Demo Listening

Gibson Guitar Artist Studio – 4:00-5:00pm

1205 King Street West

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Click on the names to view bio and photo.
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Moderator

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Lori Hirst[/dcs_fancy_header]
A singer/songwriter and entrepreneur, Lori Hirst’s foray into music management came quite by chance in 1999 when she came to the assistance of some young friends in a ska-punk band. It didn’t take long to realize she was hooked. Lori continued to operate her own non-music related company and immersed herself in the music business. She began taking music management courses at Harris Institute, attending music conferences and reading voraciously about the industry.
In 2005, Lori joined forces with Larry Wanagas at Bumstead Productions to manage Toronto power-pop band, The Awesome Team. Since then, she has worn many hats in the industry.
A self-professed “recording studio junkie”, Lori has been involved in the recording process as an artist manager, executive producer, producer, audio book director, vocal arranger and musician. Currently, Lori is Industry Coordinator for Indie Week 2011 and is a partner in Balsam Pier Music, a new artist development and management company in Toronto, Canada.
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Panelists

[dcs_toggle_flat color="#6a6a6a" weight="normal" title="Adam H. Hurstfield - XOXO Entertainment"]
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Adam H. Hurstfield[/dcs_fancy_header]
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Website: www.xoxoent.com
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[dcs_toggle_flat color="#6a6a6a" weight="normal" title="Alan Cross - Radio Host"]
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Alan Cross[/dcs_fancy_header]
Alan Cross is an internationally known broadcaster, writer, blogger and speaker.
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In his 30 years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music. He’s also written four reference books on alt-rock, recorded four audio books (all top-sellers on iTunes), written liner notes for dozens of CDs and contributed to magazines and other publications in Canada and the US. He’s also a sought-after college and university lecturer, writes a weekly national music column for Metro and travels to music festivals all over the world.
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His new radio show is The Secret History of Rock, which runs across Canada and in the US. Alan has been deeply involved exploring the present and future relationships between music, technology and social networking.
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Website: www.alancross.ca
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Elias Chios[/dcs_fancy_header]

Elias Chios’s career began in 1995 at RCA Records in the radio promotion department as coordinator for the rock formats and then Head of the College Radio and Modern Rock Specialty Shows department. He then segued to Roadrunner Records in 1999 as the Manager of Northeast Radio Promotion responsible for all airplay between Virginia and Maine. In 2001, he was promoted to Senior Director of National Modern Rock and Video Promotion with the added the responsibility of spearheading all video channel campaigns and promoting all music videos to the national channels including all MTV and Vh1 properties, Music Choice, Fuse and more. 2003 saw Chios promoted to Vice President of Promotion. During Chios’ time in promotion he worked with and promoted the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman, Slipknot, Stone Sour, Eve 6, Lit and Natalie Imbruglia to name a few. At the start of 2008, Elias’ career at Roadrunner took the turn into marketing becoming Senior Director of Marketing and Product Manager for Nickelback, Stone Sour, Theory of a Deadman, The Parlor Mob, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Nightwish, The Dresden Dolls, Within Temptation, Collective Soul and many more. Elias joins International Solutions as head of the US and Canadian operations both from a business development angle and in a Product Manager capacity.
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Website: www.uegintl.com/
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Kim Cooke[/dcs_fancy_header]
Kim Cooke is a near 40 year veteran of the music business but the heart
of a 20-something beats in his chest. Kim has worked for major and
indie labels and now runs his own indie label Pheromone Recordings, which is home to The Dears, Beast, Sarah Slean and more. His career in the industry has run the gamut from retail and wholesale to marketing, radio promotion and A&R and various executive roles.
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Kim sits on the board of the Polaris Music Prize and he is also Nominating and Voting Chair for the Juno Awards. He is very excited about his newest venture, a partnership in a kick-ass, world-class recording studio, Revolution Recording located in Toronto.
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Website: www.pheromonerecords.com
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John Fielding[/dcs_fancy_header]
John Fielding has been involved in the music industry for over seven years. From playing in two touring bands, working as a composer/ producer /engineer for both independent and major label artist, to heading the A&R and Artists Development departments for True North Records/ Linus Ent, John has quickly carved his name in the Music industry in both Canada and The U.S. From the age of 21, John began touring and taking part in the major festival circuits. In 2009, John forged a production deal partnership with famed producer Ryan Greene (NOFX, Alice Cooper, Megadeth) and the two co-founded an L.A/ Toronto based production company called Area 52 Entertainment. Since then, John has worked with all types of artists and bands as a composer, producer or engineer for both Major label and Independent artists. While completing further industry education with an honours certificate from Metalworks institute, John began working in the business administration side of the industry. He is currently head of A&R and Artist Development for the legendary True North Records. He is also currently developing a booking agency within the True North entity which will handle booking for artists signed to the Label as well as others.
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Website: www.truenorthrecords.com
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[dcs_toggle_flat color="#6a6a6a" weight="normal" title="Michael Phillip Wojewoda - Producer"]
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Michael Phillip Wojewoda[/dcs_fancy_header]
In the past two years, Michael Phillip Wojewoda has been behind the boards for projects by internationally renowned metal legends, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a multimillion-selling pop band, folkie jazz singers, hip-hop artists, neo-electro club music, roots rock bands, and planetarium pop with guest spots from Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson.
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For anyone else, this eclecticism might appear scattershot. But the legions of artists who are drawn to work with Wojewoda do so for the intricacies of his sonic tapestry, his comfort with both the raw and the refined, and his ability to encourage even the most experienced artists to push themselves to new pinnacles.
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That’s why a pop band like the Barenaked Ladies—who entrusted Wojewoda to helm their major label debut in 1991—have returned to him again and again, including their American breakthrough Rock Spectacle and their forthcoming 2009 release, one that marks a time of renewal for the band following a major line-up change. It’s also why a veteran metal band like Anvil sought out Wojewoda to record new material to capitalize on the hit documentary that vaulted them back into the public eye in 2008. Meanwhile, Wojewoda continues to shepherd a new generation of Toronto talent by helping them realize recordings that capture them beyond their best.
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Wojewoda comes by his eclecticism naturally, starting 25 years ago when he cut his teeth in the fertile Toronto underground scene of the 1980s, where his workaholicism put him behind the boards for a diverse array of landmark albums. These included the raw hip-hop-infused jazz of the Shuffle Demons (Streetniks, 1987), the pioneering riot grrl punk of Fifth Column (To Sir With Hate, 1986), the noise rock of Nomind (Tales of Ordinary Madness, 1988), the punk pop of Montreal’s Doughboys (Happy Accidents, 1990), the jangle pop of the Plastercene Replicas (Glow, 1988), and the arty prog-punk of Queen St. staples Change of Heart.
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His work with the latter culminated with the 1992 epic Smile, a sprawling 74-minute opus that was recorded live to DAT with a 17-piece band in only three days. Smile has since entered the canon of Canadian rock, influencing everyone from The Tragically Hip to countless younger bands. Smile was a massive undertaking, and what’s even more impressive is how that same month Wojewoda was juggling two other gigs that would shape much of his career for the 90s.
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One was the multimillion-selling debut album by the Barenaked Ladies (Gordon, 1992); Wojewoda would continue to work with the band over the next decade, including production and engineering work on their American breakthrough live album Rock Spectacle(1997). The other key 1992 project was the Rheostatics’ Whale Music, which—12 years later—was chosen by CBC Radio as “the one album that every Canadian should hear.” Wojewoda went on to helm the band’s major label debut, the kaleidoscopic pop masterwork and Flaming Lips forerunner Introducing Happiness (1994), as well as 1999’s The Story of Harmelodia, a concept album revolving around a fantastical children’s story.
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Other highlights of that productive time included engineering Jane Siberry’s 1993 career high When I Was a Boy (with production by Brian Eno and Michael Brook), producing the commercial breakthrough for Vancouver folk rock band Spirit of the West (Faithlift, 1993), and helming the final album for beloved Toronto soul collective Bourbon Tabernacle Choir (Shyfolk, 1995).
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One of Wojewoda’s most difficult projects also proved to be one of the biggest: 1995’s major label debut album by controversial fiddler Ashley MacIsaac. Here, it was Wojewoda’s job to construct a sonic architecture of hip-hop, rock and pop structures to adorn basic fiddle tracks. Most of the more experimental tracks didn’t make it past the record company, but Hi How Are You Today did become MacIsaac’s one and only multi-platinum smash.
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Since then, Wojewoda’s work has oscillated between commercial pop work (Great Big Sea, Kim Stockwood), hip-hop (Pocket Dwellers), raw rock’n’roll (Luke Doucet), and an electro-acoustic song cycle about the first woman in space (Kurt Swinghammer’s Vostok 6).
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From 2001 to 2007, Wojewoda stepped from behind the glass to become the drummer for the Rheostatics, one of the most beloved bands in Canada, with a 20-year reputation for forging a unique, progressive and playful potpourri of boundary-breaking art-rock/prog/folk/new wave. This cut down on his studio time considerably, but since resigning from the band Wojewoda has returned to production full-time. Much of his most recent work has been as a mixing engineer, but the old-school producer in him still prefers shepherding a project from day one until completion, building a fraternity with the artist.
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“There was a time when shepherding someone through the filter of a studio left musicians with the opportunity to be more creative,” he says. “Ideally, the band will leave the studio better musicians than they were going in, or at least with a greater understanding of what they do.
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“Some bands don’t need a producer, they just need a good engineer,” he admits. “I can certainly do that too, but for a band producing their own record, it’s no different than managing yourself: booking gigs, running the numbers, etc. It can be exhausting. What artists get from me is an enthusiast who has a whole other set of skills that will be applied to the same goal: a really great recording.”
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In addition to the artists he has worked with, his own personal taste tilts towards world music, electro-acoustic pop such as The Books, composers such as Steve Reich, electronic producers such as Squarepusher, and classic rock such as Sonic Youth, Deep Purple, MC5 and Brian Eno—all of which weigh heavily in his sense of arrangements. His latest musical outlet is the Faceless Forces of Bigness, an improvisational electronic audio-visual ensemble utilizing both laptops and modular analog synthesizers.
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Michael Phillip Wojewoda is willing to travel for any project, but is also outfitted with his own studio that includes a two-inch analog tape machine as well as full digital capacity.