Studio A Audio Recording & Production

http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/6200528-versatile-duo-set-for-holiday-show/

By Coral Andrews

Sixteen-year-old co-op student Steve Strongman met 18-year-old Rob Szabo at Kitchener’s Sherwood Music back when Szabo was running the guitar department.

The rest is Canadian music history.

Strongman and Szabo have garnered many Canadian music awards for their work over the years from Toronto Society Blues Awards, Canadian Folk Music Awards, and multiple East Coast Music Awards. Strongman won a Juno Blues Recording of the Year, and Szabo Producer of the Year for 2013’s “A Natural Fact.” The pair received the same Juno nod for Strongman’s 2015 release “Let Me Prove it to You.”

Both are merrily evolving in their lucrative solo careers.

Szabo and Strongman are now co-writing Strongman’s next CD, with Szabo co-writing and producing bands in many genres from pop-synth to heavy metal.

But right now the dynamic duo is rehearsing for their annual holiday show at Starlight.

“This is our 11th annual if you can believe that,” exclaims Szabo. “It’s crazy and it’s funny because that is how it started. Steve and I have played in bands together around Kitchener and Waterloo for decades. There was a certain point where we were not seeing each other that much and we thought it would be a good excuse to get together and play music because that’s our favourite thing to do together. Next thing you know it’s 11 years later and people still come to see us, so we are not complaining. We think it is great,” says Szabo from their remote rehearsal hall space in Ancaster.

“Our writing partnership has been evolving since we met. Our years playing as an acoustic duo in the ’90s played into that,” he notes. “I was playing in the (funk/rock group) Groove Daddys (with Jeff Cowell and Paddy Flynn) for several years. Steve at the time was playing in (rock band) The Longfellows which morphed into (power rockers) 100 Mile House. We often played together at co-bills, when we were working on our own bands. But then Steve and I started playing in (alt-pop band) Plasticine,” he recalls.

“Obviously through Plasticine we were writing and co-producing those records together (and after the record label folded) our solo careers went their own ways. Steve and I both did a few records before we started working together on our solo stuff. I guess this is a long-winded answer. Maybe Steve should take over,” says Szabo laughing.

“For me it was a very natural progression,” notes Strongman. “(After Plasticine broke up) I was working as a side guy with (Hamilton rock fusion band) Kazzer at the time and I really wanted to focus on a solo career,” says Strongman, who by then had been turned onto the blues by veteran/mentor Mel Brown.

“So I had my first (blues) record “Honey” which came out in 2006,” says Strongman. “The whole time, Rob and I were best friends. We have always continued to work together. It just seemed to make sense to me. I came to Rob and we started doing a lot of writing together and I wanted him to produce.”

Strongman and Szabo, who have known each other just over 20 years, have an easygoing back and forth.

“Rob’s a pretty funny guy,” notes Strongman as they both laugh. He adds the main reason for their closeness comes from working together on the music, having fun, and trusting each other.

Based on past audience feedback, the holiday show will not have any Christmas songs, so expect special surprise guests and a musical blast from the past à la Groove Daddys.

“One thing I will say,” says Strongman. “As our careers move forward we always introduce the material. For example, the Juno Award-winning CD (“Natural Fact”) that Rob produced, adding some material from that into the Christmas show. Everything that we do is very intertwined. So every year the show has progressed more with material that has come out that year or the previous year.”

Steve Strongman and Rob Szabo

11th Annual Holiday Show

Starlight

47 King St. N., Waterloo

Saturday, Dec. 19

Show 8:30 (sharp) to 10:30 p.m.

$19 advance, $25 door

19+

www.starlightsocialclub.ca

http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/6199616-walking-in-a-weidinger-wonderland/

By Neil McDonald

For Matt Weidinger, ’tis the season to wrap up another busy year of music.

The 22-year-old Kitchener musician is hosting his third annual Christmas show at The Jazz Room in Waterloo this Sunday, and said the idea originally came about as a way to wind down from all the loud rock shows he plays throughout the year.

“I do a lot of work with full band stuff and at the start of it, I thought, ‘Well, it would be really great to do a show where it’s a bit more intimate, and I would have the grand piano there and people could sit down and have some drinks,’ not really the rock kind of thing, you know?” he said in a phone interview this week.

This year’s show will feature Weidinger performing original material and some covers (including a couple of Christmas tunes) both solo and with a full band, and will also include special guests Cheryl Lescom, Jon Knight, as well as appearances from other local musical friends who Weidinger said will “pop in and do some songs.”

The afternoon show will wrap up a typically busy year for Weidinger. In addition to weekly residencies at the Lancaster Smokehouse in Kitchener and the Duke of Wellington pub in Waterloo, he also performs occasionally with Jon Knight and Soulstack, plays organ and sings in the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tribute to Joe Cocker, and is also a member of the backup band for ’80s rocker Lee Aaron.

Weidinger said he’s “pretty much been playing every night of the week for the last year-and-a-half or so,” a hectic schedule that nevertheless helped him purchase his first house a couple of months ago. Not bad for a guy who decided to become a professional musician while still in high school.

“The last real job I had was working at a grocery store when I was 16, and I’ve been playing music full time ever since,” he said.

Weidinger continued: “I didn’t really have anything else going on and then when I found music, it was, ‘OK, this is what I’m going to do, this is all I can really do.’ So I just worked as hard as I could at that and it’s just taking opportunities when they come up and trying to keep myself in a good place, and that’s where it’s got me.”

Weidinger has plans to build a home studio in his new house, and hopes to begin recording an album early next year.

“That’s the game plan. I’ve got the piano, I’ve got a Hammond B3, I’ve got all the equipment I need,” he said. “I think one of the possibilities is that in the new year (I will) maybe look at doing a record in the house, because there’s quite a bit of room in here and I think we could make it happen.”

Along with buying his first house, Weidinger said a highlight of the past year was getting to jet around the country to perform shows with Aaron on bills featuring fellow Canadian classic rockers such as Prism and Honeymoon Suite.

“This was the first year I got to do some flying to go to a gig. I’ve done quite a bit of driving, but this was the first year that I got paid to go fly out somewhere and play out of Ontario, so that was a big thing for me, that felt really good,” he said.

As for gifts he’d like to see under the tree this year, Weidinger said he has no specific requests.

“Not really, other than maybe a mortgage payment,” he said with a laugh, adding that his Christmas show is a great way for him to see out the year with friends in a unique atmosphere.

“I call it a Christmas show because it’s around Christmas, but one of the big reasons I like doing the show at this time of year is because people have time off work, and especially doing it on the Sunday afternoon, it gives people an opportunity to come out and maybe see a show that (they) wouldn’t have the opportunity to come out (and see) later if they don’t like going to the bar real late. So that’s actually the thing I enjoy most about it, is being able to have a show where people can come out and it’s a different vibe. And that’s the best present of all for me, just being able to play with my friends and make great music and have a good time.”

Previous Christmas shows have sold out, Weidinger said, though fans can still check Encore Records in Kitchener, Orange Monkey in Waterloo or Ticketscene online for tickets.

Matt Weidinger Christmas Show with Cheryl Lescom, Jon Knight, and special guests

The Jazz Room, Waterloo

Sunday, Dec. 20

$15 advance

Doors: 2 p.m.; show: 3 to 6 p.m.

mattweidinger.com

Waterloo Region Record – http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/5921218-popsmacked-kitchener-s-koi-music-fest-combats-festivalitis-/

By Joel Rubinoff

The liver-lipped mascot — the colour of boiled carrots — is wedged in a corner, having outlived its usefulness as a symbol of the edgy, underground music festival it had come to represent.

“It was causing some confusion,” points out Cory Crossman of the mammoth stuffed koi fish used as a calling card for KOI, the Kitchener Ontario Independent Music Festival he founded in 2010 with his brother Curt.

“After five years, it was time for a rebrand.”

So they ditched the ornamental Japanese carp — which, frankly, had nothing to do with indie music anyway — and replaced it with an elegant silhouette of downtown Kitchener as a construction zone: a city on the move, reaching for the future.

“We’re redefining and redeveloping ourselves along with the city,” points out Crossman, settled in the festival’s Kitchener digs, a bricks-and-beams masterpiece in a converted factory near the Kitchener train station.

“Someone told me, ‘This is your vibe — edgy but still sophisticated.’ You can see the history and culture, but it’s still funky. It’s not cheesy.”

Funky … cheesy. It’s a thin line.

And with a roster of acts that encompasses everything from indie rock, hip hop and pop punk to metal, hardcore, reggae, ska and alternative blues, the brothers have managed to consistently land on the right side in a city known for bratwurst and a stuffed Bavarian beermonger named Onkel Hans.

“There’s a party atmosphere,” notes Crossman, who handles the music end of the business while older brother, Curt, runs the duo’s adjacent clothing print shop.

“But we’ve always tried to focus on music and bands.”

Because it’s local, and because the bands aren’t commercial powerhouses with egos and bodyguards, the festival boasts an interactive vibe that makes it distinct.

“I don’t think there are many music festivals where you can see a headlining act at the back of a room watching an up-and-coming young band,” points out Crossman, noting the festival has hosted up and coming heavyweights like Walk Off The Earth and Monster Truck.

“The musicians aren’t locked in a green room. They’re out walking around. That’s our unique atmosphere — accessibility.”

But things change. And as the musical landscape evolves, buffeted by economic trends, it’s clear there are concerns about making the festival leaner, sleeker, more efficient.

“It’s a really competitive market right now,” notes Crossman after a summer in which it seemed everyone and their dog hosted a music festival.

“Everyone’s trying to get their festival crammed into the summer months.”

Call it festivalitis, a bandwagon effect destined for some grand Darwinian bloodbath, critics predict, until the dust settles.

It was bound to happen.

Since the music industry imploded with the rise of Internet file sharing, it’s been almost impossible for musicians to make money through recordings — at least those not embedded in music’s million-seller club.

Nor do they have the resources to launch a tour in a repressed economy where big acts make out like bandits and everyone else struggles for survival.

The solution: festivals. Develop a theme, assemble a smart, compelling roster of acts, create an engaging vibe and watch the coffers overflow.

In the past two months, we’ve seen the WayHome Music & Arts Festival in Barrie, Kitchener’s Big Music Festival, Toronto Urban Roots Fest, Guelph’s Hillside, Elora’s Riverfest and Toronto’s Riot Fest, which is KOI’s biggest competition.

If it were a movie, it would be called “50 Shades of Indie,” since most draw from the same pool of talent.

“It’s an economics question,” U.S. booking agent Todd Cote told wonderingsound.com. “When anyone has any success, people come in and copy it and do it again.

“And then they overload the system.”

It’s true. In the face of new competition, Guelph’s Hillside, for the first time in years, failed to sell out.

Kitchener’s Big Music Fest cancelled its entire Sunday lineup — half its paid talent roster — when it turned out people would rather drive hours to see Rod Stewart in a casino than stand all day in a muddy field.

With industry predictions that the festival bubble is about to pop, indie underdogs like KOI have reason to be concerned.

“We knew coming in it would be an aggressive market this year,” notes Crossman. “The biggest festivals make it very difficult for smaller ones.”

But these guys are hardscrabble Kitchener survivors, not whiny Woody Allen neurotics.

Faced with a challenge, they concoct a business plan, put their noses to the grindstone and get the hell back to work.

“No one’s going to do it for you,” notes Curt. “You just do it yourself.”

Minor hockey players in their youth, their straight-on approach to teamwork is a model of hands-on efficiency.

Cory — younger of the two — is the laid-back people person who oversees the festival side: engaged, committed, without affectation.

Curt, who runs the duo’s sideline clothing print shop, is more intense, focused, with a keen BS detector and an eye on the bottom line.

In the 30 minutes I talk to them together, they finish each other’s sentences, back up each other’s assertions and cast meaningful looks when a question touches a nerve.

It is, I suspect, the key to their success.

“Our primary focus is to develop and grow a sustainable arts and music culture for Kitchener-Waterloo,” points out Cory, who began programming concerts with Curt two decades ago as students at Kitchener’s Grand River Collegiate.

“This is our community. We built it up. We work with local artists. It’s not a gimmick.”

But there’s another issue that dogs all concert bookers at some point, an invisible elephant that can turn you from edgy to irrelevant in the blink of an eye: the encroachment of, gulp, middle age.

At 33 and 31 respectively, Curt and Cory are still young — youngish.

But next to the mohawked koi fish stuffy is a declarative sign of the future: a high chair reserved for Cory’s nine-month-old daughter.

“How long can we continue to do this?” Cory muses, aware the festival’s average attendee is a 23-year-old male. “It’s mentally and physically exhausting.

“A lot of people think it’s just rock ‘n’ roll and partying, but it’s quite the opposite: long hours, high stress.”

Dealing with everything from funding applications and portable toilet rentals to band riders that insist on everything from fresh socks to Mars bars and peanuts, he says the brothers need a month to recover.

And let’s be clear: even with 105 acts over three days, a $300,000 budget and an expected crowd of 10,000, it’s not like they’re rolling in dough.

“We don’t want to stop presenting events like KOI but we need the support of the community,” sums up Cory, who admits that with all the competition, it can be tough to marshal resources.

“There are real costs to managing events of this nature and things can’t be free.

“We are, unfortunately, year-to-year. We are NOT a not-for-profit. We are trying to create a sustainable business model in a highly, highly competitive industry.”

As the retired KOI mascot glares from its perch behind the high chair, you sense that despite the challenges, the future will be bright.

Joel Rubinoff writes about pop culture. Email him at jrubinoff@therecord.com

KOI Music Fest

Sept. 25-27

Six indoor venues, two outdoor stages and one acoustic tent in downtown Kitchener.

Kickoff show Thursday with The Trews. Tickets $25.

Advance tickets: $30 Friday, $55 Saturday, $75 for Friday/Saturday pass, $25 for Sunday brunch shows.

Tickets available at West 49, The Beat Goes On and ticketscene.ca/koifest

VIP passes for Friday/Saturday are $100. Online only.

For more information: www.koimusicfestival.com

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5914234-music-s-new-spin-big-demand-for-vinyl-lps/

BORDENTOWN, N.J. — The machines at Independent Record Pressing whirred and hissed as they stamped out a test record. The business owners waited anxiously for Dave Miller, the plant manager, to inspect the still-warm slab of vinyl.

“That’s flat, baby!” Miller said as he held the record, to roars of approval and relief. “That’s the way they should come off, just like that.”

Independent Record Pressing is an attempt to solve one of the riddles of today’s music industry: how to capitalize on the popularity of vinyl records when the machines that make them are decades old, and often require delicate and expensive maintenance. The six presses at this new 20,000-square-foot plant, for example, date back to the 1970s.

Vinyl, which faded with the arrival of compact discs in the 1980s, is having an unexpected renaissance. Last year, more than 13 million LPs were sold in the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, the highest count in 25 years, making it one of the record business’ few growth areas.

But the few dozen plants around the world that press the records have strained to keep up with the exploding demand, resulting in long delays and other production problems, executives and industry observers say. It is now common for plants to take up to six months to turn around a vinyl order — an eternity in an age when listeners are used to getting music online instantly.

“The good news is that everyone wants vinyl,” Dave Hansen, one of Independent’s owners and the general manager of the alternative label Epitaph, said on a recent hot afternoon as the plant geared up for production.

“The bad news is everything you see here today,” he added, noting that the machines had to be shut down that afternoon because of the rising temperature of water used as a coolant. To replace an obsolete screw in one machine, Independent spent $5,000 to manufacture and install a new one.

The vinyl boom has come as listening to music online has taken off as a listening format and both CDs and downloads have declined. The reasons cited are usually a fuller, warmer sound from vinyl’s analog grooves and the tactile power of a well-made record at a time when music has become ephemeral.

Most surprising is the youth of the market: According to MusicWatch, a consumer research group, about 54 per cent of vinyl customers are 35 or younger. Hansen and Darius Van Arman, a founder of Secretly Group, a consortium of small record companies that is a partner in Independent, said they believed their customers were often discovering new music through streaming and then collecting it on LPs.

“None of this was supposed to happen, and yet it’s happened,” said Michael Fremer, a senior contributing editor at Stereophile magazine and a longtime champion of vinyl as a superior medium for sound.

Independent’s machines tell some of the history of the modern music business. Miller, 62, helped build them as a young man in the 1970s, and they were used for decades at the Hub-Servall plant in Cranbury, N.J.; Miller recalls pressing copies of the “Saturday Night Fever” and “Grease” soundtracks there.

In 2007, Hub-Servall’s presses were sold to RIP-V, a new plant in Montreal that took on Epitaph as a client. RIP-V shut down last year, and Independent bought six of its 14 machines and brought them back to New Jersey. Hansen said he and Secretly had invested $1.5 million in the venture.

For the music business overall, vinyl is still a niche product, if an increasingly substantial one. According to Nielsen, LPs now represent about nine per cent of sales in physical formats. But for indies like Epitaph and Secretly, vinyl has become essential: Both now take in nearly as much revenue from LPs as they do from CDs.

Hansen started Independent as a 50-50 partnership with Secretly to serve other independent labels — companies that often find themselves squeezed out of the production line by bigger players.

“One of the problems that independent labels are facing,” Van Arman of Secretly said, “is that some of the bigger plants might get an order for an Eagles box set, and everyone else is put on hold.”

When it is operating at full capacity, Independent should produce up to 1.5 million records a year, Hansen and Van Arman said. But first the machines must be fully restored and tested, and after several months they are still not quite ready.

While tweaking two machines, Miller, the plant manager, showed how many parts of the physical process must be aligned to make a record properly. Vinyl pellets are poured from a bucket into an extruder, and then formed into a small lump of vinyl that is placed between metal stampers forming the shape of each side of the record. The machine then presses the stampers together with 150 pounds per square inch of pressure. If the temperature, pressure or consistency of the vinyl is off, the result is an imperfect record that is scrapped.

“This is the dirty, brutal side of the record business,” Miller said. “Nobody realizes the work it takes to actually make a record.”

There is now a global rush to set up more plants and find existing presses, but the few that have been tracked down are often in poor shape. This year Chad Kassem of Quality Record Pressings in Salina, Kan., found 13 disused machines in Chicago — “they looked like scrap metal to anybody but me,” he said — and he hopes to restore five of them within six months.

Yet talk of a possible bubble hangs over the vinyl business, and some plants seem to be bracing for a decline even as they expand. United Record Pressing in Nashville, one of the biggest plants, has 30 presses running 24 hours a day and has acquired 16 more machines. Yet the plant, overwhelmed by demand, has stopped taking orders from new customers.

“It’s difficult to turn people away, especially when it is maybe an independent artist,” said Jessica Baird, a representative of the company. “But we are trying to do the best we can for people who have been loyal to us for years, and that we hope will stick with us when the ebb and flow comes again.”

Hansen, 52, said he was not sure whether the vinyl gold rush would continue, either, but he has staked a considerable personal investment in it and called the plant part of his retirement planning.

“The dream is to build capacity for our label and provide a service for the indie labels that I love and respect so much,” Hansen said, “and at the same time, make a few bucks too.”

New York Times