Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

North Lakes is a rock and roll band in denial. Or at least they used to be. Leaving behind the band’s more folky, alt-country tinged sound, this month North Lakes release Grand Prix, the fast-moving follow-up to 2010’s Cobra. “We got to the point where we felt like we wanted to make an aggressive rock record because it’s just how we like to play. It’s how we
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

A couple of months ago, after seeing no money from their label, Paper Lions made the band’s last album 2010‘s Trophies available for free online. One day while breaking for lunch at practice, the guys checked the band’s website. “Usually we get 200 hits a day and we came up at lunch and there was like 800 hits and we were like, ‘What the hell is going
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

After several years in the local scene, Boxer the Horse knows a lot about music, but the band also knows almost as much about Caesars—where to get the best ones in Canada, in Charlottetown and even Caesar-making competitions. With the release of their sophomore album French Residency this month and a national tour with Juno Award-winning group Said the Whale, the
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

It all started with a dream. Bad Mountie lead singer and guitar player Jon Gallant had just graduated from high school and wasn’t sure what to do with his life. Since he was a kid he’d always loved the RCMP so he started filling out an application form. Before he could send it in his two brothers and his cousin intervened. “We gave him an ultimatum,” says
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Wake Up Earthquake formed one night in 2009 when lead vocalist and guitarist Chris Rayner was playing at an open mic. Afterwards drummer Josh Simon approached him and said, “We need to play in a band together.” At that time Rayner and bassist Vaughn Murphy were already jamming.

“It wasn’t so much a serious thing, just kind of learning how each other plays,”
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Raccoon Bandit may have already released two albums since forming in 2008 but now the band is anticipating their most unique project yet. This month the four-piece folk-rock group will release a split ten-inch vinyl with fellow Charlottetown band Sister Jack. “The idea is four songs, two per band,” explains Bandit singer and guitarist Fraser McCallum. “Two A
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Named after the most unlikeable animal on PEI, Coyote is a reincarnation of the goofily-named group Solid Gold Workout. Unlike the pet-eating mongrel, this band of five friends are friendly, and ready to showcase their new pop sound and line-up, while keeping their energetic live shows. The band became Coyote over the last year, with it’s three original members
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Honestly! The songs and stories of Nancy White and Erskine Smith

Review by Katie Rankin

Storytelling and song are often considered one and the same, but that doesn’t mean telling stories and singing songs always go together like peanut butter and jelly. They’re different forms of entertainment and when you stick them together there should be a common theme and cohesion. In Honestly! The
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

While most new bands spend months or years writing, practicing and fighting in their parents’ basements, Colour Code was already in the running for an ECMA showcase before all the members had even met. Last spring, after having written a few songs, singer and guitar player Emilee Sorrey sent fellow singer and guitar player Sam Rayner a link to a competition in which
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

After several years of metamorphosis, Sister Jack is a butterfly. Like many local bands, the group’s core has undergone line-up and sound changes, not to mention a few names. Led by singer-songwriter Andrew Murray, it stemmed out of his solo music and then self-titled band. Now with a two and a half year-old solid line-up the band has recently released their first
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Till it Hurts

Review by Katie Rankin

We’d all like to think we’ve made a difference, that our lives have meant something, that we’ve changed someone or something for the better. That’s probably one of the reasons why people give to charities. It’s a way to feel confident that their contribution as affected positive change in the world. In Douglas Bowie’s comedy Till it Hurts at
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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Molly Rankin [no relation] is a bit of an anomaly on Prince Edward Island. She’s a female singer-songwriter more likely to be found opening for sweaty indie rock bands at a bar rather than strumming her acoustic guitar at a cozy coffee shop. Along with her band, she plays folk-pop songs about love, heartbreak and loss, drawing influences from a range of music
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