 
http://www.thetrewsmusic.com
The ‘T’ in The Trews could stand for “tireless.” With four albums in seven years, two of them gold; 10 Top-10 singles, two of them No.1 and one gold; multiple awards, for best single, video and live group; and close to 800 live shows under its belt, including support slots for the Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Guns N’ Roses, Nickelback and KISS, the Canadian rock band never rests.
The Trews — comprised of lead vocalist Colin MacDonald; his brother, guitarist John- Angus MacDonald; cousin, drummer Sean Dalton, and long-time friend, bassist Jack Syperek — keep pushing themselves in the studio and onstage, always ready to give an intuitive and intense rock ‘n’ roll show of songs that have killer hooks, such as “Hold Me In Your Arms” from the band’s latest studio album, No Time For Later. The song, whose video rose to No.1 on national television station MuchMusic, achieved gold status for sales of 20,000-plus digital downloads. The U.S. Indie Music Awards declared it 2009’s Best Hard Rock Song.
“If you want to keep making records that are at all interesting or fun to listen to, you gotta go places,” says John-Angus of how the band steadily increases its fanbase year to year, album to album.
And go places they have. Following No Time For Later, The Trews decided to do something totally different — an acoustic CD/DVD. Recorded at Toronto’s Glenn Gould Theatre over two days, Friends And Total Strangers reinvents their classic hits and intersperses some unreleased rarities and new songs. Released in October 2009, they backed it up with a 30-date sold-out acoustic tour and the DVD was just nominated for a coveted JUNO Award (Canada’s Grammy’s), which is announced mid April.
“I just love acoustic sets,” says Sean. “If we were at a house party at three in the morning, we'd be doing same. It's nice to sit around and sing the songs and hear them in a different light. It makes you a better musician too. You have to try harder, stay in tune, be more articulate."
The strong musicianship has been built over years of working together with the original lineup. They formed as One I’d Trouser in 1997 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, when the four were still in high school, and released a self-titled EP. The guys then moved to the Niagara region of Ontario and truncated the band name to Trouser. In 2002, they signed with Bumstead Records and were about to release a second EP, when they received a cease and desist over the name. Thus came their final moniker change to The Trews.
In 2003, they released their debut full-length, House of Ill Fame, which yielded multiple hit singles, such as “Not Ready To Go” and “Tired of Waiting.” Moving next to Toronto, which is now their home base, the follow-up album, 2005’s Den of Thieves, was produced by Jack Douglas (Lennon/Yoko, Aerosmith), and again spawned several singles, including “So She’s Leaving.”
Perennially recognized for their creative output, The Trews are 5x JUNO Award nominees, were nominated for Best New Band by SPIN.com and Best New Band by Classic Rock magazine in the UK. They also won Hard/Rock/Metal Song of the year at the U.S. Independent Music Awards. Although 2010 has only just kicked off, their song “Sing Your Heart Out” from Friends And Total Strangers was nominated for Best AAA/Alternative Song at the 2010 U.S. International Acoustic Music Awards and the band is up for Favourite Live Artist Group at the 2010 Independent Music Awards in March.
Meanwhile, this tireless band is hard at work writing for their next album, due for release in 2011, and true to character, they will hit the road this summer to do what they do best — play live.
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Chris Caddell And The Wreckage
myspace.com/chriscaddell
In a world of paparazzi-star turned singer, tabloid-inspired lyrics and exhausted auto-tune, it can be hard to spot natural talent in the music biz.
But Chris Caddell is the real deal.
Have a pint and listen to Chris Caddell play guitar, and you will be reminded of the craftsmanship and artful talent that used to characterize the music industry. Caddell takes his audience back to a time when guitarists were superheroes – a time when Jimi Hendrix electrified anthems and Eric Clapton sang about heaven like it was a place he’d been.
Chis Caddell is a guitarist of rare breed. You know its Caddell on the tune, not only because of his signature raspy voice but because he makes the guitar sing too. He is an animated player and one who plays his stringed songbird (always a Fender) as if it were an extension of his arm. But Caddell’s guitar definitely has a life of it’s own.
Since arriving in Toronto in 2002, Caddell has become one of the most sought-after musicians in Canada. He has shared the recording studio and stage with Sass Jordan, Colin James, Hawksley Workman, Amanda Marshall, Fefe Dobson, Melissa O’Neill, Rex Goudie, Tara Sloane, Susie McNeil, Thornley and the late Jeff Healey.
Most recently, Chris Caddell and The Wreckage were chosen out of hundreds of hopeful bands looking to share the stage with Bon Jovi at Toronto’s Roger Centre this summer.
Caddell’s debut album, “Chris Caddell and The Wreckage” is a southern rock album with all the makings of a classic. Produced by Casey Marshall (EMI Publishing), the album features co-writing credits and back-up vocals by Canadian rocker, Ian Thornley. Highlights off the album include the unbelievably catchy “Through My Hands (Electric),” the blue-collar anthem “Workin,” and “People Get Ready,” an insightful and soulful cover of the Curtis Mayfield classic. Caddell has long been inspired by the likes of Jimmi Hendrix and is always the first to list off his music inspirations - rock gods such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, B.B. King, Colin James and Doyle Bramhall II are frequently covered by Caddell. But fans of Chris know it won’t be long before he’s hailed in the same light.
These days true talent might seem like a myth in the music biz, but when Chris Caddell makes rock, he makes you a believer.
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The Junction
myspace.com/thejunction
'We're a rock band from Toronto. We've been described as a Strokes meets Pearl Jam/Radiohead. We've done the indie route, then the major label route, and now we're back to the indie route. Only now we have the best record we've ever done and lessons learned.'
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Lazybones
myspace.com/lazybonestm
Lazybones began as a recording project for east coast 2 songwriters who in previous lives fronted 2 completely different bands. In Arlibido Tim Macneill combined pop, reggae and ska while Matt Wells and his band Bucket Truck twisted folk driven protest songs with hardcore metal. Lazybones has slowly moved from the kitchen to the studio and now the stage finding a musical meeting place somewhere between Bob Marley and Willie Nelson…..or something like that.
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Grand Analog
myspace.com/grandanalog
Grand Analog is unbalanced and dirty; never clean. Grand Analog is fuzzy with three coats of dust and reads like an old manual no longer in use. The music is a beautiful mess of rap'n'roll dub and soul; a hip hop slop shop of times good and bad. Calligraffiti: for the tired heavy heart, ridden with struggle and happiness.
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Maestro Fresh Wes
http://www.myspace.com/maestrofreshwes
Wes Williams has been involved in the entertainment industry for over 20 years. Internationally known as Maestro Fresh Wes, he has released 6 albums, received awards including 2 Juno Awards (Canada's Grammy Award), catapulting himself into Canadian history for being the best selling Hip Hop artist his country has ever produced.His first lp “Symphony in Effect”which came out in 1989 still remains the best selling Hip Hop album in Canadian music history. “Let Your Backbone Slide” is the only Canadian Hip Hop single to reach Gold status as well as being the first Hip Hop song to premier on Billboards Top 20 Rap Singles Chart. Maestro’s talent to reinvent himself has helped strengthen his career and carried him forward to continue writing and recording exeptional material and has kept him performing with top selling international artists such as RunDMC and Public Enemy to name a few.
He has also worked along side several Canadian stars such as Glenn Lewis, Deborah Cox, Alanis Morrisette, Snow, Kardinal Offishall and Saukrates. As an actor Wes was recently praised for his portrayal of Tony Bogard in the Golden Globe nominated film “Redemption: The Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams Story” which starred Jamie Foxx as the former co-founder of the Crip Gang. He currently stars in two television series “Metropia” (Omni Network) and “Instant Star” (Noggin/CTV). Wes has been featured on several projects such as Universal Film’s “Honey” and Showtime’s t.v. series “Soul Food”. He is also in the Paramount Pictures film "Four Brothers" and was recently nominated for a Gemeni Award (Canada's version of the Emmy Awards) for Best Ensemble Cast for "Instant Star" which is now syndicated in 120 countries. In 2006 Wes was inducted in Scarborough's Walk Of Fame for his contributions in the entertainment industry.
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StereoKid
myspace.com/stereokidband
Originating from Oakville Ontario, Stereokid is Greg Neal (Lead Vocals and Guitar), Dan Neal (Bass), Kenta Aoki (Lead Guitar) and Roger Lambert (Drums). Since 2009, Stereokid has been rocking sold out shows across the GTA. Their distinctive sound - a blend of hip-hop, funk and pop - has seen them play with such major label artists as illscarlett, USS, and Classified. Stereokid has played shows throughout Quebec and Ontario, and continues to work on new grooves, bigger shows, and bringing their unique style to new audiences.
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