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My Excuse – Emerging Artist Spotlight CMW 2013 Edition

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My Excuse
T-Mak World has extensive coverage of Canadian Music Week here

March 10 2013 – Canadian Music Week 2013 is almost here and we can’t wait for hundreds of bands to invade the bars and clubs of our fair city as part of the festival’s Canadian Music Fest program. Admittedly the names are slightly confusing but Canadian Music Week is the master name of the festival that is composed of a film program (Canadian Music Week Film Fest), a comedy program (Canadian International Comedy Fest), a conference, awards shows, a trade show and a kick ass music festival called Canadian Music Fest that runs between March 19-24 2013. 
In 2012, T-Mak World initiated extensive coverage of Canadian Music Fest and we saw a total of 34 bands/artists and interviewed the following 10 bands as part of our Emerging Artist Spotlight series: 
Beta from Puebla, Mexico (Alternative,Grunge,Rock)

Breaching Vista from Kitchener, Ontario (Alternative,Pop,Rock)
Floor Thirteen from Winnipeg, Manitoba (Alternative,Rock)
Grain from Edmonton, Alberta (Blues,Classic Rock,Rock)
In My Coma from Toronto, Ontario (Alternative,Progressive,Rock )
Last Bullet from Toronto, Ontario (Classic Rock,Rock)
Matt Groopie and The Bandits from Thornhill, Ontario (Blues, Classic Rock, Psychedelic Rock )
One Bad Son from Vancouver, B.C. (Rock)
Louder Than Love from Vancouver, B.C. (Rock)
TimeGiant from Toronto, Ontario (Rock) 


Our wrap up article from 2012 is here and we are excited to be back in 2013 and to add even more bands to our Emerging Artist Spotlight Series. Today we focus on a band from Thessaloniki, Greece (Ed. Note – My place of birth and I even spent 3 years going to High School there! woo hoo – Terry)  and their CMF profile reads: 


 My Excuse is an alternative modern rock band from Europe, formed by their frontman Steven Triant.

In 2010 they released the single “Is it Over Now”, produced by Grammy award winner Ronald Saint Germain (RHCP, Tool, Soundgarden, U2, Creed, 311), which saw huge success in Europe and established them as one of the most successful English speaking bands.

July 2012 and My Excuse have returned from their first U.S. tour. While in New York, they completed a series of live performances and recorded their second album. They successfully performed in a number of historic venues, including the Stars & Stripes Festival in Lake Michigan.

On July 11, 2012 My Excuse released their first international single on itunes, “Silent Revolution”. The track is part of their new album, which has been recorded while on their U.S. tour and produced by Ron Saint Germain.
Here is what they had to say to us: 

Hey My Excuse, 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?

My Excuse:Thank you too! The band members are: Steven -vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, Markus- electric guitar, Baha-drums, Teo-bass, Tasos-keys


My Excuse

How about the history of the band, when did you get started and how did it happen? 

My Excuse: (Steven) We were born and raised in Thessaloniki, a small town in Northern Greece. My father is Greek and my mom is from Beaumont, TX so I grew up in Greece, but with Southern family traditions, and also listening to rock n’ roll. I found the guys about 8 years ago and we immediately hit it off and started playing music in tiny venues. There isn’t a music scene in Greece, especially in our genre, and we were completely cut off from the global western music industry. It’s mostly Greek traditional and pop music. We struggled for years trying to introduce people to our kind of rock n’ roll and were forced to compromise and play well known rock covers to get people to see that we were actually good, its not like the states, rock n’ roll isn’t their music so people aren’t accustomed to listening to new bands play original material. We did this for 7 years, becoming tighter as a band, and saving money to record an album and hopefully come the US. We didn’t know if we would make it or if people would even like our music. it was difficult and there didn’t seem to be any hope for us to move forward. Finally, our manager at the time went to London to the office of Safta Jaffery (MUSE, Radiohead) and insisted on seeing him. Evidently his persistence made an impression on the founder of Taste Media, got him to listen to our demo, and explained the situation we were in. Safta loved the band, and along with producer Ron St Germain (Tool, Soundgarden, 311, Creed) flew to Greece to see us live. Two years later, we have recorded our album with Ron in New York, successfully funded a kickstarter project and along with the money we saved all these years we are now touring the US, the first band from Greece to ever do so.
Who are some of your musical influences? 

My Excuse: Because of our completely diverse background it’s hard to pinpoint specific influences. I am the songwriter and I have been exposed to American pop culture throughout my life so even though my main influences are artists like Pearl Jam and the whole 90’s scene, I can’t ignore the influence of Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson but also the 80’s glam rock era. But the rest of the band is compiled of a funk/jazz keyboard player, a blues guitarist, a bass player that ranges from Brit pop, electronica and band like Tool, and a drummer that has played everything from metal to Greek traditional middle eastern music. Add to that the fact that for years we have covered rock, house and hip hop music, it’s hard to say what it is that gives us our sound. 


Congratulations on being selected to play at Canadian Music Festival, what does the opportunity mean to you? 
My Excuse: Thank you! It means a lot to us that we got selected to play at CMF, one of the largest music festivals. Even though we wouldn’t admit it to ourselves it has always been our dream to go on a tour and get to play our music in front of well educated audiences all around the world! We are very excited!
My Excuse

When and where is your CMF gig? And more importantly, why should a music fan come and see your show instead of all the other choices available to them at that time? 

My Excuse: We are performing at “The Hideout” on the 20th of March. As far as why should someone choose to see as instead of someone else performing at that time, the only answer we could give you is that we are going to rock the show! We have worked really hard to get here and after all those years we’ve learned how to work best together and get the best results on stage. We have a distinctive sound that music fans seem to understand and love. It would be an honor for us to see new people loving our music as much as we do! 
Hideout is one of my favorite bars in the city for live music so I will definitely be there! What’s it like being on stage? Do you get nervous or are you thriving on the adrenaline (or somewhere in between)? 
My Excuse: We are nervous before the show, considering all that could go wrong. However, when we get on stage, it’s like someone has given us an adrenaline shot. So I guess it’s somewhere in between… We always want the audience to enjoy the show and that is why we give our best on stage.
What does 2013 hold for you? 
My Excuse: After our live performances in Canada, we will go back to Greece and continue our shows there. Hopefully we will get some rest and begin planning our next tour and our international album release! 


Imagine that you were asked to be the opener for any band’s world tour (both current and historical). Which band and tour would be your dream opening gig. 
My Excuse: They are too many to choose from. If we had to, it would be Kings of Leon, Muse, Radiohead, Pearl Jam… The list goes on… 
My Excuse

How important is the performer/audience connection? Can you rock a show as hard for 10 people as if you could playing an 80,000 person festival? 

My Excuse: If they are not “feeling it”, it doesn’t matter if they are 10 or 10,000! It depends on the audience, if they are connecting with you and your music you know you can rock the show! The connection between the performing band and the audience is crucial; it can distinguish a great show that you are going to remember for a while, from a regular one!

Where can people get your music/CD, is it being sold anywhere? 


My Excuse: Right now they can get it at our shows and pretty soon they will be able to get it everywhere!


At the end of 2012 we published our picks for top 10 albums of 2012. Lists like those are always a reflection of personal tastes so if you were making the list what are some albums you would you have had on it? 


 My Excuse: I guess we would have to choose “The 2nd Law” by Muse. There are a great number of albums on our top 10, but our music tastes vary from classic rock to pop (Michael Jackson) and dance music. This is one album that we would agree on! 

Any closing remarks for our readers? 


My Excuse: Thank you and we hope to see you at CMF! 


Thanks so much to MY EXCUSE. We hope that you can see them live. They have 2 gigs in Toronto as follows: 


Wednesday March 20, 2013 @ 10:00PM The Hideout, 484 Queen St. West 

 

Thursday March 21, 2013 @ 12:00AM The Sister, 1554 Queen St. West 
The band’s website is www.myexcuseband.com and as you would expect they are on Twitter @MyExcuseBand and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myexcuse. In the meantime check out their video below from YouTube. 

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