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MANITOBA MUSIC BLOG
The Waking Eyes' Joey and Steve
WAKING OF THE WEEZER
Posted by Shawna Coulthard
May 5, 2008 at 9:54am
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I had the pleasure of seeing The Waking Eyes show Thursday night at the Albert and it has to be said...I’m proud to call these boys something of a Local. These four talented individuals impressed the pants off of me with their crazy-mad-much-cool kinda performance. The crew seemed very in tune with each other and no joke...I swear sometimes I can hear the Beatles in them (not sure how people feel about that but I’m just gonna let that speak for itself)?
As for the rhythm section drummer Steve Senkiw made me want to learn them drums. He does much more then simply bang on things. This guy is so freaking good...plus he sings (oh yeah that’s right I heard you singing back up vocals don’t try and hide I can see you). During the second set of the night Senkiw put on his Buddy Holly glasses and I full on respect that to the max! But we’ll get to the Weezer stuff a little later. (I feel like inserting a smiley face here... : ) there we go...and if that smiley face could talk it’d say, "thanks for playing the drums so well Senkiw")! Bassist Joey Penner plays with such an original style giving his instrument it’s own personality (it’s true). Penner is well let’s face it....he’s sick! (I mean that in a good way. My Urban Dictionary tells me that’s what the kids are saying these days...Ya know like "that bassist is sick yo"). Penner also sang back up plus, he was sporting both a harmonica and a rad lookin’ tie...Nice! (I just said rad and I feel really ace about that...the word rad is gonna make a come back I can feel it...but I’m not sure about the word ace)? Anyway I just want to say this to the rhythm section...Ok listen...Can you hear it? Right now...I’m clapping for you right now...well done my friends...well done!
Rusty Matyas and Matt Peters I say God damn! The two would switch spots between guitar and keyboards and both are equally wicked at doing just that (so adaptively versatile). Booyah! Now vocals. Both can rock the mic! Each can stand alone as lead but together they ring of classic! Matt Peters is one of those dudes who sings with a natural ease and can hit all notes right on target. He can belt it out but can also have a quieter, calming soothing sort of tone...lucky bastard eh!? Amazing quality of sound here. As for Mr. Matyas...Rusty...oh holy vocal cords! If there’s one thing I love in a set of lungs it’s a raw, gritty, blow me away, pretty-power-pipes ability. In the words of Inspector Gadget... "Wowzers"! This guys got it. A screamingly strong n’ raspy tone makes me think him a man of soul. I think maybe James Brown is living inside his voice box? J. Brown is just like sitting around drinking tea until it’s time for Matyas to sing and then he falls to the ground in his half split kinda way and evokes a voice in Rusty so real-time-old-soul-angry it makes me wanna shout Hellz yeah! Lucky bastard eh!? Again I have to stress that these two voices in unison mesh so well...So well that I think it’s two things that should never be separated...Like peanut butter and jelly, ebony and ivory, Turner and Hooch, Malibu Rum and pineapple (MMMMMMMMM). Okay I think you get it. Peters and Matyas, Matyas and Peters (in no particular order here) they should both sing together "Till death do us part".
The Waking Eyes new tunes are all rockin’ with a twist of fresh sound. Still very head boppin’, leg stompin’, garagey, arty, brit-popy, dancey, sometimes electronicy and always catchy (with a splash of anthem-rocky). Are you "picking up what I’m puttin’ down"? The new CD release (Holding On To Whatever It Is) is one I eagerly await. If it sounds anything like their live performance I think it’ll be one of those CD’s that you can listen to front-ta-back no skippage. (It’ll be like finding a ruby...that’s right like a "Ruby Find". Gold even). These guys either practice like mofo’s or they’re just really good at picking up where they left off? Either way the first set of the evening was in my opinion very tight! They show cased a variety of songs including, Wolves at the Door and All Empires Fall (I’m sure many of you have seen the videos for these songs already). Overall, set numero uno was...well I liked it...I liked it a lot!
Set numba two. I heard Weezer on stage at The Albert! As soon as the drummer put on his thick black frames the entire band transformed into Weezer! The Waking Eyes played the Blue album and seriously it was so BANG ON! Unreal almost. From one song to the next..."My name is Jonas," "Undone- the Sweater song,"
"Say it ain’t so." Over and over again this crew tricked my ears into believing it was the real deal. For reals! Crazy I tells ya...Nutso even. At one point one of TWE’s mentioned something along the lines of, "the Blue album defining our adolescence". By golly I think I’d have to agree. Oh the Nostalgia, the awkward geekdom and rocking-out-ness of this album really does make me remember. Yep...I was there, in this time, on this earth, with this Weezer CD and it was fun! The crowd of onlookers couldn’t help but sing-it-on-along with the group in the toasty warm venue. (Actually at one point I thought "this is what Hot Yoga must fell like")? Smiles all around for The Waking Eyes-Weezer- Highlighting. Wanting each song so bad and so hard, the audience was nothin’ but luvs-and-hugs cheering in appreciation. Two thumbs up for Thursday nights gig. Twas one great show. Kudos!
*In confession I’ve heard the new album and it is a front-ta-backer. You can listen to it too.
IPOD? ICAN'T.
Posted by Rachel Stone
May 2, 2008 at 4:45pm
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I'm clearly a little behind in the times, but this video is for all those people who are drooling all over whatever it is Apple just released...
ASCAP & KITTENS
Posted by Larry LeBlanc
May 2, 2008 at 3:59pm
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At this time when so many forces are seeking to diminish copyright protections and devalue artistic expression, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has introduced a “Bill of Rights” for all songwriters and composers.
Says ASCAP president/chairperson Marilyn Bergman, "Given the many issues surrounding the music industry today, it can be all too easy to overlook the source of it all--individual songwriters, lyricists and composers. Our goal is to remind lawmakers, the general public and music creators themselves of the rights that are inherent in their art.”
The ASCAP Bill of Rights includes:
1. We have the right to be compensated for the use of our creative works, and share in the revenues that they generate.
2. We have the right to license our works and control the ways in which they are used.
3. We have the right to withhold permission for uses of our works on artistic, economic or philosophical grounds.
4. We have the right to protect our creative works to the fullest extent of the law from all forms of piracy, theft and unauthorized use, which deprive us of our right to earn a living based on our creativity.
5. We have the right to choose when and where our creative works may be used for free.
6. We have the right to develop, document and distribute our works through new media channels - while retaining the right to a share in all associated profits.
7. We have the right to choose the organizations we want to represent us and to join our voices together to protect our rights and negotiate for the value of our music.
8. We have the right to earn compensation from all types of "performances," including direct, live renditions as well as indirect recordings, broadcasts, digital streams and more.
9. We have the right to decline participation in business models that require us to relinquish all or part of our creative rights - or which do not respect our right to be compensated for our work.
10. We have the right to advocate for strong laws protecting our creative works, and demand that our government vigorously uphold and protect our rights.
Meanwhile, Toronto singer/songwrIter Andrew Cash, co-founder of Canadian Music Creators Coalition, weighs in with an authoritative assessment of issues facing Canadian creators today in an informative interview in the current issue of Exclaim! Magazine with Allison Outhit. Here’s a segment.
Allison: “How are artists going to get a seat at the distribution table? Will the CMCC play a part?”
Andrew: “We don’t even have an office or a telephone number! But that touches on an important issue, which is representation of artists in the new age of the music business.
“Let’s be frank: artists have never been represented to their benefit fully or equally in the music business. The history of the music business is littered with 1001 tales of highway robbery of artists.
“Someone said the music business is a great place to get rich but a lousy place to make a living. It’s feast or famine.
“Now there’s an opportunity for a middle class of artists, which is very exciting. How is that going to evolve? It would require a lot of attention by some organization that has musicians’ interests in mind. But trying to get musicians together is like herding cats. That’s a problem that goes very deep into the psyche of the business.
“Musicians are, on one hand, supposed to be blissfully ignorant of the business in order to dedicate themselves to the pure artistry of their craft. Yet [other] copyright stakeholders have legions of fulltime lobbyists and lawyers so it’s a real, incredible disadvantage as an artist collective unless you can find a cheap lawyer who’s going to work for you. And most of us are out there trying to make a living, while this could take over your whole life. When are you going to find time to be a musician if you’re out fighting this battle all the time? So I don’t know what’s the answer and I don’t know if the CMCC is the answer."
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Reprinted with permission from The LeBlanc Newsletter. The LeBlanc Newsletter is exclusively carried and archived by Canadian Music Week in Canada at www.cmw.net/cmw2008. It is available In the U.S. at Encore Celebrity Access: encore.celebrityaccess.com
Journalist/broadcaster/researcher Larry LeBlanc has been a leading figure in Canadian music for four decades. He has been a regular music commentator on CTV’s “Canada A.M” for 35 years, and has been featured on numerous CBC-TV, CTV, YTV, Bravo! MuchMusic, MusiMax, and Newsworld programs in Canada; VH-1, and EEntertainment in the U.S.; and BBC in the U.K. Larry was a co-founder of the late Canadian music trade, The Record; and, most recently, the Canadian bureau chief of Billboard for 16 years.
MUSIC EH? EMUSIC LAUNCHES IN CANADA
Posted by Sean McManus
May 1, 2008 at 9:00am
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But, with Arts & Crafts and Paper Bag Recordings showing up under the feature labels banner and City and Colour and Jason Collett appearing on the front page, the Canadian site definitely has a Canadian flavour.
The concept of the site is a bit of a hybrid, part digital download store, part subscription service. Unlike streaming audio subscription sites, eMusic sells downloads, but customers have to commit by keeping their subscription active. It reminds me a bit of the Columbia House Record Club in that way. (For those of you under 30, never mind.)
You can browse eMusic Canada's content and see if you feel, as I did when I had a subscription, that offerings are sometimes inexplicably spotty. I'm sure that they've added tons of content since I last visited.
