The results of our hotel contest are in and we have a winner! Congratulations to Joe McLean you won a stay in an executive suite at Les Gouverneurs Hotel Montreal. We will be contacting you via email with the details. Thank you very much for participating and thanks to everyone else who played too. Also, a huge thank-you to Les Gouverneurs Hotels for this generous prize.
* Each correct guess on a photo got the entrant’s name on a ticket, some had their names on more than one ticket. The tickets were then placed in a Habs hat and the winning ticket was drawn at random.
The Answers
And now what everyone who didn’t win is waiting for: the answers. There were some tough ones and some easy ones and quite a few of you got quite a few of them right
Bench in Jeanne-Mance Park, near Duluth
photo by Jason C. Mclean
Cote-St-Catherine Metro Station (Orange Line)
photo by Jesse Anger
Rachel Est between Mentana & Boyer (Plateau)
Photo by Chris Zacchia
Bar de Courcelle (St-Henri)
Photo by Jason C. McLean
Alley Near St-Joseph (Mile End)
photo by Jason C. McLean
Van Horne between Durocher and Querbes (Outremont)
Photo by Jesse Anger
The Turcotte Interchange as seen from St-Antoine and De Courcelle
If you don’t already know what Hip-Hop Karaoke is then you should check out the feature we did on them a little while ago. Basically Hip-Hop Karaoke invites performers to prove what they’ve got on stage while the crowd enjoys the party.
Hip-Hop Karaoke has been going strong for 15 months now and to celebrate they are hosting a special contest where you can win WeSC gear courtesy of Tiger Distribution, printed + signed artwork from Overthebreaks and BEST of all, you could win lifetime free entry to HHK MTL! To enter the contest check out their FB album with the last 15 HHK poster designs up and vote for your favorite by “liking” it!
This month we look at the artists behind the Hip-Hop Karaoke posters. The poster design for HHK helps showcase local artists and also helps allowing people to familiarize themselves with Hip Hop Karaoke; inspiring new performers to get involved and show support. Their designs are a perfect visual extension of their fun-loving approach to the event.
Originally the posters were designed by co-founder Patrick O’keefe, who has since moved on to San Francisco and other projects. He created the Portrait series posters in the series. Currently the Hip-Hop Karaoke posters (and logo) have been designed by local artist Nik Brovkin, aka Overthebreaks.
If you wanna get up on stage and show em what you’ve got spots fill up quick, so pre-register your track at HHKMTL@GMAIL.COM for the next HHK.
Subaru Canada and Forget The Box want to give you a brand new 2014 Subaru Forester. But it’s not quite that simple, to win the car you also have to win the race. Subaru Canada will fly five qualifying families to Mont-Tremblant, Québec for an all-expense-paid, action-packed, rally-themed competition. The families will collect points throughout the race by properly maneuvering through obstacles and using the Forester’s one-of-a-kind features to complete the course with the most accuracy. The winning family will be taking home a brand new 2014 Subaru Forester.
We’re giving away passes to MEG fest! We’ve got two passes for Elsiane & Doom Squad, playing Divan Orange this Thursday. Simply leave a comment below telling us who you’re excited to see at this year’s fest! And share with your friends for extra chances to win. And if you want the full MEG schedule.
It’s no secret that Montreal in the summertime is a never ending festival. Either we’re talking about music, film or humor; the city just never seems to sleep. For the 14th year in a row, MEG Montreal is at our door and is about to take you on a two week musical journey, ending on August 5th. Once again, this year’s festival is giving the leading role to both French and Canadian artists. With so many venues and so many musical genres from folk to electronic music, it’s quite easy to get lost. Here’s my pick to help you get through the schizophrenic festival programming.
Our books & the Authors – Kids
I’ve been following this Montreal band for years and I got to say I’ve never been disappointed by any of their shows. The leader of the band, Gabriel D’amour, got this amazing pop sensibility combined with a great charisma that could be compared to Chris Martin but with more talent.
Saturday July 28th @ Club Lambi
Machine Drum- DDD
Travis Stewart is a young up-and coming American artist who excel in IDM music. It promises to be a great night. I’ve heard that he gets so into his music that one time during his performance, his laptop couldn’t handle it and felt on the floor. Hopefully this time all his gear will be tied up on the table…
Sunday July 29th @ Piknik Electronique
Milo Greene – Don’t you give up on me
After an afternoon spent dancing under the sun, what is best then enjoying some indie-pop sensation at Divan Orange? Stronger from their self-titled first album, this Californian band is definitely going to break through in 2012. Don’t miss your last chance to catch them in a cozy environment.
Sunday July 29th @ Divan Orange
Le Matos- 58 minutes pour vivre
Being noticed a couple years ago with their remixes for Cœur de Pirate and #Numero, the Montreal trio have been less active recently. Nothing new beside a compilation of the “best hits” of their very young career and a single featured here. Let’s see if the 80’s inspired band has new material for us to dance to.
Thursday August 2nd @ Belmont
Jesse Rose- You know it
According to his Bio, Jesse Rose was raised to the sound of Motown, soul and Jazz in London. It’s no surprise when you hear the deepness of his releases. If on top of that you tell me I’m going to be on a boat listening to his sweet jams, I would be a fool not to go!
Gesaffelstein- Viol
Meg festival will end on a very positive note for me since I’ll get my fix of dark electronic music. The French producer, Mike Levy, entered the scene with excellent releases on Turbo Recordings. It’s now time to see if he can deliver on a stage.
Sunday August 5th @ Club Soda
Brodinski – Let the beat control your body
Here’s another reason not to miss the last night of Meg montreal.
Sunday August 5th @ Club Soda
Throughout the years, Meg Montreal has changed a lot. I kind of miss the good old days where they would feature artists like ESG or Maurice Fulton. Their mission is now different and I would say that it is a great opportunity to discover younger artists. It’s now time to open your ears and hop from one venue to another to discover your new favorite band.
We’re giving away passes to MEG fest! We’ve got two passes for Elsiane & Doom Squad, playing Divan Orange this Thursday. Simply leave a comment below telling us who you’re excited to see at this year’s fest!
And if you want the full MEG schedule.
ForgetTheBox has another great ticket giveaway for you, win tickets to THE DRIVE TOUR at CORONA THEATER tomorrow night! (Wednesday July 25th)
Performing will be College, Anoraak, and Electric Youth. To enter the contest simply leave a comment below (make sure to include your email address or some contact info), and for extra entries share this with your friends on Facebook & Twitter!
COLLEGE:
College, in founder David Grellier’s words, was an attempt “to synthesize into my music the emotions of my childhood” and was greatly influenced by American 1980s pop-culture, “80’s soaps and an aesthetic which I particularly like: color, images, silvery films and the sun – images of Los Angeles, Chicago and all of the other cities that continue to fascinate me.”
ANORAAK:
While he’s certainly into laser-guided synth lines and sepia-toned nostalgia trips, Frédéric Rivière’s debut album as Anoraak (Wherever the Sun Sets) is more indebted to Italo disco, Motown-schooled funk and sepia-toned pop music—think: M83 on Ecstasy—than anything that’s lo-or-glo-fi.
ELECTRIC YOUTH:
Electric Youth is named after an album by Debbie Gibson, who along with Tiffany was the quintessential late-’80s American bubblegum teen pop girl A young couple from Canada Bronwyn and Austin of Electric Youth is part of the same amorphous community of pop-obsessed bloggers and music makers who chill wave and witch house crew, but unlike say Teengirl fantasy they do not use POP language and imagery as a front for a more avant-garde exploration of this territory.
Win Tickets to YUKSEK Live in Montreal @ La Sala Rossa July, 6th as part of the MEG Festival.
Simply leave a comment below saying why you want to see YUKSEK, or share this article on FB and/or tweet out this article. (each time you do you’re entered into the contest)
For those of you who are unsure why you would want to see this show let me explain it. This guy is AWESOME!!! He’s a DJ from France (where all good electronic music comes from of course) and has worked on numerous projects. He’s toured around the world and is coming to Montreal to make you DANCE! Give a listen to a track below and enter to win!
Tweet us @forgetthebox and make us blush with a caption for this picture! The one we like best wins.
As Forget the Box gets ready to swing into full Fringe mode we are pleased to announce that along with coverage from myself and new arts writer Robyn Dickson, we have in our possession several tickets to Fringe shows to give away! And who on earth doesn’t love free stuff?
First up for grabs is tickets for Montreal burlesque troop Glam Gam’s production of If Looks Could Kill, They Will! After a successful run of the production last summer the “Glamily” as they affectionately call themselves went on to clean up at the 2012 Montreal Mirror’s best of list, in which they won just about every award out there including best play for If Looks could Kill. In case you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know what this hotly anticipated play is all about, here’s a little description for yah from the group:
Something is not quite right over at Glam Gam headquarters! Ever since the polyamorous triad Sarah, Michael and Julie invited the members of their Glamily over for a reunion dinner party cabaret, tensions have been rising on the set… and so has the body count!!!
Sounds fun? Of course it does! I was lucky enough to catch a production of the show last September when they brought the show to Toronto, and cannot wait to check them out at their real home: Café Cleopatre. If you want to win two free tickets for what is one of the hottest shows at this year’s festival you have one relatively simple task ahead of you: Tweet us @forgetthebox and make us blush with a caption to the picture in this post! The one we like the best wins. (If you’re afraid of twitter, simply leave a comment below, and the best one will win!)
Make sure you regularly visit the site for more ticket giveaways, and we’ll see you at this year’s Fringe!
Vancouver-based band, Said The Whale, is making the cross country trip to Montreal to play Club Lambi on September 13th with Rah Rah and Sarah Lowes. They’re making lots of stops in between, which is something the Juno award winners have become known for ever since they started playing their way across Canada in 2007. Since forming the band, singer and songwriters Tyler Bancroft and Ben Worcester have been open about their goals, struggles and triumphs as they navigate the Canadian music scene.
They started by filling out the folksy sound of Said the Whale with bassist Peter Carruthers, drummer Spencer Schoening, and keyboardist Jaycelyn Brown and began touring Canada and collecting fans along the way. Their music evolved into upbeat indie pop with harmonized vocals resulting in a sound similar to The New Pornographers and the Decemberists. When they decided they were ready to take their music to America, a film crew followed them there documenting their entertaining experiences in a film called “Winning America”. During their attempt to break into the American music market, the band is seen replacing stolen equipment and sleeping on the floor in true indie fashion. In their early stages, most bands suffer through their own set of disappointments and mishaps, but rarely do they let everyone see all of the effort that went into the polished finished product. That’s the charm of Said The Whale.
It’s also admirable that the experience didn’t dampen their spirits in the least. Over the phone, Spencer Schoening said they can’t wait to get back on the road.
“We’re dying to go back to the East Coast and the United States…we were just in the UK for the first time, actually I’m the only one who had been there before, but we all loved that.” The band was there for two festivals and have already found ways to make the most of the madness.
“Festivals are crazy. You run around like a chicken with its head cut off, but if you’re lucky, you get to discover new bands. You almost forget why you’re there.” It seems that being in a band is a great way to discover other bands, whether they bump into them at festivals or listen to them on a tourbus.
“I’m usually in shot gun so I choose the music and it can be all over the place. We like to sit through full albums though and get to know bands like Fruit Bats, Sublime, Dan Mangan, Cee Lo, Bob Dylan… anything, really.”
It’s clear that one of their favourite discoveries is still the first band they played a show with, Hollerado.
After winning the Juno award for New Group of the Year over Hollerado, Said The Whale announced that they’d be sharing the award with their friends.
With a Juno, a film, international festivals and now an EP on the way that Spencer describes as a “mini roller coaster”, 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty exciting year for Said The Whale. The EP is set to be released this fall and has four new songs, which Spencer explains are more experimental.
“Tyler and Ben co-wrote the songs, which are reflections of things they care about very much and they were really excited to see how the rest of the band interpreted them. It’s hard to describe them…I may be too close to the songs at this point.”
Laughing, Spencer adds, “Actually it’s a hip hop record.”
To get tickets to the show go to IndieMontreal’s website or enter our contest for a chance to win free tickets. To enter simply “Like” us on Facebook, Tweet this article, or leave a comment below (with your email address). See you at the show!
Said The Whale + Rah Rah + Sarah Lowes
Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 8:30 pm
Club Lambi (4465 St. Laurent)
The Naked and Famous are coming to town and ForgetTheBox wants to send you there for FREE! Jon from Indie Montreal was nice enough to give us a pair of tickets to give away. So, what do you have to do to get these Free Tickets? Well, all you have to do is “Like” Forgetthebox, if you already Like us, leave a comment below to remind us 🙂 or re-Tweet this post for a chance to grab tickets to the show this coming Wednesday!!!
It’s good to be young, free, and on the other side of the world, especially if you are power pop group Naked and Famous. Although traveling around the world can be difficult for any band, The Naked and Famous have found a way to keep it all together while on tour, at least that is what they told us when we nabbed an interview with them this past week.
The Naked and Famous have developed their own style and approach to making their original brand of electronic infused pop with a hint of rock. The new release is just full of glittering sound that makes you want to jump in a lake on hot summer’s night!
Mark my words, these New Zealand rockers are due to make it “big” in the next coming months. They will be playing in Montreal in the midst of overseas tour that will bring them across the ocean, then back home to Aukland. The tour ends in the United Kingdom in November.
Riding high (and probably naked) over the last year, since their single ” Young Blood” hit the number one spot in New Zealand and earning critics praise for their release Passive Me, Aggressive You, this band has learned how to balance fame and improve their musical craft while on tour. Considering these guys are so new to North America, and seeing as we want you all to get to know them a little better, ForgetTheBox conducted a little interview with the band. We tried to ask some questions that would help you get to know them but also some completely irrelevant questions… deal with it!
What’s your favourite song on Passive me, Aggressive you and why?
None! As I am too close to the album as a whole to have a favorite. They all make the most sense to me collectively.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as a band, together?
I don’t really have a way of quantifying which lesson is the biggest or has had the most benefit for our long term industry planning… it’s more like we’ve learnt a whole bunch of lessons that will help us figure out how we put out the next record, or how we plan our touring but no real ground breaking epiphanies about who we are or what we’re doing. We’re still the same band with the same intentions. Just stupider and older.
A lot of your songs have been featured on TV series, how do you feel about that? Did you get to choose which ones, did they approach you?
With signing a publishing deal you get these things called ‘blanket licenses’ which TV sometimes falls into in certain territories so often we don’t actually have a choice. With big American TV series though, we are asked and have said yes. It’s an opportunity for people to hear our music and one of the only ways to get paid as a musician in today’s music industry. Sometimes it can feel a bit cringe-worthy but we try not to be pretentious about how we get our music ‘out there’.
You’ve only been together a short time, did you expect this much success?
We’ve been together since 2007-ish. Our first two releases were in 2008…I definitely did not expect this much success.
At what point was it like: “Holy shit, things are really happening for us?”
Just before we went on stage today at Fuji rock. Then again just before dinner when I realized I had three meal vouchers. AND three drink tickets… And generally every day.
Okay, if you had the choice would you rather hang out with penguins or elephants and why?
I think both animals have different species that are endangered. And no I wouldn’t want to piss off or frighten any animal for any reason whatsoever.
So are you excited to see these guys yet? Winning free tickets is simple! Click “Like” or Tweet this article!
The Naked and Famous are playing La Sala Rossa this Wed Aug 10th with Winter Gloves.
