I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

We first stumbled upon the Toronto seven-piece band The O’Darling when they opened for Hey Ocean! back in November. We chatted outside for a bit and then they handed us their album. Now, we get a ton of albums sent to us daily and, unfortunately, this one was added to that pile. I say unfortunately because for the past four days this album has been on constant rotation in the office.

This is the second album by the Toronto group which is actually impressive considering they only formed in 2008. Their first album, or EP rather, was titled A Nice EP and was given some great feedback on the blogosphere. With the recent release of their self-titled album, The O’Darling have stepped up their game and given us a record that is part jazz, part pop and 100% enjoyable. The album opens with “Venture Song” a tune with a rather long instrumental intro accented by the glockenspiel (apparently it’s hip now!) and sung by Jennah Barry. Her voice is what caught my attention at first as it is well beyond her years because it reminded me of songstresses from the forties and fifties but with a modern twist; completely soothing to the ear. The album then dips into “La Prairie” which holds the same slow, steady tempo as the previous song however is sung completely in French. The switch-up in language may be due to the fact that half the band are francophones or it could be an homage to our bilingual country; either way THIS Anglophone thoroughly enjoyed it.

Another added treat was the addition of a plethora of unusual instruments. They have the glockenspiel, the banjo, the omnichord and the flugelhorn. Although we hadn’t heard of the last two, whatever noise they made worked as was heard on “City Part 1″. Another interesting feature of this band is that they have three, yes THREE lead vocalists who are all female. This may be a bit off putting for a listener since it can create a sense of inconsistency, however the band have done a great job of somehow finding three ladies who each sound similar and yet maintain their individuality creating a sound and experience that is consistent. If this is any indication of what their live show is like, we are in for a treat. Overall a fabulous first record for a band that is still young and emerging on the scene. If you like jazz or pop music, then you will love The O’Darling; a hybrid of the two that is simply “darling”!

Memorable tracks: “La Prairie” & “Montreal”

Not-so-memorable tracks: “Fire, Fire”

The O’Darling play the El Mocambo this Saturday, December 12th with Miss Emily Brown.

Reviewed by Kimberlee McCormack

Harley Davidson is not a name that you would normally associate with music, however on May 6^th they hosted the “Precious Metal” event that saw iheartthemusic and plenty of other Toronto celebrities out in full force. This event, which took place at the Liberty Grand in downtown Toronto, featured massages, manicures, food, alcohol, half-naked male models and, of course, music! The live performance of the evening was singer Jill Barber. Jill garnered acclaim in 2008 with a double-Juno nomination and multiple East Coast Music Award wins. Having lived all over Canada, following her heart along the way, she has still managed to stay grounded. iheartthemusic spoke with Jill before the “precious” evening about love, music and that other famous sibling…

iheartthemusic: So you are playing at a Harley Davidson event, do you ride a motorcycle yourself?

Jill: I’m a big rider! [laughs] I’ve been on the back of one before and it was the one and only time in my life. [But] perhaps my mind will be changed…

iheartthemusic: You were born in Ontario, but then you moved out East. Why the move?

Jill: I made the spontaneous decision to move out East for love. It wasn’t the last time I’ve done it because I’m now living in Vancouver and moved here for love again.

iheartthemusic: I can relate, I once moved overseas for love! [laughs] So you have scoured the country in a lot of ways, what’s been your favourite spot to live thus far?

Jill: I honestly feel at home in all these different places. Toronto is the home that I was given, and then when I moved out to Halifax it was sort of my chosen home for a while and it is also where I built my career. That’s why a lot of people associate me with the East coast. I got all my support from the people out East so that when I go back there it’s almost like a hometown show. Now I’m sort of doing the same thing on the opposite coast and creating a home for myself there. I love, love, love Halifax, but I sort of felt like I was ready to open a new chapter in my life, plus I love the ocean and so living on the coast is great. I have this pan-Canadian experience now, having lived in these different regions of the country. People definitely try and associate artists with a place and I’m working really hard to become Canada’s sweetheart!

iheartthemusic: In terms of writing, I heard you draw a lot of your writing from personal experiences, do you think that your surroundings and where you were living affected your writing ?

Jill: I’m definitely informed by my surroundings, but at the end of the day I draw most of my inspiration from going inside of me. I don’t think it’s changed my writing style, but as my life changes and evolves, my music changes and evolves. That’s an important part of the process. I find that as a writer, a change of scenery offers a new perspective and gives me a shot of creativity.

iheartthemusic: So what has been the biggest change in your sound and your writing style from your first album to now?

Jill: My last record called For All Time was definitely a folkier, rootsier sound and with this new record Chances we’ve definitely taken it into a slightly more sophisticated, jazzy, classic sound. I don’t think so much that my song writing has changed, but that we made a really decisive decision in the production phase. The one common thread amongst all my songs that people have always remarked, is that they sound like they could be old or my voice sounds like it could be old or even timeless. I heard that a bunch of times and I really don’t know why I have a passion for writing songs that sound like they are from the forty’s or fifty’s because I’m a pretty modern woman.

iheartthemusic: Do you find it hard to promote your genre of music?

Jill: I don’t know. The people that are my fans and my audience are an amazing cross-section of people of all ages. I do think that I have sort of found an audience for it and actually a really wide audience. It’s not a mainstream audience, but there are a lot of people out there looking for alternatives to the mainstream.

iheartthemusic: You aren’t the only musician in the family! Your brother Matthew has garnered some success as well. I read that the musical drive didn’t come from your parents, so do you have any idea where this urge to become musicians came from?

Jill: I cannot account for Matt’s talent, but I can account for mine. I essentially followed in his footsteps. Growing up, I’ve always looked up to him and the reason I got into music was because my brother was into music and I was into whatever he was into as a young girl. So it was definitely him that inspired me and he also encouraged me to pick up his guitar and teach myself to play. When I was fourteen and fifteen, there weren’t that many women role models so it was really great to have an older brother to really encourage me.

iheartthemusic: I think the music industry has changed a lot with respect to women in the industry, but did you find it hard to break into?

Jill: It was hard to break into the industry definitely, I don’t know if that was because I was female or not. I mean it’s hard for everybody and I think it actually helped me. Now I feel like young  female singer/songwriters have a lot more competition. At the time when I started, I didn’t have a lot of female peers doing it, so I’ve always embraced my femininity with my music. I think that what I do is different than what male singer/songwriters do and that’s something to embrace as opposed to fight.

iheartthemusic: What was the most memorable moment for you in your career so far?

Jill: I’ve had a lot of great stand out moments, but in terms of relishing a moment, the most magical evening of my career was getting to perform backed by the Symphony Nova Scotia. It was absolutely astounding having the feeling of being up there with the power of an orchestra; it was just magical for me and I felt like I was walking on clouds. It was a dream that I had had for a long time and when it came to fruition it was almost more than I could handle. I managed to hold it together and really enjoy the experience of it and had all my friends and family there. I imagine its what people feel like on their wedding night.

iheartthemusic: Do you still get anxious before a show?

Jill: I always get a little nervous and I always get excited. There is nothing I love more than performing because of the energy and exchange; I mean there isn’t anything better than live music. That was definitely what made me fall in love with music; getting the chance to see the live experience. It’s the collective experience with strangers and doing what I most love to do-which is sing and perform. I just love it! It has never become routine for me.

iheartthemusic: Any embarrassing stage moments?

Jill: The most embarrassing moment of my life happened on stage actually. I was playing in this beautiful theatre called The Grand Theatre in Calgary when I was on tour with Ron Sexsmith. It was just myself, my producer and my guitar player and on that tour we were singing out in the audience a lot. It was always really nice and they would sing along and it was a beautiful way to end the show. Since the show was in Calgary, I thought it would be appropriate to wear my cowboy boots. I wasn’t used to walking around in them and then I decided it would be a good idea to walk backwards up the stairs to get back on stage. The only good thing that I can say about this is that my timing was impeccable, however in that process of walking backwards I guess I stepped on my knee and dislocated it. My kneecap popped out and then back in and I literally buckled. I was holding my guitar and didn’t have time to put my hands down and so fell on my ass and my guitar hit the ground and rang out throughout the theatre. As I remember it, every single person stood up in their seats and collectively gasped!

iheartthemusic: Oh my god! Did you cry?

Jill: I actually just made it back down the stairs and made it backstage and burst into tears. I ended up being in a brace for a couple of months after that too! That was nothing compared to the utter humiliation of falling in front of all those people!

See even celebrities have really embarrassing moments! Jill will be participating in a plethora of music festivals this summer including Montreal Jazz Festival, Winnipeg Jazz Festival, Edmonton Folk Festival and a little festival in London, Ontario called the Home County Festival. Be sure to drive by and see her when she is in your town!

photography provided by April Day 

With two Juno nods under their belt, the guys from The Midway State have little to complain about these days. Having already toured with the likes of Shiny Toy Guns and others, including tours in both the US and Europe, it appears that there is no stopping them. They released their debut full length album Holes in July of last year and have been touring and promoting since (and getting amazing feedback in the process). They are currently on a cross-Canada tour with rock group The Envy, however as lead singer and all around great guy Nathan Ferraro told us, home is where the heart is and that home is right here in Toronto.

iheartthemusic: You have an interesting dynamic with your band because yourself and Daenen (drums) were best friends before the band started, and Mike K. and Mike W. were best friends as well, that must have made it easier to become a unit.

Nathan: It’s like a double date!

iheartthemusic: [laughs] You moved from Collingwood to Toronto to pursue music exclusively, was that a tough choice to make?

Nathan: Right out of high school a producer named Gavin Brown called me up and he said, “Nathan I got a demo of yours and I like what you are doing and I really want to work with you.” I was very excited and as soon as I graduated I canceled my plans to go to university and moved down to Toronto and started living with a friend of mine and working with Gavin.  We found Mike and Mike after that and it went from there.

iheartthemusic: How did Gavin Brown get your demo to begin with?

Nathan: A guy who is here tonight actually, who is the heart of our band named Jason Kimelman saw me and Daenen play in a bar when we were 17 in Toronto and just kept in touch with us. He had mutual friends and knew Gavin Brown and gave our demo to him.

iheartthemusic: That is pretty much fate right there!

Nathan: Exactly, and Jason went from discovering us to letting me move in with him and his fiancée when I moved out here. He also fed me and took care of me. He is a pretty amazing guy.

iheartthemusic: That’s so awesome! Well he must have seen the talent that still exists today as you were recently nominated for a Juno for your songwriting. You mentioned in an earlier interview that one of your dreams was to be recognized for your writing, so how did it feel to finally have that dream come true?

Nathan: It was absolutely insane! We were about to get on a plane and Daenen called me and he was really excited and told me. It was one of those things that actually meant something because since I’ve been 14 I’ve dreamed of being there for that award, so it was cool.

iheartthemusic: Your lyrics seem to be very love oriented. Do you draw from personal experience when you are writing?

Nathan: I’ve definitely been through my share of things but I just think that there is so much good in love and romance. It’s something that is so inspiring for me and I think really just rules everything. I want to tell people that it’s going to be OK – whether you are 10 or f40 or 50, whatever is going on in your life I want people to listen or come to our show and get filled up with that feeling that everything is going to be OK. That inspires me a lot, and so that’s what I like to write about.

iheartthemusic: This is your second tour with The Envy, what made you want to tour with them again?

Nathan: Shaun, the lead singer, is a great friend of mine now because we can relate on so many levels. I wrote a bunch of songs on their new record so we spent a lot of time together during that period. They are just an amazing band and amazing guys so we love to have them around.

iheartthemusic: How was it working with Stevo from Sum41 on your video for “Change For You”?

Nathan: Steve’s great! I grew up knowing him as the funny character from Sum41, but working with him you find out that he is very serious, very professional and very creative and artistic. It just meshed very well.

iheartthemusic: How did you come up with the concept for that video?

Nathan: Well, we didn’t have a lot of money to shoot the video so we had to come up with something that didn’t involve a lot of different settings. We still wanted something to move, so we thought wouldn’t it be amazing if we could make it look like magic where when you zoom in everything changes behind me, and when you zoom back out I’m in a different place. With music and videos it’s more about the feeling, the colours, and the vibe of it, that’s what you’re trying to get across. With music videos I want people to see what they are feeling, so it has a lot to do with the cinematography and the colouring and stuff like that.

iheartthemusic: Speaking of colours, I read somewhere that you hear colours and see music?

Nathan: It’s a thing called synesthesia. Whether it’s like a car engine or water running or one of our songs, I’ve always felt like my brain connects the sound to a colour. I’ve always kind of done that and I don’t know why. I would always talk to Daenen about it and he would be like, “oh cool, whatever”. None of us knew what it was and then one day Daenen heard of it and learned about it from his family doctor or something and was like, “oh my god Nate has that”, and we looked it up.

iheartthemusic: That’s amazing! I have two siblings and sometimes have a hard time with them, so I can’t imagine having eight siblings like you! Are any of them musically inclined as well?

Nathan: Yeah I have two little brothers, Dominic and Christian, and they are both incredible songwriters.

iheartthemusic: Well your parents must be very proud to have three songwriters in the family!

Nathan: I hope so!

iheartthemusic: You have been able to share the stage with some heavy hitters in the industry, who has been your favourite and why?

Nathan: I really like Jason from Lifehouse, we got along really well and now we are just good friends. He was a great guy to look up to and I learned a lot from him. Mika taught me a lot as well. He had a lot of really great advice. You can’t really get better advice than from the singers of other bands; they are the ones who know what it is like. Record labels and managers can give you ideas of what they think you need to do, but really it has to come from within. The only other people who know that are singers.

iheartthemusic: Favourite spot that you have toured?

Nathan: I love the countryside of France.

iheartthemusic: What was the response like there?

Nathan: Awesome! Our record is coming out in Europe in the next few months, in the summer or something, so I am really excited to get back there and get to those people again.

iheartthemusic: Are you aspiring to tour anywhere you haven’t been yet?

Nathan: I would love to go to Australia, I’ve never been there. Asia as well. I enjoy touring the American South a lot. I think it’s a great culture, I love the people down there because the people have really big hearts so I enjoy it a lot.

iheartthemusic: How about in Canada?

Nathan: I’m bias but I love Toronto. I’m always so happy to come home, I love this city.

iheartthemusic: Where in Toronto have you played that you loved?

Nathan: We played a show at Tattoo recently which was fun. I love The Phoenix and Koolhaus was cool, but mostly because I grew up going to shows there. I saw all my favourite bands play there so being on that stage is weird.

iheartthemusic: Favourite venue in Toronto to go see a show?

Nathan: I actually love this venue [Mod Club]. Have you ever heard of Jeremy Fisher?

iheartthemusic: No I haven’t.

Nathan: I came here a few weeks ago to see him and it always sounds amazing and is just small enough to feel connected. I don’t really like to go and see bands at places like the ACC, although I love bands like Coldplay and Kings of Leon where you have to go there for that.

iheartthemusic: What’s up next for you?

Nathan: The European release and then touring there. Whenever we are not on the road we are working on new songs just because we have a bit of time  so when the second record comes we aren’t scrambling.

iheartthemusic: You did some reporting for CHARTattack, so having been on both sides of the interview, is there anything that you wish you could ask yourself?

Nathan: I always just tried to keep the questions honest and asked what I wanted to know. Like when I was interviewing Simple Plan, I was thinking about when that song “Your Love Is A Lie” came on the radio because I remember thinking it was so catchy and different for them; I was always wondering what inspired that, so when I was interviewing them I asked them about that.

iheartthemusic: So there is nothing that you want to be asked?

Nathan: I don’t want to be asked about my hair, for one thing.

iheartthemusic: Well there goes my next question… I’m just kidding!

photography provided by Matt Vardy

« Older Entries

Newer Entries »