Name: Keith Rose

Birthplace: St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada

Currently residing: Barlassina, Monza Brianza, Italia

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence:

Anything anyone would let me be involved in starting on trumpet at age 8, baritone euphonium age 10, electric bass age 11 until present with guitar, upright bass and ukulele thrown in there… I played with some cool folks too.

Website or online network: 

Showbusinessgiants

1.  Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

Jazz- Mingus (freakin genius bassist and composer, no doubt about it… could also be in the classical composer category)

Folk- Martin Carthy (just pure class and talent… and he remembered my name three years after we met and I kissed his daughter.)

Rock- ACDC (doesn’t get more straight up than that…  it’s rock!)

Punk- Ramones (if I had to pick one… I realize I don’t but I get bored if I don’t give myself boundaries… again totally straight and pop)

Pop- Lily Allen (makes me laugh every time)

Punk/Alternative- Alice Donut (anything from that era Alternative Tentacles is kickin… could mention NoMeansNo… but the Donut makes me feel dirty and glad to be, all at once)

Something Else Soundtrack? Nele  Karajli_ć (rent and watch Black Cat White Cat and listen….that’s enough)

Ethnic- Daniele Sepe (italian genius my favourite album is Anime Candide… check it out)

Musicians/Bands- Mike Watt, Ford Pier, Paul Rigby, Barry Mirochnyk, Iggy Pop, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gilespie, Calexico, Neko Case, Cracker, Daniel Johnston, Devo, Shane MacGowan, Louis Armstrong, Ennio Morricone, Gene Vincent, Girl Talk, Glenn Gould, Harry Nilson, Ivo Papasov, Johnny Cash, Kinks, The lounge Lizards, Lucinda Williams, The Meters, Beatnigs, Spearhead, Micheal Franti, Ministry, Minutemen, Modernettes, NoMeansNo, Randy Newman, Squeeze, Steve Earl, Monk, Carolyn Mark, Toy Dolls, and Townes Van Zandt…. there are others but it’s getting late.

2.  Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

Anything James Jamerson played on bass.

3.  How would you describe your perfect day?

Being with my family without any time constraints.

4.  What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

You would have to ask them.

5.  What is your most valued material possession?

My brain.

6.  Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

I was nervous when I met Mike Watt…. no reason to be… hell of a nice guy.

7.  If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

I’m there, right here with my family.

8.  Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Play music!

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

Playing music with a bunch of friends. Having a good time and not thinking of how stupid I look…. hasn’t stopped me so far!

Name: Jani Vilis Bers

Birthplace: Ennistymon, Republic of Ireland

Currently residing: Spokane, Washington

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence:

Beginning by driving my parents nuts with a toy “Ringo Drum” they regret having bought me as a kid, to creating awful noises on violin in my school orchestra (still driving my parents nuts!), to playing bass in teen garage bands (see above!), to buying my first synthesizer and 4 track portastudio to record songs & jingles, to music production for the BBC in England and then doing the same in America, to attending countless astonishing live concerts locally, nationally and worldwide.

Website or online network: facebook

1.  Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

The Beatles (naturally!), John Barry, Stephen Hackett, Roy Rogers & Norton Buffalo, Francis Dunnery, Rick Wakeman, Dixie Dregs, Fairport Convention, David Gilmore, Mark King, Pat Coast, Pat Barclay, Neil Peart.

2.  Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

Matt Monro – “Walk Away”.

3.  How would you describe your perfect day?

A full English breakfast with HP sauce (mandatory!) to start the day followed by a long motorcycle ride under warm sunshine to a far away lake for a dip before champagne at sunset and making love to my sweetheart.

4.  What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

Generosity & well intended mischievous humor whilst encouraging social gluttony!

5.  What is your most valued material possession?

A beautiful framed portrait of my late father – also named Jani.

6.  Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

Her Majesty The Queen Of England (still waiting for my knighthood invitation!).

7.  If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

The beautiful and historic City of York, Yorkshire, England.

8.  Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

I’ve always been excessive, but then I’m always up for a bit more fun, games, wine, women & song!

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

Alive & in good health would be a good start, in any part of the world that isn’t being bombed, nor hated, is reasonably stable and has zero tectonic plate movement! But I can still dream can’t I?

Name: Devin Rice

Birthplace: Vancouver, BC

Currently residing: Port Moody, BC

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence:

Drumming hundreds of gigs with many talented musicians and songwriters.

Website or Social Network: facebook

1.  Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

I think it all begins and ends with The Beatles for me.  I’m a huge classic rock fan and am a sucker for just about any well-written pop song.

2.  Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

“Dear Prudence”

3.  How would you describe your perfect day?

Anything that involves the beautiful summer sun.

4.  What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

Affability?

5.  What is your most valued material possession?

Maybe my car right now because I’d be hooped without it!

6.  Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

Ronald McDonald when I was about 5.

7.  If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

Galiano Island in the summertime.

8.  Is there something you would like to do more of in the future? 

Songwriting and just getting better as a musician.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

Continuing to play music that moves me and, hopefully, creating some myself!

Name: Rachael Chatoor and sometimes I’m known as Rachael Pachel, though I am contemplating going back to using my first and second name, Rachael Anne.

Birthplace: Richmond BC

Currently residing: Richmond BC, which does make it appear as if I have been here all my life but…..I’ve lived in Vernon,  Los Angeles, Whistler, downtown Van, Kits (with old roomie Trevor Rogers when he played in the Road!), White Rock, Vancouver, Abu Dhabi, London, Nigeria, Houston, Richmond again, and soon I will be moving to South Delta.

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence:

I took up music in my 20′s and found myself singing and performing in bands and duos all over BC, eventually travelling overseas with a band where I met my now-ex husband and took a hiatus for about 10 years to travel and have kids which rocked until my situation changed and I found myself  back in Canada and looking for work again which eventually led to my current gig performing solo or in corporate bands and quite frankly my life rocks again especially now that I have a bit of growth behind me which helps with the songwriting I do, so I  do that and I record and perform the material and all the while I use hobbies like videography, blogging and social networking to gain work in the industry and connect with fans around the world who appreciate my original music.  Phew.

Website or online network: rachaelpachel.com

1.  Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

Impossible question to answer……….in no particular order and really just scratching the surface………..Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Marvin Gaye, Eric Clapton, Guess Who, The Who, Pink Floyd, Anne Murray, Dawn Langstroth, Heart, Tal Bachman, Jann Arden, Melissa Etheridge, Phil Collins, Queen, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, CSNY, Police, Beatles, Elvis, Lenny Kravitz, Billy Joel, Blondie, Steely Dan, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce…….more of the same….

2.  Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

Lindsay Buckingham singing and playing Big Love solo on acoustic guitar is something I could watch time and time again.

3.  How would you describe your perfect day?

Well it’s not a realistic day but it would be a dream day…….my children make me breakfast and clean up all the dishes, then we would ride horses up a mountain and river raft back down it,  nap, eat, then play music either around a campfire or in a concert, it doesn’t matter which, so long as there is music.

4.  What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

Easy to get along with I suppose, oh, and I don’t drool or spit when I talk.

5.  What is your most valued material possession?

The guitar I bought with the money gift received after my Dad passed away.

6.  Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

Oh gosh lots of people, plenty of people all the time make me nervous. For whatever reason I am and always have been especially shy around people whose talents and abilities I value and greatly admire.  I’m sure the most twisted up, nervous I ever got when meeting someone like that was Tal Bachman (huge talent to admire plus, he’s gorgeous, I was a mindless mess).

7.  If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

I can’t even imagine what is my favorite place right now, maybe I’m still looking for it.

8.  Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Yeah, I enjoy singing demo’s or putting down vocal tracks for others so would love to get more studio gigs.  Write for children, or put together music productions for schools, seems a good creative outlet to me. More horseback riding would be great too.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

Just healthy and happy, with healthy, happy children, and maybe even in love.

sketch by taylor ashton

Name: Zoe Nicole Guigueno

Birthplace: Vancouver, BC

Currently residing: Toronto or in the Fish & Bird van

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence:

Mayne Island, penny whistle red&green Brachiosaurus, Pete Seeger, recorder consort, piano lessons theory lessons practising drawing treble clefs, identifying the sound of an upright bass for the first time in the cob-recording studio where Roaring Jelly was making plaid pants and learning to juggle rocks and then to blushing hard playing clarinet in grade 8 and losing my vest, the taste of bamboo, an electric bass in the back of the toyota tercel after a day of work at a bakery, wrapping up the day olds, bmmsking with shelder wearing deflated soccer balls on our heads and playing saxophone and piano duets from beginner duet books, singing playing with Marley and Adam, Bell Jar, tape recorder, highschool choir, late slips, Howard Shore malfunction concert band performance and off to Toronto with advice and two pairs of shoes, beginning to write songs and go to shows and discover Jeff Buckley and Brad Mehldau and access to falafels and 24 hr stores, the first callous on my thumb from playing in regions of the bass i never braved, the dingy practise rooms at humber the light fading on dirty carpets the crappy caf food the influential performance in the student lounge where the fourth year kids were improvising based on flash cards and reading out loud from far-out books and the girl with the silver saxophone and black mark on her eyeball, now currently playing with Fish & Bird and touring canada while my lover Words Around the Waist is in toronto and i still haven’t passed my road test.

Website or online network:

fishandbird.ca

myspace

1.  Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

joni mitchell, carla bley, wayne shorter, elvis costello, robert starer, the beatles, nina simone, of montreal, mary margaret o’hara, maurice ravel, nick teehan, beck, neil young, james jamerson, neil swainson, oscar peterson, the bad plus, john coltrane, chet baker, buena vista social club, billie holiday, burt bacharach, the o darling, gary wilson, lauryn hill.

2.  Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

Dvjorak’s Humoresque

3.  How would you describe your perfect day?

Walking in the pounding rain on Mayne Island with my dog Mooky smelling the dirt and cedar trees and ocean upturning rocks on the beach and watching crabs scuttle away.

 4.  What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

Christian appreciates my strong hugs.

5.  What is your most valued material possession?

My address book and my copy of Alden Nowlan Selected Poems.

6.  Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

I was always nervous to meet the neighbours whose orchard we used to raid on Mayne and whose locked barn we’d sneak into.  We never did.

7.  If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

With my dad driving around the Ring of Kerry.

8.  Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

I’d like to have a garden one day and can stuff for the winter. I’d like to be better at sewing and learn to make clothes.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

Singing to my sleeping child.

Name: Tim Readman [pronounced Redman  ]

Birthplace: Seaham, County Durham, England

Currently residing: Vancouver BC (East Side)

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence:

First paid gig at 15 years old in the brutal working men’s club circuit back home, then on the North-Eastern English folk club scene, then Hawkwind-style space rock then prog-folk and on to new-wave then up to Newcastle upon Tyne for northern soul/ska and political world pop and a quick burst with 80’s hitmakers The Kane Gang…to Vancouver BC all sorts of music including funk and dance leading me back to folk roots and Celtic/folk …Got Fear of Drinking twice in my beloved East Side haunts on Main Street…played with The Arrogant Worms…did some producing…released 2 CDs of songs about Newcastle United Football Club …Artistic Director at Vancouver CelticFest…writer for Penguin Eggs…recorded a few Beatles tribute songs and now on to 2 theme songs for Geordie charity runner Mark Allison’s historic sponsored run which will take him across the whole of the USA in 2011…with a bit of other random shit in between for good measure.

Website: timreadman.com

1.  Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

The Beatles, Steely Dan, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Iris Dement, Bjork, Bob Fox, Jez Lowe, Vin Garbutt, Chick Corea and Return to Forever , Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chumbawamba (Acoustic), Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Elvis Costello, Free, Frank Zappa, Lunasa, Gentle Giant, Gil Scott Heron, Lindisfarne, Liz Carroll and John Doyle, Los Lobos, Massive Attack, Madonna, Was Not Was, The Streets, The Unthanks, Led Zeppelin, Sandy Denny, Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, Wishbone Ash, Hatfield and the North…it goes on forever!

2.  Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

The Blaydon Races – by Geordie Ridley – The National Anthem of the Geordie Nation

3.  How would you describe your perfect day?

Newcastle United 5 Sunderland 0

4.  What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

Not drinking them under the table and then keeping them up all night anymore

5.  What is your most valued material possession?

My Larivée acoustic guitar

6.  Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

The devil at the crossroads

7.  If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

St. James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne (when we are 5-0 up against Sunderland)

8. Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Co-write songs with rich and famous pop stars

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

In my own private box with my rich and famous pop star friends at St. James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne (when we are 5-0 up against Sunderland)

Name: Vince Herman

Currently residing: nederland colorado

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence:

i learned to play in a church, now i play in bars, i write a couple songs, i drive around in cars, i’m gonna buy a farm and learn to stay at home, throw a couple festivals some day when I’m grown.

Website:

greatamericantaxi.com

leftoversalmon.com

1.  Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands  from the past and present?

john hartford was the best writer of the 20th century in my mind. deeply rooted, he took traditional forms to new levels with his writing, perfectly bridging past and present. new grass revival, hot rize and david bromberg are huge in my pantheon of musical super heroes.

2.  Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

jackson brown  the pretender the whole damn album never fails.

3.  How would you describe your perfect day?

waking up at home on a fine summer day, picking tunes before breakfast with my kids out on the porch,  a hike, some fishing, cooking a big meal for friends and family, picking more tunes until falling over, and then getting a late night booty call from….

4.  What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

probably the food!

5.  What is your most valued material possession?

my toothbrush

6.  Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

richard nixons ghost

7.  If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right  now, where would that place be?

crows nest, gold hill colorado

8.  Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

more time in living near water would be nice. i’ve been in the mountains a long time. i’d also like to do more political activities.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

on my festival ground waiting for the saturday midnite show to start.

photo: iztok vidmar

Name: Paul McKenzie

Currently residing: Germany

Musical past and present in one rambling run-on sentence:

The boneapparts, Tartan Haggis, The enigmas, The Guttersnipes, Grimm Bros.Blues Inc., T.T.Racer, Sparky Magnito, The Real McKenzies. These are a few of the bands I have made over the years, I also like most types of music and listen often.

Website: RealMcKenzies.com

1.  Who are some of your favourite composers, musicians and bands from the past and present?

This is a trick question, isn’t it? If I were to name ALL the music I like and why, I would have to write a book. As stated in the previous answer to question number one, I enjoy most music past and present.

2.  Is there a particular song or musical passage that never fails to move you emotionally?

All songs by Turbo Negro.

3.  How would you describe your perfect day?

Sitting at home with a good book, with a pot of tea and a cat.

4.  What would your friends say they appreciate the most about you?

Nothing at all…I have no friends.

5.  What is your most valued material possession?

I live out of a suitcase, so I suppose it would have to be that, my suitcase.

6.  Who were you, or would you be nervous to meet?

God or Satan

7.  If you could blink your eyes and be in a favourite place right now, where would that place be?

On stage with the band.

8.  Is there something you would like to do more of in the future?

Yes, mix more martinis.

9. Where would you like to find yourself in ten years?

On a sailboat somewhere.