Newfoundlanders and Labradorians came home for Come Home 2022 celebrations and the province welcomed many first time visitors too.  The weather coorperated with record breaking sunshine for one record setting NL  summer.

There was a little something for everyone to enjoy. Wonderbolt Productions celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022, and they dazzled and delighted audiences all summer long. The George Street Festival was a huge hit and so was the Churchill Park Music Festival with both attracting huge and enthusiastic crowds. 

But whether it’s the large concerts on George Street or the smaller gatherings on an outport wharf, it’s been quite a summer to celebrate, Premier Andrew Furey said. “To see this (Come Home 2022) come from a concept to reality, and then to see the return, well the actual numbers speak for themselves,” he said as he launched into some cheerful chatter about the rise in tourism numbers throughout Come Home 2022. And the fun continues through the fall too with Come From Away: The Concert and Tell Tale Harbour yet to be celebrated and enjoyed. 

What was your favourite Come Home 2022 experience? Was it the Stanley Cup or a concert? Was it seeing family or friends or was it a wedding celebration that was delayed due to the pandemic. 

Share your super summer story with us at letters@nfldherald.com 

Charles & Camilla’s 2022 Royal Tour

Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, arrived St. John’s on May 17th to begin a three-day Canadian tour largely focused on reconciliation with Indigenous people. 

The couple attended a welcome ceremony at the provincial legislature with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon then it was off to Gov. House and Quidi Vidi.

Photos provided by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, taken by Alick Tsui Photography.

Kellie Loder Proves They’re Fearless

Not only is Kellie Loder selling out shows, but they are selling totally out of merch at these performances as well, they added when The Herald swung by for a chat. “The opportunity to be on a national television show, what that has done for me is amazing. People stop you on the side of the road and people shout at you from their cars. And it’s so positive,” they said of appearing on Canada’s Got Talent. 

 Had reality set in yet? Since being a  national sensation on CGT, so much had changed. “You work so, so hard for so long to get that sort of recognition that when you finally get it it’s a bit wild. Like, I still feel like I’m a small town kid from Badger and now people are wanting to carry my things and bring me water and food and steam my clothes. And I’m like, ‘What’s happening right now?’” 

Loder also felt “different” seeing their face on a NL Herald cover. “I would go to the store and The Herald would always be on the front counter, and I would see different faces every week on the cover and I always wondered if I was ever going to make the cover, do you know what I mean? I always wondered that, even when nobody knew who I was.” Well, now they certainly do! 

Show Your Pride in NL

Irma Gerd made NL proud as one of the contestants of the third season of Canada’s Drag Race. 

Gerd told The Herald that “The amount of support that I’ve gotten from all of Atlantic Canada, not just Newfoundland, has been overwhelming. Just positively overwhelming in the best way.” 

Pride events throughout NL recognized and celebrated the diversity of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community within the province and the Provincial Government sponsored St. John’s Pride Week as a part of Come Home 2022. Sponsored events included Drag on Water held on Saturday, July 23 as well as the St. John’s Pride Parade

Staycation with the OZFM Summer CREW

Kali Kenny and Noah Perchard hit the road in the OZFM Staycation Summer Cruiser and brought the cheer and the joy to many as they travelled the province throughout the summer of 2022.

Kenny told The Herald that being a member of the Staycation Summer Cruiser Team was a “dream come true.” 

The Regatta Returns

For the very first time in Royal St. John’s Regatta history, there was a Women’s Long course race. 

North America’s oldest annual sporting event concluded with repeat champions in both the men’s and women’s races. NTV were winners of the Men’s Championship Race and Hyflodraulic won Stirling Communications Women’s Championship Race with a time of 5:11.

This year’s Regatta saw crowds return to the banks of Quidi Vidi Lake for the first time since 2019.

Jaida Lee Makes History

At 16 years old, Jaida Lee became the first female to compete in Men’s Baseball at the Canada Summer Games in 2022. The teenage baseball sensation and her father, Dave Lee, shared with media how “unreal” the experience was,  included the fact that she got to throw an opening pitch at a Blue Jays game.

Alex Newhook Brings Home Lord Stanley

Colorado Avalanche forward and St. John’s native Alex Newhook couldn’t stop smiling the day he brought the Stanley Cup home to St. John’s! 

The timing couldn’t have been better and fans young and old couldn’t get enough of the party that came with Lord Stanley held during Come Home 2022 celebrations.

About being only the third player from Newfoundland and Labrador to win the Stanley Cup, Newhook shared how he received congratulations from the other two who had done so before he did – Daniel Cleary and Michael Ryder. Newhook cheered along with fans so loudly as he yelled, ’Our fans are the best in the world’ that Newhook seemed to  have lost his voice during part of the Stanley Cup parade.

Was it emotion or cheering along with fans that cause the brief quiet spell? Probably a bit of both, but whatever the reason, it was a grand day in the province and an unforgettable day for Alex Newhook and his family and friends. Congratulations! 

After sold-out shows in St. John’s and Halifax in 2019, well known Afro-German-Caribbean disco and funk vocal group Boney M. featuring Liz Mitchell return to Atlantic Canada for seven ‘Holiday Favourites and Classic Hits’ shows this November and December.

Tickets for Halifax, Moncton, Charlottetown, Truro, and Sydney go on sale this Friday, September 23 at 10 a.m. and tickets for Corner Brook and St. John’s go on sale this Friday, September 23 at 12 noon.

Tickets for the Corner Brook show will be available online at cbciviccentre.com

Tickets for the St. John’s show will be available at the Mary Brown’s Centre Box Office (50 New Gower Street), by calling 1-709-576-7657 and online at mbcentre.ca

Originally founded in Germany by writer and producer Frank Farian, Boney M. was one of the disco-oriented pop acts which dominated the European charts throughout the late seventies and early eighties with a string of hits well remembered to this day. The band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and their discography of hits is extensive. The group had eight #1 hits on the European charts, including Daddy Cool, Sunny, Ma Baker, Belfast, Rivers of Babylon, Brown Girl in the Ring, Rasputin, and Mary’s Boy Child. In addition to the successes of Boney M’s singles was the success of three #1 albums in the European market.

Now in the 21st Century, there is obviously no doubt that songs from the past are far more popular than ever before. Boney M’s international success during the past thirty-five years has proven that their hits belong to the collection of timeless classics. In 2022, Boney M. featuring Liz Mitchell is still a phenomenal live act drawing huge crowds across Europe.  The live show is as spectacular as ever and they are currently making live appearances in concert halls, arenas, and festivals around the world.

Boney M. live in Atlantic Canada is presented by VaughCo Entertainment: vaughncoentertainment.com

Mel Simmonds and her husband Brad had everything they could want – except for good health. “In 2018 I was at my heaviest, well on my way to 450lbs… medication I was on caused weight gain, high blood pressure and very high anxiety levels,” Mel Simmonds said. 

More medication was prescribed but she knew there had to be a better and a more natural way.  

“I decided to do research based on the information my doctor gave me. She said I was unable to process carbs and sugars in the same way as a regular healthy person may do so with this tidbit of information and my handy dandy Google, I stumbled across Ketogenic lifestyle.” She began to learn how to redevelop her family’s fav Newfoundland cultured-based recipes into no added sugar, low carb and low sodium meals. 

“I have been involved in the food industry since high school…and I am a very creative person so it comes very natural to me to be a rock star in the kitchen. When my family started seeing all the delicious foods I was eating they weren’t long to jump on the keto bandwagon and join me on my journey.” She lost 110lbs in a year and didn’t crave a thing. 

“Whatever I wanted I was easily able to transform into a wonderful delicious new keto approved creation.” She kept things as simple as possible, she added.  

Joining the journey

“My aim when starting was to make this as simple and easy as possible because I knew if it was anything but, my mental wellness would not allow me to continue it. When friends and family saw the amazing transformation that was happening, there were lots of questions.”

“My inbox on Facebook was being bombarded with inquiries so I figured the easiest way to do this was to build a Facebook group (Keto Newf). There I could post about my journey, answer questions and give support to my friends and family. To my shock, people from all over the world started jumping in my inbox and asking to join my journey.”

The group grew. “I had spiked some interest in people who wanted to be healthier, just like me,” she said.  

By 2019 she had lost another 220lbs and her family’s total weight loss was nearing 500lbs. “We were doing fantastic and the dish creations now were simply amazing. Not only Newfoundland cultured foods but I was learning  to recreate foods from all over the world.”

Then, in Feb 2020, one of her closest and dearest friends, Roxanne Weinhebour,  also the former owner of Chapman’s Bakery, encouraged her to start selling some of her dishes. “By the time I figured out how I was going to take orders and get it to those local people who needed it, the winter was in full swing and then the pandemic hit. I knew now, more than ever, that I needed to get these health foods out to people as being stuck in the house would make us more unhealthy,” she said.

Spreading the word

She packed up her family, the food and even the family dog and headed out on to the TCH to do safe drop offs along the way from St. John’s to GFW.  “It didn’t take long before the word spread. I had people filling up my inbox saying how much of an inspiration I was to them, and that I was helping to get them through the pandemic. Mission accomplished,” she said. 

But there was more to do, she added, and the Keto Newf brand keeps growing. Another thing growing is the couple’s love of music. 

“Brad Simmonds Country Music  (their Facebook group) has grown in popularity and Brad calls me his Wifager because I am his wife and manager. I am also his song writer, promotions specialist, booking agent, publisher and distributor,” she shared.

Husband Brad is an easy listening  country music performer, Simmonds added, and with two original songs that have been released, their music is being heard all over the world on all major streaming platforms.  –

 “Brad has always been into music since he was five and got his first guitar. Brad and I met in 2012 and I found his musical abilities and fantastic deep-based vocals very exciting and it is one of the things that made me fall in love with him. I moved to his very small rural community of Charlottetown, NL so there were no real opportunity to showcase his talent.” They married in 2015 and began livestreaming their music on Facebook. 

“We had a fan group and streamed virtual concerts. In 2018 I decided to help make his dreams come true and I wrote a letter to Santa. I asked him to help me by surprising Brad with one of the things he wanted the most because I wanted help in making his dream come true.”  

The gift? Recording studio time to help make their dreams come true.. 

Brad and Mel focus on their future while still helping others, sharing their contacts and knowledge with anyone who needs help musically or health-wise. Being a friend to all has become their passion and their mission. 

For more visit  Keto Newf – sites.google.com/view/ketonewf/home. 

The Shed – Powerhouse (sites.google.com/view/theshed-powerhouse/home). 

Brad Simmonds Country Music Artist (sites.google.com/view/bradsimmonds/home)

Newfoundland & Labrador’s Weary explores the sonic pangs of heartache through the atmospheric stylings of sophomore album, Hush. Complete with emotive, lingering guitars and swooning melodies that, as described by creator Kate Lahey, offer up songs of loving, losing, longing and change. 

Following up their acclaimed debut album Feeling Things, which was nominated for MusicNL’s Alternative Album of the Year in 2018, Hush continues the trajectory for a project equal parts emotionally resonant and artistically striking. 

A nominee for MusicNL’s Rising Star of the Year in 2018 as well as earning a 2016 long listing for the Borealis Award, and with noted performances at East Coast Music Week Rising Star Stage, Flourish Festival, Bloom Fest, Lawnya Vawnya, Halifax Pop Explosion, Out of Earshot Festival, and MusicNL week, Weary’s trajectory continues to rocket skyward, as does their way around a tune that tugs at the heartstrings as well as engaging the mind.

Lahey caught up with The Herald for the latest in our album deep dive series, diving into the inner workings, and meaning, behind Weary’s Hush. 

Big Love 

This song is about struggling with mental illness, particularly watching a loved one struggling with mental illness and feeling both helpless and full of hope for their beauty, resilience and spirit. This song is about how we can feel trapped or limited by our minds, while our hearts are overflowing. 

Body 

This song deals with intergenerational loss from my perspective as a Newfoundlander. I wrote this song after my maternal Nan passed away, who I loved dearly. Making sense of the ways the memory moves across generations, how we hold multitudes, I attempt to work through my desire to remain connected to all that came before me, particularly my ancestral relationship to this island. 

Broken Window

Working through my relationship with my teen years, particularly my relationship with addictions, this song explores how loss and longing shaped my experience with trauma as a young person in Newfoundland. Images of smoking cigarettes, listening to The Strokes, skateboarding and even overdosing lace this song with fragments of memory that reflect the effect of brokenness I felt at that time in my life. 

Twin Flame 

Chris Meyers, who is the guitarist for Weary and also a co-vocalist on this song, is also my partner. It has been a long journey of finding how music fits into our relationship and how our relationship fits into music. This song was a really special opportunity to have those worlds interact creatively as we reflect on the many expressions of our connection. 

Trust

Trust explores a moment where my past and future collided. Love asked me to take a leap of faith into the unknown, while trauma filled me with fear. Working through a claustrophobic sense of flightiness, trust explores the ways in which our past can overwhelm our desire for a better future. In my search for belonging, security and safety, I found myself scared of the very things I long for because of their unfamiliarity. Trust is not about trusting someone else with your heart, but about learning to trust yourself. 

For all things Hush and Weary visit weary.ca and all official social medias.

Jim Cuddy has seen it all in a hall of fame worthy career atop the pantheon of Canadian songwriting royalty. What’s now foreign to the frontman of the legendary Blue Rodeo is stillness, an involuntary byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Once it started happening (in 2020), staying still, that’s my first year of staying still in 35 years,” Cuddy shared in a sitdown with The Herald ahead of Blue Rodeo’s return to St. John’s on the Many A Mile Tour. 

“We have a little rural place that’s north of the city, so I was there sitting in this one seat and just playing and writing songs and thinking what I would do with them and how I was going to do this, but not worrying about the final result, just writing songs. And yes, I think that had a very beneficial effect on all of us, because whatever little injuries go along with touring all the time, they cleared up and whatever little complaints you have about, ‘oh, I don’t like this hotel’ or, ‘can’t we stay in Montreal instead of Ottawa?’ All that bulls**t, it doesn’t matter anymore because the essence of what you do is gone, the essence of playing live.”

Blue Rodeo would release their whopping 16th studio album in 2021, Many A Mile, though Cuddy is open to the idea that, pre-pandemic, the reality that the band had released their final record loomed large.

Charge up the lifeblood

“We could never go out and just do the songs that we’d already committed to in the past. I think we’d just feel like a jukebox and so it’s always necessary to charge up the lifeblood a little bit and get everybody playing together,” Cuddy shared. 

“These guys are fantastic players, and just to hear them create is inspiring. But I don’t know. It’s definitely a waveform that two years ago, before this pandemic started, I was pretty sure we were never going to make another record. And then halfway through the pandemic, I was less sure. And of course I was proven wrong. I’m sure we’ll do it again.”

2022 marks milestone anniversaries for seminal Blue Rodeo albums, including 1987’s debut record Outskirts, which marked the shift for the group from applauded bar band to full on national treasure.

“I think that when we made Outskirts, first of all, we were very pleased to be making a record, but that wasn’t the end all, be all. We weren’t going to be super disappointed because we’d already been disappointed. We’d been a band for seven years at that point, and we were a really successful bar band at that point, and we really enjoyed ourselves playing in The Horseshoe, playing the Big Bop. So making the record was a step, and then it kind of failed at the beginning, but being taken out by the record company and being told you’ve sold 5,000 copies, which made us go wow, 5,000 copies! That’s more than you sell off the stage. But then ‘if you don’t sell more we’re going to drop you,’” Cuddy recalled.

Dealing with hits

 “And then Try comes out and it becomes a hit and that changes our lives. But we’re not aware of how it’s changing our lives. But I look back and I realize that all that we had done in the bars and how we formed ourselves as a band, that was the training period and that was over.”

Returning to St. John’s at Mary Brown’s Centre on Sept. 10th (a rescheduled date from earlier this year), and Cuddy laughs when we jokingly thank the consummate gentleman and national treasure for continuing to include ‘The Rock’ in the band’s touring itinerary.

“It’s one of those things you can feel embarrassed being thanked for. Because we’ve always loved coming to Newfoundland,” Cuddy shares with a smile. 

“We used to come and play Memorial University to play the pub there, and you had to go for two nights and Gary Clark would bring us out and it was a thrill. We got treated just like every other band. We were super abused a couple of times at the beginning and then people liked us and then we got invited to parties and we got our education about St. John’s and Newfoundland in those times,” he said.

“I think just generally for us, we started to tour Canada because that’s what we were offered. We toured the States a lot because that’s what we were offered, but it didn’t open our hearts the way touring in Canada has. There’s few exceptions to this – we really loved everywhere we’ve been and everywhere I’ve been on ‘The Rock’ and have really enjoyed it. I have friends now that have places there from Ontario, which is crazy, right. And it’s a way of life. It’s a type of person and it’s a natural beauty there. So we should be thanking you for being there and for also having such enthusiasm for music.”

For all things Blue Rodeo visit bluerodeo.com. For tickets to see the band with special guest Jenn Grant on Sept. 10th at Mary Brown’s Centre visit mbcentre.ca 

The Provincial Government delighted islanders when they announced they would be bringing Come From Away The Concert and the new musical comedy Tell Tale Harbour to Newfoundland and Labrador as part of the Arts and Culture Centres’ program line up for Come Home 2022.

The Tony and Olivier Award-winning international hit musical Come From Away  returns to the Steele Community Centre in Gander and premiers at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s reuniting  members of the Toronto cast and band along with original Broadway cast member, the province’s own Petrina Bromley. 

Come From Away The Concert will be presented in Gander, from Sept.13-15 and in St. John’s from September 19-20, as marquee events for Come Home 2022.

Later in October, the province’s Arts and Culture Centres’ present Tell Tale Harbour, based on the screenplay, The Grand Seduction. This new musical comedy from the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Prince Edward Island will see its Newfoundland and Labrador debut as another marquee event for Come Home 2022. 

Co-written by and starring the province’s own musical icon Alan Doyle, Tell Tale Harbour also features the talents of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians Jillian Keiley and Edward Riche.

“Exciting things are happening in Newfoundland and Labrador for Come Home 2022. The stage is set for some incredible performances. Along with the impressive performances that will grace the stages of our Arts and Culture Centres province-wide, we are thrilled to be bringing Come From Away The Concert and the Tell Tale Harbour musical home to our province,” said Premier Andrew Furey at the announcement. 

“We are beyond thrilled to bring Come From Away back to its home in Newfoundland this year. When we first performed our show there, it was a life-changing experience for us – and the Come From Away Company – and we are grateful to be invited back with a Canadian cast including several Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, like Petrina Bromley, coming home from Broadway. It means the world to us to share these stories with the community that was so generous with us and has now inspired millions around the globe,” said Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away’s creators. 

The Herald spoke to Bromley who said she was “excited” to be returning to ‘The Rock.’ “The idea of bringing the show home to Newfoundland for people to see is an incredible experience. Sharing that story and seeing that it gets told so that everyone can get a sense of how important it is and how big a moment it was is just magical,” she said.

Bromley’s favourite memories of the show’s run are the performances on home soil, she added. “It was just the most unbelievable experience to be welcomed and embraced into the community and to have that feeling of pure nervous joy. I always say for me it was like bringing your new boyfriend home to meet the family.”

Legendary guitarist and instrumental musician in Canada’s rock culture, Randy Bachman is animated in recounting the story of how he was reunited with his long-lost Gretsch guitar after 45 years.

“A guy emailed us from one of our YouTube (live streams) and said ‘I found your lost Gretsch.’ I’d been searching for it for 45 years.”

The icon behind The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive first bought his 1957 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins, in a gorgeous orange, when he was a 19-year-old upstart in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It would be stolen from a locked hotel room during a BTO performance in Toronto in 1977.

The Gretsch

Decades later, and a fan out of B.C., William Long, used facial recognition technology to track down the exact Gretsch, tracing it all the way to Japan, where it was now in possession of renowned guitarist Takeshi. 

With the help of his daughter-in-law Bachman would contact Takeshi, and over a zoom call would see his treasured instrument for the first time in four and a half decades.

“The guy brings my guitar on the zoom and I can’t breathe. I haven’t seen this guitar for four plus decades. He shows me the guitar and I say ‘that’s my guitar!” He says ‘I’m an honourable guy, I’ll give it back to you’. I said, ‘Well, I’ll give you a brand new Gretsch’, and he says ‘I don’t want a brand new Gretsch.’ ‘Well what do you want?’ ‘I want the same guitar. Can you find its sister?’

Easier said than done, but when you’re Randy Bachman, corners of the musical community are more easily reached. 

Through a vintage guitar dealer in Ohio, Bachman would procure a 1957 Gretsch with only two digits off from the serial number of his original. 

Takeshi, overjoyed, agreed to the trade, but with one caveat. Bachman would have to travel to Japan to collect. 

The swap would take place on Canada Day in the Canadian Embassy at Tokyo’s Oscar Peterson Theatre.

“They won’t let me see him until the day. And I say why not? They said ‘this must be like a wedding. The bride does not see the groom until she walks down the aisle with her father and he goes, Oh, man, is she rockin’ beautiful!’

“So they wanted that first reaction, so I don’t get to see this guy or my guitar. So on Canada Day (Takeshi) goes up and plays a couple of songs,” Bachman recalls, emotionally. “Then he plays Takin’ Care of Business a little bit and he stops. I walk out, meet him on stage. I look at him, he’s got my guitar. I’ve got the twin sister guitar. I get my guitar back. I can’t move, I can’t breathe. I’ve got it. It’s beautiful. He gets the twin sister. We both finished playing Takin’ Care of Business. We’re both in tears. We’re both pretty verklempt. This is like a really incredible moment.”

The entire situation – from the loss, to the long-awaited reclamation – has the noted storyteller nearly lost for words.

“I tried to find the guitar for 40 years and couldn’t. And then the guitar found me,” he shares with a smile.

Lost & Found

The incredible story will be the subject of an independent documentary, with Randy and his son, fellow rock-star success Tal Bachman, set to write songs for the proposed film, Lost and Found, with the famed guitar-god joking that his son contends that his father “lost his magic” when his guitar was stolen in 1977.

“Tal contends that when that guitar was stolen in ‘77, they stole my magic. With that guitar, I learned to play guitar. I learned my vocabulary, so to speak…

“And then every song I wrote and recorded; These Eyes, Laughing, is all on this guitar. So when it was stolen my son said to me, ‘You haven’t had a number one hit since American Woman and You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet. Your magic is gone, but when it gets back!’”

Overcoming COVID-19, whooping cough and double pneumonia in recent years, Bachman, at age 78, is as active now as he was in his heyday between reunion-esque tours alongside Burton Cummings, continued successes in radio (Vinyl Tap anyone?) and perhaps most notably, his father-son tandem Bachman & Bachman.

“We wrote basically a retrospective album as what has happened to me as the father, what’s happened to my son who’s followed kind of in my footsteps in and out of bands and up and down and good manager, bad manager, label signing, label dropping, all that stuff. What we went through with our family, with our domestic divorces, because all rock and roll leads to divorce. 

Bachman & Bachman

“You’re never with your wife or your family all the time. Unfortunately, that’s the big downside of it. And you look at these women you loved and they loved you, but you stopped the love because of the gigantic distance between you physically and in mileage, if you know what I mean, like not being there. And so we wrote what you call an Americana album with very touching lyrics.”

Pillars of our rock n roll history like Bachman continue to reap the rewards of a lifetime of entertaining adoring fans. Catching up with The Herald before his island return at the Churchill Park Music Festival (which he rocked!!!), the architect of American Woman and Let it Ride explained that, in the pandemic era, the world seems primed for a rock renaissance.

“I think the Roaring Twenties are coming back because if you look at the Roaring Twenties a century ago, it was after a war, it was after a pandemic. People were dying from the flu and everything, and they were all restricted. They couldn’t go out. They were all vaccinated. It’s happening again,” Bachman shared, impassioned.

As for the man who more than a few musicians can call mentor, role model and overall inspiration, there’s more than enough gas in the tank for a man who’s still Takin’ Care of Business. “I always said I don’t want people saying, ‘I wonder what he’s doing now?’ I want people saying ‘look at what he’s doing now!’”

For all things Randy Bachman visit randybachman.com. For part one of our interview visit our website at nfldherald.com

The incredibly gifted performer, Owen Mac, returns to Newfoundland with special guest Desi Mac and the Keltic Storm Band. 

Proudly presented by Vaughnco Entertainment, Mac can be seen onstage at Arts and Culture Centre’s in Corner Brook on August 31, in Grand Falls-Windsor on September 1 and in Gander on September 2.  On September 3rd, Mac will be in St. John’s performing at Holy Heart Theatre for his highly anticipated return.  

Friendly & welcoming

During his last visit, Mac performed at both Princess Sheila NaGeira Theatre and at Holy Heart, he recalled.  

“I remember coming back home to Ireland with my family wanting to return (to NL) as the people over there are so friendly and welcoming and it feels very much like Ireland … I can’t wait to perform again in both those venues and more as I return at the end of August,” he said.

At just 19, he has had quite the career. “I remember growing up, I knew that I always wanted to pursue a career in music,” Mac said, recalling that his  first performance in front of a live audience was at 12-years-old.

“Music has always been in my family, so I think that’s how I had such a love for it. My daddy used to sing a lot, and I grew up listening to him perform, so I think music has always been in the house for me.”

The talent comes from many sources, he continued, and he has a few musical inspirations. 

“I have always been influenced by a lot of country and gospel singers and of course singers back here in the Irish country scene. People like Vince Gill and traditional artists like Jim Reeves and Merle Haggard.”

What can fans expect to see when he takes the stage on September 3rd? The best of the best, he shared! 

Performing for fans

“This year I am bringing out my seventh studio album and I can’t wait to share it with everyone,” he said. 

Mac shared that returning to NL means a lot after COVID and he’s excited to visit and perform for fans. 

“I just can’t wait to see everyone while I am back over again and I hope that everyone enjoys the show.”

For tickets and more visit vaughncoentertainment.com, holyhearttheatre.com or the various ACC websites in your region 

Gin Blossoms frontman Robin Wilson has just returned from the road, touring North America alongside Canadian gems Barenaked Ladies. He’s deep in a remodel for his Long Island home, a byproduct of a tragic fire that claimed his property in 2021. 

Through it all he remains upbeat with a pitch-black humour, joking, “The tour was a breeze compared to being at home.

“I enjoy that kind of touring where we’re doing five shows a week. We stay in a bus, we’re playing with other bands on a package tour. It’s where I absolutely am at my happiest and give my best performances. So that’s easy. It’s hard being home and having to go to Home Depot twice a day and, you know, deal with my son and my ex-wife, and have to just deal with being alive at home. The road is much more simple. 

“I only have to know two or three things a day. What time is the meet and greet? What time does the show start? I have some responsibility to be healthy and prepared to give a good performance, but my life is very simple out on tour.”

Wilson’s sitdown with The Herald came in advance of Gin Blossoms’ return to Newfoundland and Labrador for the first time since 2015, when the 90s charttoppers would take the stage at the inaugural Churchill Park Music Festival. 

‘A beautiful community’

Wilson, for his part, expressed enthusiasm to perform alongside fellow rockers Our Lady Peace, also quipping that the island boasts “a beautiful community and a lovely countryside.”

But the much-hyped festival was only the tip of the iceberg for a defining year for the band. 

2022 marked the 30th anniversary of Gin Blossoms breakout album New Miserable Experience, a record that conjurers up bittersweet memories in no small part due to the tragic suicide of founding guitarist Doug Hopkins in 1993.

“Yes, it’s very heavy,” Wilson admits of revisiting their sophomore record, one that spawned the hits Hey Jealously, Until I Fall Away and Found Out About You. “There’s a lot to think about, there’s a great deal to unpack when thinking about New Miserable Experience. Of course, most of it is pride and pride in the band for surviving and for continuing our career, but there are many bittersweet memories associated with recording New Miserable Experience. Losing Doug, and then just the grind of being on tour in the van for two years promoting the record and just never being home and always being on tour in the van and sleeping in the van, driving all night. A very unhealthy lifestyle.”

The push towards platinum status  would be an arduous one for Wilson and co., with the album not becoming an overnight success, but rather a byproduct of grinding from gig to gig.

“We were in that van so much, we were always getting sick. And it just went on for, as I say, like almost two years. And it was rewarding, but it was incredibly hard work,” Wilson recalled. 

“It was a real sacrifice to just be away from home all the time for so long and to be in such discomfort, crammed in the van with everyone all the time. It’s not a lot of fun and it’s a real sacrifice to dedicate yourself to breaking the record. And so when the album did finally break and we had a hit, I feel very justified in saying that we earned it. Not only through the making of the record and the writing of those songs and keeping the band together, but all of the touring and promotion and self-sacrifice. It’s not easy. And I can wrap this up by saying that again mostly what I feel is very proud.”

‘Important as artists’

While the band and their global audience of fans toast three decades of New Miserable Experience, Wilson is adamant that all hands refuse to rest on their laurels, with new music on the horizon.

“I’d like us to make a record sometime in the next few years,” Wilson shared. “I don’t expect it to sell. It’s just not a thing that seems to happen much anymore, record sales. But it’s important as artists to continue to record and write new music, and I look forward to that process. In fact, I’ve already got songs in the can. I’m ready to go as soon as my band mates want to get into it.”

For all things Gin Blossoms related visit the group’s official website at ginblossoms.net

Local musician Ryan Snow, a Harbour Grace native now living in South River, is no stranger around a tune. A longtime member of Sheila’s Brush, Snow has branched out solo with his latest effort Tales from the Lighthouse.

Produced and engineered by Brad Tuck with collaborators Ryan Baker and Ray Legere, Snow’s collection is a proper taste of home perfectly paired with come home year festivities.

We caught up with Snow for an in depth look into the new record for the latest in our album deep dive series.

Sea Legs

This was the first song written for the album. This song was written about an excursion I had with my wife and friends out by Harbour Grace Island trying for some elusive codfish. My friend took us out jigging and the wind picked up after I was whistling. He blamed the wind on my whistling. Nonetheless, the water got choppy and I got feeling a little sick. I had to get brought ashore and then home to lie down. Having ‘Sea Legs’ is a rite of passage for most Newfoundlanders and Labradorean’s, I just didn’t get them. I did finish the song with a better ending than I had, as he became quite proud of the ones that he had grown (unlike myself). 

Tales from the Lighthouse

Modern technology in marine travel is becoming more advanced by the day. The use of lighthouses over the course of time have saved many distressed travelers and fisherman alike. 

This song uses the words “The lighthouse keepers eye’s upon us” referring to the actual light from the lighthouse as a metaphor for the lighthouse keepers watchful eyes.

Audrey’s Adventure

This song came about in a funny way. I was writing music one morning and my little girl, who was six at the time, asked how come I haven’t written a song about her? I told her to grab a scribbler and write down some things she would like to have in her song. 

So in her six-year-old fashion, she had fictional characters like witches and wizards and trolls and dragons, like you would. We created an adventure where she went off in a hot air balloon to see all kinds of magical places to end up finding some unicorns in the sky.

The Storyteller

We all have people in our lives that can captivate us in their stories and keep us hanging on for more. This was inspired by my good friend Jim Pike who’s never stuck for words and my father Wendell Snow who always has a great story to tell. I wrote the song in a type of executive summary style format where two stories are introduced (“Of broken hearts and shattered sails”) and the following verses in the song elaborate on their stories.

Music that Makes Us

This is a tribute to all the great music that has shaped so many of us. I can remember being a kid and my dad would have Irish/Newfoundland music always playing in the kitchen. It has shaped the music I play and the music I love – and now the music I make. The song has a start similar to Simani’s intro in Outport People and takes a turn of its own. In this song there are 29 song references to well-known Irish/Newfoundland folk songs. Some songs are easy to pick out while some others are more difficult. See how many you can able to identify!

Jigs in Full Sail

A great representation of the accordion skills of Ryan Baker. Ryan is from Marystown and has played with the likes of The Ennis Sisters, Natalie MacMaster, and even at Casino Nova Scotia where he performed a tribute to Harry Hibbs. His playing ability is one of the best I’ve ever seen. You can even hear the banjo skills of Brad Tuck following along. Brad’s presence is all over the album with various instruments and vocal harmonies. Brad is a professional multi-instrumentalist and a well-known singer and songwriter. I was fortunate to get introduced to both of these guys and will be forever grateful for their contribution to the album.

Dawn

I had to finish off the album with a sad song I wrote for my aunt that has passed. She was my godmother. She had a lengthy battle with cancer and had it defeated many times. Ultimately, she couldn’t take anymore and succumbed to it. I was asked to play a song at her funeral, but I couldn’t think of a song that would fit, so I wrote this one that evening instead. The day after I had it finished and was prepared to play it, I was informed that I was not allowed to play it in the Catholic Church as it was against their rules. I did play it in the funeral home at her wake and haven’t played it live since then.