|
HardRoad
It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll – or so Bon Scott sang so many years ago. For any musician trying to make it, they can be sure success will involve a long hard road. Even simply not giving up on their dreams will prove difficult. But one local musician has joined a group of Canadian veterans to offer a new super group that continues to march on the HardRoad.
Eric Papky’s life in music began as a small child playing piano at three but by the time high school began he was playing in bands and opening up for bands like the Rainbow Butt Monkeys (now Finger 11) with his band Drop Odyssey. By the time he graduated high school, Papky enrolled in the Applied Music program at Mohawk College focusing on jazz guitar while simultaneously playing in the eclectic funk based Cro–Nasal Sapiens [alongside Dan Snaith who has since had a successful international music career under the name of Caribou].
After graduation, Papky would teach music and record bands in his basement eventually opening Hive Studios by 2005.
“Michael Brown and I played in a cover band together probably five or six nights a week for a few years,” recounts Papky. “We lived in this house that had a good amount of space in the basement and I had some recording gear and eventually we started to write music and make a few
demos.”
One of those bands was formed by one of his guitar students, Kyle McKnight, who was starting Threat Signal with Jon Howard – Papky would take on bass to help fulfill the label commitments Threat Signal garnered when their demos got them signed. While Papsky liked to rock hard – he’d leave the band to focus on his studio.
“Hive Studios is my full–time job and then some right now,” offers Papky. “I love being able to say my commute to work involves stopping in the kitchen for a coffee on my way to the basement.”
While recording dozens of bands a year, Papky kept up his chops on the cover band circuit. It’d prove fortuitous after promoter/agent Jack Smith became familiar with Papky’s work and suggested him as the bassist for the Toronto based band HardRoad that featured Russ Graham (Killer Dwarfs) on lead vocals, Earl Johnson (Moxy) on guitar, and Morgan Evans (Lee Aaron) on drums.
“Being busy with the studio I wasn’t thinking about joining an original band again but I was flattered to be asked by such accomplished musicians,” smiles Papky. “I agreed to go to a few rehearsals and I liked the vibe a lot. I owned a cassette of the Killer Dwarfs before I ever played guitar. I didn’t know much of Moxy before but after checking it out I can’t figure out why it wasn’t more popular in Canada.
“I think there will always be a connection with HardRoad and Hamilton, especially now that I’m in the band,” adds Papky. “Hamilton has always been a rock and roll town and I can see HardRoad’s music really striking a chord with this town. I hope we can develop a real following here so we can play here a lot more.”
With their debut CD, Miles, the 80’s Dwarves influence with the AC DC–type–vibe Johnson brings melds into a hard rock sound that could easily find its way onto classic/new rock radio. While they set their sights on the national stage, HardRoad are beginning the next leg of this hard road in Hamilton this week.
“You’ve got players that come from a time when you had to be able to pull it off without all the fancy digital toys we’ve got now,” says Papky. “These are guys that have been to the top and are still doing it out of a passion for music and you’ll hear that when you listen to
HardRoad. I think it’s just the same rock music that I grew up listening to – Zeppelin, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses. It sounds genuine and that’s what I heard right away. These guys were there and helped pioneer the sounds that we’re calling ‘80s rock now. It’s the kind of rock and roll that will never really get old. I think you’ll really see that when you come to see us live.
“I like to really move around and rock out on stage and seldom is there another band member that will keep up with me,” he adds. “With Russ I think I’ve met my match. He’s still a great performer and has such a strong voice. I don’t think many people have seen a singer with the kind of stage presence and power that Russ has. I mean here’s a guy that has played sold–out shows at Wembley Stadium with Iron Maiden. Combine that with some great tunes and you’ve got a show not to be missed. We play 90 per cent HardRoad originals but we’ll throw in a few Moxy and Killer Dwarfs tunes for the old and hopefully new
fans as well.”
HardRoad plays this Thursday August 5 at The Casbah with The Dirty Nil
and For Days. Doors are at 8 and $8 gets you in. Click on myspace.com/officialhardroad
D–Toxx
When Dave Fawcett’s family moved from Saint John, NB to Hamilton 11 years ago, his uncle had convinced his mother that the job front was better here. For the budding rapper, Fawcett was happy to be closer to the Canadian hip–hop capital of Toronto. But before he’d make headway in the big smoke, Fawcett took on the Hammer, collaborating with a wide range of producers, including Rob Lamothe, Jordan Abraham and P. David Lashmar, and artists from the likes of Tommy Gunn to Lisa Winn to Certified.
Fawcett would adopt the moniker D–toxx and a variety of CDs and by 2003 started catching the attention of some influential folks south of the border. When he signed to Pump It Up Records in Ohio, D–Toxx was able to tour through the northern US but what monies he was afforded in his contract were eventually used to get him out of that very contract.
Undaunted, D–toxx came back swinging with an appearance on the nationally televised talk show Jenny Jones that showcased his Hamilton roots when he donned some special black and gold attire but it was a local performance that helped to really develop his star power.
“We even promoted a few shows as ‘D–toxx as seen on Jenny Jones’,” laughs Fawcett, “but it was bringing in a crowd, so we went with it.
“Performing on the Jenny Jones show was a great promotional tool, I wore a Ti–Cats shirt for my intro, hoping it would catch some Hamiltonians attention and it did. I started getting recognized all over the city after that.
“Then Maestro Fresh Wes was doing a show in Burlington, and I contacted the promoter, Mike Moves, about being the opening act” adds Fawcett. “I got the spot so I wrote a song called ‘Drop Dat’ to try my hand at something a little more dancy for the ladies, and performed it that night, Mike was impressed with the song, and invited me on a few more shows. A few weeks later, we did a show in St. Catharines, and Choclair was on the bill, too. He heard the song and really dug it.”
Choclair would add a verse to the final recorded version of the song and D–Toxx was suddenly getting national and international buzz from the collaboration. The experience made Fawcett change the way he presented his music.
“Before 2008, I would release anything I recorded, then after working with Choclair and Mike Moves, they taught me it’s better to release quality material less often, as opposed to run of the mill material all the time. Now, I’m much more content to release singles to my internet sites, and use the feedback from my supporters to see which sounds and styles are getting the most attention.”
With plans to release his first full length in a few years in advance of an Ontario–wide tour, D–toxx will be working out new songs at a high profile Black Eyed Peas afterparty in Toronto soon. But this weekend offers the Hammer a taste of this to come.
“Hip–hop in the Hammer is kind of hard to explain – there are a lot of very talented emcees in this city but the support is kind of lacking,” muses Fawcett. “I try to attend as many local shows as possible, and the live shows are hit and miss. I think people hear the word local and figure it’s not worth their time. But that’s why I always give a hundred per cent at every show whether it’s a group of 10 or a crowd
of a thousand.
“My live shows are a lot more than a guy rapping,” adds Fawcett. “I interact and include the crowd in my shows. There’s constant movement, intense energy and comic relief to keep the crowd interested. I’m not rapping about being a gangster or who I’m going to shoot, I perform songs about having a good time and enjoying yourself. I do party music.”
D-toxx plays this Saturday July 31 at Club Absinthe with Arcane and Rash Don, Roche, Mista, Stunts and more. Doors open at 9pm and $5 gets you in. Click on myspace.com/dtoxxhiphop
Pull Start Rockets
Cayman Persichini (vocals, guitar), Shawn Tebay (drums), Skylar
Marshall (guitar), and Eric Persichini (bass) grew up in the all–ages scene playing in former bands like Identity Crisis and Redlight but when they formed Pull Start Rockets, they seemed to immediately garner attention.
They paid their dues on the local club scene, worked out an energetic setlist, and then enlisted Hive Studios’ Dave Wilson to help to capture that energy onto a EP to offer to industry bigwigs. Every young band is doing that but Pull Start Rockets had a huge stroke of luck at one local low–key outing that happened to have an American music manufacturer scout that saw something special in the band.
“We all come from different musical backgrounds, which make a lot of
our tunes pretty unique but over all the years of listening and making music now the biggest influences have to be some of the alternative groups that are still making rock music today,” offers Cayman Persichini on the band’s sound. “Power–pop–rock — we get a lot of inspiration from bands such as Anberlin, Foo Fighters, Paramore, Jimmy Eat World, The Almost, Sparks the Rescue. It’s a band effort, and that’s what makes it so much out own style and our own voice as Pull Start Rockets.
“We began to shop the EP around to a bunch of different places,” adds the singer. “It just fell into the hands of a Yamaha artist affairs scout [Chris Gero] that happened to be in Hamilton when we were playing a show. We then had a few meetings with him to talk about what we could accomplish together. Yamaha then said if we all want this to happen we needed to head down to Nashville, where the Yamaha artist affairs is located, to start the project.
“We were all definitely onboard, we had to jump on the chance or else
we’d all have regrets,” he continues. “So, last summer we headed down to Nashville and got right into working with producers and engineers to record our full length record. Down in Nashville is not only where Yamaha artist affairs were located, but also is a city full of recording studios and top producers and engineers. Being a big music city, the different connecting and opportunities out there is to a much greater chance to hopefully reach our music out in not only Canada but the United States as well.”
As well as a heap of Yamaha equipment and a fateful Los Angeles debut at the music industry trade show NAMM, (National Association of Music Merchants), Pull Start Rockets have been recording with Grammy winning producer Tommy Sims (Eric Clapton, Michael McDonald, Sheryl Crow) over the last year, fine–tuning the songs with hopes to release their full length before the end of this year. While they haven’t relocated from the Hamilton area as of yet, the States are beckoning and a few local gigs over this summer could be some of the band’s last before they set to touring.
“Working with Tommy really helped us grow not only as a band but
mature our own style of playing,” says Persichini. “The finishing touches are being made to the album now, and hopefully it’ll be out soon so we can start touring it across North America. So far, we haven’t been doing too much gigging outside the GTA. But it’s always the best time playing in our hometown. Our friends and families are all home, and there’s nothing better than a good ole Hamilton gig. And
no matter where we play in North America Hamilton is our home, so it’s
amazing and great to have that hometown support when we are playing.
“We’ve been currently working on a music video along with the record to release it all at the same time to go tour up in Canada first and then the US,” he adds. “We hope to be able to achieve what we think every band wants to achieve, to be able to make music for a living and have people enjoy listening to our music as much as we enjoy making it. And some money wouldn’t be too bad either.”
Pull Start Rockets play this Saturday July 31 at the Corktown Pub with All for Nothing, January Hill, Letter Four, and Courage My Love. The all ages/licensed show starts at 9pm and $10 gets you in. click on myspace.com/pullstartrockets
|
