SaskMusic

Links

• www.evrazplace.com/events/queen-city-ex

ORIGINAL 16 GRANDSTAND STAGE

FRIDAY AUGUST 20:

Reklaws 

Born and raised in rural Ontario, The Reklaws are made up of sibling duo Jenna and Stuart Walker. They found their breakout success with their single “Long Live the Night” when it quickly became the most-streamed domestic song of all Canadian country artists released in 2018 and 2019 and was selected as the theme song for the national broadcast of the Canadian Football League’s (“CFL”) Thursday Night Football for both 2018 & 2019 seasons. The momentum for the Reklaws skyrocketed after their debut EP, “Feels Like That” launched and was awarded the 2019 CCMA for Album of the Year. The title single, “Feels Like That” was also The Reklaws' first #1 at Canadian Country Radio and is certified GOLD in Canada.

In 2019, they earned their first JUNO nomination for Country Album of The Year, as well as a live performance spot on the JUNO’s national broadcast. This same year, they released their PLATINUM-certified single "Can't Help Myself,” with their long-time country music hero Dean Brody, following their first national tour (Canada) alongside Brody on the "Friends Don't Let Friends Tour Alone Tour." “Can’t Help Myself” has since become PLATINUM-certified and landed them their second #1 at Canadian Radio.

The pair went on to release their second full-length album Sophomore Slump in October of 2020. Their current single "Not Gonna Not" and their GOLD-certified track "Where I'm From" can be found on this album. Add in a 2020 JUNO nomination for Group Of The Year making them the first country artist to be nominated in this category in over 20 years, and another Group of The Year nomination in 2021 and it’s clear to see that The Reklaws are poised to be country’s next superstars.

 

JoJo Mason

For 604 Records recording artist JoJo Mason, the past three years have been an incredible journey.

Now, with five Top 10 tracks under his belt, the BC based two-time CCMA Rising Star Award nominee is ready to hit the ground running once again, with the release of “Chemical”. This high energy track is the first release from Mason’s 2020 EP "Changes" - released October 9, and was co-written by Mitchell Tenpenny, Lindsay Rimes and ERNEST.

​Mason’s 2019 sophomore EP “Chapter Two” was a fan favourite, with lead single “Future” quickly becoming his highest streamed song to date. The track peaked Mason’s interest immediately, notably blending two of his favourite genres; country, with a little bit of soul. 

​Written by Nashville singer/songwriter Mitchell Tenpenny, “Future” paints a vivid picture of what can happen when that one unforgettable moment occurs that changes your entire life, in ways no one could ever imagine, and for Mason, the song is nothing short of a game changer.

Follow up single, “Better On You” – another Tenpenny-penned track – highlights the more sensitive side of Mason. The Top 3 song has become his highest charting single to date, while his third single “As If We Won’t”, released November 25, 2019, had steady success on the charts at Canadian Country Radio. Co-written by Tenpenny, Lindsay Rimes & Matt Rogers, “As If We Won’t” switches gears from the approachable romance of “Future” and “Better On You” and rides the rollercoaster of an on-again-off-again love that neither person is ready to let go of.

​Where Mason shines brightest is in showcasing the dynamic, relatable layers of relationships through his sparkling vocals and larger than life, vibrant personality, and he is more than happy to continue providing the soundtrack for love in all capacities.

 

SATURDAY AUGUST 21

54-40

54-40 (often stylized 54.40) is a Canadian alternative rock group from Tsawwassen, British Columbia. The band take their name from the slogan "54-40 or Fight!", coined to express the unsuccessful expansionist agenda of James K. Polk's presidency, which was intent upon controlling a contested U.S.-Canada border area in the Oregon boundary dispute. 54-40 has had a successful career, with four of their albums being certified Platinum in Canada. The band has been nominated for eight Juno Awards. Between 1996 and 2016, 54-40 were among the top 150 selling Canadian artists in Canada and among the top 50 selling Canadian bands in Canada.

The Watchmen

A Canadian alternative rock unit based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Watchmen's muscular, roots-based pop sound drew comparisons to bands like the Tragically Hip, R.E.M., and the Wallflowers. Founded in 1988 around the talents of vocalist Danny Greaves, guitarist Joey Serlin, bassist Peter Loewen, and drummer Sammy Kohn, the band hit their commercial stride in the mid- to late '90s via gold- and platinum-selling studio triumphs like McLaren Furnace Room(1992), In the Trees (1994), Brand New Day (1996), and Silent Radar (1998). In 2001 the group issued their final studio album, the double-LP Slomotion, which included a greatest-hits collection. The album peaked at number six on the Canadian charts, and like the majority of its predecessors, eventually went gold.

 

SUNDAY AUGUST 22

The Halluci Nation - Formerly Tribe Called Red

The new project from Bear Witness and Tim “2oolman” Hill of A Tribe Called Red, The Halluci Nation takes its name from a phrase coined by late artist, poet and activist, John Trudell, to describe the vast global community of people who remember at their core what it means to be human, and who are living their lives in line with Indigenous values. Trudell recognized the connection between his accomplishments and what ATCR did intuitively through music and art. He understood the impact artists can have in demolishing the unnecessary walls that divide the people who inhabit this planet, and understood how far any voice can travel through the power of art. So, after careful consideration as they enter a new cycle, Bear Witness and 2oolman are reintroducing themselves as The Halluci Nation, to reflect the evolution of their music and mission into something larger and more world-focussed, while still maintaining a tether to the history that brought them here.

 

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 25

Scott Helman

Pop singer and songwriter who found major-label support while still in high school and broke through in Canada with his debut single, "Bungalow."

 

THURSDAY AUGUST 26

Hunter Brothers

“It’s ‘Been A Minute’ since we’ve played a live show. We miss performing and seeing the fans we love. We chose this as the title track of the album because it captures the season we are in right now, and tells the story of the last year,” said Ty Hunter. “We truly hope this collection of songs brings hope, joy, and light to those listening, and that it allows people to look forward to the day when we can all safely gather again and enjoy the beauty of human connection.”

Been A Minute is a compilation of Hunter Brothers’ signature harmonies and up-tempo hits which delve into the heart of the times the world is presently walking through. Five-time GRAMMY© Award nominee Hunter Hayes produced and co-wrote three tracks off the album, and was a key collaborator in the creative process of recording vocals for the record during a pandemic.

Tracks like “Hard Dirt” and “Just Wanted You to Know” speak to empathy, the challenges of life, and coming through circumstances more resilient than before, both as individuals and communities. “Captain” speaks to uncertainty while simultaneously acknowledging belief that there may be a greater picture we can’t fully see. The grat track, “Ask Her to Dance” reminds us to prioritize what’s most important in life, and not let the little moments pass us by. Songs like “Now or Never” and “Diamonds” are classic Hunter Brother tracks that thread the rest of the album together in a fun way, while “Take” spotlights the harmonies and the pursuit of relationship.

The Washboard Union

On their new album Everbound, The Washboard Union secure their status as one of Canada’s preeminent country bands with 10 songs that celebrate the simple joy of life. The follow-up to their 2018 album What We’re Made Of—which earned the trio their first JUNO Award for Breakthrough Group Of The Year—Everbound keeps the good times rolling with an irresistible blend of roof-raising anthems and poignant ballads.

The impeccable three-part harmony and top-notch musicianship once again displayed by Aaron Grain, Chris Duncombe and David Roberts is only one aspect of The Washboard Union’s appeal. With about 30 songs in the running to make Everbound’s final cut, the group was determined to offer only their best material, aided by the keen ears of Nashville producers Gordie Sampson, Thomas “Tawgs” Salter and producer Karen Kosowski, who also co-wrote the album’s uplifting first single “Country Thunder.” Accompanied by a video starring puppet versions of Aaron, Chris and David, its quick rise up Billboard’s Canada Country chart made the song their highest charting single to date.

 

FRIDAY AUGUST 27

Sam Roberts Band

Juno Award-winning Canadian singer/songwriter who mixes rootsy folk flavors with Brit-pop-inspired rock. 

K-OS

In the year 2014, the only thing that moves faster than our current rate of quick-click musical omnivorism is our eagerness to regurgitate what we’ve already digested. Nostalgia is the natural, kneejerk reaction to a present that feels so accelerated and uncertain; no one’s buying new music anymore, but you’ll still gladly shell out $100 to see an artist perform their most popular album front-to-back in its original order to mark the 20th 15th 10th anniversary of its release. Congratulations: you just turned your favourite singer—that life-changing creative force who soundtracked your adolescence and whose music helped you through your darkest hours—into a preprogrammed jukebox. Just feed it a coin, press play, and repeat.

It’s been 10 years since k-os’ sophomore release, Joyful Rebellion, transformed Toronto’s most versatile MC/singer/guitarist/song-and-dance-man into a cross-generational, Juno Awards-crashing phenomenon, thanks to a string of ubiquitous, genre-agnostic hit singles—the garage-gritty reggae of “Crucial,” the Thriller-worthy funk of “The Man I Used to Be,” the scat-jazz bounce of “Crabbuckit”—that took up permanent residency on pop, urban, and alternative-rock radio playlists across Canada. But for the artist born Kheaven Brereton, that moment may as well have been 10,000 years ago, when you consider the dramatic album-to-album evolution he’s undergone since. If rap initially emerged in the late 1970s as a collage of disparate sources—pulling in street poetry, chopped-up classic-rock riffs, manually looped James Brown breaks, and primitive electronics—k-os has spent the past decade trying to explode that idea of hip-hop into infinite new possibilities, applying the same collagist approach with a different set of materials on each record. For a restlessly experimental artist like him, there are no such things as career milestones. There are only springboards for the next leap into the unknown.

 

SATURDAY AUGUST 28

The Trews

Riffy melodic hard rock from this veteran Canadian combo out of Hamilton, Ontario.

Wide Mouth Mason

Wide Mouth Mason took its name from the jar of the same name,[1] and independently released its first album, The Nazarene in 1996. Although only 2,500 copies were pressed, it still drew interest from the major labels.[2] The band would re-record much of The Nazarene at Greenhouse Studios. The re-recorded tracks and new material attracted the attention of Warner Music Canada, who signed the band to a record deal. The new album would be the band's eponymous major-label debut; it was released in 1997 in Canada and the U.S., and a year later in Japan. It established the group's fusion of pop/rock/blues, and yielded the hit singles "Midnight Rain", "My Old Self", and "This Mourning". The album went Gold in Canada,[3] and the band was nominated for Best New Group at the 1998 Juno Awards.[4][5]

Wide Mouth Mason released a new album in 1999 with Where I Started, a continuance of its prior sound, but adding elements of jazz and world music. The band returned to Greenhouse Studios to record and mix the album. The band performed at the Rivoli in Toronto in March that year to publicize the release of the album.[6] The album, like its predecessor, attained Gold status in Canada.[7] Its lead single, "Why", backed with scratches and cuts from childhood friend and DJ Muchi Mambo, was a hit in Canada, and was followed by two other hits, "Companion (Lay Me Down)" and "Sugarcane".

 

SUNDAY AUGUST 29

Regina Symphony Orchestra And Fireworks to close down another QCX year!