Celebrate La Fête de la Musique 2022 with French Pop Artist Gatha

 Photo: @jeuneflingue With the stroke of her bow and the ring of her voice, Gatha infuses French pop with cello's resonance, creating a unique musical style that combines classical, dense pop, and melancholy lyrics. Gatha is a classically trained singer, cellist, songwriter, and producer from Bordeaux who has opened for Julien

New funding to provide grants for local musicians

 On February 4, 2021, the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition (OMIC) announced a $ 25,000 investment into Ottawa’s music sector with the new Ottawa Music Development Fund (OMDF). This fund seeks to address the gaps and challenges in Ottawa’s music ecosystem by providing grants to local

Album reviews — Hazel English, Jack Pine and the Fire and more

 Hazel English  - Wake UP!  (Sydney Australia) Retro yet somehow of a totally different planet, Hazel English's music melds so many worlds into its desert pop sound. Crisp and full of wonder, this record is one to really get your mind racing. This is instantly palpable in the hazy synths of

Danielle Allard is Passing Notes

 Ottawa songstress Danielle Allard may not have been caught passing notes in class but her notebook was filled with them! From an early age she would write down her stream-of consciousness way of thinking onto pages upon pages of youthful musings and ramblings. Some of those would eventually become her

Q&A: The Oceans in the Streets’ Joe Liska

 Photos courtesy of Joe Liska One of the best parts of this gig is discovering new local music that may have slipped by a radar that’s constantly showing more and more blips. Thankfully, sometimes, those blips get all up in your face, drop a cut like The Oceans in the

Still at Peace 25 years later – Our Lady Peace, One of Canada’s Most Enduring Bands

 Founded in 1992 by Raine Maida, Our Lady Peace is one of Canada’s most enduring bands. Despite a few line-up changes over the years, the essence of OLP lives on through its lead singer and lyricist. The band kept fans waiting 5 years for new material until Somethingness was released

Trails’ Productive Year

 While Trails' Allie O'Manique never consciously decided to pursue music professionally, you wouldn't know it by listening to her music. The Ottawa native's lo-fi sound embraces the haziness of the fidelity to create dreamy and rustic recordings that feel deeply intimate. After years of making music on her own, things

The Balconies Step Out of the Spotlight

 Photo credit: Indoor Recess The Balconies have been one of Ottawa's premier live bands since they hit the scene a decade ago. In a career that spanned radio hits, winning the Live 88.5 Big Money Shot, and their two LPs Fast Motions and Rhonda, the band was always out to

Hearing Double with The LYNNeS

 Feature photo by Brittany Gawley A cold wind blows down Bank Street. Ottawa doesn’t have tumbleweeds but a Loblaws bag waltzes with the wind and vanishes around a corner. A streetlight flickers as two musicians slinging six strings step into the winter sleet. Both are singer-songwriters. Both came with an arsenal of

COVER ME! Round 1 Performer Bios / Results

 We know Ottawa’s got talent. You know Ottawa’s got talent. Now’s the time to see who will reign supreme in the ultimate Cap-city musical showcase. COVER ME, a twice monthly contest of musicians from the National Capital Region battling it out for an Ottawa Life Magazine cover story, takes place at Moose McGuire's (3320 McCarthy

Timber Timbre’s Fiction Becomes Reality

 Photo by Caroline Desilets After a decade of music and five albums, Timber Timbre looked to science fiction for inspiration. What they found however was that the reality was stranger than fiction, leading them towards  a dystopian, synth-rock. Flying out to France, the band huddled up in a bizarre studio,

Greatest Hits or Better Than Nothing? Q&A With Brad Sucks

 While spinning Ottawa musician Brad Turcotte’s (aka: Brad Sucks) new Greatest Hits album you learn two things once the dizziness wears off. One, this dude is kinda’ ballsy to put out a Hits disc after only three albums and, two, this guy sucks less than a broken pawn shop vacuum cleaner.

BEST OF OTTAWA: Bands

 With 20-years writing about Ottawa life we think we have a pretty good idea of the best of what this city has to offer. In this new weekly summer series we’ll share it with you. From our top picks of hotels, live music venues, local brews, bands and more, check,

Be In The Band Has Kids Rocking

 Ottawa Life’s Festival City Series is back! We'll provide a unique look at some of your favourite events. We’ll go beyond the music with artist interviews, volunteer profiles, concert reviews and spotlights on the tastes, sights and sounds of the festival season.  Your city! Your festivals and events! Like a good sunscreen,

Bluesfest’s Local Flair – Part 1

 Ottawa Life’s Festival City Series is back! We'll provide a unique look at some of your favourite events. We’ll go beyond the music with artist interviews, volunteer profiles, concert reviews and spotlights on the tastes, sights and sounds of the festival season.  Your city! Your festivals and events! Like a good sunscreen,

Irene’s Pub, The Legacy of Live Music in Ottawa for Over 30 Years

 All photos by Andre Gagne. There’s a 100-year-old piano in the corner of Irene’s Pub, still in tune and awaiting melodies. Behind the bar, connected to the kitchen, is one of the original clear-com phones that used to reside back stage at the National Arts Centre, a relic of the

Twelve Bluesfest Picks to Get You Stage Hopping

 Photo of Wild Child. RBC Bluesfest has been about diversity in programming since the day “The Big Man” Clarence Clemons raised lips to sax in Major’s Hill Park back in ’94. “One thing you absolutely cannot argue is that this festival packs quite a bang for your buck!” says Karen

The Record Centre puts a new spin on the growing vinyl market

 Photos by Andre Gagne John Thompson isn’t afraid to go on the record. In fact, he welcomes it! What do you do when you have about 15,000 records at home with a want to only increase that mountain of LPs, 45s and 12”s? Well, if you’re Thompson the only logical

Jazz at the Crossroads

 All photos courtesy of Andre Gagne “Here we are at the Crossroads,” begins Petr Cancura, glancing back at the band. His hand is raised, poised and ready. The band awaits the first sign post on this evening’s journey. Picture yourself nursing your third drink in a lounge on a Canadian

Speaking the Language with Julie Corrigan

 Photo courtesy of Jen Squires Born and raised in Shawville, Quebec, to a family of musicians, it’s no surprise that Julie Corrigan took easily to strumming the guitar. With a fiddle-playing grandfather, a guitarist for a father and a mother who’s a natural on the piano and mandolin, music is in Julie’s

James Leclaire: The Sing-a-Long Sounds of Storytelling and Sorrow

 Album cover by Brett Clarke. James Leclaire’s fourth album, These Weights, combines the soulful storytelling of folk and country music with the anthemic energy of punk, to create a sound he calls ‘dirt country.’ “There is a country twang to it but it’s got an edginess that is a little

An Old Guitar and an Ottawa Bar

 Union Duke’s soaring vocal harmonies and throbbing beats have enlivened hearts and dance floors across the nation. The quintet is sure to have Ottawa concertgoers heel-stomping and hip-swaying with their performance at the Black Sheep Inn on July 31. Balancing a mixture of soulful indie rock, bluegrass and country, the

Taylor Swift Sparkles at the Canadian Tire Centre

 Photo by George Pimentel/Getty Images for TS “After five long years of not coming to see you, it is so good to be back in Ottawa," Taylor Swift told the screaming fans at the Canadian Tire Centre on July 6. The pop powerhouse and singer-songwriter stopped by the Capital along

Bluesfest Beats: Tunes from Mantitoba Barns, Tropical Islands and Ontario Cottages

 Photo courtesy of Steve G The countdown to RBC Ottawa Bluesfest is on. As the weeks leading up to the festival go by, OLM will continue to highlight must-see performances by some of the acts that you may have not yet discovered—so Ottawa music lovers listen up! An exciting variety

Catching Up With Singer-Songwriter Amir Brandon

 Photo courtesy of Alyssa Balistreri Since winning the 2014 Singer-Songwriter Mentor Experience, a contest for unsigned Canadian singer-songwriters, what have you been doing? Amir: Writing, performing, making YouTube covers, and writing some more. A lot more! Since last summer, I've been working on a new album with a fellow musician