Music

Funk pop act Francis & the Lights is hoping to win over skeptics when they support national hip-hop hero Drake at The Centre For Performing Arts on Tuesday. Back in February, hip-hop fans were left scratching their heads, when Drake announced support for his Away from Home Tour would come from the relatively unknown New York alt-poppers.

Since then though, Francis & The Lights have played a starring role in “Karaoke,” a stand-out track from Drizzy’s debut, and it’s this form the underdogs have carried through into their supporting role in Drake's “Away From Home” tour.

For the month of July, Relentless Garage saw Joel Plaskett return to England for a residency of three shows to tie in with the UK release of his album Three To One. On top of that, Nova Scotia born Plaskett, had a full schedule with a tour of stately homes supporting none other than Jools Holland. So, you could say Joel is a pretty big deal.

Hailed as one of the best singer/songwriters in Canada, Plaskett has plenty of ‘Best’ awards to prove it after becoming a prominent figure on the music scene since 1992 with his band Thrush Hermit and his more successful solo career with his backing band The Emergency. With a mantelpiece that is taking the strain and being handpicked by Sir Paul McCartney as a supporting act, you wouldn’t expect to witness Plaskett in a venue that holds no more than 150 people. But that is the case for his three London shows.

Born in Montreal, and raised in Victoria, Vince’s destiny was set at the impressionable age of six after watching Chuck Berry on television. From that moment onward, he knew that one day, he would be a musician. At the close of his school years, he took to the road to experience life, down to California, across the Pacific to Australia and New Zealand. A gypsy soul at heart, the road finally led Vince back home. It was time to make the dream a reality.

In November of 2007, Vince went into the studio with Neil Osborne (54-40) at the console and began to lay down the initial tracks. It was a work in progress, until this winter when Vince added the last 3 cuts to the CD, literally days before the album was due. The end result is a well crafted, 13-song disc rich with cleverly penned lyrics and cool lead guitar lines, sung by a signature rock voice.

The Orpheum Theatre was a perfect venue for the British indie five-piece band Gomez whose musical journey started  in 1998 in England when their first album ‘Bring It On’ won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize.  It immediately put them on every record label's wanted list. Since those early days, Gomez has recorded six albums, toured all over the world, had songs featured on Grey’s Anatomy and House and signed with Dave Matthews' record label, ATO Records. 

Their current US/Canadian tour saw them arrive in Vancouver  on Friday night to a very excited crowd as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad program. With the same band members from day one, singer/guitarist Ian Ball and Ben Ottewell, multi-instrumentalist Tom Gray, bassist Paul Blackburn and drummer Olly Peacock, these five gentlemen walked onto the stage and eased us into their music with ‘Tijuana Lady’ accompanied by Ben Ottewell’s soulful, husky vocals.