#thepeakpp

The seventh (and final???) year of the Peak Performance Project kicked off last night, in style, at Fortune Sound Club. Starting with the announcement of the Top 12 (cut back from a Top 20 last year, to accommodate the newly launched Alberta version of the Project), the bands chosen will take part in a week-long bootcamp learning everything that can about the industry, play a series of showcase shows, and take part in other challenges, all to have a shot at the giant novelty cheque for $102,700 presented to them by Music BC and 102.7 The Peak. This year kicked off with a "Victory Tour" of last year's winner Good for Grapes, and the first PPP Alberta winner The Wet Secrets, after the live announcement of the top 12. They started here in Vancouver and will tour across BC and Alberta, finishing off in Calgary for their Top 12 launch party. It has been something like eight years since The Wet Secrets last played Vancouver (one of their members was only 14 at the time!) and thanks to that, I had never had the seen them play live. So I was very much looking forward to it, having heard nothing but great things. When they six-piece band from Edmonton hit the stage, the first thing you notice -- okay, the second thing you notice, after their matching marching band uniforms -- is their unique instrument composition. No guitar, just lead singer Lyle Bell on bass, and a strong horn section with Kim Rackel & Emma Frazier on trumpet & trombone, respectively (as well as backing vocals, and some sweet choreographed backup dancing) and Christan Maslyk rocking the sax. Drummer Trevor Anderson and Paul Arnusch on keys (and congas) rounded out the band. But of course the spectacle of their outfits wouldn't mean a thing if they didn't back it up with their music, and they certainly did with a fun and catchy alt-pop sound. They started off with "I Can Swing A Hammer", the first song from their upcoming album, before ramping up the energy for the raucous marching song "Secret March", one of my favourites, and a song that will be stuck in your head for days. Other highlights included "If I Was a Camera", which asked the crowd to take off their clothes, as the band went first, doffing their marching band jackets during the song, and "Get Your Shit Together", a song to listen to "when experiencing technical difficulties with the people of Earth." And as fun as The Wet Secrets' music sounds, it often hides some darker (and, more often than not clever) lyrics. Lyle introduced one song as the happiest song about murder/suicide, and another favourite "Sunshine" is a cheery song about wanting to escape a dreary city (Edmonton) and "die in the sunlight" Lyle was also quick to give advice to any of the top 12 bands in the crowd, and tell tales about the fun times they had in the competition last year, especially at the bootcamp, before they finished off their set with a cover of The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry". It was a really fun set that absolutely lived up to my expectations, and proved that they are definitely worthy of having been the first Peak Performance Project Alberta winner. It was getting late on a school night and the crowd started to thin, but as soon as Good For Grapes took the stage, their loyal fanbase rushed up to dance along with their folky sounds. The seven members filled the stage with energy and their rich sound filled the room, a set with songs that burst to life with a hint of brass and strings, and spot-on harmonies. Their biggest song, "Skipping Stone", had people singing and clapping along, and they also included a very interesting version of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" -- which was a little amusing, since one of the challenges in the Project is to learn a "Classic Canadian cover" and yet neither cover in the night was Canadian. They wrapped up the set with another grandiose song that included the obligatory floor tom breakdown, as the crowd chanted for an encore as they left. To be completely honest, I haven't really been much of a fan of the band over the last couple years, but I can not deny they are very good at what they do. It's just a certain sound that I have grown a little weary of over the last couple years, and I feel that while the band has certainly improved since I first saw them, they haven't really evolved much. But they did mention they just finished a new album, so it'll be interesting to hear the new material. As for the Top 12 itself, here is the list in order of announcement: Little India – Langley Chersea – Port Coquitlam Smash Boom Pow – Vancouver Jesse Roper – Victoria Find the Others – Bowen Island Mindil Beach – Vancouver Bed of Stars – Abbotsford Mike Edel – Victoria Windmills – Vernon JP Maurice – Victoria Joy District – Comox Valley Van Damsel – Kamloops Regular readers will/should already know how much I like Chersea, so I was happy (but not at all surprised) when she made it in. She's also the sole female artist this year, but surprisingly not the only looper. Windmills, who I have seen before and like okay, also made it in. Perhaps they'll take after Hannah Epperson, who places second a couple years ago. Three of the twelve bands are returning; Mike Edel, Van Damsel, and JP Maurice. Honestly, I am not sure that I like returning bands with a smaller pool, especially since JP and Mike also previously placed 4th and 5th (respectively) in 2012 AND it's JP's third time in the project (not even counting his backing up other bands). Van Damsel, at least, has changed their sound a bit since they were in it two years ago, and have been getting a push recently on The Peak; I think they are the early favourites to win. Most of the other bands I either know in passing; Bed of Stars, or have only seen their names around town; Little India, Mindil Beach and Smash Boom Pow. The rest of them I am not familiar with at all, and look forward to hearing them. And the first chance to see them all live will be at the Khatsahlano Street Party, on July 11th, where all 12 bands will play short sets throughout the day on the Peak Stage. See you there! http://dlvr.it/B0zFWG

It's that time of year again, time for the Peak Performance Project. This sixth year sees some big changes in the competition, as not only will it help BC bands through 102.7 The Peak and Music BC, but for the first time ever, Alberta bands through the newly launched 95.3 The Peak and Alberta Music. There will be two separate top twelves (instead of the usual top twenty) and aside from the rock 'n' roll bootcamp, which all 24 band will attend, there will be two completely independent competitions; two introduction days, two sets of showcases, two top threes, two big winners. This year, they kicked it off at Fortune Sound Club -- where the showcases will happen later this year -- with sets from past PPP alumni after the announcement. Last year's second place Hannah Epperson dazzled everyone with her gorgeous violin loops. Rococode teased a new album of catchy electro-pop. And JP Maurice burst everyone's hearts with his pop-rock. But more importantly, this year's BC top twelve, in no particular order: The Tourist Company - North Vancouver David Newberry - Vancouver Miss Quincy & The Showdown - Fort St John Derrival - Langley Altered By Mom - Vancouver The Wild Romantics - Nanaimo Damn Fools - Vancouver Jodi Pederson - Vernon Goodwood Atoms - Vancouver Shred Kelly - Fernie Jon Bryant - Surrey Good For Grapes - Surrey Some initial thoughts? Right off the bat, I am honestly a little disappointed to see Good For Grapes in it again. Nothing against them, but I was really hoping that with a slimmed down list, it would be all bands new to the project. There are a few bands I know I don't care for, and a bunch I am not familiar enough with to have a solid opinion, and some I have never heard before, but to focus on the positive: I am very stoked for Altered By Mom, Miss Quincy & The Showdown, and Shred Kelly. Altered by Mom is the new project from ex-beekeeper Devon Lougheed, and takes all the best of the 90s and crams it into some hook-filled rock; Miss Quincy & The Showdown is some damn fine gritty blues; and Shrek Kelly have been a favourite since I first discovered them -- almost exactly two years ago, on the Tracks on Tracks train trip -- with their "stoke folk". Those are the three I am pulling for out of the gate, but I look forward to listening to all of them and the discovery of new talent. And the first chance for that will be during the Khatsahlano Festival, July 12th on West 4th, where all 12 bands will play throughout the day. http://dlvr.it/5yvzrh

The Peak Performance Project is a multi-year contest in which The Peak, along with Music BC, picks 20 BC musicians/bands each a year and makes them stars. Past winners are We Are The City, Kyprios, Current Swell, and Dear Rouge with a ton of great bands and artists included as well. Part one of the project was a "rock & roll boot camp" where the musicians went on a week long retreat to get lectures and advice from industry pros, to help them refine their craft. Phase two is a series of shows at Fortune Sound Club; four artists a night for five weeks, each playing a 45 minute set. The bands are rated by a panel of judges, which will go toward their final score in the project. They've also been tasked to learn a "Classic Canadian Cover" to play during their set. I always love hearing bands play cover songs, and it's always interesting to see who each act chooses, if it's someone obvious to their style, or something way outside the box. Starting off the penultimate showcase was Victoria's Dougal Bain McLean. Occasionally a solo performer, Dougal came out with a full band to fill out his pop-rock sound. His songs were catchy, but what drew me in most was his voice; that kind of gruff-yet-smooth voice that sounds like he drank a bottle of whiskey before the show. After a few tunes, including the jaunty "Camino", he traded his guitar for a violin for a couple songs. The first of which was actually my favourite song of the set; it had a greater intensity than the rest of the set, and made me wish he was on the violin more often. It definitely set him apart from some of the other singer/songwriters in the competition. Staying on violin, Dougal went for more of a "modern classic" with his cover, a nice version of Patrick Watson's "Adventures in Your Own Back Yard", and he ended the set with the most high energy song of the night. Coldwater Road took the stage next. The five-piece from Vancouver have kind of a pop-folk group, with split male/female vocals. They also had a cello to round out their sound, and a drummer that would occasionally swap out for guitar. The band gave off kind of a fun, goofy vibe for a lot of their set, without being too silly or cheesy. Songs like "Seven Letters" were playful and perhaps a little tongue in cheek, though but they had a couple other, slower or more serious songs. I thought for sure their cover was going to be something by Barenaked Ladies, but I was wrong and they went with a version of "5 Days In May" by Blue Rodeo. They were a perfectly fun band to see live, but I don't know if I'd be going out of my way to hear more. Next up was Bodhi Jones, for an unprecedented third time going through the project. He took part in the first and second years, and -- after a brief retirement from making music -- is now back this year. I said before I had a few biases going in to the shows this year, and Jones was one of them. I have never been much of a fan, but I tried to go into his set with an open mind. He is by no means a bad musician, and he surrounded himself with great local musicians for his backing band, but his songs fall a little flat. None of them really seemed to "pop" to me, and some of the lyrics were a bit cliché. But he's definitely comfortable on stage and has a good presence, and seems to have a loyal fan-base. Bodhi also chose to go more modern with his cover, "Weighty Ghost" originally by Wintersleep. He had people singing and clapping along at the end, which lead into his last song of the night, giving his set a big, grandiose finish. Oh, and a couple songs in he had someone, whose name I didn't catch, come out and do a short rap/slam poetry. Which seemed a little out of place. And finally, Lions In The Street wrapped up the night. They took the stage backlit, and stayed in silhouette for most of their set, with everything cranked up for the loudest of the showcases thus far. The four-piece had loads of energy with a swampy rock sound, though there wasn't much variation to their songs. I wasn't surprised to find they were a previously in Fox Seeds, as well, since they sounded like they would have fit in perfectly to that annual competition. They kept up the same intensity and loudness throughout their entire set, including their cover as they added to the Neil Young count, going with a deep cut "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" The band is ten year vets of the business, and that certainly showed on stage, but for whatever reason their set just didn't click with me. And that almost does it for this year's Peak Performance Project showcases. Next week will be the final one featuring Hannah Epperson, Amble Greene, BESTiE, and Oh No! Yoko. http://dlvr.it/47snDL

The PEAK Performance Project is in year 4 of a 7 year $5.2 million artist development program funded through Canadian Content Development funding from 102.7 The PEAK (Pattison Broadcast Group) and administered by Music BC Industry Association. This award winning program takes 20 emerging artists per year and challenges them to become better songwriters, performers, business people and marketers. All artists start with $4000 in development funding. Next, over 80 musicians descend on RockRidge Canyon, Princeton for a seven day intense Boot Camp. From there, each artist performs at the Red Room in Vancouver and carries out a number of career enhancing challenges. The use of their initial proceeds, the judged live performance, their challenges and public online voting accumulate points for the final adjudication committee to consider in ranking the Top 20. The top 5 artists share in $242,700, the grand prize being 102.7 thousand dollars awarded at the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver grand finale concert. One of the key starting points for any recording artist is writing a great song. Songwriting is a skill that is constantly being developed. This year, we matched the artists into writing teams to co-write 10 songs using the theme of “Love & Bravery”. Producers Warne Livesey, Jeff Dawson, Shawn Cole, Winston Hauschild and Alex (“Condor”) Aligizakis produced, recorded and mixed the songs in 4 temporary studios built in a day at RockRidge Canyon. This could not have been possible without the Nimbus School of Recording Arts (nimbusrecording.com) crew: Studio Assistants Oliver Hart, Brendan Stookey, Isaac Min, Evan Clarke, Joshua Field, Kevin Shuttleworth, and Studio Managers Nygel Asselin and Paul Boechler. The Boot Camp Studios were built with recording equipment provided by our production sponsors NIMBUS, Long & McQuade, Simply.ca, Apple Computers, Roland Systems, Roland Music Canada and Sennheiser Canada. CD manufacturing was sponsored by Pressing Media and SOCAN. All Songs Mastered by Brock McFarlane at CPS Mastering (cpsmastering.com) Credits 1. Get Where Your Heart Is – Headwater & Dominique Fricot ℗ 2012 Headwater & Dominique Fricot © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Matt Bryant, Jonas Shandel, Dominique Fricot Produced, Engineered and Mixed By: Winston Hauschild Assisted By: Kevin Shuttleworth 2. All I Wanna Know – Dear Rouge & Alexandria Maillot ℗ 2012 Alexandria Maillot & Dear Rouge © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Andrew McTaggart, Danielle McTaggart, Alexandria Maillot, Shawn Cole, Winston Hauschild, Adam Stewart Produced and Mixed By: Shawn Cole Engineered By: Nygel Asselin Assisted By: Joshua Field 3. A Silent Sphere – Jordan Klassen & Facts ℗ 2012 Jordan Klassen & Facts © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Jordan Klassen, Sean Bletcher, Michael Doull, Hugh Macdonald, Sean Bayntun, Indiana Avent, Simon Bridgefoot, Garth Covernton, Andrew Koole, Jocelyn Price Produced and Mixed By: Warne Livesey Engineered By: Warne Livesey, Nygel Asselin and Paul Boechler Assisted By: Evan Clarke 4. Our Friends Say – beekeeper & Ali Milner ℗ 2012 Ali Milner & beekeeper © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Devon Lougheed, Ali Milner, Luke Cyca, Erik Nielsen, Brandi Sidoryk Produced, Engineered and Mixed by: Alex (“Condor”) Aligizakis Assistant Engineer: Isaac Min 5. Rusted Heart – Mike Edel & The Fugitives ℗ 2012 Mike Edel & The Fugitives © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Mike Edel, Adrian Glynn McMorran, Brendan McLeod, Nigel Barry, Kiana Brasset, Colin McTaggart, Sjoerd Meyer Produced, Engineered and Mixed By: Jeff Dawson Assistant Engineer: Brendan Stookey 6. Wake Up – The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer & Portage and Main ℗ 2012 The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer & Portage and Main © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Shawn Hall, Matthew Rogers, Harold Donnelly, John Sponarski Produced and Mixed By: Warne Livesey Engineered By: Warne Livesey and Paul Boechler Assisted By: Evan Clarke 7. Stand Your Ground – Redgy Blackout & T.Nile ℗ 2012 Redgy Blackout & T.Nile © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Jeremy Breaks, Scott Perrie, Tamara Nile, Ryan Hauschild Produced, Engineered and Mixed By: Winston Hauschild Assisted By: Kevin Shuttleworth 8. Night Eyes – Maurice & Tough Lovers ℗ 2012 Maurice & Tough Lovers © 2012 Music and Lyrics by JP Maurice, Nick Mcrae, Evan Konrad, Graham Madden, Jamie Smail, Ryan Stephenson, Dane Stevens Produced, Engineered and Mixed By: Jeff Dawson Assistant Engineer: Brendan Stookey 9. Make It – The Gay Nineties & Georgia Murray ℗ 2012 The Gay Nineties & Georgia Murray © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Georgia Murray, Tony Day, Parker Bossley, Malcolm Holt, Daniel Knowlton, Bruce Ledingham, Jesse Manason, David Parfit Produced and Mixed By: Shawn Cole Engineered By: Nygel Asselin Assisted By: Joshua Field 10. Separate Ways (One for the Road) – The River and the Road & Fields of Green ℗ 2012 The River and the Road & Fields of Green © 2012 Music and Lyrics by Alex Aligizakis, Andrew Phelan, Keenan Lawlor, John Hayes, Cole George, Kyle Tubbs, Kevin Dreger, Connor Tkach, Johnny Jansen Produced and Mixed by: Alex (“Condor”) Aligizakis Engineered by: Alex (“Condor”) Aligizakis and Paul Boechler Assistant Engineer: Isaac Min

PPP Duet w/ 5th place Mike Edel. He will breakout in the next couple of years with the right producer, as showcased by his most recent singles where he's moved away from a solo-artist acoustic feel.