MMS Reviews - Music In Paradise Launch @ Hard Rock Café Toronto, Tuesday February 3, 2004

Music In Paradise Launch @ Hard Rock Café Toronto, Tuesday February 3, 2004

Music In Paradise Launch @ Hard Rock Café Toronto, Tuesday February 3, 2004

review by Lex

I had the opportunity to attend the official Music In Paradise launch press conference on February 3rd at the Hard Rock Café in Toronto. MMS' own Direct Line is one of many selected Canadian participants this year who will be heading down south for the 6-week spring break event in Orlando, Florida.

The evening showcase concert started off with one of Ottawa's hottest new acts, Stone Melodies. It was great to see these guys deliver their straight-forward catchy rock melodies once again since we first met them last year at the Emergenza world showcase.

Another friendly face that followed, Slave to the SQUAREwave. These guys seem to always have some new tricks up their sleeves every time we catch one of their shows. Aside from getting the crowd dancing and grooving up front with their modern electro pop sounds, they integrated great visuals such as a video montage backdrop during performance. And if that's not enough, bassist Dave Cunningham's neo-punk-police outfit will grab your attention.

Moonraker, a band originally from Montreal that has now relocated to Toronto, were up next to play their solid tunes composed of interesting melodies and power chords. They also supplied the band entity backing up Sabrina Korva that night. Sabrina is a new young artist from Vancouver and was first discovered shortly after singing a live duet with Bryan Adams when she was only 13. The 17 year old rocker-girl gave out an energetic performance in the styles of her classic rock influences. She writes her own songs and is soon to be involved in many projects such as starting her own record company.

Direct Line came up next to give the windows along the room a big tremor. Eric Hamelin once again brings out his powerplant of a voice and rattles the crowd. First time attendees to this band's performance quickly caught on to their witty mixture of funky hard rock and rhythm. LP Spina, the band's spin-master, is a quintessential part of developing the unique groove that this band pours out to their audience at every show.

Braintoy ended up the night with a punch, as they rolled out their hard blend of intricate chord progressions and mystical sounds, backed up with a solid drummer. I personally enjoyed the split task the bassist had as he also played the analog synth. The crowd definitively kept the rowdiness until the last breath.

Be sure to keep an eye out for these bands as they will surely make an impact this coming March and April at Music In Paradise.

Big thanks to Aaron Dey and his team from Visual Planet Music for the great hospitality, and thanks to Jackie, the bands, and band managers for taking the time to talk to MMS.

To find out more about these artists and Music In Paradise, please visit the following websites:

http://www.stonemelodies.com
http://www.slavetothesquarewave.com
http://www.moonrakerband.com
http://www.sabrinakorva.com
http://www.directlineband.com
http://www.braintoy.net
http://www.visualplanetmusic.com
http://www.musicinparadise.com