Music Biz Headlines, July 12, 2021
Ontario looks at reopening music venues, a profile of Mother Mother (pictured), and new ticket-buying rules in BC. Also in the headlines are RSD, Shaela Miller, Sunfest, Mission Folk Music Festival, Tom Werman, Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Bieber, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the Velvet Underground, Queen, Marilyn Manson, Adam Driver, and Jakob Dylan.
By Kerry Doole
Will there be live indoor music in Ontario by later this summer?
New venues, freshly scheduled concert dates, outdoor shows: the live music industry is slowly coming back to life in Canada — but with those signs of life comes ongoing uncertainty. Compared to our neighbours south of the border, Canada seems to be late to the party. – Nick Krewen, Toronto Star
B.C. rolls out new ticket-buying rules for live events
If you've ever felt ripped off for having to pay an exorbitant amount for concert or hockey tickets, here's some good news. The B.C. government has announced the Ticket Sales Act, which came info effect July 1 and is aimed at giving ticket buyers more transparency, fairer processes, and better consumer protections when purchasing tickets for live events in the province. – Steve Newton, GS
10 vinyl picks for Record Store Day (2) include Rory Gallagher, Allman Brothers, Beat Farmers, and CSNY
The second Record Store Day of 2021 is on July 17. In case you haven't been perusing the list of upcoming releases, we did it for you. Here's 10 picks we think are pretty sweet. – Steve Newton, Georgia Straight
Lethbridge's Shaela Miller follows her own path with Big Hair Small City
Recording in February 2020 at Lethbridge’s Rebeltone Ranch with producer Scott Franchuk, Miller had no intention of reinventing the wheel sonically or thematically with Big Hair Small City, tweaking and building on a sound that she has dubbed Tennessee Noir. – Eric Volmers, Calgary Herald
The Mission Folk Music Festival has just announced its performance schedule
The free event features three mainstage concert evening showcases from Friday to Sunday, July 23-25, showcasing an eclectic range of musical talent from Canada and beyond. It is an online fest this year. – Georgia Straight
Festival Place Patio Series is back with shows across the spectrum
Music lovers are thirsting to catch the vibes, live in concert, and Steve Derpack is hopping glad to make it happen. The artistic director of Sherwood Park’s Festival Place already has weekly outdoor shows booked every Wednesday night this summer as he prepares to unveil a new season of shows inside the venue. – Roger Levesque Edmonton Journal
Mother Mother knows best
Fifteen years ago, in the year 2005, a group of kids going to art school in Vancouver started writing the soundtrack to a generation—it just wasn’t their generation. The band was Mother Mother. – Rayne Fisher-Quann, Next
DJs, artists pumped over gigs to open Sunfest Connected '21 watch parties
It’s an opportunity DJ Joze couldn’t miss, playing TD Sunfest. While it may be as the warm-up for a watch party for the opening of the virtual four-day Sunfest Connected ’21 festival, it’s music to the Zimbabwe native’s ears as he prepares his own brand of world music at Anderson Craft Ales. – Joe Belanger, London free Press
International
Music rights company Reservoir has acquired the producer catalog of Tom Werman
The New York-based Reservoir acquired 100% of Werman’s producer rights for all of his works. That includes his work on the Poison hit, Every Rose Has Its Thorns. The news follows Reservoir’s recent acquisition of the record label Tommy Boy Music LLC. – Ashley King, Digital Music News
Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper & Jaden Smith to headline 'Freedom Experience' at SoFi Stadium
The stars will headline the July 24 "Freedom Experience" show at SoFi Stadium as part of 1DayLA's Covid-19 service event. According to a statement, the effort aims to mobilize 20,000 volunteers across Southern California from July 18-24 to offer hope and help with many social issues. – Gil Kaufman, Billboard
Olivia Rodrigo gives Taylor Swift songwriting credit on second ‘Sour’ song, ‘Deja Vu’
Rodrigo and her main collaborator, songwriter-producer Daniel Nigro, have given Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent a songwriting credit on Deja Vu — the second song from Rodrigo’s blockbuster debut album Sour to receive such a non-collaborative credit, after 1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back. – Jem Aswad, Variety
Super-producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis: ‘Prince sidelined us’
The duo started their debut album 36 years ago, but work for Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and others got in the way. Now it’s finally complete, R&B’s great studio psychologists look back at an unmatched career. – Alexis Petridis, The Guardian
The Velvet Underground’s greatest songs – ranked!
As Todd Haynes unveils his documentary about them, we rate the best work of a band who overturned and reinvented rock’n’roll. – Alexis Petridis, The Guardian
Todd Haynes’ ‘The Velvet Underground’: Film review | Cannes 2021
The filmmaker dives deep into the story of the influential rock 'n' roll band led by Lou Reed and John Cale and the creative ferment of 1960s New York City that spawned them in this documentary for Apple. – David Rooney, the Hollywood Reporter
Freddie Mercury would still front Queen if he were around
Brian May believes Freddie Mercury would still be playing with Queen if he were here today. Queen’s late frontman passed away in 1991 of bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS in 1991, and guitarist May, 73, insisted there is no question that his bandmate would have continued to be a part of the Queen family. May also admitted he will never get over losing Freddie, but still feels his presence “every day”. – Noise11
Marilyn Manson turns himself in to L.A. Police on New Hampshire assault charges
The rock star, who faces two misdemeanor counts, will be arraigned in August. – Ashley Turner, The Wrap
"It is weird to have the best-known thing you ever wrote not even be a full word"
The now Toronto-based music critic J.D. Considine reflects on his now-(in)famous pan of GTR, the self-titled album from a shortly lived supergroup led by two Steves: Hackett (Genesis) and Howe (Yes). Considine's review was tucked midway through a column in Musician's August 1986 issue. His assessment read, simply, "SHT" — a parodic abbreviation that's still funnier and more fully realized than most essay-length critiques. – Ultimate Classic Rock
Cannes: Adam Driver on singing, surrealism and 'Annette'
In Leos Carax’s “Annette,” an enchantingly demented rock opera, Adam Driver sings in some very strange places. – Jake Coyle, AP
Jakob Dylan considers transition on The Wallflowers comeback album Exit Wounds
In retrospect, Jakob Dylan wishes he had some Herculean tale of vanquishing coronavirus depression that he could share to cheer folks up. But all he has on offer is Exit Wounds, a new sonic pick-me-up cocktail from his three-decade-old folk-rock band The Wallflowers. – Tom Lanham, Paste
