Slowcity.ca with Elizabeth Leslie, Once A Tree, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Mattie Leon, Peter Katz, Grace Gillespie, Ghost Love, Busty and the Bass, Gillian Stone, and Black Collar Union

Will McGuirk November 30, 2020

By Will McGuirk

“Now is the time to look up from your phone and look around you. What can you do to effect change? I'd like for listeners to come away with a feeling of power, that we, as a collective society, are powerful, but only when we are not divided.” ~ Elizabeth Leslie

“To our knowledge there hasn’t been an Indian and ‘Indian’ (Indigenous) mash-up in Hip-Hop. It seems like an obvious choice that Indigenous people and Indian people would collaborate, as their histories are intertwined in one colonial historical moment where, thinking he’d reached India, Columbus dubbed the people he sought to conquer and eradicate, ‘Indian’.” ~ SNRK

"Part of what I wanted to do with this new music is to not have it be just about my story. It’s in there – it’s all in there – but I think that my older approach to writing was about holding on rather than letting go; This music feels like letting go to me. And I hope that when people hear it, they can hear their own story in it and that maybe it can help them feel like letting go too." ~ Peter Katz

Grace Gillespie · For Nick Drake

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Once A Tree, Twin Flames, Luca Fogale, Dana Gavanski, Astral Swans, Mo Kenney, and Color Fields

Will McGuirk July 14, 2020

By Will McGuirk

Music is fuel. Music is medicine. A music city is a healthy city. A music city is a wealthy city. Music is also labour not only leisure. Music is also work not only play. Slowcity.ca urges all our supporters to contact your local government reps to support for live music venues.

“We live in a world where people want instant gratification. But sometimes, chasing after that can leave you feeling empty, and the things that used to feel like magic lose their lustre.” - Once A Tree

“In the Arctic of Canada, Inuit People face the highest amount of suicides in the world, ‘Battlefields’ is a song to remind our people we have to fight our own minds to survive…” - Jaaji, Twin Flames

“I wrote this song as a reminder to myself and anyone listening to search for beauty and meaning in every piece of this life, however simple or complex, no matter the circumstance. - Luca Fogale

“Due to the ongoing revelations of harrowing injustice, and systemic racism against BIPOC throughout North America, all Bandcamp sales of “Bird Songs” will be donated to AWO TAAN HEALING LODGE SOCIETY based in my hometown of Calgary, AB, Canada.” - Astral Swans

“This song has a real solitary, lonely vibe that I think really reflects the times we’re all living in right now.” - Mo Kenney

“Animal is a song about our tendency to hide our true selves from one another, and what happens when we stop,” - Scott Packham, Color Fields

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with nêhiyawa, Lucas Fogale, The High Loves, Golden Cinema, Pride & Glory, Grace Potter, Ariel Posen, Mondo Cozmo, Once A Tree, Bailen,

Will McGuirk October 26, 2019

By Will McGuirk

The wave is the wind’s masterpiece. The artist is as a wave swelling on the tide, the artist can break and wash and dissolve, leave a wake, be seen, be heard, move the environment, be moved by the environment. The artist is aware of the tide, sees context, place, history, the continuum, and rises.

“I felt like there is an incredible love story to be examined between Michaelangelo and Tommaso, As well to point out to some of the realities of having the master’s work commissioned required the spoils of colonial exploits. For me the idea of having another indigenous artist (Maria Buffalo) visualize concepts knowing some of the back story of the lyrics in the music, but relating that to images of Maskwacis First Nation, the body, hands, and indigenous people; I could imagine an incredible juxtaposition. The story of the song deepens with additional perspectives working their own ideas into this piece.”
- nêhiyawa

"that the fate of the water resolves in the sand, that maybe all we’re doing's for nothing.”
- Lucas Fogale

“The song's about how I feel trapped sometimes because of the overwhelming media that's all around us these days. It's discouraging because it often makes you forget what’s important to yourself. If you don't slow down and take the time to question your beliefs and the beliefs of those around you you're gonna get drained by the Vampire's Jaws.”
- The High Loves

“I was watching an old film noir when I stumbled upon the main bassline that would form our new single,”
- Golden Cinema

"So often we can find ourselves feeling trapped in the mundane cycles of life. This song is a reminder to take a step back and shake things up,” - Once A Tree.

Slowcity.ca Open Mic - As the Fall brings new beginnings with Leonard Cohen, Jenn Grant, Iskwe, Frankie, Overcoats, Donovan Woods, Julian Lamadrid, Aphrose, Once A Tree,

Will McGuirk September 20, 2019

It seems the Fall is the start of much, rather than the end; modern society seems to work in opposition. Perhaps its the school year or municipal budgets that evoke such an impression. Or perhaps all of this is the culmination of work submitted, quietly, anonymously, slowly, diligently, one seed at a time. I may perhaps never sync with this rhythm but there are those who do.