showing 1 to 10 of 35
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Best Artist / Band Most Likely To Make It Big
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Makayla Lynn
Silver Winner Aquakultre
Bronze Winner Owen Meany's Batting Stance
Makayla Lynn is only 17 but she’s putting all the pieces in place with regards to this making it big business. First of all, she got high school out of the way a year early with the help of correspondence courses. “I had to have been a hassle to my teachers,” she says. “I was missing 100 days a year. It was always a game of catchup.” She’s been splitting her time between East Hants and Nashville, where she’s calling from, for a few years. She won an ECMA in May for her debut album, On a Dare and a Prayer. It’s all happening. “It’s wild,” she says of this BOH win. “Even just to ask people to take a minute from their day and vote for you when they might not have even met you. I appreciate it so much.” Catch Lynn (while you still can, let’s be honest) at one of her three shows this weekend at Nova Scotia Music Week in Truro.
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Best Artist / Band To Dance To
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner The Mellotones
Silver Winner Roxy and the Underground Soul Sound
Bronze Winner Asia & NuGruv
The Mellotones have moved around a lot—hopping between three regular venues this year; they’ve just set up camp Thursdays on The Marquee stage and the band’s many fans always find it. “The community supports us—we don’t have to leave town every weekend or for months at a time to be a professional band,” says Jeffrey Mosher, singer and saxophonist with the eight-piece outfit. The Tones celebrated 20 years as an entity last December at The Marquee, and on November 16 and 17 will do something a bit different at Neptune’s Fountain Hall. “It’s gonna be weird not having a dance floor,” Mosher admits, “but I think our show translates to a theatre setting. There’s lots to look at.”
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Best Artist / Band To Enjoy Quietly
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Rose Cousins
Silver Winner Kim Harris
Bronze Winner Quiet Parade
“Maybe you can feel all the feelings in the songs when it’s quieter, you can feel them to the fullest—my songs have a lot of feelings,” Cousins muses about her second-year-in-a-row gold win for Best Artist To Enjoy Quietly. She’s “avoiding packing for England” when she answers the call, saying this past year has been full of writing songs and laying groundwork in the UK market. “I’m enjoying the lull that happens after releasing a record, and hunting and gathering new things.” Though her year has been as quietly serene as one of her songs, Cousins adds she’s honoured to be on steady rotation in many Haligonians’ playlists, adding “I’m thankful that I’m even still on people’s minds. Thanks for leaning in.”
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Best Artist / Band To Turn Up Loud
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Jessie Brown
Silver Winner Black Moor
Bronze Winner Dumpster Mummy
Jessie Brown wound down (up?) last year with the release of her Jon Epworth-produced album, Keeping Appearances, which won an East Coast Music Award and is up for three at Nova Scotia Music Week this weekend. “I was honestly shocked. It meant a lot, especiallyin the rock category because I don’t always know if it I fit in,” says Brown of the ECMA. “I’m lucky the album resonated with people so personally. It’s doing much better than I thought it would in the industry.” On December 7, she’ll join forces with Lor Sangster of Worst Part and a handful of local bands for Supporting Acts, a benefit show for Unison Benevolent Fund, at The Seahorse, echoing her album release show’s fundraiser for Adsum House. “Thanks for letting me be a weird little loudmouth,” she says to the readers, “with all my feelings.”
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Best Blues Artist / Band
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Garrett Mason
Silver Winner Charlie A'court
Bronze Winner Shirley Jackson and her Good Rockin' Daddies
Garrett Mason keeps a low profile—no website or social media; his last Facebook post is from 2014—yet you manage to find him. Perhaps it’s the siren song of his guitar, or maybe you were a fan of his dad Dutch, or it’s that you’ve got a sadness beacon in you that draws you to him. Regardless, you always get to him—at Bearly’s, mostly, but other places too—and you always vote for him. Will he find the blues in this victory? If anyone can….
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Best Classical Artist / Group
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Symphony Nova Scotia
Silver Winner Halifax Music Co-op
Bronze Winner Maureen Batt
“We’re so honoured to win Best of Halifax again this year. Thanks to our community’s enthusiastic support, we had an amazing year,” says Symphony Nova Scotia’s gold-gilded CEO Chris Wilkinson, adding two-thirds of the season was sold out. “It’s such a privilege to serve as Nova Scotia’s orchestra, and be part of our province’s incredibly rich musical life. We’re deeply grateful to our dedicated players, volunteers and supporters for making so much great music possible.” Some of that upcoming great music includes a tribute to Gordon Lightfoot this weekend, Sarah Slean at the end of the month and the annual Nutcracker to-do in December.
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Best Country Artist / Band
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Makayla Lynn
Silver Winner Brooklyn Blackmore
Bronze Winner Samantha Power
Makayla Lynn is so country she’s calling from Nashville, where she’s been on a writing trip. “I’m here for the next couple weeks, hanging out and writing music,” says the East Hants native. Writing music means co-writing two songs a day, with different people each time. Maybe the songs will be recorded, maybe they won’t. Right now it’s all about the process. “Some of my biggest highlights of my career and my life have happened over the last year,” says Lynn. “It’s wild. The awards, different articles, a video on CMT. These little pinch-me moments that I’m sitting back, taking them all in.”
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Best Cover Artist / Band
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner The Mellotones
Silver Winner Signal Hill
Bronze Winner Shameless
“We get a lot of great opportunities to make a living as a professional band in Halifax,” says Jeffrey Mosher, singer and saxophonist in The Mellotones. “That keeps us motivated, as do our levels of traditional R&B and funk music. The players in the band, that’s the type of music we’re interested in playing. A band that’s been together for 20 years—it’s a point of pride to keep it going.” Two decades in, the city’s need for the Tones shows no sign of waning, though prepare yourself now for next spring (when they head out on tour for two months as Matt Andersen’s backing band). “One of our taglines is ‘Thanks for dancing,’” says Mosher. “The music community, and the cities of Halifax and Dartmouth—we want to thank them for the support.”
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Best DJ
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner DJ IV
Silver Winner Zora the Sultan
Bronze Winner Pineo & loeb
DJ IV AKA Brian Pelrine calls in from the London, Ontario stop of Classified’s national tour. While he waits to get on a new band bus, he discusses the things he thinks contributed to his nearly annual win as Halifax’s Best DJ, primarily The Cut, the hip hop podcast he hosts with Catfish. Twenty episodes in, it’s featured Classified, Quake Matthews, Shevy Price and Jo Run. “The one with Jo Run is amazing—he breaks down the whole history of where Halifax hip hop started.” When not podcasting or DJing for Class—expect a big show in the new year—IV has monthly nights at Lion & Bright and Terri’s Place in Lower Sackville. “I would love to thank the readers again for the continued support,” says Pelrine. “Our city is full of talented DJs and artists and it means the world to me.”
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Best Electronic Artist / Band
on November 1, 2018 at 1:00AM
Gold Winner Neon Dreams
Silver Winner Rich Aucoin
Bronze Winner Scientists of Sound
Neon Dreams nabbed Best Electronic and Best Pop Band this year, and the trio is happy to be slotted in either or both. “We’ve transitioned a lot from EDM but we’re still very much electronic,” says drummer Adrian Morris, ahead of a national tour opening for Ria Mae. “Our recording processes and in our live show, we’re using samplers and a lot more digital elements.” The rising-yet-humble radio stars—who made national news when they exited Hedley’s arena tour after Jacob Hoggard was accused of sexual assault—appreciate the nod: “We just want to thank Halifax,” says Morris, “for supporting us through a very rollercoaster of a year.”
