Slowcity.ca Open Mic: The Gertrudes, Sarah Hiltz, Busty and the Bass + Cadence Weapon, Scott Hardware, Skeggs, The Night Owls, Harrow Fair, and Wet Leg

Will McGuirk February 3, 2022

By Will McGuirk

"... The Gertrudes' "Boys' Town" music video reflects on the 1969 documentary "Dear Landlord", Directed by Dennis Crossfield and featuring nationally renowned activist Joan Kuyek, who analyse Kingston's housing crisis at that time. Unfortunately, not much has changed. Kingston's housing continues to be in short supply — historically, the city has had some of the lowest vacancy rates in the province." - Greg Tilson

“We are all human beings meant to experience the breadth of human emotion, including anger. That doesn’t have to be negative or even divisive. It’s true it might be uncomfortable, but discomfort and danger are not the same thing." - Sarah Hiltz

"finding a way to allow yourself to truly relax and disconnect in the age of the notification." - Cadence Weapon

“The night I wrote it, I was in a mad rush against my own urge to self-censor, the lyrics bare no mystery or even much poetry. More than that, they're honest in a way that STILL makes me uncomfortable. Being able to get them out before I could stifle this loud and proclamation of love was a big deal for me as a songwriter and as a person." - Scott Hardware

"I think I wrote it a while ago, being in a mood where it's epic to try and ride out your ambitions and try and always look back when you kook it at life, and say I will try to be better, be a better friend, better partner, get better at getting better,” - Ben Reed, Skeggs

“We like to play music at night. The only thing that matters is each other, because in those times we feel like there’s only the two of us in the universe.” - the Night Owls

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Jaunt, Braids, Midnight Vesta, Forces, Scott Goodwin, Harrow Fair, Nation of Language and the Lovely Eggs

Will McGuirk March 27, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Its become quickly about those who are making art for art’s sake. The infrastructure around delivering music live was breaking, it may be broken forever now. But like the murmuring of starlings the fragments may coalesce into “something familiar” and it may be the artists themselves who figure this out, the makers not the managers. Dig in. think, wash your hands.

“The song is an optimistic ballad about what it means to be present. We hope it can spark a bit of joy and encouragement for those who listen in these strange times that we are collectively experiencing. In a way, the song feels mysteriously prescient for the moment. Hope everyone is staying safe, connecting with their loved ones, and keeping their head up.” - Jaunt

“‘Snow Angel’ was written in the immediate wake of the 2016 US election, as our collective conscience took a sharp inhale. It’s a diary entry of sorts – a snapshot of the mind grappling with our era’s endless barrage of content and destruction, continents away and close to home. *This* moment, with our world in the midst of a pandemic, is admittedly a new context. But I can’t help but sense the song speaks to feelings many of us are experiencing – uncertainty, angst and a desperate desire to make sense of it all. - Braids

“The only way for time to be wasted on lost love is to refuse to examine it and learn something about yourself. “I’ll Have Another” is a coming of age story, showing the growth that comes from owning your mistakes.” - Midnight Vesta

"‘September Again’ is about struggling with the feeling that with each passing year you're only becoming a worse version of yourself—less capable of wonder or grand ambition, less sure of your footing in your own life. I used to just pick up a book like 'Crime and Punishment' or a detailed history of the Italian campaign in WWII. Those kinds of artistic/academic adventures now feel so much more daunting for some reason. There is a grit that is required to relentlessly pursue these things like I used to, and I can feel that part of me slipping. I tell myself it's simply because I've picked a lane in life and I only have so much time, but there is always the nagging suspicion that I have, in reality, deteriorated in some meaningful way. The song comes out of this war within myself where one part of me is desperately wanting to get back there, while another part is only looking to what lies ahead in the life I’ve made for myself.” - Ian Devaney

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Ellis, Missy Bauman, Soccer Mommy, Minuscule, Picastro, Harrow Fair, 100 Mile House and Real Estate,

Will McGuirk February 25, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Sometimes we have so much to consume, so much to take in, so much media to see and hear that it becomes difficult to take a breath on a song, never mind trying to digest any of it, and we are slowcity.ca, we encourage you to sit and digest what you took in first, better for your overall health, but even we can feel the need to keep up, to dip in, and in and in again into the stream and then along comes a voice which just stills you regardless, slows you, slows your heart, slows your head, and one can sit on the bank, beneath a tree and watch the whole thing stream by with eyes closed..

“I want the record to feel like a relic from the past that’s been damaged and degraded with age, because it kind of represents the problems that I've developed as I've grown up, and how they've changed me.” - Soccer Mommy
Soccer Mommy is playing Wednesday Apr. 8 at the Phoenix in Toronto ON.

"The song is a recognition of the difficult work any relationship can be but what can happen when you take that leap. Even when the future isn’t clear. Hope starts here. No courage without fear." - Harrow Fair

Harrow Fair is playing Saturday Apr. 18 at the Dakota Tavern in Toronto ON.

100 Mile House, photo by Jessica Fern Facette

“I was asking myself a lot of uncomfortable questions throughout the process of making this album. Wondering if being an artist is irresponsible or selfish, particularly with the world in the state that it’s in, particularly as a parent of young kids.” - Martin Courtney

Harrow Fair play Royal Electric in Guelph Jan 27

Will McGuirk January 10, 2018

Miranda Mulholland (Great Lake Swimmers) and Andrew Penner (Sunparlour Players) are the rootsy duo in Harrow Fair, seeped in the woodsy keening of Depression Americana. They do a wild cover of "Wild At Heart" from Chris Isaak and "When The Levee Breaks" which the Led made popular but they credit Memphis Minnie. They have a record, "Call to Arms" out and a new one being worked on. They have dates with Ben Caplan and Elliott Brood and a stop in Guelph Jan 27 2017.