Artist Spotlight

Beach Boys reunion a rockin’ one

Nick Krewen Special To The Star Published on Wed Jun 20 2012 Few thought this night would ever happen. With a steady string of lawsuits, in-fighting and the fact that Brian Wilson only returned to the stage a few years ago due to his own personal demons, the notion of any full-fledged reunion of the surviving original Beach Boys was fantasy as best. Yet fantasy became reality last night at…


Dan Kanter on mad life at Bieber’s side

Toronto guitarist and pop megastar’s right-hand man has had best seat to watch his rise. Nick Krewen Special to the Star Published on Fri Jun 15 2012 Life with Justin Bieber is never boring. Just ask Dan Kanter, the Toronto guitarist, producer and musical tour director who has been the Stratford pop phenom’s right-hand man since The Bieb’s meteoric rise to the top began three years ago. “It’s been quite…


Big Wreck bigger than ever

Ian Thornley plays the Danforth Music Hall with Big Wreck on May 10 and 11. Nick Krewen Special to the Star Published on Thu May 10 2012   Well, that’s one less albatross around his neck. Ever since Ian Thornley added Big Wreck’s name to the ever-increasing pile of reunited rock bands, he’s been rewarded with an accolade he never received during the combo’s first late ‘90s run: a No….


M83 synthesizes some stardom

Gonzalez puts keyboards front and centre, and the result is a sold-out Sound Academy. Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Fri May 04 2012 When Anthony Gonzalez was seven years old, he took a hit of Oxygene that changed his life forever. Gathered around their living room with the rest of his family in Antibes, France, the future principal of M83 watched fellow Frenchman, electronic music synthesis and…


Nickelback burns up ACC

  Nick Krewen Special To The Star, Published on Sun Apr 22 2012 Rock ‘n’ roll is supposed to be larger than life. Last night at the Air Canada Centre, Nickelback made it seem mammoth. Operating under the notion that bigger is better, the four deans of lustful, bone-crunching rock offered the estimated 14,000 in attendance (and pop star Avril Lavigne) everything that one would expect from a dazzling marvel:…