VIMA & THRICE CONTEST Wrap Up!

Jeez! With the amount of time in between postings here on this blog you’d almost assume I was never really here at all…..not the case, I assure you….

So! Where have I been in this last little while? Covering the Vancouver Island Music Awards and shaking hands with some great friends and musicians we had met in the past through interviews – incredibly awesome to just hang out with them all instead of have to rapid-fire questions at them upon first glance. But big shout outs to all the artists we got to talk to that night – SBS might not have been a giant presence at the event itself but we certainly received more genuine love than we’d ever imagined from the artists and bands that make the music and put their time and efforts into their interviews with my bearded face. I appreciate you all so much – we’ll always feel like the small guy in the room press-wise – so the acknowledgement of our hard work and dedication to your music and projects is more than appreciated; Instead of the “small guy” you make us feel like true V.I.P.’s

And we dragged (well, sorta…) a new friend and ally with us for this adventure – Rod Matheson of EveryDayMusicTV. First of all – STOP reading my blog and go back to that link in the sentence before this – CLICK IT – and subscribe. You can thank me later. But if you DO have time – take a good look at the site I just sent you towards and realize the AWESOMENESS. This guy puts my own work ethic to shame and has the abundant energy of a teenager contained within his professionalism. His goal is simple yet daunting: 1000 bands, 1000 songs, 1000 days straight. I am, to say the very least, a massive fan of his work and tireless efforts for independent music.

But I say sorta dragged cause I missed two consecutive ferries over to the island and really seemed like I took forever to get there. Oops. Sorry Rod!

We made it across the water and made our way to the event. Spectacular venue and so many people happy to be around their element all wearing smiles brighter than any stage costume or special awards get up. Incredible energy buzzing around the entire building and all kinds of bands getting to know each other, introduce or hang out for the first time. It was a relaxing and thoroughly entertaining affair and one we certainly hope to be around for again next year!

On a special note – always cool to see some of the SBS-related bands bring it home! ANNIE BECKER was voted Vocalist of the Year, CHRIS HO was Songwriter of the Year and our new friends in SPACEPORT UNION picked up the award for Song of the Year for their track “Fueled By Consequences.” All fantastic people and creative minds much deserving of their awards. Congratulations again guys! And while we’re on the Annie Becker subject – not ONLY did she give an amazing performance at the show itself – but she was instantly put onto Rod’s EveryDayMusicTV Channel in an absolutely KILLER solo and off-to-the-side bonus performance. Seriously – check that link – it’s one of the best and most NATURAL that I’ve seen in a long time. Rod has a very gifted eye when it comes to both the camera work and locations to shoot. Awesome.

WHAT ELSE? Lots….

THE PIT – have probably started the final show of their interior run happening pretty much right as I type this out. We’ve heard plenty from Tyler who had amazing things to say about this run of shows in Kamloops – particularily citing that The Blue Grotto was a kick-ass place to play. They took part in a battle of the bands – and promptly disqualified themselves by not adding cover songs into their set which in fairness to the club was outlined in the rules. That didn’t stop the boys from absolutely ripping up the stage playing a solid four tracks in the competition including “Solar Powered Night Light” and the indie hit “I Wanna Plant Bombs Everywhere” from their EP Real Boy Times and new songs being recorded at SBS – “The Machine” and “Closer.” Tyler has assured me that the patrons of The Blue Grotto will not be forgetting them anytime soon and they’ve gotten some pretty positive reponses from some new fans found in the interior. Nice work gentlemen! I have to say though….something about this cover song thing isn’t sitting quite right with me…. And don’t get me wrong – it’s not me having an issue with the rules this time….it’s…..it’s….I don’t know….the insinuation that maybe someone out there in music-land might think for a second they couldn’t rock the shit out of a cover tune….so make sure to keep your eyes peeled this week for SBS to show you the proof that yes they can….

LAURA KELSEY – How about this for pure JOY! Laura stopped by SBS on Monday for the first time since we initially met her back in November last year when she became the first official guest on SBS Live This Week! And of course she brought her dog/our friend Tundra in for a visit. Seeing Laura 6 months later was like seeing her yesterday – she’s freakin timeless. And let’s face it – last time I was the interviewer with no show and no idea what his role in the musical universe even was! Did we have just a wee bit to catch up on? Uh-huh!

It should come as no surprise to you that Laura the free spirit that she is – taught her dog Tundra to sing. Not even remotely joking – I have the video proof! It was great seeing her again outside of my interviewer role – though I have to admit it’s completely easy to slip into that mode where I begin to ask 1000 questions…. Laura put up with all that and more – she let me borrow her beautiful voice for one of my own personal demo tracks as I suppose I myself have been trying to get back into music as well. It was an honour and a privilege to work with an artist I have such a huge respect for – and whether or not we release any of this stuff – that was a moment in time I’ll never forget. We ended up working on another old tune to see if you could fix what my own voice had broken, and as I mentioned Tundra literally got in on the jam. Incredible. To cap it off – we wrote a track together – now incubating in both our minds as to how to attack it. But MAN she’s an incredible woman – she found a killer vocal melody within seconds of any of these tracks we worked on but the original we were working on together, stemming from this collaboration….let’s just say I can’t wait to see Laura again soon to see if we can get that track to where it needs to be post-demo!

WEST MY FRIEND – are on the show again this week when we come back! Great to see these wonderful folks at the awards and I think they’re some of the truly nicest people I’ve met through this entire process of SBS evolution. Couple of songs included again – the beginning of a month we’re truly excited about with a ton of great music to come!

ACRES OF LIONS – We’re moving closer to that episode as well featuring two absolutely beautiful perfomances I can’t wait for you to see. Jeff (Lead Vocals, Guitar) and Tyson (Keys) came by in one of those genuine rub-your-eyes-do-I-REALLY-get-to-do-this-stuff moment for yours truly. Speaking of great moments in music to come – it’s moments like these that will continue to echo in the studio, absorbed into the sleepingbags that line our walls forever.

THE DANBURY LIE – Video interview for May! OH YEAH! Beyond stoked as you all know I love this project. Rob Loncto from Danbury, TX, USA will be joining us and we’ll get to see a little of the world from his own perspective. It has been since JANUARY since we’ve posted one of these and they have become the most talked about and exciting project we offer and I can’t believe how well these are turning out on screen. We’ll also be taking a look outside around where Rob is living in Danbury and see the town from his perspective – more than awesome!

TONY TIG – Not for the upcoming month but this hip-hop artist deserves a major shout out for his music. I’m thinking about him right now because I’m just wrapping up the editing on his own video interview and I’m currently uploading them into the hypersphere to await his responses. As I’ve said many times – our best work it yet to come out and these video projects are turning out “tighter than a crab’s ass” as our friend in broadcasting ED TYLL in New York would say…

KYLE TRUELOVE & THE HEAVY HEARTS – Gave 100% of what they had in their first perfomance as a full band at the Railway Club in Vancouver. We were there to support this event and we’ve got some great footage of the whole experience. People in the crowd at tables playing along on their tables….great lighting….great hosts from the Railway….it was a good night to be there for sure. Sadly due to van troubles on the way back from their Alberta tour – Laura Kelsey and I missed out on our arranged time to jam with Kyle and had to continue to rock out SBS all by our creative selves. Next time guys!

Hmmmm….I feel like I’m missing something….

COMEDY! Oh yeah – that’s right! HA! Your favorite non-judgemental host of indie music is expanding the show’s content variety and opening it up to comedy! Do I know what funny is? HELL NO. Does anybody? I find comedy to be extremely polarizing in nature and sparks some genuine debate – and like all art that comes our way – I highlight the positives of what I see going on but I’m never here to pass judgement – just to keep the dialogue open and put art out into the world as much as we can. To encourage artists to create MORE, want MORE and grow to their potentials. All artists. So pass or fail – when these pop up I can certainly say they’ll be amusing for several reasons!

ALL MUSIC EPISODES also being planned out for the not so distant future with some brand new tunes from SBS past favorites once again. I love these hard-drives full of artistic-soulery. Can I get away with that as a phrase? I shouldn’t be able to….

CINGED – WINNER OF THE 1st THRICE CONTEST FROM SBS! Picking up an incredible promo package in a sweep of all three offered prizes they’ll be coming down from Kelowna when they’re ready to push record and make a new video and this excites me greatly. I have a tremendous amount of respect for their music – but also for Rob @ SBS’s talents in production – I really think the result of this time spent with Corey and Theresa of Cinged will result in something sonically astounding. Just sayin.

NEW SBS THRICE CONTEST DETAILS WILL BE RELEASED TONIGHT IN A VIDEO BROADCAST TO YOUTUBE WITH THREE BRAND NEW CHALLENGES FOR YOU TO GO THROUGH TO WIN RECORDING TIME AND ALL KINDS OF GOODIES. CHECK THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL AT: http://www.youtube.com/sleepingbagstudios for details and if it’s not posted up there yet – check out one of the past interviews that rocked like:

– – – CINGED – – – SBS ISLAND ADVENTURES PART I & PART II – – – THE PIT – – – NIXIE – – –

Alright everyone – I’m out for now. Can’t let my man TONY TIG down – I promised I’d make sure he got this interview today….

As always – thank you so much for reading, watching, talking about and supporting these great artists coming through the hub of SBS. Everyone of you is appreciated – you can reach out anytime at jeremy@sleepingbagstudios.ca to talk about the music with me!

Reach for what you think you’re capable of and you’ll always find you can go beyond.

Talk to you soon.