Canada

Toronto’s Lindi Ortega a rising alt-country star in Nashville

Lindi Ortega brings her blues-infused songs opening for Social Distortion at Toronto’s Sound Academy. “I like evolving and learning and exploring what I’m interested in, and I wanted to show that musically,” says Lindi Ortega of her new disc, Cigarettes & Truckstops.   By: Nick Krewen Published on Wed Oct 17 2012 If Lindi Ortega’s star is rising so rapidly, then why is she singing the blues? The answer can…


Geddy Lee on the sustained Rush

Fabled Toronto rock trio, doing two dates Oct. 14 and Oct. 16 at the ACC, still learning things on new album. By: Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Wed Oct 10 2012   Twenty albums and nearly 40 years in, Toronto hometown heroes Rush are continuing to defy the odds. Despite creating a musical niche that courts intellectualism, prides itself in technical proficiency and continues to influence the…


Jason Collett reckons times are tough

How do you write songs that have political overtones without being perceived as political? . Veteran Toronto rock musician and Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett. By: Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Fri Sep 28 2012 How do you write songs that have political overtones without being perceived as political? It’s a dilemma local hometown songwriter Jason Collett finds himself in with Reckon, his fifth and latest…


Q&A – Alanis Morissette

  Nick Krewen GRAMMY.com August 2012   Thanks to her volatile 1995 multiple-Grammy-winning masterpiece Jagged Little Pill, Ottawa-born Alanis Morissette will always be remembered and associated as the young woman who gave what-for to an ex, spawning a host of copycat singers (Meredith Brooks, Tracy Bonham) who suddenly felt safe to vent their own frustrations to a receptive audience and striking enough of a public chord to sell more than…


The Spirit of Rush

NEWS Rush frontman Geddy Lee discusses the band’s upcoming tour, the challenges of picking a set list and the reason for their longevity NICK KREWEN GRAMMYS MAY 15, 2017 GRAMMY.com For nearly 40 years, Toronto-based progressive power trio Rush have been the thinking man’s rock band. On the way to refining and defining themselves as peerless musicians, vocalist/bass player Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart have stayed…