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| One Bad Son (Photo by Mark Maryanovich) |
March 26 2012 – Slacker Canadian Music Week (CMW) 2012 took over Toronto from March 21st to the 25th of 2012. CMW is a music festival, conference, exhibition, and even a film festival all rolled into one. It is also billed as “Canada’s Largest Music Festival” and aims to bring exposure to Canadian music of all genres and in general to support the Canadian music industry. Over 900 artists from 40 countries in 60 venues converge for 5 nights in Toronto and this puts us on the map in terms of large artistic and creative gatherings. Having just come back from the fabled South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, we are very pleased that Toronto will host CMW and we are certain that CMW will grow in both number of attendees and stature in the music industry (much like Toronto’s International Film Festival has). You can read a recap of some of the festival’s highlights here for March 21st, here for March 22nd, here for the 23rd, and also recommendations for the whole festival here.
We weeded through all the bands bios found on the CMW site here and narrowed it down to the ones that were of interest to us musically. From there we quickly listened to a sample of their songs found on the same page and were left with a handful of bands that we were interested in finding out more about. We approached those bands and offered them to appear on our Emerging Artist Spotlight feature. So far our CMW spotlights featured TimeGiant from Toronto, Grain from Edmonton, Matt Groopie and The Bandits from Richmond Hill, Beta from Mexico, In My Coma from Toronto, and Breaching Vista from Kitchener. We now set our focus on yet a band from Saskatoon now in Vancouver named One Bad Son. All bands we talked to are asked similar questions to each other so we can get to know them better. The description on One Bad Son‘s CMW page reads:
If the greatest rock and roll stories need an underdog, then One Bad Son is the Rocky Balboa of modern rock…
With an over the top live show drawing comparisons to bands like the Who, Zeppelin, and Guns n Roses, and a writing style in the vein of Soundgarden and Thin Lizzy, the band is finally getting the attention it deserves after years of developing their live show, honing their songwriting, and taking the road less traveled.
After 5 years of making waves in their hometown of Saskatoon, SK, releasing two independent records (2006’s This Aggression Will Not Stand and 2007’s Orange City) along with non-stop touring, the band won a province-wide competition to open for Godsmack in front of 3000. They were subsequently awarded an opening slot for Default and Buckcherry in 2008. That tour resulted in Default drummer Danny Craig signing on to produce their next album. The band decided to make the move from Saskatoon to Vancouver in 2010, to make the most of the doors that were opening.
Here is what they had to say to us:
1. Hey guys, thanks for taking the time out to talk to us. Let’s start off with the obligatory introductions. Who’s in the band and what instrument does everyone rock?
One Bad Son: We are One Bad Son. Consisting of Adam Hicks (guitars) Granny (bass) Kurt (drums) and Shane (vocals).
2. We found you as we were searching through the mountain of artists being featured at the 2012 Canada Music Week. How important is CMW for bands fighting to get noticed and the exposure you can gain from it?
One Bad Son: For One Bad Son this year’s CMW is a very important weekend. Being from Vancouver, it is vital to get some exposure in Toronto and CMW is the perfect place to do so. Obviously there are great opportunities to meet and learn from a large variety of industry people. You never know who is watching your showcase. Furthermore, as musicians and music fans, the quality/variety of music at CMW makes for an amazing experience.
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| One Bad Son (Photo by Mark Maryanovich) |
3. Not sure if you read the recent interview with Dave Grohl on Billboard, but the interview title was “Why Rock Will Never Die & Why 2011 Was His Best Year Ever”. So tell us your thoughts – Why do you believe rock will never die?
One Bad Son: Rock n Roll will never die, but like all of us, it may have a few too many drinks and forget what its doing from time to time. What we’re saying, and we’ve seen it in the past, is that just because rock music isn’t the biggest genre in the world doesn’t mean its not alive and kicking.
4. Why will 2012 be your best year ever?
One Bad Son: 2012 is already proving itself to be a huge year for the band. The stars seem to be lining up for the remainder of the year as well. The albums is in the final stages of preparation before release. We’re planning to put out a single in the next couple of weeks and then have the album drop in the late spring. And from there we plan to hit the road with no end in sight. As a band, we’re feeling really confident that 2012 will be a milestone year.
5. Imagine each of you were the guitarist/drummer/bassist/vocalist in another band. Would that band be: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath or Nickelback and why?
One Bad Son: We have our idols, but none of us can imagine playing in any other band.
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| That ain’t Queen that is Vancouver’s One Bad Son |
6. What is the future of the music industry? With the concept of the album and physical CD’s facing extinction, how will we be consuming music in 10 years? Are the economics feasible for emerging artists?
One Bad Son: We were actually discussing this topic after our set at the CMW, The best advice we received was to just write great songs and let the industry and radio come to you. Obviously this is easier said than done and we understand that the industry is in a constant state of change. All we’re saying is that no one knows exactly where the industry is headed, but bands should not let economics and uncertainty deter them from doing what they want to do. In light of all this, and regardless of the changes to come, bands love to play live, and we believe fans will always love live music.
7. How long has the band been around, and how did you guys get started?
One Bad Son: We formed in 2004 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. We were all from the area and had similar musical influences. So when we started jamming it all seemed to make sense. Over the next 6 years, we jammed relentlessly, toured Western Canada and in 2010 left the prairies and migrated west to Vancouver.
8. Where can people get your music/CD, is it being sold anywhere?
One Bad Son: The album is to be released in the next couple months. It will be available on our website (www.onebadson.com), iTunes and at our live shows. Basically anywhere you can think of getting music from, we’ll be there. In the meantime, we have a 3 song EP and 2 previous albums available on iTunes.
9. At the end of 2011 we did our picks for top 10 albums of 2011. What albums did we miss on our list, or how would your top 10 list differ from ours?
One Bad Son: Great list you have there. Hicks digs the new Mastodon album. Obviously the Black Keys are insanely popular. As a band, we’ve been on a collective Rush kick. We truly respect how the Foo Fighters recorded their new album. Our only additions would be the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album “I’m WIth You” and Kurt’s personal favourite, Tom Waits’ “Bad As Me”.
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| One Bad Son |
Any closing remarks for our readers?
One Bad Son: First of all a big thanks to the 2012 CMW and to T-MAK WORLD. If you did catch our show, thank you, we hope you enjoyed. As we mentioned earlier, 2012 is going to be a great year for One bad Son. If it sounds like we’d tickle your fancy check out our tunes, we would love to hear what you have to say. We will be coming to your town sooner or later, so stay tuned.
Thanks so much to One Bad Son. We hope that you can see them live or check out their music. The band’s website is here and as you would expect they are on Twitter and Facebook. In the meantime check out their video below from YouTube.
