MUSIC
From Issue #30
Music All-Stars
A VIP Pass to Newbies and Scene Faves
By Adam Grant
Jimmy Eat World
For Jimmy Eat World, this last year has been about introducing people to their 2007 album Chase This Light, as well as re-introducing people to their 2001 breakthrough disc Bleed American, following its re-issue in 2008. That album may have been the fourth for the band—Jim Adkins, Tom Linton, Rick Burch and Zach Lind—but it broke them into the mainstream with tracks like "The Middle" and "Sweetness." Seven years later, the Arizona quartet is still as proud as ever about the album that commercially catapulted them. "It was a really cool time for the band. Bleed American marked our biggest success commercially, so it was a big turning point in our career as a band," says Burch. "It's hard for us to fully accept that [this success] has happened. It's really cool, but it still seems like that's something that happens to someone else; it's so cool that it can't be happening to us."
USS (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker)
Some bands are able to come out of nowhere to capture the attention of waiting-to-be-wowed radio listeners. Toronto's USS is just one of those bands. Featuring Ashley Boo-Schultz and Jay "Human Kebab" Parsons, USS ambushed the airwaves in 2008 with their rock/drum and bass influenced debut EP, Welding the C:/, and its incredibly popular, heavily-rotated single "Hollow Point Sniper Hyperbole." "We just had a guy describe our band as 'A ray of light after the darkest night,'" relays Boo-Schultz. "We've been having people come up to us after we play and they look us right in the eye and they're like, 'I've been waiting for you guys.' It feels like we live in this giant castle because there's this chivalry and magic."
Jaydee Bixby
Sometimes not winning a show like Canadian Idol can benefit one of the finalists—just ask teen country singer, Jaydee Bixby. After finishing second to Brian Melo in season five of the show, the young Albertan embarked on a solo career that landed him a deal with HRM Records, with reasonable creative control during his first writing and recording experience. Just weeks after releasing his debut album, Cowboys and Cadillacs, Faze wondered if Bixby was concerned that his appearance on Canadian Idol could affect how a broader audience may perceive him. "I really think there's no way that can ever affect my record sales because people who voted for me, they didn't vote for me because I was on Canadian Idol," feels Bixby. "They voted for me because of what I was doing on Canadian Idol."
Zaki Ibrahim
When Zaki Ibrahim was growing up in South Africa most music was banned in her region and had to be sought out through underground mixed tapes. Once these got to her there was no turning back. Ibrahim quickly began writing and performing, and is now back in her birthplace of Canada, where she is signed to Sony BMG. "There is always worry, because the music industry is so hard to break through. But from the moment I decided this was what I wanted to do with my life, they have been supportive," says Ibrahim about her parental support team. "But, it is scary for them to see the baby of the family take that leap and make that decision." Ibrahim's soul/ hip-hop influenced debut EP, Eclectica (Episodes in Purple), is in stores now, while the full-length follow-up is currently in the works.
The Flatliners
The growing popularity of Toronto punk/reggae-rockers The Flatliners is as much to do with friendship as anything else. With all members—Chris Cresswell, Scott Brigham, Jon Darbey and Paul Ramirez—barely into their 20s, and knowing each other since elementary school, it sure makes the success of their second CD, The Great Awake, that much easier to handle. "Getting along definitely helps, having known the guys as long as we've all known each other, you can really say anything to one another," says Cresswell. "I'm not saying that we can rip into each other and have no one be offended, but you can have a serious conversation in a not so serious way." Featuring the radio-friendly singles "Eulogy" and "The Respirator," The Great Awake is affording The Flatliners the opportunity to stay out on tour and capture the ears of rocker kids abroad.
Thriving Ivory
While critics believe that Thriving Ivory sounds like a band with arena-rock potential, the bulk of their self-titled major label debut was in fact recorded in a basement and initially financed by the band's parents. "We paid them back with interest, but they were just stoked that we signed a record deal," says band vocalist Clayton Stroope. "It was cool after years of trying to get one, I stopped telling my parents what was going on because so many times I'd tell them, 'It's going to happen this time,' and then I'd have to come back from New York and say, 'No, sorry.'" After numerous label rejections the San Francisco quintet—Scott Jason, Drew Cribley, Bret Cohune, Paul Niedermeir and Stoope —is now using its early struggles as a way to remain level-headed, even if the big stage awaits them.
Hello Operator
Hello Operator's Mike Condo and Evan Huson made a decision very early on that could've easily left more people scratching their heads than clapping. While the band's 2008 EP, The Breaks, feels like a rock album, there was enough pop inside of it to land the band a recent touring slot alongside Hilary Duff. "We decided that we'd rather tour with people who have good songs; as long as we're playing in front of people," explains Condo. "[With] some of the Duff stuff people didn't understand why we were doing it, but we thought they were going to be really big shows and that they were going to help us." This strategy worked, as the band gained thousands of extra fans in the process, whom they thank by name in their album booklet.
