Music News Digest, June 10, 2019

By FYI Staff

Corey Hart is this month’s Zoomer magazine cover story that runs 10 pages. The recent Canada’s Music Hall of Fame inductee is in Sudbury tonight (June 10) as part of his national Never Surrender tour. Promoter Live Nation has added A Flock of Seagulls to his Budweiser Stage show in Toronto this coming Friday, June 14. Glass Tiger is co-billed on the tour.

– Ticketmaster Canada has announced an exclusive ticketing partnership covering the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, as well as 20 venues and music festivals in Quebec. The deal, with Montreal-based Groupe CH, applies to high profile venues that include Bell Centre, Place Bell, MTelus, the Corona Theatre, as well as festivals, including Osheaga, Heavy Montreal, and Ile Soniq.

– North By Northeast (NXNE) launched its 25th-anniversary edition in Toronto on Friday night. Those spied at the opening party at The Great Hall included fest co-founder and head honcho Michael Hollett, Exclaim's Ian Danzig, Indie Week's Darryl Hurs, and Starfish Entertainment's Susan de Cartier, Jude Coombe, and Amanda Schenk.

Performing downstairs at Longboat Hall the same night was Starfish client Oh Susanna, who captivated the crowd with a set that reprised her classic 1999 album, Johnstown. 20 years on, these dark country/folk songs are as potent as ever, as is Suzie Ungerleider's pure voice. Her band included local guitar ace Nichol Robertson. Nova Scotian songstress Mo Kenney, performing solo, opened the show in fine fashion. Those we spotted there included Yvonne Matsell, Radio Starmaker's Jerry Leibowitz, Justin Rutledge (he guested on a song), Six Shooter Records' Shauna de Cartier, and Johnstown's producer Peter J. Moore (Cowboy Junkies),

– A two-year legal tussle between (American-based) Canadian band Palaye Royale, over unpaid fees in the amount of $27,666.23 alleged by former manager Linda Singer, has escalated with judgments served on the band, and the band’s American record and merchandise companies. The order is asking the defendants to produce a detailed accounting of their worldwide earnings between 2015 and 2019. The trio is currently on a North American tour with Marilyn Manson.

–  On Friday, June 7, Canadian music and TV industry veteran Stephen Stohn was installed as the 12th chancellor at Trent University in Peterborough, ON. The occasion was covered in a big spread in The Peterborough Examiner yesterday

– Vancouver concert promoter Mel Warner and ‘60s comedic musical duo The Crump Twins (Robert and Ronnie) are two of 5 Pioneer Stars to be inducted into BC’s Entertainment Hall of Fame (BCEHOF).

StarWalk Star members are recognized with a star on the Walk of Fame on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver and on the StarWall Gallery in the Orpheum Theatre upper lobby. Pioneer Star members are acknowledged on the Honour Plaque in the Orpheum lobby. StarWalkers include Colin James, composer, arranger, performer, producer, recording artist and conductor Bob Buckley, singer-songwriter and actor Rick Scott, composer/musician Emily Molnar, and jazz vocalist Joani Taylor.

– The Rolling Stones have announced Sloan, The Glorious Sons, The Beaches, One Bad Son, and Dwayne Gretzky as opening acts for the only Canadian date on the Stones' North American tour, at Oro-Medonte, ON, on June 29.

– CIMA and Music Ontario are offering membership discounts that include an extended 3-month trial and 15% off membership to band platform Bandzoogle. Find out more about Bandzoogle’s menu of offerings on its website.

– The biggest annual event in Canadian golf, the RBC Canadian Open, also showcased some A-list musical talent over the weekend at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club. A Florida Georgia Line and The Reklaws concert on the grounds reportedly drew a crowd of 15,000 on Friday, while The Glorious Sons headlined for another large crowd the following night. Source: Hamilton Spectator

– Toronto-basedDine Alone Records has announced a number of promotions within the company effective immediately.  The promotions are as follows: Andrew Roach, General Manager, Heather Crane, Director of Accounting & Royalties, Justin Ellsworth, Director of Production & Design, and Jacob Myhal, Marketing Manager (New Damage and Dine Alone)

Dine Alone Records has a roster of 90 Canadian and international acts. Notable artists on the imprint over the years include Alexisonfire, City and Colour, Jimmy Eat World, The Dandy Warhols, The Lumineers, Arkells, Dashboard Confessional, Monster Truck, The Cult, Vanessa Carlton, Fidlar, Wintersleep, and The Dirty Nil.

– Nettwerk Records has signed Juno-nominated alternative/indie-folk collective The Franklin Electric to its worldwide label roster. “We're proud at Nettwerk if we can be involved in releasing music this compelling and help spread it to fans everywhere,” says Mark Jowett (Nettwerk Co-Founder/VP International A&R and Publishing) in a press release. The Montreal based group, founded and fronted by Jon Matte, has released two albums, 2014's This Is How I Let You Down, and 2017’s Blue Ceilings, which helped earn it a Juno nom asBreakthrough Group of the Year in 2018. A new EP, titled In Your Head, is released Aug. 2, with the first single, Made It Up In Your Head, now out.

– Toronto bluegrass/roots faves John Showman (New Country Rehab, Creaking Tree String Quartet) and Joey Wright have started a June Cameron House residency, every Wednesday, 6-8pm. They promise some Monroe, some Merle, some Buck Owens, and more. Recommended.

– The reputation of Oz rock band INXS was tarnished after the death of charismatic frontman Michael Hutchence, but an upcoming film biopic of the star is generating a real buzz. It is directed by Richard Lowenstein, who filmed the majority of INXS  and solo Hutchence videos, as well as the 1986 feature film, Dogs in Space, in which Hutchence played the lead.

RIP

Jahiant Jahh (born Markland Anthony Campbell), a member of the Ottawa rap group HalfSizeGiants (HSG), was shot and killed in Ottawa’s ByWard Market on June 7. He was 41. Friends say Campbell was killed defending his daughter. Earlier on Friday evening, Jahiant could be heard on Ottawa airwaves during an impromptu interview with DJ Daddy Rich, co-host of CHUO 89.1 FM weekly show, Freestyle.

HalfSizeGiants (HSG) released a new album, Life Moves Fast, on May 31, after a hiatus as a group that spanned 15 years.  HSG, once known as BMW (Black, Mexican and White), first made their mark back in 1996 with their debut, Maple Flava On Cruise Control, featuring the Maestro Fresh Wes-produced Tell Me Kids. The group, which also includes Ironic (Chris Weins) and Memo Moreno (William Moreno), originally came together during high school in the '90s. Sources: CTVNews, Hip-Hop Canada