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

The first ever Peace Dot Love music festival took place during NXNE at the Koolhaus. It was a musical tribute to Dylan Ellis and Oliver Martin who were gunned down in a parked car in June 2008, a horrible crime that has yet to be solved. The fest was put on by 102.1 the Edge, D.O. It! (an organization formed to raise funds for youth violence prevention groups), LOVE and Peacebuilders International in partnership with NXNE (as well as some other sponsors, including iheartthemusic).

It began with DJ duo TMDP. Despite their early start time they had the crowd that was there grooving to their tunes. It wasn’t a large crowd, but that didn’t seem to affect the tunes coming off the turntables as these consummate professionals performed with the same energy as when iheartthemusic witnessed them spin to an at-capacity Circa crew. (If you missed them you can see them at the TIME Festival at Sound Academy on July 25.)

Stereos were met with a plethora of pre-pubescent screams from the throngs of teenyboppers who rushed the stage. Personally I thought it sounded like watered down radio dribble with too much auto-tune. However, I also think the latest album from Black Eyed Peas had too much auto-tune and Stereo’s song “Summer Girl” was number one on iTunes so they mustn’t be doing much wrong (but I’d be hard pressed to pick out what they were doing exceptionally right). In any case, the PG-13 prepubescent portion of the Koolhaus seemed to dig it as they screamed and sang along to every song, including “She Only Likes Me When I’m Drunk” (love the title). Perhaps it’s just a matter of taste… or lack thereof.

Feeling Stereo-ed out, I popped through the rabbit hole into the side room where I discovered a polar bear playing bass, an Elton John-looking lead singer and a percussion apparatus that resembled a mix between Dick Van Dyke’s instrumental outfit in Mary Poppins and a medieval torture contraption. The band sounded like a lot of fun… unfortunately no one was able to tell me who they were (if you’re reading this and you know the answer, let us know).

True to form Down With Webster gave a high-octane performance. This large ensemble band is an amalgamation of high energy electro with large doses of rap and rock. One of the highlights was the when the drummer had a fun video game soundtrack solo (the low light was when one of the silly members threw beer on our photographer, not cool dude!). Even when they experienced some technical difficulties they kept the crowd entertained by busting out a freestyle. And they were entertaining, I even spotted some parents grooving to their tunes.

Simultaneously We Are the Take had a work out on the stage next door. These boys played so hard they were quite literally dripping with sweat. The passion in playing engaged the crowd who seemed fully immersed (or should I say “taken in”) by the band. These guys always put on a good show and are clearly garnering a devout fan following.

Dragonette was nothing less than awesome. iheartthemusic had the pleasure of speaking to the husband and wife team before the show and learned that they were truly there to support the cause, which they spoke very well of [stay tuned for that interview, we talked music, fashion and spilling sauce on sneakers in Japan... apparently a no-no as it takes a while for the smell to go away]. Their performance was dynamic and a highlight for many of the festival goers. One word: awesome!

Closing out the night was USS (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker). Phew, if you weren’t tired already you would have been by just watching these two guys fly around stage, doing handstands and bouncing with the crowd. Lots of energy and a wonderful way to end a wonderful festival. With so many great performances I look forward to see how they top this next year.

Written by Emer Schlosser

Photography by Carl Heindl

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

Cancer Bats need no introduction. Originating in 2004 with Liam (vocals) and Scott (guitar), these guys have since toured all over the world, shared the stage with the likes of Alexisonfire  and even won some awards in between. Their debut album, Birthing the Giant, was met with huge acclaim and now with the release of their second album, Hail Destroyer, there appears to be no stopping these guys! iheartthemusic caught up with Liam while he was in Toronto for the Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour and asked him how he felt about being the only Canadian band on the tour.

iheartthemusic: So how’s the tour going so far?

Liam: I really just want it to be over. I mean, we played two and a half months of tour and we finally get to our hometown only to have to leave the next morning? Boo! Although, Montreal is going to rip! The last time we played there it was crazy.

iheartthemusic: Really? A good fan base there then?

Liam: Montreal is a tough city. We started the band when I was living there, actually. Originally the band wasn’t supposed to be full time at all because Scott was playing in another band and I was obviously living in Montreal, so we thought that there was no way that we were going to make it happen. Then the band started to do really well, so I was taking the bus and the train to Toronto every weekend. The good thing was that it didn’t deteriorate my pocketbook since Scott was working for VIA at the time, but it did deteriorate my relationship. In the end my girlfriend broke up with me because she hated the fact that my band was so important to me. Fast forward to now, and my band rules and I have a girlfriend who is amazing!

iheartthemusic:  Well it sucks to be the ex-girlfriend then! Being the only Canadian boys on this tour, what was the response like in the U.S.?

Liam: There were definitely a lot of kids who had never heard of us before, or maybe just listened to our MySpace, so in a way we took on every night trying to impress people and really put the word out.

iheartthemusic: When you returned to Canada it must have felt like a huge homecoming then?

Liam: It was so wicked because we were getting hometown response in every city, so for us it was really nice to even just show the other dudes on the tour that our band is worth something. We also did a bunch of off-dates too, like Thunder Bay a few nights ago, that weren’t part of the tour. So for those dudes to see us in the smaller towns and still have a good following, I’m just like, “ya, we own Canada”. It’s wicked because it makes all that hard work that we put into it worthwhile so I’m stoked.

iheartthemusic: Having toured quite a bit, what place has surprised you the most?

Liam: I will say that the craziest thing that happened was on our last tour, we went to Helsinki, which we had never been to. You have to take a 10 hour ferry to get there and we show up and it ended up being the best show of our tour.

iheartthemusic: Why was that?

Liam: Kids knew the words to the songs and were super psyched that we were playing and didn’t even care about the headliner. They bought tons of merch too, so all over the place it was a great show.

iheartthemusic: How did you decide on your style of music?

Liam: When we were starting the band we were really into a lot of rock, hardcore stuff. So there were a lot of bands that were doing this kind of thing at the time. It wasn’t like I wanted to copy those bands, but I was getting really excited about that style. We were seeing all these bands doing the hardcore thing, but none of it was done in a way that we wanted to have it. So we had all these ideas for our band to begin with and then we started jamming and it worked and it went from there.

iheartthemusic: You have mentioned before that from your first album to the one you recently released, you have matured a lot. Care to elaborate on that?

Liam: I think from touring so much everyone had really stepped up their game. Also, the fact that we were playing with so many amazing bands and were looking at these dudes thinking that we wanted to play just as good as or better then that. I mean, all across the board, Mikey, Scott and I had that same vibe without even talking about it. I wanted to step up with my vocals, not only just singing, but writing-wise too. So all of us were super excited to prove what we could really do it, which I don’t think we had done with the first album.

iheartthemusic: Well, the first record definitely garnered a lot of attention and you ended up winning two awards: one at the Indies and another at the MMVAs!

Liam: That’s the thing. I don’t discredit that album at all. I think there are some really great songs on it and am psyched on how it turned out, but I think if we were to rerecord that record now I would probably be a lot happier with how it sounds. I know that there were parts on that record where I couldn’t yell as loud as I wanted to or even when we got George [Alexisonfire] to come in and do “Pneumonia Hawk” he blew me away! So he dominated and I was just like, “fuck me, really dude”. I love him and was so psyched and if anything that really made me want to step up even to the point where we are finishing our record and I already want to get better. I’m stoked now because I feel like I can hold my own as singer against those dudes.

iheartthemusic: So was there any reasoning behind getting all these guest spots on your album?

Liam: They had been such a big part of our band. Obviously the Alexisonfire guys have helped us out so much in terms of where we are now by just always throwing us a bone. They took us on tour for three months when Birthing the Giant came out. At the same time you want to have your friends come along and be a part of it because you are excited.

iheartthemusic: Do you feel that there is a sense of community amongst bands?

Liam: I would in Southern Ontario for sure, but also more so in Canada in general. There aren’t a lot of full-time bands in Canada so everyone wants to help each other out as much as possible. It’s tough everywhere right now. I mean, we benefited from the help we got from other people so we want to help out the friends that are doing the same thing or want to be a serious band.

iheartthemusic: With this  new record Hail Destroyer, you mention that you were writing about a lot of personal things, so did that make it easier for you to write?

Liam: To realize that when you write something intensely personal how much other people realate to it is incredible. So many people have come up to me and been like, “that song ‘Regret’ means so much to me”. That’s a really intensely personal experience that I had, so the fact that all these other people had a similar thing is cool.

iheartthemusic: There seems to be a lot of death associations in the lyrics and song titles, is this indicative of the style of music you play?

Liam: I think there is going to be a lot of darker aspects and that is something that I am definitely stoked on. Thinking about it, I wonder if that is something that always goes along with it. Like look at the fact that a lot of punk rock kids skateboard, it’s just like something that happens to go along with it. I think that that’s just a part of the genre that you just classically write about without getting cliché or hung up on it. I do realize that I’m guilty of it as well.

iheartthemusic: So what’s up next for you guys?

Liam: We are going to write our new record this summer because, basically, once we get finished touring we are going to come home and write it for the next few months and put it out sooner than later and then keep touring.

photography provided by Patrick Moore