After taking my thinking cap off, I grabbed a slice of pizza and jolted right up to the Pavilion to check out The Sour Keys who unfortunately I missed but I heard the show was a hit! I arrived on time to see The Bicycles a power pop band from Toronto. With guitars, keys, bass, drums and many feminine voices. I felt excited about this act, until every song started to sound just the same as the one before. They had a great sound and had it so well developed that honestly there wasn't much variation from song to song. It was still a fun set and seemed like such a party for being so early in the night. On next was dd/mm/yyyy a scream-core group that really was melodic and exciting as well intriguing. The opening of the set really grabbed everyone by the shirt and threw 'em for a bit in an oh-so- good way. Then the room was starting to smell much too strong of pizza and feet that I had to leave part way through the set. It was honestly just unbearable! I felt that I wasn't the only one that noticed.
Rebekah Higgs
On to Gingers Tavern I went to see Rebekah Higgs and her guys backing her. The modest crowd seemed loyal to Higgs. Her much confidence on stage and rock and roll presence didn't go unnoticed. The sounds were organized and polished and her band really provided a solid backing to her catchy and sweet Broken Social Scene inspired songs. I enjoyed the set, especially for it not being completely the style of music that I am into. There were interesting sounds coming from keys, bass, drums and guitar with vocal effects and basic chord structures were embellished through all of the effects coming through her provoked guitar + amp squeals and midi tinkers and blips.
Dependent Music Night with Holy Fuck and Wintersleep
I then ran up to the Marquee Club for the Dependent Music Night just in time to catch the end of Land of Talk which all I could hear coming in the door was AWESOME! Holy Fuck was up shortly after. Two sound igniters or gadget-savvy guys rocked out to the exceptional live drum patterns and funk sass bass lines. It would knock your socks off! The dance- hop know-how's really pumped the party to a whole new level. This was a high-energy blast of sounds of all sorts that really has a buzz happening. Closing off the night was Halifax's infamous Wintersleep this sultry rock meets the ears of people who crave all genres. The performances always seem so flawless and captivating. The whole audience was both smitten with the music as well as pushing through to get a closer experience of the group. The group has welcomed a new keys player and still goes full force with the super-talents of their art: on guitars, bass, drums- the classic alt rock set up. The sound is so timeless - (classic as well) and completely original. There couldn't have been a better way to end the fine evening.
Industry Talk with Hal from Broken Pencil, The Coast and Much Music
Saturday started with another talk at Stage 9 with author Hal Niedzviecki who founded Broken Pencil Magazine and wrote the recent, Hello I'm Special novel, taking a philosophical or social analysis approach to the music industry and commercialism in general. We looked at what is mainstream, how indie is going mainstream and what does it mean to be indie anymore. The discussion was very circular but thought provoking. I found this event was a good way to get people looking deeper not only for good music but good reading materials like independent webzines (like Left Hip) and prints, books, art – frig, anything! We stare at so many advertisements everywhere; our minds don't even realize that we see them anymore!
Meet the Directors was an insider�s look at college and co-op radio programming. We discussed interviews, submissions, music trends and how to get on the charts. This was a good chance to ask directors and programmers anything you want to know about getting your music heard on the radio.
I then trucked up to check out the conference, "How to get the Media to Pay Attention" with Much Music's Going Coastal host Matt Wells and the Coast's arts editor Tara Thorne. This was a chance to ask how press gets out etc. The talk was mostly Q&A and very helpful. It also took a look at how a few magazines in Toronto can shape the press for the rest of the country.
At this point I had done two interviews and was rushing dinner down and rushing up to One World Cafe to play my showcase and check out the ones before me - which you've already read about at the very beginning.
Down With Butterfly, Cadence Weapon and Joe Rae & The River
After my showcase I ran down to The Marquee Club to catch Down with Butterfly. I found the show to be excellent. The band made up of drums, guitar, keys and gadgets, cello and vocals. It was a new spin on rock, textural and catchy. One of the better bands I had seen there. I see them as Halifax's next headlining group- going places. I then took a glimpse of Jon Rae & the River, which was unique, but I think there may have been sound issues because it sounded a bit off. Cadence Weapon finished the night - Edmonton's new tough MC really roused the crowd with his pronounced rhymes and catchy beats. He flowed so consistently that he had me just listening in time to grasp the metaphors and catch the next ones.
The whole event was very organized and fully energized. I found there was lots of rock this time, a bit of power pop and a touch of other genres mixed in. I was happy to hear what I did and the scene seemed to be just throbbing with potential for new acts. I highly recommend that you put the HPX on your calendar for next year, especially if you're a Haligonian! The east coast is chalk full of talent and is also such a hospitable place to host such an event - this leaves next to no room for anything to go wrong!
Photographs graciously provided by Tara Lee Wittchen, Melanie Colosimo and Steve Dinn.
http://www.halifaxpopexplosion.com/
