By Will McGuirk
Feed the Need in Durham collects and distributes food and other essentional items to over 60 emerency food providers across the Durham Region, including food banks, shelters, meal and snack programs and other social service agencies. They provide over 1.5 million meals to Durham residents annually.
Featuring Cale Crowe, Dipo D Voice, The Doozies, Tania Joy, New Moon Junction, Alicia Robicheau, Kent Sheridan, and Kalista Wilson. Tickets here.
By Will McGuirk
Ok, being a bit of a homer here but apart from Tania and Jim this is a swell line-up and although Whitehorse had to cancel having Terra Lightfoot step in IMHO is a win win, plus AHI has been added. AND I, The Mountain are here too. :)
Hillside Festival 2022 Artwork by C.M. Duffy
By Will McGuirk
Where do we even begin, except to begin I guess at the beginning which for me is Hillside. Everything I have learnt about sustainable community building I have learned at Hillside; from the Shwaltz thru to the Vault to Kops shows. Hillside is the most worldly of the local fests. It just gets it so right. Hillside is on an island in a lake in a conservation area. Like all island based folk the community has learned growth is not outwards but inwards. Thats its key and its glory. For the past two years we have had to look a lot closer to home for what we need. And even though restrictions are for the most part lifted its still not such a bad idea to stay within your community. For many reasons I consider Guelph to be part of my circle so I will be making the trip and looking forward to connecting again with like-minded folks for a few days. Gonna be lovely lovely lovely.
Interestingly this year the organisers have gone with a strong line-up of mostly single performers; singer/songwriters who have the impact of a band but a smaller footprint. Alison and Dan Mangan are on Friday; Aoife O’Donovan, Bahamas, Cadence Weapon, Kinnie Starr, Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long, and Tami Neilson perform on the Saturday and Sunday has Danny Michel, Donovan Woods, and Le Ren. Our pal Tania Joy is also making her Hillside debut. Whoot!
There are of course bands including Cancon supergroup the Anyway Gang, Cobourg punks Cleopatrick, Ombiigizi, Habibi, I the Mountain (Oshawa represent!) and Texas King.
Photo by Tracy Walker Photography
By Will McGuirk
Canadian folk-roots musician Tania Joy has been using the last few years to hone her songwriting, finally following up her 2013 EP, I’ll Be Around, with the release of her EP ‘I Will Stand’. The new collection of songs are produced by Juno Nominated Hill Kourkoutis.
With mentorship from Hillside’s Girl with Guitars program, Tania wrote her first protest song, “Planks and Marietta,” which was released exclusively on Bandcamp during Black History month with all proceeds from downloads being directed to Black Lives Matter.
Tani Joy - “So exciting!! I am so stoked for the return of Hillside Festival, and delighted to be a part of it! This will be my first official performance on Guelph Lake Island although I was able to perform virtually for Hillside Inside and at a live pop-up concert in Guelph during Hillside Homeside in 2021. I have been invited to perform a solo set that includes ‘Planks and Marietta’ for a Girls and Guitars showcase on the main-stage. Can't wait!”
By Will McGuirk
Is this the first? A music festival? Just over the border of Durham Region, in the, I do have to say, lovely town of Stouffville Wintersong takes place Mar 25 and 26. The festival features Charles Spearin of Broken Social Scene and Stephen Stanley, formerly of Lowest of the Low, as well as Bif Naked, and The Darcys, in almost a dozen venues throughout the downtown.
There are several Durham Region artists performing, among them 2020 OMA winners Hollow Sage and the Three Mile Islanders, and Tania Joy, plus Cassie Noble, Chalk Lake, EDITH, Hunter Sheridan, and Matt Gunn. Mattie Leon as well as Jitensha, both acts are friends of Slowcity.ca are also performing.
The festival is organised by the good folks at Epidemic Music Group, whom you may recall were behind the Guinness Book of Records Longest Concert by Multiple Artists attempt.
Tania Joy, photo by Tracy Walker
By Will McGuirk
There’s the music industry cliche of the flaming meteor, but then there’s reality; a long slow burn, a process of hearing your own voice, listening for it, getting comfortable with it and then the speaking out, the singing out. Sometimes a song, an album is just exhaling after holding your breath for such a long, long, long time.
That’s Tania Joy, and her debut album, ‘I Will Stand’, produced by Hill Kourkoutis; Its an exhalation, a singular, individual, personal, yes joyous, exhalation, owning one’s own self, one’s own life and breathing out, being, voicing.
From the first song, “Who I Am”, on, with its brief electric guitar, POW!, power is amplified, and one wonders how did this take so long?
But it does, we know it does, and throughout the album there is song after song of voicing, and the enabling of the voices of others, and within the songs the hearing of voices absorbed; those of soul, folk, roots, gospel, blues, sweeping orchestral strings, the whole lifelong gathering is then exhaled.
“Planks and Mariettas”, an intersection in Uxbridge, ON., Joy’s hometown, calls out the small minds in small towns within the big picture of Black Lives Matter. Absorption, exhalation.
“Crosswalks and blindspots, your whisperings/ Your slurs and your curse words written in the streets”
And on the title track, absorption, exhalation.
“I will stand in the light and let go of the wrong and the right/ I will take a deep breath and I will take the next step in my life”
Its out today, “I Will Stand’. There’s a party at the Second Wedge Brewery in Uxbridge, on Friday Sep 17, today. Don’t even try, people were probably standing in line since Wednesday.
But if you get the chance to see Tania Joy live, do it, it will matter, it will make you different, she has that power, and that she has only recently, late in life, come to that knowledge, means there’s a whole lifetime of experience to draw from and a maturity to process it all through. Its good to keep in mind it can be worth the wait. For Tania Joy, and thus for us, it certainly has been.
By Will McGuirk
But first. . .
Stacey Laforme is a poet and Chief of The Mississauga's of the New Credit First Nations.On May 28th 2021, he composed the poem 215/Reconciliation as an emotional response to the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the residential school in Kamloops ,BC. The poem has been set to music by Kevin Hearn and Josh Finlayson, ( members of The Secret Path Band) . It was recorded and mixed by Kenny Luong . Please go to DownieWenjak.ca to get involved and help build a path towards cultural understanding and reconciliation. The National Residential School Crisis line is: 1-866-925-4411 ( support for residential school survivors and their families)
"Who I Am” is about all of those honest unspoken fears that make us who we are, and at the end of the day I am comforted by the sum of my parts," - Tania Joy
“DUST is about the fine line between human connection and toxic attachment. It’s about our human longing and addictions. . . to things. . . to each other. . . and about the acceptance that we are truly mirrors for one another in this life. We all have our poison, which I believe must be embraced without judgement. And we all need love." - Andrea Ramolo
Slowcity.ca: Why did u choose Wasp to cover?
Andre Skinner (SDL): “I chose to cover WASP because my musical influences were were strongly forged with metal bands such as Motley Crue, Maiden, Ratt, Twisted Sister and especially WASP back in the mid 80's. I bought WASP's self titled tape at A&A Records back in 1985 as a 10 year old and the opening track 'I Wanna Be Somebody' REALLY stuck with me over the years. That album played a strong role in making me decide on a music career and a young man and Chris Holmes was always a MAJOR rock hero in my books.
SC: when you reached out for the ask what was the discussion?
AS: “With setting up the guest appearance, I tracked down Chris Holmes management via FB and simple asked if he would be down with cutting a track with us. Catherine Homes (Wife and Manger) quickly got back to me asking about the band and the song saying she would play it for CH over the weekend and would get back to me. Three days later, I received an email with good news! I pretty much freaked out at the news. . . I thought for sure it would be a no go since (first off) it's a WASP cover and CH famously doesn't get along with Blackie (the songwriter), and secondly because it was generally a major long-shot of an ask. I had cut the original lead guitar and solo which was sent to CH as a reference, once again sending my nerves for a ride knowing CG would hear it. CH cut the lead guitar tracks at his home studio in Cannes France and did a killer job. He was also gracious enough for a couple of phone calls about production. He and his wife are first rate people!”
SC: is this a one off or do you have further plans for covers or with Wasp?
AS: “This is a one off. I want to explore more covers down the line of other artists. (one per album would do just fine) and continue exploring the guest appearances by big artists as it adds great content to our PR rollouts.”
