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Music News Digest: Warner Music Makes Two Hires Out of Canada, Victoria's Rifflandia Festival Says Goodbye
Also this week: Do It For The Culture comes to Vancouver, Andrew Cash returns to the stage and more.
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Warner Music has made two key hires out of Canada.
George Kalivas, who left his A&R post at Warner Music Canada in 2024 to focus on his management company SWING, has now accepted a different A&R job at the broader Warner Music Group. Working out of Toronto, he will now be director of global A&R, where he will support new artist signings at Warner Music Canada and its independent distribution arm ADA while scouting global talent for WMG's frontline labels. He will also continue to manage his SWING roster, including Diamond Cafe and Steven Lee Olsen.
"From our very first conversations, it was clear that Eric Wong and the team share a similar belief in artist development and long-term thinking," Kalivas says. "I'm excited to join Warner Music in this global role to continue advocating for artists and help build the next generation of talent."
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Jordan Kendal, meanwhile, is joining Warner Music Canada's commercial team as director of physical sales. The executive comes from Sheet Happens Publishing and will now oversee physical, e-commerce and customer services departments in Canada.
– Victoria, B.C.'s long-running and popular summer event, Rifflandia, is no more. Citing rising costs, organizers have pulled the plug via a recent official announcement:
''After 18 years, countless memories, and a whole lot of heart, we’ve made the incredibly difficult decision to bring Rifflandia Festival to a close. We held onto hope that we might be able to celebrate one final September together, but ultimately the realities of producing the festival we love made that impossible. For nearly two decades, Rifflandia has been a labour of love. Despite the joy it brought and the millions of dollars it helped circulate through our local economy, the festival was never profitable.”
Vicnews.com reports that ''While the festival itself is ending, Rifflandia’s entertainment company continues to grow, with a diverse portfolio of projects underway both internationally and at home.''
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– Andrew Cash has had a fascinating life and career. After making a splash in the early '80s with youthful Toronto political punk band L'Etranger alongside Charlie Angus, he found success as a solo singer-songwriter, then left music for politics, becoming an NDP MP in 2011. Since 2021, he has served as president of CIMA (Canadian Independent Music Association), but the itch to make music again has returned. Last Saturday, he was lured back on stage for his first full set of music in many years, and this was a triumphant comeback.
Cash played a matinee show at Hamilton bar/resto/music venue The Capitol in front of a capacity crowd of family, friends, fellow MPs and longtime admirers of his eloquent work. He delighted them with a generous 90 minute set that reprised such solo hits as ''Boomtown'' and ''Time And Place' alongside tunes he and brother Peter Cash had written for The Cash Brothers and Skydiggers (''You Gotta Lot Of Nerve'' was a highlight). Andrew received musical support from Skydigger Michael Johnston on accordion and Cash's witty and insightful stage banter went over well. Opening the show with a poetic and often powerfully political solo set was local singer-songwriter Darryl Gould. A longtime admirer of Andrew Cash's work, Gould deserves kudos for helping coax Cash into playing this gig.
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Awards News
In honour of National Indigenous History Month, the Henry Armstrong Award committee has announced that Métis country singer-songwriter Catie St. Germain has been named the 2026 recipient. St. Germain, hailing from Niverville, Manitoba, is the granddaughter of Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame Métis legend Ray St. Germain, has earned multiple MCMA Award nominations and a win as emerging artist of the year since releasing her first original music in 2023 and has put out two EPs. St. Germain wins a $10,000 bursary and customized mentorship program designed to support professional growth.
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Now in its fifth year, the Henry Armstrong Award (HAA) is a bursary and mentorship program dedicated to developing and supporting artists within the Indigenous Canadian music community. Earlier award winners have included Kaeley Jade, City Nativrs, Kyle McKearney And Boogey The Beat. The HAA was launched by MDM Recordings Inc. president and founder Mike Denney.
– Ottawa-based Juno-winning singer-songwriter Kellylee Evans has received an honourary Doctor of Music degree from Carleton University, awarded at the convocation ceremony on June 10, where she delivered the address to this year's graduating class. The university recognized Evans for her distinguished career as a Canadian singer-songwriter and for the resilience she has shown in overcoming great personal adversity along the way. A four-time Juno nominee, she won the award for vocal jazz album of the year for Nina.
Festivals News
Do It For The Culture, described as Western Canada's leading platform for Black artists, takes place in Vancouver for the first time from Aug. 27–29, following four successful years in Kelowna. The recently-announced artist lineup will include SadBoi, RAAHiiM, ARDN, Adewolf, Ahsia, Mikey Jose and Dacey. Founded by Vancouver-based, Botswana-born artist Teon Gibbs, Do It For The Culture was created to address longstanding barriers facing Black artists in Canada's music industry. Gibbs states that ''The response has already been overwhelmingly positive — we've seen artist applications skyrocket by over 400%. This will be our fifth year, but it feels like a brand new and exciting start."
Additional artists, conference programming, industry delegates, and special events will be announced in the coming weeks. DI4TC passes are available HERE.
– The 24th edition of the BreakOut West festival and conference takes place in Victoria, B.C. from Sept. 30-Oct. 4 and the first wave of festival showcase performers have been named. Notable artists on the list include Jaiden Riley, Neighbour Andy and The Bankes Brothers, Art d'Ecco, Belle Plaine, daysormay, FRANKLIN and Gnarwhal. Stay tuned for 35+ artists to be revealed in the coming weeks.
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This year, the festival portion of BreakOut West runs October 1 through October 3, across multiple downtown Victoria venues including Lucky Bar, Capital Ballroom, Encore, Upstairs, Mint, The Coda, Metro Theatre, Fort Techtoria and more. Wristband and festival info here.
Industry News
Paquin Artists Agency has announced the recent addition of two major Canadian artists to the agency roster. Virginia To Vegas (Derik Baker) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, producer, and performer whose pop meets electronica stylings have earned him over 735 million global streams, multiple platinum-certified singles, a Juno nomination and four SOCAN Awards.
Joining him at PAA is well-established and Juno-winning country singer-songwriter Jess Moskaluke. Her 2014 debut studio album, Light Up the Night included the platinum-certified single "Cheap Wine and Cigarettes" and she later had a number-one hit on the Billboard Canada Country Airplay chart with "Country Girls.'' She won a Juno in 2016 for country album of the year, with Kiss Me Quiet.
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Artists News
Two Pianos, No Rodeo is the catchy title of a double act comprising Bob Wiseman and Mike Boguski. Wiseman was the original keyboardist in Blue Rodeo, a role since occupied for a long period by Boguski. They occasionally tour and perform as a double bill, each presenting their solo keyboard-based material, and they visited Hamilton last week as the opening act of the adventurous and acclaimed Something Else! festival. The free concert at Hamilton Public Library downtown showcased the talents of two artists whose musical tastes range far beyond roots-rock. Boguski's set, for instance, featured solo piano pieces that moved from a neo-romantic classical feel to freewheeling contemporary stylings, alongside vocal material that, variously, showed influences of cabaret, The Doors and John Cale (via a cover).
After a pleasing short set by Vancouver harpist Elisa Thorn, Wiseman took the stage, delivering a typically idiosyncratic performance. As well as demonstrating his keyboard prowess on some instrumental pieces, he paid tribute to Ellen McIlwaine, covered a Lynn Miles tune and sang lyrically imaginative songs, including an acerbic attack on a notorious CBC host and sexual predator we shall not name. Wiseman also moved away from the piano to narrate entries from his 2020 book Music Lessons, a well-received collection of his always original thoughts. One of a kind indeed.
– Last week, Toronto indie rockers The Get Alongs released Second To None, their sophomore LP, via Having Fun / We Are Busy Bodies. Their sound fuses classic garage and power pop styles, with the likes of The Replacements and The Lemonheads as reference points. The quartet has been together a decade and made a mark with debut album Weather Permitting. The new record was recorded at Holy Mountain Sound in Montreal with producer Clayton Dupuis.
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