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I was inspired to write about Cyclone Records and some of it's bands, and here is the finished product. Articles on 10 of the bands Cyclone works with, and a major article on the label behind it all, and the man behind the label Brad Trew.
[At the moment, Cyclone has 27 bands on it's roster, and 10 of them were interviewed for pieces in this feature on the label. Interviews were done with Creature Republic, Inner Surge, Judith Lam, Blind Army, Allen Christie, Download, Pitch Union, Wormbox, Nadine Adam, and Dahlia Wakefield. Not interviewed, but also bands you should check out; Tripchord, Boy Charlie, Dreaming in Digital, Christa Haberstock, Double Jack, Good Question, Gunther, Hillbilly Dust, Hollow House, James Murdoch, Jenae, Krisis, Kreshia Turner, Kyla Sandulak, Secondhand Silence, Six Pack Jacket, and Winter’s Longing.]
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Brad Trew
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About the Project - Cyclone Records is an independently run label, based both in Calgary, Alberta and Toronto, Ontario, driven by Brad Trew. The label works closely with bands to help them along in the recording and promo process and that's hardly scratching the surface. Offering services ranging from recording and promo to merch, DVD authoring and even security! It speaks volumes that every band involved is thrilled to be working with Cyclone.
Click here for the article on Cyclone Records / Brad Trew
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Nadine Adam
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Brad Trew on working with Nadine Adam - Nadine Adam and I knew each other before Cyclone began. She is just such an awesome person that I can't say enough good things about her. We worked hard on getting her track recorded. After one failed attempt with a colleague of mine because we just couldn't find the right structure, I brought her into Alchemy Studio. Again Jeff plied his talent and laid down tracks on the spot with no prior rehearsal. I have since done a remix and remaster of the track with some additional sound effects in the background to strengthen the song and give it a more polished sound.
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Blind Army
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Brad Trew on Blind Army - When I first began selecting artists for a number of compilations I was doing in Calgary, I began by placing an ad in FFWD. I had very little response actually, but one band did reply: Blind Army. They were the very first one to sign up with me so I owe them a huge debt of gratitude. A few weeks after we began discussions, they were playing a show at a club named Smiley's in High River, Alberta (which has since burned down), opening up for a group called Slacker. I went down to see the show (about an hour south of Calgary) and watched, and thoroughly enjoyed, the Blind Army show.
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Download
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Brad Trew on Download - [the hook up was partly due to Brad's decision to go see Blind Army play live] I went down to see the show (about an hour south of Calgary) and watched, and thoroughly enjoyed, the Blind Army show. When Slacker took the stage, they were a totally different style of music but I really enjoyed their stuff as well. In the end, Slacker joined up to appear on the same rock compilation as Blind Army. Through the process though, Slacker had some member changes and ended up changing their name to Download.
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Creature Republic
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Brad Trew on Creature Republic - Another response to the ad was a guy named Patrick Schultz who was running a recording space out of his basement. He had worked with a couple of acts that he sent my way: Krisis, Voodoo Monkey and Creature Republic. In one form or another, I've done work with each of the three bands that Patrick sent my way. Creature Republic caught my ear for a couple of reasons. I loved the production on the track, very clean, deep and powerful. I also really liked the mix of various styles in each track and being a drummer myself, loved the feel and syncopation that Michael Holbrook puts into each track. Since then, I've released their first CD, Watch Your Aim and will be beginning production on their next project in the near future. Patrick has also been instrumental in recording some voiceovers by Alicia Hoogveld of Creature Republic for The Little Show podcast from Philadelphia. I am a huge believer in cross promotion and supporting local guys so Patrick, I owe you one.
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Allen Christie
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Brad Trew on working with Allen Christie - When the ad thing wasn't working out, I turned to the internet to a site called NewMusicCanada that allowed me to search by genre or by province, which suited my needs perfectly. Through that site I found Allen Christie. I was blown away by the radio-friendly sound that Allen puts into his song writing and also the clarity and depth of his recordings. I have since learned that Allen recorded much of the stuff in his own home and produced it himself along with some long standing musician buddies.
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Judith Lam
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Brad Trew on working with Judith - I also met Judith Lam on NewMusicCanada. She had two songs available for listening: Prairie Skies which is a forlorn but emotional expression of arriving home after a long journey. The other song was Hey You which centered around an upbeat piano part but lacking in additional instrumentation. After discussions with Judith about the project, she was very interested in being part of a country/folk compilation I was putting together. She didn't like the version of the songs she had so I arranged for her to come to Calgary and record them again at Alchemy Recording Studio with Jeff Muller. I sat in on the drum parts and Jeff performed the guitar and bass parts. Judith's fiancé [now husband], Ron, was also present and provided some memorable moments by dancing around the studio doing a rain dance with a bass drum hoop over his head while I was recording the intro to Prairie Skies which mimicked a native drum rhythm. Surprisingly, about 20 minutes later the rain came down and I made it a point to chastise him at length about abusing his powers like that. In all, it was a great day and with the Ron's humour and patience and Jeff's and Judith's musical talents, it was one of the highlights of my career with Cyclone so far.
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Dahlia Wakefield
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Brad Trew on Dahlia Wakefield - I also found Dahlia Wakefield on NewMusicCanada.com. She had one song in particular called Let's Talk About Love. Since I had already decided on the title of the folk/country disc as The Heart of Alberta, I just had to have that song launch off the disc. It took awhile and lots of emails back and forth but thankfully, Dahlia was kind enough to let me use it. In fact, a lot of the songs on the disc fit the title nicely. Songs like Hillbilly Dust's Alberta May, Judith Lam's Prairie Skies, and Dahlia's You're Coming Home, Jenae's The Long Road all fit the spirit of the disc so well.
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Inner Surge with director Fredy Polania
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Brad Trew on Inner Surge - Inner Surge was first contacted a long time ago as part of a metal compilation I was putting together. As they were working on their full length release, Signals Screaming, it wasn't practical for them to also be on the compilation at that time, but the relationship was started and the communication continued. We just released Signals Screaming on April 1st and we are working on some upcoming stuff for the band to compliment their release, a new video and inclusion on a movie soundtrack. Taking on the Inner Surge release was a pivotal point in Cyclone's development as Steve Moore, the band's lead singer, is very motivated and is following a master plan of promotion. Through our joint efforts, it has strengthened both Inner Surge's and Cyclone Records' position.
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Pitch Union
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Brad Trew on Pitch Union - After awhile, I came across MySpace and checked it out to see what all the hype was about. Well, needless to say, it has changed how I seek out bands. It is far more current and cross-promotional than NewMusicCanada and I have found many bands (and they have found me) through searches there. A couple of bands that I've come across or have come across me are Inner Surge, Pitch Union and Tripchord. Pitch Union are based in Windsor, Ontario and somehow we connected. They have a track called Tornadic Activity which, because of the cyclonic reference, just had to be part of my roster! The fact that they are an awesome band with some really cool guys was a bonus. Tornadic Activity has almost become like a theme song for me and will the the opening track on the upcoming anniversary sampler Storm Warning: Vol.1 featuring bands from Cyclone's first year of operation.
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Wormbox
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Brad Trew on Wormbox - Lastly, Wormbox is a band that appears on The Greatest Underground Show on Earth. It is a collection of 14 metal bands from Calgary and is meant as a showcase to the rest of the world the dedicated and organized metal scene Calgary has to offer and was in development when I became involved. Wormbox was already one of the bands signed onto the project and after hearing their song submission, I loved their energy and song writing approach. I approached them with an interest in releasing their debut EP onto iTunes to help broaden their exposure and the rest is history.
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