Tag: Canadian Music

The MapleList Number 942 – Malajube

Canada, Canadian Music, Maplelist, Music Trails

Today’s MapleList group is Malajube, our first Francophone member, at number 942. Canada is officially a bilingual country, French and English. The province of Quebec is at the centre of Canada’s Francophone culture.

Malajube was formed in the early 2000’s in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. Their first album was released in 2004 and received instant rave reviews and became staples of the Quebec radio scene. The album is titled “Le Compte complet” and is worthy of a listen.

Prior to going on hiatus, the band consisted of:
Julien Mineau – Vocals, lyrics and guitar
Francis Mineau – Drums
Mathieu Cournoyer – Bass
Thomas Augustin – Keyboards and vocals

On the awards front, the band was short-listed for the 2006 and 2009 Polaris Music Award and has garnered 3 Felix Awards, the Quebec Music Awards.

I have chosen a live version of a very catchy alternative tune, “Montreal -40°C”. Enjoy, great song.

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Canada’s All Time Top Songs – #99

Canada, Canadian Music, Music Trails

At 99 we present “We Run” by Strange Advance. A Vancouver new wave band, they formed in 1982, and were almost immediately nominated for a Juno (Canada’s Grammy) as most promising band. “We Run” was taken from their album, “2WO” and released as a single in 1985. It reached number 28 on the RPM pop chart. The band never made any inroads outside of Canada and essentially went dormant after releasing their 3rd album in 1988. . Fun fact, they were mostly a session band and apparently had never played live as a group prior to 1985.

The MapleList Number 121 – Faber Drive

Canada, Canadian Music, Maplelist, Music Trails

The next installment of The Maplelist is Faber Drive at number 121. This group hails from Mission, British Columbia. The band formed in 2004, the current members being lead vocalist Dave Faber, lead guitarist Jordan Pritchett, bass guitarist Jeremy Liddle and drummer Seamus O’Neill. They were discovered by Chad Kroeger of Nickleback and were signed to a record deal with his 604 label. They have released 3 albums on that label, “Seven Second Surgery” in 2007, “Can’t Keep A Secret” in 2009 and “Lost In Paradise” in 2012. Their initial release was an independent EP, “Faber”, that was released in 2006.

The band had some early success, being nominated for a Juno in 2008 as “Best New Group Of The Year”, and won the same category in the Canadian Radio Music Awards.

They faded from sight in about 2014, but have recently been recording, releasing 2 demos in 2020. Good band, a comeback would be welcomed.

To give you a flavor for their sound, I give you the SOCAN number 1 song award winning tune “Tongue Tied”, followed by the very energetic “G-Get Up And Dance”.

Canada’s All Time Top Songs – #100

Canada, Canadian Music, Music Trails

The first entry into our top 100 is Honeymoon Suite and their song Love Changes Everything.

Back in the hair band days of the 1980’s, Honeymoon Suite was formed. The year was 1981 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The band’s name and the place share a connection, very witty. They had a string of hits in Canada throughout the 80’s and even had some traction in the USA, highlighted by performing the title track for the movie Lethal Weapon.

Love Changes Everything was released in 1988 and is on their album Racing After Midnight. The song reached number 9 in Canada, 13 on the US Rock and 91 on the US chart, all by Billboard. The band is still recording, it’s latest release was in 2019.

Get ready to rock to a live version of the tune, live is always best.

Happy Birthday Jim Kale

Canada, Canadian Music, Music Trails

Guess Who bassist Jim Kale turned 78 on August 11. He is an original member of the Guess Who, going way back to 1962 when they were known as Chad Allan and the Reflections. He was with the band until 1972 and even co-wrote American Woman. During a reunion tour he discovered that the band name had never been trademarked. He registered the name and began touring as the Guess Who with a string of new members, and occasionally with Gary Peterson on drums, also an original. Yes, they still exist and record, just not with the Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman. Jim is now retired from the band.

The video is from 1970, and of course, American Woman.

The Maple List Number 1168 – The Danks

Canada, Canadian Music, Music Trails

As I look for material, I was ecstatic to discover a comprehensive list of Canadian bands. Talk about material. Inspired by this, I am initiating a series that will be titled the Maple List (see what I did there, Whitelist, Blacklist, Maple List). This list and a random number generator will make this an interesting endeavour.

The initial post is this one, as last should be first. I present Number 1168 and last on the Maple List, The Danks.

The band is from Charlottetown in the province of Prince Edward Island. PEI is Canada’s smallest province and is an island off the north shore of New Brunswick. The band has 3 recordings, an EP called “Samples” in 2008, a full length debut, “Are You Afraid Of The Danks” in 2009 and their (maybe) final release “GANK” in 2013.

Some members of the band are also known for another Indie band “Two Hours Traffic”. We may randomly run into them at some point as well.

Very little online for them. I did find the following.

Bandcamp

Spotify

Apple Music

I am impressed with The Danks. Very catchy tunes, well written and played. I’ve included a couple of videos, which will give you a good feel for this band. Hoping for a reunion.

First is “In Alright” off the “Are You Afraid Of The Danks” debut.

Second is “Experimental Fiction” off their second album.

Travel Thursday – Saskatoon – From July 2011

Canadian Music, Music Trails, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Travel, Travel Trails

As I struggle to collate and create several years of photo and video files, I once again add a post from the past. This is a note about our old home town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and dates from their annual Jazz Festival, this one in 2011 and features an outstanding Saskatoon player, Jordan Cook.

This week is the week for The Saskatchewan Jazz Festival in Saskatoon.  Not only does it bring in the name acts, it also showcases Saskatchewan talent.  One of these talents is Jordan Cook.  For some reason, the province has been blessed with many talented musicians who continue to impress.  The list is long, but some of these are, Northern Pikes, Colin James, Jack Semple, Deep Dark Woods, Kyle Riabko the list is endless.  There was a show last night in Saskatoon that I would have loved to have been at.  It featured Jordan Cook and The Sheepdogs.   The video attached is Jordan Cook playing live.