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| Last Bullet |
March 29 2012 – Slacker Canadian Music Week (CMW) 2012 happened in Toronto from March 21st to the 25th. 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, here for March 24th, and also recommendations for the whole festival here.
We weeded through all the bands bios found 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 series. 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, One Bad Son from Vancouver, Floor Thirteen from Winnipeg, Louder Than Love from Vancouver, and Breaching Vista from Kitchener. We now set our focus on a band from Toronto named Last Bullet. All bands we talked to are asked similar questions to each other so we can get to know them better. The description on Last Bullet’s CMW page reads:
A breath of fresh air from all the synthetic and computerized pop music currently on the radio, Last Bullet are a relentless, hard-hitting group of real musicians, with a bluesy style of high-energy rock, that you’ll be hard pressed to find in Toronto and possibly even Canada.
Looking to make a serious statement in the Toronto Music scene this 2011, Last Bullet have just recently released their first official studio album self-titled the “Last Bullet EP” and have already booked a solid line up of exciting and beneficial performances leading into the summer.
Last Bullet’s sound is a unique mix of both newer and classic hard rock, fusing the timeless, blues-influenced, energy-driven creativity of the 70’s and 80’s with the newest and highest quality methods of recording and production. They are directly influenced by bands like Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin.
Here is what they had to say to us:
Hey Last Bullet, 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?
Bryan Fontez – Vocals
Bryan Fontez – Vocals
Brenden Anthony – Lead Guitar
Michael Silva – Rhythm Guitar
Will Shannon – Bass
Leo Defina – Drums
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?
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?
Last Bullet: CMW is extremely important and any band looking to be taken seriously, should not only know about CMW, but should be fully participating in all of the events and conferences associated with it.
If you have any intentions of turning Music into a career, than it would be wise to take the week off work, check out the schedule and explore every single corner of the Royal York Hotel during this week.
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| Last Bullet |
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?
Last Bullet: Music is in a constant state of confusion, it’s always cycling and changing and morphing, but no matter what changes it incurs, the two sides locked in an eternal debate will always be organic vs electronic. If you look carefully, that battle has been going on for decades. The Beatles, The Doors, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppellin and so on, all began to fade slightly in the popular music market, which is when disco, funk, soul and R n B started to make a big splash, which led to synthesizers and loop machines used by artists like, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Depeche Mode, etc. Then bands like Aerosmith, The Cult, Guns N’ Roses and others took back the spotlight, with many to follow such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and more. The industry then reverted again to electronics when Hip-hop, house and pop music made a HUGE comeback with artists like the Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Biggie, 2pac and P. Diddy, giving birth to future artists like Eminem, Tiesto, Lady Gaga, Deadmau5 as well as new forms of music like Dubstep, Electro and fusions between the two including hip hop and pop.
With that said we feel like Rock is now set and primed to make it’s biggest comeback yet and we’re hoping to be at the forefront of that change. Rock will never die, because it’s about so much more than just music, it means more to people than just shows, bands and albums, it’s cultural and historical, it’s in the very fabric of who we are. Rock will never die, because people will always need it and be able to relate to it.
Why will 2012 be your best year ever?
Last Bullet: We’ve just had our first single “Girl’s Gone Wild” put on full rotation with one of the biggest FM rock stations in all of Canada, 100.3 The Bear in Edmonton. And now we’re focusing heavily on recording our next album, with new music that we’ve never been more excited about. We have a music video planned for our next single and then a huge tour to back the album in late summer/fall. So quite simply the answer would be… YES.
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?
Last Bullet: Well if I could actually BE one of the people in any band it would be Chris Cornell in Soundgarden, I’d kill to have his voice. But if it were just me in one of those bands… I dunno, I’d either wanna be the drummer for Black Sabbath or the Vocalist for Guns N’ Roses. I can’t guess for the rest of the guys but that’s my answer.
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?
Last Bullet: That’s extremely tough to say. The industry is definitely changing both for better and worse. While on one hand you have many more ways of reaching the public via social networking and the internet, you also have a lot more competition than there used to be. There’s a serious increase in bands and artists trying to make it which is putting a strain on the amount of solid contracts or even fans willing to fork over their money and follow an artist. With that said you have to be on top of your game in this industry, constantly pushing and working to improve and move forward in all areas. Otherwise the moment you choose to be lazy, mediocre or simply fail, ten other bands and artists will be waiting to fill the void and take your spot.
As far as music consumption goes… There will always be a small market of people who prefer physical copies of their music, as we’ve recently seen with the increase in vinyl sales. But that will be a niche market and all music will be consumed digitally. It has already happened and the proof is in music stores like HMV and Sunrise downsizing ridiculous amounts and shifting their business from Music to Movies and Video Games.
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| Last Bullet |
How long has the band been around, and how did you guys get started?
Last Bullet: We got together in late 2009. Michael and Brenden were high school friends and had both been jamming together a year or so previously, with no intention of forming a serious band. They began playing a lot of covers and jamming out some ideas. Leo Defina who also went to the same school, had been playing percussion in the school band for the past few years and heard that they were jamming together. He asked if he could join and so they continued learning covers, playing whatever came to mind and started writing their own music. They then decided to start a very casual search for a Bass Player. They put out an ad on Craigslist and Will Shannon was the first person to answer and audition. Once they realized that they just might have something special on their hands, they began writing more original music and decided to start a serious search for a Lead Singer/Frontman.
The search was long and tedious, but after going through a handful of singers over a period of about 9 months, they got a call from myself, Bryan Fontez. After showing up with my own lyrics written for the song “Can’t Move On”, I sang, we clicked, we all happened to be the same age, with the same interests and backgrounds… And the rest is history.
Where can people get your music/CD, is it being sold anywhere?
Last Bullet: It most definitely is! You can purchase our EP digitally off of our website www.lastbulletmusic.com , on iTunes or a physical copy either at a show or from CDBaby.com
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?
Last Bullet: The list you have isn’t bad but you’re missing three huge albums that I would have included…
The search was long and tedious, but after going through a handful of singers over a period of about 9 months, they got a call from myself, Bryan Fontez. After showing up with my own lyrics written for the song “Can’t Move On”, I sang, we clicked, we all happened to be the same age, with the same interests and backgrounds… And the rest is history.
Where can people get your music/CD, is it being sold anywhere?
Last Bullet: It most definitely is! You can purchase our EP digitally off of our website www.lastbulletmusic.com , on iTunes or a physical copy either at a show or from CDBaby.com
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?
Last Bullet: The list you have isn’t bad but you’re missing three huge albums that I would have included…
Rival Sons – Pressure And Time
Monster Truck – The Brown EP
The Sheep Dogs – Five Easy Pieces [EP]
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| Last Bullet |
Any closing remarks for our readers?
Last Bullet: Nothing in particular, just want everyone to know that if you come to one of our shows and you’re not entertained, we’ll refund your money, buy you a beer and I’ll let you punch me square in the face. We play a very bluesy, heavy, high energy style of sexy Rock N’ Roll, so if you dig that kind of vibe we’ll get a long just fine. See you at the show.
Last Bullet: Nothing in particular, just want everyone to know that if you come to one of our shows and you’re not entertained, we’ll refund your money, buy you a beer and I’ll let you punch me square in the face. We play a very bluesy, heavy, high energy style of sexy Rock N’ Roll, so if you dig that kind of vibe we’ll get a long just fine. See you at the show.
And thank you for the interview. Much appreciated.
Thanks so much to Last Bullet. We hope that you can see them live. They are playing The Horseshoe Tavern on Saturday April 21st. 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.
Great interview! I thought you guys were from Toronto, bit o heard on the Bear you were from LA. When are you gonna come down to Edmonton and play?
bassmayhem – we are from Toronto! we were extremely lucky to have been given an opportunity to be on full rotation on 100.3 the bear. It's rare for an indie band to break onto fm radio these days, so we're extremely proud of that accomplishment. We wanna get to Edmonton ASAP. We're going into the studio to record our next EP in april, with hopes of a tour to follow that, and we will definitely be heading out west, so we'll be seeing each other soon i hope! til then keep in touch with us through any of our social media sites. http://www.facebook.com/lastbulletmusic http://www.twitter.com/lastbulletmusic
rock on!!
-Last Bullet
Wicked! I had a five song disc of yours I picked up at CMW cranked up in my truck today on the way to work. Love it, good stuff! I'm in a band called Grain from Edmonton, totally indie, and we're starting to make some noise out here. We'd love to open up any shows you guys pick up out this way on your tour. We did a spotlight interview on TMak just before CMW, check it out and keep us in mind for the future west coast tour! Cheers!
BTW- good to know that Paul Brown is full of shit! he's the one who said you were from LA!
http://www.twitter.com/GrainTheBand
http://www.twitter.com/bassmayhem