Rock

Lukas Graham works to bring substance to its pop

Grammy-nominated Danish band takes ‘7 Years’ — an ‘old-style country ballad’ — and other meaty numbers into show at Rebel on Wednesday. Nick Krewen  Music, Tues. Jan 24, 2017 It’s sold more than four million copies in the U.S. alone, is nominated for three Grammy Awards and is a poignant synopsis of one person’s life from past to present. But for all the lifetime of experience chronicled within its four-minute…


Austra steps into a perceived troubling feature with new album, tour

Loneliness and political readings of band’s founder create album, Future Politics, that fits into ‘true political uncertainty’ of times. Band plays Jan. 20 at the Mod Club. Nick Krewen Music, Jan. 19, 2017 The moment that Toronto electro band Austra completed its world tour to support its sophomore album, Olympia, its lead singer and songwriter Katie Stelmanis hit the books and began a voracious reading cycle. “I had felt that…


Emm Gryner joins David Bowie tribute in New York

“I think he would actually enjoy this show,” says the Ontario musician of Bowie, who died a year ago Tuesday. Nick Krewen Music, Mon.,  Jan. 9, 2017 Canadian singer and songwriter Emm Gryner has crossed the border this week to pay tribute to an old friend on the anniversary of his death. The Sarnia native is travelling to New York City to participate with other band alumni on Tuesday in…


The Bronx are masters of the two-faced band

The punk rock band is one of few with an alter-ego: a sunny ensemble called Mariachi El Bronx. Nick Krewen, Music, Tues., Dec 27, 2016 Jekyll, meet Hyde. There’s nothing too sinister about Mariachi El Bronx, the alter ego of L.A. punk rockers The Bronx, but the duality of a band that pursues both identities with equal career-driven vigour is a rarity in this day and age. Where The Bronx…


Calgary’s JJ Shiplett Offers Something to Believe In

Story by Nick Krewen | November 15, 2016 For SOCAN Words and Music.   Guardian angels sometimes arrive in unusual forms. For Calgary singer-and-songwriter JJ Shiplett, after 12 years of constant slogging on the club circuit, his cherub arrived unexpectedly in the guise of Johnny Reid, the multi-platinum-selling singer-songwriter who has the ability to pack arenas across Canada. After hearing Shiplett sing harmony on some Joni Delaurier songs, Reid called…