For the first time in 12 years, the crown jewel in Canada’s post-hardcore crown, St. Catharines, Ontario’s Alexisonfire, return to Newfoundland and Labrador at the 2022 Iceberg Alley Performance Tent.

‘Keep that vibe’

Comprised of George Pettit, Dallas Green (also of City and Colour), Wade MacNeil, Chris Steele and Jordan Hastings, Alexisonfire is set to drop their first studio album in 13 years, Otherness, on June 24th, their first since a lengthy hiatus beginning in 2011.

“It’s a trip. And especially after being cooped up, not playing a show for two years in that global pandemic,” shared Pettit in a sitdown with The Herald, marveling over the white-hot status of the band, who are headlining festivals across the globe. 

“Your first show back is Lollapalooza in Santiago, Chile. That’s a bit of a head trip. And it has been wild. I don’t know, we’re all very, very excited that we’re still capable of doing that sort of thing. It’s not lost on us how miraculous that is.”

Otherness, Alexisonfire’s first studio album since 2009’s acclaimed Old Crows/Young Cardinals, finds the collective powers of one of the Great White North’s most blistering heavy attractions on full display. And what’s more, they’re having a blast doing it.

“I think part of keeping it going too is keeping it in that fun realm,” Pettit shared. “Like, the reason why this record turned out as good as it did was because there were no real expectations at all. This wasn’t like, ‘okay, we’ve got a month now in between tour cycles, let’s make a record.’ It was like no, ‘let’s just make something because we think we can do it.’ So I think we want to kind of keep that rolling and keep that vibe.”

‘Crazy show’

Reflecting on past excursions to The Rock, and Pettit candidly recounts honest and hilarious observations on the at-times wildness of our wind-swept island, and our party-ready people. One such memory at the 2007 Salmon Festival in Grand Falls bares repeating. 

“That Salmon Festival Show, I remember that,” he grinned. “You get off the flight, you get into a van and then you drive for three hours into the bush and there’s moose running across the street and all the stereotypical Newfoundland sort of things. You’re just like, this is incredible and remarkable. 

“And then all of a sudden the woods kind of open up and there’s a stage there and a group of the drunkest, rowdiest Newfoundlanders that I’ve ever seen in my life just in the middle of nowhere playing a crazy show. So we’ve always had a great time.”

Lets play!

Returning to the island in 2010 and Pettit and co. would jam-pack the Delta Ballroom in St. John’s, the demand for tickets so high it resulted in the crash of the ticketing website.

“Again, we did the whole shebang,” he recalled. “I feel like there was a time, maybe that 2010 show that Alexis played and then Wade and myself and a few other guys, there was like a bar advertising an after party and we went there and we took all the band’s instruments and we played the Black Lungs set. I think that was in Newfoundland.

“It was just like the best. We just showed up. People are so happy and everybody’s having a great time and we just  borrowed everybody’s gear. We’re just like ‘let’s play! We’re playing. All right, here we go!’ I’m very excited to come back.”

For tickets to Alexisonfire at the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent visit icebergalleyconcerts.com. Alexisonfire’s Otherness is available worldwide on June 24th. Visit theonlybandever.com for more information.

 Country music’s JoJo Mason is set to hit the stage at the Mary Brown’s Centre on June 14th along with Dallas Smith, Kelly Prescott and James Barker Band, but what’s on his mind most happens this August: he becomes a dad

Multi-Platinum award winning country star Dallas Smith has announced the details for his long-awaited return to the road with the 2022 Some Things Never Change Tour with James Barker Band and special guest Meghan Patrick plus emerging country artists Shawn Austin, JoJo Mason, Kelly Prescott, and Manny Blu. 

 The Herald caught Jojo Mason minutes before he hit the road for the 8th show on this tour. What are you looking forward to most as you’re getting on that bus? We asked. 

“Finally getting the chance to do something that I love to do. I never thought I would find something that I love as much as I do music. And you really feel that when you go on a two year hiatus, right? From not performing to now getting back on stage, we will never take this for granted again,” he said. 

Is there a song he’s most looking forward to performing?  “You know what? Now that I’m going to be a dad, I always dedicate my song to my son. I used to always dedicate (Better On You) to my beautiful wife. I always love playing Better On You. It’s one of my favourite songs that I’ve ever put out and I’m all about love and good vibes.”

That song, he added, captures his mood. “It especially captures the way that I feel about my lady. So now I love playing that song because not only does it remind me of her now, but also my little baby, too.” 

His son, due August 27, is a gift he never knew he wanted, he added sweetly.  

“You know, it’s funny, because we had no plans on having a baby. And I’m not going to say it was a mistake, but it was a  whoops. And all of a sudden it was almost like something came over me and it was like, ‘I need to be in full dad mode.’ I’ve been planning everything since we found out we were pregnant. I picked out a name and we picked out a theme for the baby’s room. We started decorating before I left. I’m in full dad mode,” he laughed excitedly. 

Jojo’s had an interesting rise to country music. The former hockey player was literally at a party and filled with liquid courage, is how he tells the tale. 

 Will he encourage his son to follow in his footsteps? Will it be hockey practice or music lessons?

 “Both or whatever he wants to do. Honestly. I grew up playing so many different sports. I was so lucky growing up and I know what sports did for me. However, if my little guy wants to grow up and dance, I would support the heck out of that. If you want to grow up and get into science, I’m all, ‘heck, yeah!’ He wouldn’t have to do what Daddy does, you know. I’m just hoping that he’s healthy and he’s happy like his mama, you know?”

We ask about his transition to music from sports. 

 “Singing was not in my cards,” he shared openly.

“It was right place, right time. I ended up getting invited to a Christmas party… and I show up with this jar of moonshine because I went to the liquor store, and that was the coolest thing that I could find.”

He met a producer and, after a few drinks, they started chatting. Besides singing in the shower or in the car, he had never performed, he admitted, but he went for it.

“We had four top tens right out of the gate,” he said.

We ask who his musical influences are. His playlist is a mix-bag, he offered.  “You’d  find some Celine Dion. You’d find Boyz II Men.  You would find Brad Paisley. You would find Chris Stapleton,  Morgan Wallen. You would find Bruno Mars. Usher. I’m all about the old school vibes, the R&B vibes. But I’m also a country boy, too. I’m from Saskatchewan, so, you know, I gotta stay true to it.”  

Any message to Newfoundland fans as they preparing to head to the show? “Just make sure you show up because this is something you do not want to miss.” 

 It’s funny, he added, because he’s seen the show seven tines thus far and he’s still amazed each time.  “Every single time my jaw drops to the floor, I’m blown away. The people on this bill are so talented and I’m just grateful that I get to be a part of it.” 

  Mason, who now calls British Columbia home,  added that’s he’s super excited to be heading to Newfoundland. “We got some time to spend so I’m going to take it all in.” 

For more visit www.jojomasonmusic.com and for show tickets see  mbcentre.ca 

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Tickets are $32 – $53 (including tax and service charge) and will available November 18th at the Holy Heart Theatre box office, by phone at 709-579-4424 and sonicconcerts.com.

Days removed from the impact of Hurricane Larry – one which saw the structure for the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent in Quidi Vidi decimated, the show will indeed go on!

“Thanks to the efforts of the City of St. John’s and St. John’s Sports and Entertainment in collaboration with the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent we are extremely happy to announce performances will be moving to Mile One Centre starting Monday, September 13th,” organizers for the festival shared.

Founding member of the hall of fame Canadian rockers Barenaked Ladies, Ed Robertson is no stranger to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Returning with the band who has produced globe-topping hits One Week, If I Had $1000000, Pinch Me and It’s All Been Done, BNL returns to St. John’s at the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent on September 16th. And if you think 30-plus years of gigging and the grind of the road has trampled the spirits of Robertson and company, you don’t know BNL.

“It’s a huge part of why I still do this thing. I love to play live, and it is a hallmark of the band,” he shared in a one-on-one with The Newfoundland Herald.

“I love to write songs, I love to make records, but I do those things in order to facilitate playing live. That’s where all the joy is for me, is in entertaining a crowd. We’ve only done maybe four or five shows at this point. And what a joy to get back to a live audience once again. So it’s pretty fantastic.”

Fresh off their 16th studio album Detour de Force, and with over three decades worth of chart-topping albums and crossover hits in the notoriously tough-nut-to-crack U.S. market, Robertson admits there is no secret to the bands’ success, nor to their taming of American audiences. Just good music, good people and more than a pinch of good luck.

“Well, if there was a secret, I would tell it to everyone I know and one thing we tried to do is drag our friends down through America with us as an opening act and try to share any of that audience that we can. I think one thing that has befuddled a lot of our peers over the years is thinking that because of our proximity to the United States, that fame in Canada will immediately translate to fame in the US. And what I’ve told so many people over the years, we get America, like we watch all of their news, we watch all of their television shows. We consume everything they put out. The reverse is not true,” he shares.

“As far as the industry is concerned in America, Canada is Portugal or Germany. It’s just a foreign market. And to say to an American label oh this band is huge in Canada, it just carries no weight with them whatsoever. It’s like telling them, oh, this band is huge in Italy. They just think, oh well, what does that have to do with America? So fame in Canada just gets you no free passes in America, and that’s very discouraging for a band that’s extremely famous in Canada. They go south of the border and they can’t get arrested and they go, well, I’m not going back there. 

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I was lucky to see The Hip in a lot of small clubs in America when they were already, you know, deities in Canada and there was no particular reason it didn’t take off the way it did for us. Added to all the hard work and all the talent and all the great songs there has to be a fourth dice roll, which is just blind luck. All of these crazy coincidences have to line up all at the same time in order for you to transition from a bar band or a large club band to anything beyond that. And you know, as hard as we worked, we were also lucky as hell. And that’s as important as the hard work.”

With 2022 marking the 30th anniversary of BNL’s landmark debut album Gordon, there is no shortage of nostalgia to go around. Set-lists, much like that of the bands’ impending NL return, are proverbial greatest hits of fan favourites.

“For me, I’ve been feeling quite nostalgic lately because a lot of those anniversaries have been coming around and I’m getting asked about them a lot. The 25th anniversary of Gordon is behind us. I think of Maroon as like late into our career and it’s 20 years old now. So I’ve been quite nostalgic about all that stuff lately,” Robertson admits. 

“One Week, it was the number one hit all over the world. And some bands would be like, oh, well, whatever. You know, I’m tired of that song. We just keep reinventing it. We played it as a bluegrass song for a couple of years. You have to find your joy in the things that made you successful. When we sit and write that set-list I go, OK well, here’s what we owe to the audience because they’re coming to see us. So this much of the set is for them, and then that carves out a little piece of the set, maybe 30, 40 percent of the set that I feel like, OK, that’s for us. So as long as we give them If I Had $1000000, One Week, Pinch Me and The Big Bang Theory and The Old Apartment, It’s All Been Done, we give them all of those, then we can do whatever the f**k we want.”

For tickets and more information on the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent visit the official event website. Pick up the upcoming September 12-18 issue of The Newfoundland Herald for the remainder of our one-on-one with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies!

“Iceberg Alley Performance Tent Set to Return September 2021! The Iceberg Alley Performance Tent has been working closely with public health officials to ensure a safe and enjoyable event for all,” the event’s social medias shared. We are excited to announce this year’s event will once again take place on the banks of Quidi Vidi in St. John’s from September 8-18, 2021.

RETURN TO THE STAGE

With five multi-platinum albums, over 3.5 million singles sold and over 54 million views on Veevo, Hedley is firmly cemented as  one of Canada’s most successful and adored touring acts. But the four-piece pop rockers still find time to savour the little things – kicking off their tour in Newfoundland chiefly among them.

‘A Second Home for Us’

“Newfoundland’s our favourite, man,” frontman Jacob Hoggard shared with The Herald. “I don’t know if we could kick off a tour in a more ruckus kind of a spot. It’s one of our favourite places to go – we talk about it all the time, and it feels like a second home for us. People there are so incredibly warm and welcoming and that’s a very polite way to say other things I’m thinking.”

Hoggard gained international recognition for his powerhouse run through the second season of Canadian Idol. Post series, Hoggard revamped his old band with an all-new lineup, keeping the Hedley name. One of Canada’s most promising bands came out swinging with their self-titled debut in September of 2005. It was all systems go from there.

“It’s freaky in a way to just look back and be like ‘Man time flies so fast,’ but it’s also just so exciting to know that there’s just as much of a future ahead of us as well,” Hoggard shared.

“We’ve built this band over the last 10 years on a really strong foundation, and because of that I feel really confident knowing what we’re doing to be able to push into these next 10 years with just as much ambition, jut as much passion and just as much excitement. For us, we know how lucky we are, and we know that if we’re not having fun doing this then there’s no point in doing it. Music, at this point, is my life. There might have been a point in the first couple of years when I was starting out where I was like, ‘Well if it works out great and if it doesn’t I’ll figure something else out,’ but now at this point I’m devoted to it. It’s part of who I am now. For me it’s every single day. I go back to that place where I’m grateful and excited to push forward.”

‘A Real Evolution’

The band has gone through many transformations since 2005. Though the lineup remains intact, the group’s sound has varied from alternative, to punk rock, to synth pop and now a more definitive radio-ready pop rock. It’s that artistic freedom and creativity that keeps the band fresh, and audiences lap it up.

“It’s such a cool feeling you get looking back over the years and seeing such a real evolution in the band’s complexion, diversity and even the surroundings and the artists we’re showing up with,” Hoggard said. “I think that speaks how hard the band really works on our devotion to growing and our devotion to evolving and continue to push ourselves. I think as artists, as musicians and as music fans ourselves, it’s just such an important element of the process. No one wants to remain the same and keep playing the same kind of music. It’s probably just a result of my undiagnosed ADHD, but it seems to be working.

‘The Greater the Risk’

“I think a lot of it has to do with honesty, and by that I mean honesty with ourselves and being honest with where we’re at as individuals,” Hoggard adds. “Honestly any music fans know your tastes are going to change as you grow. To be honest with yourself about that music evolution I think is important. Some people can be stuck in a little bit of denial where they only want to be one thing and they only want to have this one element of their identity, musically or otherwise …  I think it’s that honesty that has brought our fans on this life journey with us. It’s our ability to be really transparent and open with our fans about who we are. Even on a personal level that gives them the confidence to go down life’s road, wherever it takes us creatively or musically. It’s that same sense of honesty and transparency that gives you that pure sense of creativity and that drive to continue to push yourself and to be open to experimenting. The more honest you are with yourself the more confident you are to take those chances and to take those risks. Obviously the greater the risk, the greater the reward, but also the greater the risk the greater the failure. There’s always a downside that can be really terrifying. Facing your own self doubt and criticisms is something I’ve always battled with, because I’ve always been willing to put myself in the face of danger and put myself at risk as a creative individual. I think that’s why that struggle is so important, to maintain control of that self doubt and to be able to bet on yourself. I think it’s how we can continue to persevere.”

Hoggard shared that the band will be heading to St. John’s a week early in preparation for the kick off of their Hello Tour, which opens with a pair of billings at Mile One Centre with Carly Rae Jepsen and Francesco Yates. The guys plan to work out the bumps off the set well in advance of showtime, and surely grab a pint or two on George Street along the way.

“I have a secret for you. We’re going to be there about a week ahead of time. We’re starting the tour there but we’re also going to be doing a lot of prep,” Hoggard shared. “I don’t know if I should have given that away, but we’ll be in Newfoundland about a week getting ready for tour and rehearsing at Mile One. It’s one of our favourite places, it’s a real community there. People are always so welcoming and loving and we have such a f***ing hell of a time there.”

‘Our Lucky Stars’

Hoggard and his bandmates in Hedley know how truly blessed they are to have such a loyal fan base, many of which have been with the group since day one. That fact is never lost on the chart-topping hit makers, and they pride themselves on continuing to be as accessible to their loyal fans as possible.

“There’s not a day goes by that we don’t count our lucky stars because we know that as much as we work at this, as much as we push ourselves and pride ourselves on being creative, we couldn’t do f**k all if it wasn’t for our fans, man,” Hoggard shared. “We wouldn’t be able to be where we were, not miles close, if it wasn’t for our fans. I think that’s just so important to recognize on a daily basis. It’s why we give back as much as we can to our fans. It’s why we put on the VIP section, so we can get a little bit closer and give a little bit more of ourselves, because it’s something we’ve always done from the days that we were playing on George Street in small bars. We’d stay after the show and say hi to ever single person in the room until the bar was empty, because we wanted to say thanks for coming …we’re so  lucky to see fans coming back. We recognize them and we’d stand on stage and shout them out by name. That’s a really great feeling.”

Hedley’s Hello Tour hits Mile One Centre April 7-8.

Tickets: mileonecentre.com

When one thinks of Canadian rock legends, there are a small handful of names that come to mind: Rush, The Tragically Hip, April Wine, and of course, Blue Rodeo.

The Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor fronted folk rockers have been at the pinnacle of our music scene for decades, and are showing no rust or signs of slowing down. Founding member Bazil Donovan, who alongside Cuddy and Keelor have been with the group since its inception, caught up with The Herald ahead of the band’s February 27th date in St. John’s, the final stop on their cross-Canada tour.

“It’s kind of amazing. You never really know,” Donovan shared, recounting decades worth of Blue Rodeo memories. “It’s amazing to think that you’re going to spend the rest of your life with these people and one day you’re going to end up together for the next 35-40 years. I think at this stage of the game, at least for the three of us, it would take something pretty serious. It would have to be a health thing or death to make us not do it anymore, because it’s our whole life. Our adult life, anyway.”

Blessing in disguise

The band is no stranger to Canada’s most eastern point. Donovan surmised that Blue Rodeo has played in Newfoundland and Labrador upwards of 30-40 times since 1984. Most recently, the band served as a short notice addition to the George Street Festival after a summer storm canceled their performance at the Confederation Hill Music Festival – a blessing in disguise, according to Donovan.

“Personally I love the George Street Festival,” he said. “I wanted to do the show with Rod Stewart simply because it was Rod Stewart, but when I was told that we’re doing George Street, it was like ‘Oh wow, bonus,’ because that’s the most fun festival to play. It really is.

“For me, going east is the most fun, because that’s where I’m from,” he added. “My mum is from Cape Breton and my dad is from PEI. A lot of my dad’s relatives live in Newfoundland. The whole east coast is kind of rolled up and everyone scattered all over the place. I have a lot of relatives in the middle of Newfoundland. I don’t really know them though, my dad wasn’t really good at maintaining his side of the family.”

‘Beyond being brothers’

32 years as a touring ensemble and Blue Rodeo can count themselves among a rare breed of artists that has stayed united, and relevant, for decades. That unity has much to do with the polished on-stage performance fans receive night in and night out.

“When you’re in a band that long with somebody it’s kind of true – you spend so much time and get to know them so well,” Donovan shared. “It’s even beyond being brothers. It’s one of those things that you can’t really explain. Not a lot of people get that in their adult life where they become so close to other people. They’re interlocked forever. That’s kind of how we feel. We don’t hang out as friends or anything like that because we’ve just had so much of each other, but we just have a really strong bond. I have a brother, and I see a lot more of them than I do of my brother.

“In years past, when we were touring the States, we’d be gone for a whole year sometimes,’ he recalled. “You’re on a bus living right beside the person, literally a foot away. It’s pretty intense.”

Grinding tours

Those grinding tours are made possible thanks largely to the devoted fan base who continue to turn out in droves whenever Blue Rodeo comes to town. It’s a reality that is not lost on Donovan and his bandmates.

“It continually blows my mind,” he said. “The fact that we keep going back to the same places and playing and we see the same faces and they’re just joyed that we’re there … you think wow, that’s loyal. It’s really fantastic and something I couldn’t imagine.

“When you record something people hear it on the radio and on their stereos or in the car and they get it turned down a bit. But when you get the full impact of a band playing it live and in the moment it’s strong and it’s good,” Donovan added. “There’s nothing like it. There’s nothing like a really good band on a good night, a live band. I think that we have that. We pride ourselves in that, kind of being a good live band, going out and giving it every night.”

Blue Rodeo will be treating fans to a taste of things to come on February 27th, adding upwards to five new tracks to the setlist. Donovan shared that the band is ‘good to go’ on a new album, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2013 release In Our Nature.

“We’re pretty much ready to go on a new album,” he shared. “There will be more songs come, but we have enough to do it now. If we had to do it tomorrow we would be OK. Between now and then, there will be more songs come into the fold. Already we have the makings of a record.

‘Road Worth’

“When you’re in a band with two songwriters like Jim and Greg, you can’t really stop those guys from writing songs. It’s just what they do,” Donovan added in closing. “We’re always willing to give it another shot. If it comes out where people love the old stuff, that’s great too. People want to hear that and I understand, but they can take a half hour out of a two hour set and listen to four or five new songs that they haven’t heard before. We’re getting those songs road worthy. It’s nice to go into the studio and to have already played the songs in-front of an audience. I think this audience allows us that, because they’re kind of open to it.”

Tickets for Blue Rodeo are available at mileonecentre.com and at the box office.