East Coast Music Week was celebrating it's 25th year in Halifax this past weekend with musical entertainment galore! Thankfully
Noisography were at quite a few of the shows taking video, many of the live performances on this post are from their YouTube channel. I spent my time getting to as many shows as I could, checking out my east coast favs & making new discoveries. There was a lot to see, so I'd say the highlights were Billie Dre & The Poor Boys, Carmen Townsend & The Motorleague playing on stage together and unintentionally seeing Slowcoaster 4 times, which were all fantastic. Here's my run down of ECMW 25:
The festival started on Wednesday & though I couldn't make it out to the first show, I did have
Billie Dre & The Poor Boys drop by the radio station for an interview on Live Underground. 3 very ridiculous gentlemen, that play doomy surf rock n' roll, but we had some laughs.
If you missed them they'll be at Gus' Pub for St. Paddy's Day March 17, don't miss it, they put on a great rockin' set! Here's a video they made the last time they played Gus'.
On Thursday I started the entertainment off at Grand Parade for a free outdoor show, which seemed like a good idea until I realized it's still winter in Halifax. But great performances nonetheless from
Heather Green, who had a wicked soulful pop sound &
Jenn Grant giving a great set despite some random heckler when she mentioned she went to NSCAD near by.
Next it was on to Casino NS to check out NSCC Alumni from the Music Arts program showcase what their book learnin' did for them! That program has produced some very talented & promising up coming bands/artists like
Jessie Brown,
This Ship,
The Lucy Gray's,
Patrick Healy's Lazarus Project,
Steady Hills &
Old Blood. Here's some video highlights:
Jessie Brown
The Lucy Gray's
It was now time to make a triumphant return to the Marquee, which had reopened for ECMW. It was the Cape Breton stage so naturally it was a party!
Slowcoaster were on stage, I don't know if it was party rock jams or the tassels on frontman Steven MacDougall's jacket, but there were some ladies undergarments spotted near the front of the stage..... well done, gentleman!
Friday had the least amount of jumping around, spent much of it at Michael's Bar & Grill where there may or may not have been a party bus out back for all the bands thanks to JJ Bookings.
The Town Heroes were great, awesome energy, the crowd was loving it. And a guitar covered in duct tape not only looks badass, but sounds it too.
The Stogies and Billie Dre & The Poor Boys made sure the rock n' roll antics didn't stay on the party bus as the place was packed with hungry music fans. Naturally, Billie Dre's bassist Corey lost his shirt as he got "wrapped up in the rock n' roll."
Saturday of ECMW is that point where everybody is starting to get a little burnt out but there's a lot left to take in so you knock a couple back & get at 'er! There were some greasy 1pm breakfasts & car retrivals to be done before going to the Delta Halifax where
Spincount had a free showcase in the lobby. Since it was in the afternoon & a few may still be recovering from the night before in PJ's,
Dave Gunning had to sport his on stage!
Just as we were all feeling the late night/lack of sleep,
The Backyard Devils took stage & got a country stomping good time going!
When nightfall arrived it was time for the Rock Stage at Casino NS. Carmen Townsend always puts on a hell of a show but she was in fine form & killing it that night.
Carmen usually does a very cool cover of the Beastie Boys "Sabotage" this time she got some help from
The Motorleague's Don Levandier before she joined them during their set for for an ode to Cape Breton.
Though every late night had turned into a morning sunrise, I made it out once more on Sunday to see the Awards Gala after party where I caught Matthew Hornell. Nice on the head to check out some folkier music after a few days of hitting up the rock shows.
ECMW was an absolutely fantastic weekend filled with amazing East Coast music, but there was a mystery phone number that Christina Fitzgerald & I delt with on Monday's radio show...
And that was all the fun we found at ECMW 2013. There's a great scene on Canada's East Coast, make sure you support it!
