Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Pierre Kwenders, Storry, Jordan Klassen, Adrian Sutherland, Alexis Normand, Steve Mason, Velvet Beach, and The Lad Classic,

Will McGuirk November 8, 2022

By Will McGuirk

“The mother is the land of your birth, it’s your culture, it’s all that makes you and it’s also all that makes you question yourself.” - Pierre Kwenders

"We praise the sun, earth, air and water. Just like the elements, we are gentle and lifegiving but also formidable. We are nurturing, we are power, we are ‘the maker of all things’.” - Storry

“Saskatchewan is often an overlooked and oversimplified place. I wrote Hidden Valley to show listeners a lesser-known landscape - it ain’t just flat roads, big sky and wheat fields over here! This is a cruiser - a road trip song that brings you to the breathtaking valley near the town of Eastend and embodies the contemplative peace I feel when I’m there;" - Alexis Normand

The Lad Classic · New Emotion

Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Ghost, Weather Station, Jordan Klassen, Miloe, Pup, Anyway Gang, Alex Izenberg, and Jacob Henley

Will McGuirk March 3, 2022

By Will McGuirk

“I wanted the video to capture the feeling of surrender the song has; a feeling of surrendering to emotion at the expense of everything else, within a world that is not necessarily conducive to that softness. I wanted the video to be overtly emotional and sensual, and so I turned to the stereotypical signifiers of these things; beaches, sunsets, the colour red, a sort of operatic performance of emotion. I think the video is an evocation of the feeling of being in love; obsessed with someone or something regardless of your surroundings, where you are, what is happening. Reaching towards softness and touch, even from within aloneness.” - The Weather Station

“Ash Wednesday” is really “a song about redemption and hope, and I love how Wayne contrasted that with a horroresque video,” - Jordan Klassen

“I’m getting closer to making the unconscious conscious with this song and the others. It is difficult to just write when you are constantly bombarded with what is right or wrong, I’ve started looking within more so than before.” - Alex Izenberg

Anyway Gang, photo by Calm Elliott-Armstrong

Slowcity.ca Open Mic: Sasami, Anyway Gang, Jordan Klassen, Sam Weber, The Brothers Comatose + AJ Lee, Triptides, and Francine Honey,

Will McGuirk February 3, 2022

By Will McGuirk

“With all the ridiculous cacophony of information we currently swim in, it is no wonder that we've seen a resurgence of conspiratorial thinking, Most of us see this every day: online, from the mouths of relatives, maybe even in our own brains. I wrote ‘Niko’ as a bit of a tongue in cheek ode to finding out that someone that you know and love is buying in. Pleading my case that the earth is in fact round.” - Jordan Klassen

“despite anyone’s attempt to control a narrative or manipulate our perception of how things are, the truth and what is real always comes out,” - Sam Weber.

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Jadea Kelly, Ruby Singh, Simon and the Island, Jordan Klassen, Edwin Raphael, Mauvey, and Neil Young

Will McGuirk December 11, 2021

By Will McGuirk

“Maybe this is the heart of wisdom; knowing when to indulge and knowing when to abstain." - Jordan Klassen

“However you realize maybe love isn’t about being realistic and the past isn't foreshadowing the present either. You got to dive in or you’re lying to yourself.” - Edwin Raphael

“Love, at the end of the day, is real and unpredictable.” - Mauvey

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Le Ren and Buck Meek, Reuben and the Dark, Mike Edel, Clara Jones, Great Lake Swimmers, Jordan Klassen, Left Field Messiah, and the Blips

Will McGuirk February 25, 2021

By Will McGuirk

“because I’m stuck here on the ground, cold and drunk as I can be”

Yearning to fly, yearning for flight, respite, and the artist in the despair of early morning rain cries out yes to light and turns their back on the night.

"YES,” which came from a desire to put something positive into the world. "I thought I would be writing more songs about despair. . . but we don’t need anymore hopelessness right now." - Reuben Bullock, Reuben and the Dark

“Parachutes was one of my formative albums, and I really like the idea of covering a song that is underrated. ‘Don't Panic’ feels like this kind of song, and it just kept coming back to me through this Pandemic era and has been a comfort to say the least.” - Mike Edel

Clara Jones · Ordinary Person

You know the feeling when you're lying awake at night in a spiral of anxiety and can't understand why the regular stressors of life are so intense for you? When you begin to compare your problems with others and find yours unworthy of the 3am despair you're feeling?

It isn't rational, but I think it is something we've all gone through this year.

I wanted to illustrate that slice of life with my new single, "Ordinary Person."

You are not the only one engaging in catastrophic thinking, and I hope this song can be a comfort through this. - Clara Jones

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Jordan Klassen, Thao & the Get Down, Ant Saunders, Amtrac, Tops, Blue Stones, and the Elwins

Will McGuirk April 3, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Are you happy where you are? If you had been given fair warning would you have chosen where you are to quarantine, would you have chosen who you are with, would you have chosen the same city? If you answer in the negative what changes would you have made and more importantly what changes will you make when this lifts, where will you move to?

“When writing the EP, I wanted to present it from the perspective of my consciousness growing up. I was always (and still am) a shy and anxious person. Doing what I was most comfortable with and disregarding what everybody would think was what I would aim for, but I restricted myself. It was the type of restriction which, in my mind, felt like being inside a bubble.” - Ant Saunders

Slowcity.ca Open Mic - turning inwards with Grace Potter, Jordan Klassen, Laurent Bourque, Yoke Lore, The New Pornographers, Close Talkers, Geneviève Racette and Reuben and the Dark

Will McGuirk September 29, 2019

By Will McGuirk

Change is constant but there is reoccurrence, there is pattern, season, cycles and revolutions. It is time again to settle inside, to pull closer the elements of warmth, all that which brings comfort and look forward to the curve which brings it all back round again.

“It's so easy to just assume that the narratives we're telling ourselves about ourselves are true and that can be pretty debilitating. The song is about those moments when you're quiet and present and suddenly you realize that the story you've been telling is false, and there's this tremendous relief that maybe you'll be ok, that everything will be ok.” - Jordan Klassen

"but when you move quickly, you miss certain aspects of the journey. I could be missing out on some really wonderful information that I would get if I stopped to smell the roses once in a while. I worry that when something or someone really important comes around, I will be moving too quickly to catch it or them." - Adrian Glavin, Yoke Lore.

Jordan Klassen in a class of his own with 'Virtuous Circle'

Will McGuirk September 10, 2019

By Will McGuirk

We will let this one do its own talking; superb video, powerful track.

Tour dates close to us here in Shwarockcity are:

Nov 2 - Toronto, ON - The Cameron House

Nov 3 - Kingston, ON - Musikki Cafe

Nov 5 - Elora, ON - The Porch Light

Nov 6 - Hamilton, ON - Mills Hardware

Slowcity.ca Open Mic - HBD w/ Ponytails, Oh Susanna, Jessica Rhaye & the Ramshackle Parade, Jordan Klassen, Geneviève Racette, Black Mountain, Sigala & Becky Hill, Colour Tongues,

Will McGuirk May 27, 2019

Whatever gets you through the night as Johnny Lennon says or the day or the year, whatever gets you to celebrating another trip around the sun, thats whatever it took to get you here and you are here and I am here and that is enough of a reason to play some songs and enjoy the day which happens to be the anniversary of my birth. And considering its been a year since the last, well, it didn’t seem to take too long. Thanks to Ponytails, Oh Susanna, Jessica Rhaye & the Ramshackle Parade (covering Bob Dylan for his birthday), Jordan Klassen, Geneviève Racette, Black Mountain, Sigala & Becky Hill and Colour Tongues for the tracks. Cheers to you whenever your birthday is.