Mother Mother are a fairly new band, but since they released their first record in 2005 -- and then a reissue release in 2007 -- I've heard them on the radio, seen them in the papers, and watched them on TV.

Now, with 2008's O My Heart granting them great reviews and an opening slot with Matthew Good, I had absolutely no choice but to talk to them in person.

I first saw Clothes Make The Man (CMTM) perform at this year's Edgefest. At the time, there was nothing doing on the big stage so I wandered over to the smaller stage and was lucky enough to catch these guys.

They play good, honest rock music. They're not into eight minute songs, or placing a pretentious symphony in the middle of an album that no one really understands. What they offer is just bare-boned, balls-to-the-wall, rock'n'roll, which I like.

CMTM are playing at the Horseshoe Tavern on Saturday, December 12, as part of Audio Blood Media's showcase. With the show coming up and an album freshly recorded -- but not yet released -- I decided to meet up with a couple members at Sneaky Dee's. It was, after all, a cheap beer Wednesday.

London, Ontario's Raised By Swans are poised to release their second full-length, No Ghostless Place, and frontman Eric Howden has been ready for over a decade. Since he left The Gandharvas in 1997, he's been determined to make his own music in his own way. So after forming Raised By Swans, he's feeling pretty good.

Raised By Swans is having their CD release party at the Horseshoe Tavern on Friday, December 11th and so I arranged a quick phoner to chat with him about it.

Chokeules is probably best known for his role in the London (Ontario) rap trio, Toolshed, but now he's ready to make a name for himself as a solo-artist. After working and performing in the Canadian underground hip-hop scene for over a decade, he's found a new home base in Toronto and is about to unveil his solo debut -- Hypergraphia.

With his official CD release party scheduled for Friday, December 4th at College Street's Rancho Relaxo I checked in with Chokeules to discuss all of the above and what the future holds for Toolshed.

Besides being a mouthful of a name, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald (MBF) has been steadily growing as a Canadian commodity in the west for the past few years.

The Calgarian has become a staple in his hometown, playing the last two Virgin Festivals in his hometown, and selling out a 1800-person capacity hall for the release of the Love LP back in June.

But he's left Calgary, and as of two weeks ago he now lives in Toronto. I figured there were at least two good reasons to give him a call.
1) He is playing a one month residency at Supermarket starting November 18th.
2) With no long distance fees to deal with, it's a totally affordable call.

Elias, Vancouver's up-an-coming act, is coming to Toronto to play two shows on tour with Pilot Speed (formerly Pilate). The indie-rock band released its second full-length, Lasting Distraction, in mid-October and are currently working the tour van hard to promote it.

Although the vocal stylings of the two bands are very different, their music is easily comparable to Pilot Speed, so the two bands should complement each other quite nicely and it'll definitely be beneficial for Elias to be on the bill.

I got on the horn with Rob Tornroos (lead guitar), who was just taking his lunch break to get serious about what's doin' in his life.