2014 was a great one over here at Fritz Media & we can't wait for the new year.
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and here's to an amazing 2015!
All the best, Jen Fritz xo
VICTORIA MUSICIAN KUBA OMS APPROACHES 30,000 IN DIGITAL SINGLE SALES
NEW SINGLE '7 SECONDS' TO BE RELEASED IN JANUARY 2015
For Immediate Release: December 10, 2014
(Victoria, BC) - 2014 was a career marker year for Victoria musician Kuba Oms. His second album ADHD, released on March 25th, has garnered almost 30,000 digital single sales and received over 35,000 spins at Canadian radio to date. The latest single 'My Love' reached the peak chart positions of #14 at AC, #22 at Hot AC and #38 at CHR following on the success of smash hit 'Electrolove'. The next single from ADHD, '7 Seconds', will be released to Canadian radio in January (with Tandemtracks) with plans to tour nationwide throughout the year, as Kuba was recently added to the roster of Colin Lewis and Adam Sylvester (Metric, Dragonette, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis) at The Agency Group.
With achievements like this, it comes as no surprise that Kuba's music recently caught the ears of Mood Media which lead to the licensing of 9 songs from ADHD for international distribution. Mood Media is the global music provider for retail stores such as H&M, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Macy's. They also provide music for hotels and casinos such as The W Hotel, Westin, Caesars Palace and The Bellagio, making this a groundbreaking accomplishment for an independent artist!
Kuba has also achieved plenty of success online with social media. He's received nearly 1 million authentic YouTube views, has over 7000 Facebook likes and recently launched a brand new website at: kubaoms.com.
2014 was just the beginning. Be sure to keep your eyes and ears open for Kuba Oms in 2015, he's just getting started!
# # #
102.7 THE PEAK AND MUSIC BC ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS OF 2014 PEAK PERFORMANCE PROJECT
For Immediate Release:November 21, 2014
(Vancouver, BC) - Last night, 102.7 The PEAK and the Music BC Industry Association announced the winners of the 2014 BC PEAK Performance Project live at the historical Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, BC.
This year’s winner and prizing are as follows:
1st place $102, 700.00 – Good For Grapes
2nd place $75, 000.00 – Derrival
3rd place $50,000.00 - The Tourist Company
The BC PEAK Performance Project, sponsored by Cariboo Brewing, has just completed year six of a seven-year, $5.29 million program designed to kick-start the international music careers of 3 emerging B.C. artists annually. The project is administered by Music BC Industry Association and funded by 102.7 The PEAK through CRTC approved Canadian Content Development Funding. Past winners have included We Are the City, Kyprios, Current Swell, Dear Rouge and Rykka.
The Alberta PEAK Performance Project will be announcing the standings of it’s top 3 artists this coming Thursday, November 27th live at Republik Nightclub in Calgary, Alberta. The winner of the Alberta project will be joining Good For Grapes early next year for a Western Canadian Tour. Dates to be announced.
Also, now available for FREE download are the 12 songs from the Top 12 Alberta and BC artists. This year, we teamed up the artists from BC and Alberta with the challenge of writing a song to record at boot camp using the theme “Come Together". The artists worked with our amazing producers Jeff Dawson, Garth Richardson, Russell Broom, Shawn Cole, Warne Livesey, and Winston Hauschild to come up with 12 original songs. All 12 songs were recorded in 5 pop-up studios built in a day at RockRidge Canyon, Princeton, BC by the Nimbus School of Recording Arts and their amazing crew. Studio partners included Long & McQuade, Roland Canada and Roland Systems.
Download all of the songs here: http://peakperformanceproject.com/cometogether/
For more information on The PEAK Performance Project, visit: www.peakperformanceproject.com
For more information on Music BC, visit: www.musicbc.org
Spoon River Release Video For 'In The Parking Lots of the Swamp Museum', New Album Out November 18th
Watch Spoon River Video on Exclaim!
(Vancouver, BC) - Vancouver psych-rockers Spoon River are releasing their sophomore album The New Sun Ahhhhh Hotel on November 18th through Tonic Records and to mark the occasion they're premiering the video for the groovy album track 'In The Parking Lot of The Swamp Museum' (directed by: band member Rachel Horkenheimer). In support of the new album, Spoon River also have 2 upcoming shows in Vancouver - November 21st at The Rickshaw Theatre and December 5th at the Fox Theatre. See below for full details.
Spoon River is a band with a colourful past. Formed in 2008 in Montreal, the band is a large and shifting family scattered all across Canada. Founded by songwriter Tavis Eachan Triance after the sudden acrimonious split of cult heroes, The Royal Mountain Band, he and his wife, Rachel Horkenheimer, have been drifting and living life unconventionally ever since. Their addresses have changed repeatedly: from the teeming, artistically fertile streets of Montreal to tiny reserve towns on the North Pacific Ocean all the way through to the seaside jewel of glass and steel that is Vancouver, British Columbia. They have flown in planes, toured on buses, hauled motorcycles over vast distances, and squeezed themselves into the cramped cabs of straggling pickup trucks; opening for sword swallowers, slogging it out at veterans clubs and prairie roadhouses but also tearing it up in front of packed houses, most recently with San Francisco’s new native sons The Wooden Shjips.
Spoon River's new album, The New Sun Ahhhhh Hotel, offers up pulsing tributaries of sun drenched psychedelic rock & roll and scuffling garage boogie. Reminiscent of such offbeat musical trailblazers as The Growlers, The Royal Trux, King Tuff, Exile-era Stones, T-Rex and Memphis Garage heroes The Reigning Sound, Spoon River seamlessly fortify these influences with a heavy dose of their own wild and weaving brand, to invoke a strutting mixture of fear and exuberance, menace and acid-laced beauty. The album was mixed by Triance and David Carswell of Destroyer and New Pornographers fame, and was recorded between Montreal’s Breakglass Recording Studios, home of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas of the Besnard Lakes, and Vancouver’s up and coming Afterlife and Rain City studios. The New Sun Ahhhhh Hotel is Spoon River's second release and marks a slight change in sound for the band. Their critically acclaimed debut album Kingdom of The Burned, released back in 2009, was more southern rock than psychedelic but it's all just a part of the Spoon River magic.
"The change in sound was more a function of the additions to our lineup that we made than anything," explains Triance. "We started playing with two keyboard players and also with female singers and I started experimenting with guitar pedals and vocal treatment."
In pitch perfect doses of timelessness and vigor, Spoon River's The New Sun Ahhhhh Hotel is set to wade from the rivers of the cosmos to capture your imagination and conquer your soul! Be sure to grab Spoon River's new album, available through Tonic Records on November 18th and catch the band live in Vancouver on November 21st & December 5th. Spoon River will be touring across Canada in support of The New Sun Ahhhhh Hotel in early 2015. Visit spoonriverband.com for the most up-to-date information.
// Spoon River is: Tavis Eachan Triance (lead vocals), Rachel Horkenheimer (vocals, keys), Chris Young (bass), Kris Welch (guitar), Anya Colussi (keys), Gabriel Cohen (drums) //
SPOON RIVER - 'THE NEW SUN AHHHHH HOTEL' TRACK LISTING RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 18th, 2014 (Tonic Records) 1. All The Dark Rains 2. In The Parking Lots of the Swamp Museum 3. Like a Dove 4. Slippery Footed Man 5. Learning to Love the Light 6. Spectres 7. King & Queen of the Razor Blade Boogie 8. Swallow 9. Get On 10. Before, I Guess, Too Bad 11. The City Ain't My Friend
SPOON RIVER UPCOMING SHOW DATES November 21 - Vancouver, BC @ The Rickshaw Theater (w/ No Sinner) December 5 - Vancouver, BC @ Fox Theater (w/ Barr Brothers)
FOR MORE INFO: www.spoonriverband.com
# # #
MEDIA TOOLS CLICK HERE - to watch/post the Spoon River video 'In The Parking Lots of the Swamp Museum' CLICK HERE - for high-res photo (photo credit: Kris Krug) & CLICK HERE - for high-res album art (album art by: Rachel Horkenheimer) CLICK HERE - to listen/post the Spoon River track 'Spectres' from 'The New Sun Ahhhhh Hotel.
Victoria Indie Rockers The Carlines Hit The Road For Fall Tour Dates in AB & BC starting on November 8th!
For Immediate Release:October 9, 2014
Listen to The Carlines track 'Heart':
(Vancouver, BC) - Victoria indie rock band The Carlines independently released their debut EP 'Still The Sun Will Rise' earlier this year and this November they will hit the road for a fall tour in support of the EP with shows throughout BC & Alberta. The string of Western Canadian tour dates will kick off on November 8th at The Streaming Cafe in Kelowna and wraps up with a show in Victoria at Distrikt Night Club (formerly 9one9) on November 28rd. See below for full tour listing.
Victoria musicians Sjoerd Meyer, Esme John, Mitch Farley and David Parfit formed The Carlines in 2012. Singer-songwriter Sjoerd Meyer is the mastermind behind the band. Meyer had been working on a solo career for awhile and decided to enlist some friends to help him bring a collection of his songs some new life. Before forming The Carlines, all 4 musicians played with or alongside Georgia Murray, Mike Edel, Chris Ho and Andrew Allen in venues across Canada and the U.S. As individuals they have each played in front of thousands, rode the CBC’s Festival Express-like 'Tracks on Tracks' train, and been included in Vancouver’s Peak Performance Project. As a band, The Carlines have achieved a lot in their short existence. They've performed at the Rifflandia Festival in Victoria, played numerous local venues, toured throughout BC and Alberta, and were featured as Band of the Month on Victoria's The Zone 91.3 in May 2014.
The Carlines music can best be described as a mix of lyrical, melodic vocals and crafty guitar riffs over a blend of rootsy-groovy drum and bass rhythms. Their EP 'Still The Sun Will Rise' showcases strong storytelling songwriting and features hearfelt songs that blend smart modern pop with indie rock. The Carlines' first single 'Heart' is an emotional, powerful track that highlights the bands many strengths.
"Initially the song was quite different, especially melodically," explains Sjoerd Meyer. "And I had written it before I met the rest of the band. It was one of those songs that got 'shelved' because it just wasn't quite there. When we started talking about which tunes we wanted to take into the studio David said "you know, we have a lot of positive happy songs, we need something that's maybe a little darker and deeper". 'Heart' came back to me and I re-wrote it to what it is now; it turned out to be one of our strongest tracks"
With one EP under their belt, The Carlines plan to head into the studio to record a full-length album in 2015. Look for The Carlines on tour througout Alberta and BC this November! For more information and the most up-to-date tour listings, please visit: www.thecarlines.com
THE CARLINES FALL 2014 TOUR DATES November 8 - Kelowna, BC @ The Streaming Café November 11 - Banff, AB @ The Elk & Oarsman November 13 - Red Deer, AB @ The Velvet Olive November 14 - Edmonton, AB @ The Mercury Room November 15 - Medicine Hat, AB @ Schooner’s Pub November 18 - Edmonton, AB @ Cha Island Tea Co November 19 - Calgary, AB @ TBD November 20 - Fernie, BC @ Infinitea T-Bar & Boutique November 21 - Golden, BC @ The Rockwater Grill & Bar November 22 - Revelstoke, BC @ The Last Drop November 23 - Vancouver, BC @ The Railway Club November 28 - Victoria, BC @ Distrikt Nightclub - presented by the Zone 91.3
FOR MORE INFO: www.thecarlines.com
MEDIA TOOLS CLICK HERE - to listen to/post The Carlines track - 'Heart' CLICK HERE - to stream The Carlines EP - 'Still The Sun Will Rise' CLICK HERE - for high-res photo. (Photo Credit: Al Smith) CLICK HERE - for high-res album art.