Harvest Announces 2011 Galaxie Rising Star Finalists
August 30, 2011
The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival announced today the six finalists who will compete to be Harvest’s 2011 Galaxie Rising Star. Presented by the Festival and Galaxie, the continuous music network, the Rising Star Showcase is one of the region’s most important and highly competitive musical competitions, and a potentially career-launching opportunity for developing New Brunswick performers, offering regional and national exposure for the top six finalists.
This year’s finalists are Fredericton’s Jaclyn Reinhart Band, the Arka Teks, and the Hungry Hearts, Owen Steel from St. Andrews, Mike Biggar from Rothesay, and Lonesome Line from Edmundston.
These six talented finalists will perform on Friday, September 16th at 3pm in the Galaxie Barracks Tent in downtown Fredericton, where they will be judged on talent, originality and stage presence by a panel of music industry experts. A pre-event online voting campaign will take place and votes will also be taken from members of the audience that afternoon, so participants are encouraged to bring out family and friends for support. The five industry judges will comprise 50% of the final vote tally and the audience and online voting will represent the remaining 50%. In the event of a tie, the choice of the industry judges will prevail.
“We are thrilled to be partnering again with The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival for the Galaxie Rising Star Award,” says Gary Pelletier, VP Marketing at Stingray Digital and administrator of the Galaxie Rising Stars Program. “We continue to see the rising popularity of the Galaxie Rising Star Award as an important part of this great festival. It is important for us to recognize strong local talent, and to provide a stage for these emerging artists to showcase their talent.”
“The Harvest commitment to developing local talent is strong with around 35% of our programming being local each September. We’ve seen some of our Galaxie Rising Stars go on to do some amazing things over the years, and that is a testament to the musical talent that exists in New Brunswick,” says Brent Staeben, Music Director for the Festival. “We’re thrilled to be part of Galaxie’s national program at a time when New Brunswick artists need all the exposure and support they can get. We couldn’t be happier with Galaxie’s vote of confidence in Harvest and with our six 2011 finalists.”
The showcase is sure to be a tight competition, as all six finalists are known for their high-quality musicianship, although there is notable genre diversity among the competitors. The winner – which will be announced right after the competition on September 16th – will receive $2,000 donated by Galaxie and the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, and will have the opportunity to have their music played on one of the Galaxie TV channels and be featured on galaxie.ca. There will also be a $500 prize for best original song.
The winning band or artist will also kick off the Galaxie Barracks festivities on Saturday, September 17th, opening for Halifax pop prince Rich Aucoin and Brooklyn’s five-piece funk group The Pimps of Joytime.
Fans can vote online for their favourite finalist here: http://www.galaxie.ca/en_CA/risingStar/futureEvents/Harvest%2BJazz%2B%2526%2BBlues%2BFestival/167. Online voting will end on Thursday, September 15th, the day before the Galaxie Rising Star competition in the Barracks Tent.
More about each finalist:
The Arka Teks (Fredericton)
Fredericton based electro group The Arka Teks have been steadily building a head of steam since forming in the summer of 2009. With the release of their debut album Night Life in July 2010, the group picked up two MusicNB awards (Electronic Recording and the coveted Fans’s Choice) as well as an ECMA nomination for Pop Recording of The Year. After a successful number of showcases during ECMA week in Charlottetown, the group landed song placements in the hit TV shows Degrassi and Rookie Blue. In July of 2011, the group released their sophomore effort Evolver which hit #2 on the iTunes Canadian Electronic Albums chart. With the recent addition of drummer Ryan Eatman, founding members Tyler Lombard (vocals) and Nick Fowler (guitar, synth, programming) have been able to take the live show to another level. Their charismatic and high energy performances are designed to engage the crowd while the unique blend of pop, rock and hard-hitting electronic beats keep them moving.
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The Lonesome Line (Edmunston)
From Edmundston New Brunswick, The Lonesome Line is a power trio who do more than play conventional folk rock. Their distinctive sound is an amalgamation of alt-country, Americana and rock and roll mixed with potent and sincere lyrics covering personal, moral and environmental issues. The band has been together for three years, so their sound is fresh yet mature and also simple yet refined. These childhood friends play purely out of passion and love for music, which is reflected by their intense performances.
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Jaclyn Reinhart Band (Fredericton)
Jaclyn Reinhart Band is a Canadian pop-rock band, formed in Fredericton in 2010 and building up on Reinhart’s solo work dating back to 2005. The group’s musical style fuses traditional acoustic pop with elements of other genres, including alternative rock and electric blues. The band consists of founder Jaclyn Reinhart (vocals, acoustic guitar), alongside longtime bassist Anthony “Tony” Patterson, singer-songwriter-pianist Jessy Ashfield,
guitarist Camilo V, and drummer Jeff DiPaolo. Favorite Mistakes (2011), the group’s first commercial release, recorded at the ECMA-nominated studio Outreach Productions, sold out its initial limited run and was recently made available through digital distribution. The Jaclyn Reinhart Band is currently working on material for their next production after wrapping up a successful summer playing shows around the East Coast.
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Mike Biggar (Rothesay)
The name says it all, really: Mike Biggar is larger than life. In personality, vocal dynamics and sheer physical presence, he commands notice and makes an impression not easily forgotten. His self-titled 2009 EP gave notice that here was a new East Coast force to be reckoned with, with soul-stirring vocals teamed with superb self-written songs, which mix infectious roots rock melodies with hints of blues, R&B, rock, country and gospel. The Season, Mike’s 2010 Christmas album, showed a multi-tasking Biggar singing, playing drums and acoustic guitar. The album garnered commercial airplay nationwide and sold surprisingly well. Now with a new full-length album on the way, Biggar is busier than ever and enjoying increased attention with every turn. In his live performance his goal is to deliver an experience that’s fully furnished with life—from the heights of love and tenderness to the deep, dark pools of struggle and uncertainty – playing each performance like it’s his final one and put all that I am out there on the stage for people to experience.
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Owen Steel (Halifax-via-St. Andrews)
In the world of well educated musicians, Owen Steel admits he is low on the ladder, knowing little of theory or history of music. Still, he cannot deny his love and appreciation for it, whether it be to write it, listen to it, or play it. As a young, “aspiring songsmith”, Steel tries to put an emphasis on lyrics/vocal arrangements and allow room for the songs to work in various forms, whether being performed as a duo, trio, quartet or solo. Primarily a folk-roots artist, Steel can drift toward into funk/groove, jug band and blues territory, depending on who he is playing with. In the past couple of years Steel has successfully toured two limited edition EPs and a cassette around Eastern Canada, which led up to a full-length, grant-funded album. In November of 2010 he was part of a New Brunswick emerging artists tour which was programmed into some of the provinces most stunning, soft seat theatres. He has opened for a wide array of performers including Old Man Luedecke, Fred Eaglesmith, Steve Poltz, Guy Davis, and Elliott Brood. He has started working on a second full length album, but for the summer, he has been touring a re-issue of his first.
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Hungry Hearts (Fredericton)
Since forming a little more than 2 years ago, Hungry Hearts have created a fully-realized sound that reflects their diverse tastes and touches on some of rock’s most enduring staples – the raw energy and simplicity of classic rock, the urgency of modern alternative music and the honest, in-your-face lyricism and attitude of punk and hardcore. The band’s dynamic sound has allowed them to share the stage with such bands as By Divine Right, In-Flight Safety, Crush Luther, The Stanfields and The Love Machine, who they toured with in the fall of 2010. Following that tour the band hit the studio with Fredericton’s Brad Perry (Forward Music Group) to record their debut album. The final product - entitled It’s Love - is an 11-track showcase of the bands signature strengths: solid guitar work, tight drumming and passionate vocal performances from all members of the band. With their full length finished, Hungry Hearts are ready to take the world by storm. Are you hungry yet?
