The Year in RiffYou: 10 Most Read Stories
The Reason’s Road Woes.
Before we get going here, I’d like to send out a massive thank you to everyone who has read, written, shared, participated in, or helped coordinate a story for Riffyou.com in 2013. Without all of you, this endeavour would not be possible. While we did start very late in the year, momentum is happening and we anticipate bigger and better things to come in 2014.
As we all slowly roll out of bed today to face a new year, I’d like to share with you the 10 most read stories from Riffyou.com in 2013. Here, you’ll find some excellent fan reviews; stories of struggle and success; as well as some tips on how to get your band noticed. Enjoy and always feel free to pass along your feedback.
1. The Reason Get into 2 Van Accidents in SK, Members Okay
December 3, 2013.
Hamilton, ON, rock act The Reason has been in two vehicular accidents in two days while travelling through Saskatchewan. The band says that they are okay and hope to make it home soon. On December 1, The Reason’s van hit black ice in the province and spun into a ditch. The trailer of gear attached to the vehicle, says the band, kept the van from rolling over. However, this accident broke the trailer’s axle and the guys spent the next day in Regina getting it fixed…[full story]
2. Burly Calling Wants to Send Your Band to Pouzza Fest
December 16, 2013.
The dust has barely settled following the seventh annual Burly Calling music festival in Burlington, ON, and its organizers – in partnership with Bombing Neverland’s Brad Sumak, Young Heart Music, and Hamilton’s Club Absinthe – want to fund a band’s trip to the Pouzza Fest in Montreal this coming May…[full story]
The Saint Alvia Cartel hugging it out.
3. Interview: The Saint Alvia Cartel’s Last Waltz
November 29, 2013.
Some bands go out with a whimper, while others choose to exit stage left with a bang. Burlington, ON’s, The Saint Alvia Cartel are the latter. The sextet comprised of Benjamin Rispin, Greg Taylor, Matt Richmond, Greg Fisher, Adam Michael, and John Laurin, issued their mighty good third album, Static Psalms, in February and less than six months later announced they were closing up shop with friendships intact and a critically acclaimed final album left as a bookend for their history (that last part is how RiffYou.com feels about it at least)…[full story]
4. Interview: Dirty Jeans Emerge onto the Scene
December 4, 2013.
For Burlington, ON, musicians Ashley Sloggett and Kelly Boag, Dirty Jeans has been half a lifetime in the making. Having met as relative opposites working shows at their local YMCA, the one thing that melded the girl who put on the concerts and discouraged parking lot drinking (Sloggett) and the goth girl who wore kilts and combat boots (Boag), was music. Beginning as teenagers about old enough to get driver’s licenses, the duo formed “a million bands” that never left the basement and have remained musical allies…[full story]
5. Interview: Rusty Never Sleeps
December 26, 2013.
Not every band is afforded a second chance, but Rusty is one of them. Having disbanded back in 2000, it took the ‘90s Canadian quartet 11 years before being presented with the opportunity to reunite on stage. “It was actually my old bandmate John Kastner from The Doughboys…he voiced the idea to do it. He got the ball rolling on [the reunion] and everybody was into it,” recalls Rusty guitarist Scott McCullough when in conversation with Riffyou.com…[full story]
The lean and mean Dirty Jeans.
6. The Friday 5: How to Get Your Band Noticed
November 29, 2013.
With thousands upon thousands of bands around the world pulling themselves out of the garage and onto whichever stages will have them, the challenge continues to be how a band can become, and remain, noticeable to crowds and music industry folk alike. John Fielding, Manager, Artist Marketing at Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc. and Co-Founder of independent “boutique” label Young Heart Music, knows a thing or two about how to get eyeballs and ears, and how to make them stick…[full story]
7. Fan Review: Diemonds Back to Raging on Home Turf
November 26, 2013.
After a monstrous month-long North American tour that went from coast to coast in Canada and as far as Chicago, Las Vegas and L.A., Diemonds were more than happy to make the last stop of the aptly named ‘SkeleTour’ in none other than a place they all call home – Toronto. The winds were howling and the mercury may have dropped much further below zero than any Torontonian was ready for on Saturday, November 23, but that didn’t stop Diemonds from bringing the heat onstage…[full story]
8. Fan Review: Bon Jovi Rocks the ACC in Toronto
November 3, 2013.
After 30 years of sold out shows, number one hits and 13 studio albums, Bon Jovi proves that they still know how to rock. On Friday November 1, 2013, Bon Jovi played a sold out show at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto as part of their Because We Can tour to a very enthusiastic crowd. This was one of two special shows that marked the band’s induction into the Air Canada Centre’s hall of fame…[full story]
Bon Jovi live at the ACC.
9. Exclusive: hmv Canada Pres Speaks Out on Beyonce
December 20, 2013.
In an exclusive interview with Riffyou.com on the matter, hmv Canada President and CEO Nick Williams confirms that his stores will sell Beyonce for $13.99, $2 below the suggested retail price, through Christmas Eve as a way to apologize to consumers who have been unable to pick up copies of the CD + DVD package from hmv Canada locations. Beyond that, the price will go back up to $15.99. Just like most close to the music industry, Williams also woke up on Friday, December 13 and was surprised by the news that one of the best-selling female artists of all-time had all-of-a-sudden released a new album. He admits that hmv Canada didn’t know that Beyonce was coming down the pipeline, let alone that it was going to be exclusively available through iTunes for a one-week window…[full story]
10. Interview: The Creepshow Gets a Renewed Lease on Life
December 18, 2013
On July 16, 2012, Burlington, ON, psychobilly stars The Creepshow found themselves in a familiar position: saying goodbye to a lead singer with the legal surname Blackwood. This time, it was Sarah “Sin,” the sister of the band’s original vocalist Jen “Hellcat,” who was on her way out. In an announcement posted upon the official Facebook page of The Creepshow, the band cited Sarah’s burgeoning solo work and her growing role in Walk Off The Earth as the reasoning for a change. “I remember when announcing [the member change] on Facebook…I was shaking,” laughs Sean “Sickboy” McNab…[full story]
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