Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Charlottetown’s newest rock band Atta Boy! formed on a Tuesday. The band’s first show was on a Thursday—two days later. Surprisingly, the band and the song it wrote for that first show stuck, and now the band is writing more songs and playing more shows, some that are even planned weeks in advance.

This winter Cory Roper (drums, guitars, accordion, banjo, vocals) heard

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Come All Ye

Review by Katie Rankin

It’s a difficult task for Islanders and visitors alike to succinctly capture the wonderful, addicting, often ridiculous nature of this island. Sure we can all agree PEI is special. But what is it about this place that makes it so different from any other? Come-All-Ye at The Mack tries to answer this question with a group of talented musicians singing some of the b

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Charlottetown’s newest band Wildcat is basically a super-team of some of the city’s finest producers and musician. Formed and fronted by former Boxer the Horse bassist and newbie guitar player and singer Richard MacLeod, Wildcat’s been playing together for about a year, but only recently started playing shows and releasing material. Last spring MacLeod returned home from trave

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Milks and Rectangles is grateful for email. With one band member at sea, another in vet school, and the rest in other bands, Milks spent much of the last year emailing demos back and forth in preparation for the band’s first full-length album Milks and Rectangles. Lead singer and guitar player Christian Ledwell did the chunk of the songwriting out in the country, with t

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

North Lakes is a rock and roll band in denial. Or at least they used to be. Leaving behind the band’s more folky, alt-country tinged sound, this month North Lakes release Grand Prix, the fast-moving follow-up to 2010’s Cobra. “We got to the point where we felt like we wanted to make an aggressive rock record because it’s just how we like to play. It’s how we engage with music, it

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

A couple of months ago, after seeing no money from their label, Paper Lions made the band’s last album 2010‘s Trophies available for free online. One day while breaking for lunch at practice, the guys checked the band’s website. “Usually we get 200 hits a day and we came up at lunch and there was like 800 hits and we were like, ‘What the hell is going on?’” says guitar player Colin

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

After several years in the local scene, Boxer the Horse knows a lot about music, but the band also knows almost as much about Caesars—where to get the best ones in Canada, in Charlottetown and even Caesar-making competitions. With the release of their sophomore album French Residency this month and a national tour with Juno Award-winning group Said the Whale, the guys h

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

It all started with a dream. Bad Mountie lead singer and guitar player Jon Gallant had just graduated from high school and wasn’t sure what to do with his life. Since he was a kid he’d always loved the RCMP so he started filling out an application form. Before he could send it in his two brothers and his cousin intervened. “We gave him an ultimatum,” says drummer and older brother

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Wake Up Earthquake formed one night in 2009 when lead vocalist and guitarist Chris Rayner was playing at an open mic. Afterwards drummer Josh Simon approached him and said, “We need to play in a band together.” At that time Rayner and bassist Vaughn Murphy were already jamming.

“It wasn’t so much a serious thing, just kind of learning how each other plays,” says Rayner. “And

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Raccoon Bandit may have already released two albums since forming in 2008 but now the band is anticipating their most unique project yet. This month the four-piece folk-rock group will release a split ten-inch vinyl with fellow Charlottetown band Sister Jack. “The idea is four songs, two per band,” explains Bandit singer and guitarist Fraser McCallum. “Two A sides, essentially. There

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Talking Bands
by Katie Rankin

Named after the most unlikeable animal on PEI, Coyote is a reincarnation of the goofily-named group Solid Gold Workout. Unlike the pet-eating mongrel, this band of five friends are friendly, and ready to showcase their new pop sound and line-up, while keeping their energetic live shows. The band became Coyote over the last year, with it’s three original members vocalist/guitarist J

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Honestly! The songs and stories of Nancy White and Erskine Smith

Review by Katie Rankin

Storytelling and song are often considered one and the same, but that doesn’t mean telling stories and singing songs always go together like peanut butter and jelly. They’re different forms of entertainment and when you stick them together there should be a common theme and cohesion. In Honestly! The songs and sto

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