Blog Archives

So I was sitting in the media lounge at Montebello’s Rockfest. The chalet was beautiful, the staff was welcoming, and the iced coffee had the perfect amount of pep and kick. I was charging my phone battery and preparing for a second day of incredible live music, when who should walk in to charge their phones but punk rock icons Good Riddance.

So Montebello’s Amnesia Rockfest 2017 was amazing! Another great lineup of talent, reaching all corners of the globe, and encompassing a variety of styles. Again another 100,000 or so people descend on this wickedly beautiful little village, and they run amuck. Music is coming from every corner and can be heard for miles. Artists from Germany, Mexico, and all over the United States and Canada take the stage, as dust rises from the dirty boots of thousands of punk rockers and metalheads, and I got to witness it all from a very unique vantage point.

The times may be a’ changing, but not quite fast enough.

Before Green Day won Grammies for singing of an American idiot, and Rage Against the Machine urged us to take the power back, The Clash wrote intricate songs about isolation, poverty, utilitarianism, and cultural upheaval. Before Bob Dylan won a Nobel Prize for Literature, his songs were recited and replayed over and over at picket lines across the United States when citizens took to the streets to protest the Vietnam War. Before Dr. Dre was selling his headphones to Apple and being treated like hip hop’s elder statesman and Ice Cube was making movies about barbershops and Jump Street, the “Niggaz With Attitude” were challenging police corruption and slapping us unapologetic-ally with a lyrical portrait of their realities in South Central, Los Angeles.

This past Thursday night, the Diamond Mine Agency packed the Bourbon Room on Dalhousie Street in downtown Ottawa for a hip-hop show with more flare than the “Nature Boy”, and our very own Leigh Bursey and Dave Di Ubaldo were there to catch all of the action. Being that Project Mantra opened up the show, Leigh asked for Dave’s help in delivering the review to bring some balance to the coverage.

Project Mantra, fronted by our own Leigh Bursey, has had a busy year in 2016. They released their first music video, first album, had a single played on CBC Radio and went on tour. We sat down with Leigh to talk about their year and their plans for the year ahead.

To call me a fan of July Talk would be an understatement.

Here is a band that came into my life late last year, and has since enveloped a huge part of my personal music tastes, and I find myself often mimicking their sound and feeling when I put on my stage character with my group Project Mantra. 

By Chellsea Santini – Guest Reviewer, What turned out to be a cold, blustery, and snowy Sunday evening was no match for the fire burning inside The Central when Brockville/Ottawa folk punk band Project Mantra came to town.

Kingston area hip hop performers Keaton and S-Cape Artist took turns stealing the show last Thursday night in Kingston at The Mansion. I know this because I was lucky enough to spend the evening with them, as they and local Brockville band Our Forgotten Memories supported my band Project Mantra at our Kingston CD Release Party.