TAMI NEILSON SHARES NEW VIDEO OF “YOU WERE MINE” (LIVE) FROM DELUXE VERSION OF CHICKABOOM! OUT THIS FRIDAY

WATCH AND SHARE NEW VIDEO FOR “YOU WERE MINE” HERE

CHICKABOOM! DELUXE VERSION OUT FEBRUARY 19, 2021 VIA OUTSIDE MUSIC

PRE-SAVE CHICKABOOM! DELUXE HERE

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Tomorrow, Tami Neilson will release the deluxe version of her acclaimed LP, CHICKABOOM!, which includes 5 additional tracks recorded live with the 12-piece Big Boss Orchestra. Today, she’s sharing the new video for “You Were Mine”, filmed live in studio.

WATCH AND SHARE NEW VIDEO FOR “YOU WERE MINE” HERE

MORE ABOUT CHICKABOOM! DELUXE

After a year of building momentum, including performances at Americanafest in Nashville in the fall of 2019, and a confirmed slot at Willie Nelson’s famed Luck Reunion, Auckland-based, Canadian-born musician Tami Neilson launched her new album CHICKABOOM! in February, 2020.

The collection received rave reviews from top-drawer publications such as MOJO, Rolling Stone and American Songwriter. No Depression ironically proclaimed, “Just call 2020 the Year of Tami!” In a matter of weeks, as COVID-19 took over the world and New Zealand and the rest of the world plunged into lockdown, Tami’s world tour was cancelled, and all that hard-earned momentum ground to a halt. Still hoping to make her NZ dates, she entered Neil Finn’s iconic Roundhead Studios to promote those shows and perform with her band (whom she hadn’t seen in four months) and the 12-piece Big Boss Orchestra for the very first time for Radio New Zealand’s LIVE Sessions national broadcast. These one-take, reimagined selections make up five new dramatic arrangements on CHICKABOOM! DELUXE. 

Not long after the world went sideways, the creative whirlwind got busy with her team, which includes her brothers Jay and Todd, musical and video collaborators, respectively. The Tami Show, a 12-episode series on YouTube, was born as a welcome respite from quarantine life. Offering a glimpse into Tami’s life with funny anecdotes, fashion inspiration, hair and make-up tutorials, and THAT VOICE, the show, along with additional videos from CHICKABOOM! can be viewed on her YouTube channel here

WATCH AND SHARE NEW VIDEO FOR “CALL YOUR MAMA” HERE

The single “Hey Bus Driver” from CHICKABOOM! won Country Song of the Year at the New Zealand Country Music Awards and the track “You Were Mine” was nominated for the APRA Silver Scroll for Song of the Year. CHICKABOOM! was also nominated for Album of the Year at the Aotearoa Music Awards (previously named Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards). 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern asked Tami to perform at her campaign launch before her landslide re-election after Tami included an actress playing the PM in the music video for the track "Big Boss Mama”, released for International Women’s Day in 2019 (view it here: link to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WxeOu6v6F8)

As Tami states, PM Ardern “came up to me at the Music Awards after the video played on the big screen and said, ‘You know you could’ve just asked me to do it!’ I said, ‘You were on maternity leave, so I didn't want to bother you.’ She laughed and said, ‘Ok, well, next time!’ I'm gonna hold her to it.”

PRE-SAVE CHICKABOOM! DELUXE HERE

CHICKABOOM DELUXE! TRACKLIST
01 Call Your Mama
02 Hey, Bus Driver!
03 Ten Tonne Truck
04 Queenie, Queenie
05 You Were Mine
06 16 Miles Of Chain
07 Tell Me That You Love Me
08 Any Fool With A Heart
09 Sister Mavis
10 Sleep
New bonus tracks – Live at Roundhead Studios
11 A Woman’s Pain
12 Call Your Mama
13 Roimata (Cry Myself To Sleep)
14 Walk (Back To Your Arms)
15 You Were Mine

TAMI NEILSON ONLINE
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RAE SPOON NEEDS YOUR HELP WITH MEDICAL & LIVING EXPENSES

DONATE TO RAE SPOON’S FUNDRAISER HERE 

Trans, non-binary, label person, musician, and author, Rae Spoon needs your help with medical and living expenses during this period of stabilization. Rae has been receiving treatments for cervical cancer and complications since March 2020. 

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Rae Spoon is a trans, non-binary musician and author. They have been making art publicly for over twenty years. Rae has always been a community focussed artist and has made a lot of community art projects with people from lots of backgrounds. In 2015, Rae founded Coax Records to support and amplify underrepresented artists. Their writing on gender, the medical system, trauma, their evangelical Christian upbringing, ADHD, surviving incest, cancer, and much more has been met with gratitude from audiences all over the world.

This past year, Rae was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer in March 2020. The tumour was too large to operate on. Their cancer treatment in May, June, and July 2020 was five rounds of chemotherapy, nine weeks of external radiation and four procedures of internal radiation. 

Rae has no blood family to speak of or the financial support that sometimes brings. They’ve never received an inheritance and don’t expect to ever receive one. Rae has no health insurance and has to pay for prescriptions and all other health expenses out of pocket. 

In August 2020 the oncologists said that it looked like the cancer was in remission. Rae moved everything from their Victoria home and rented an apartment in Toronto. The oncologists did one last scan before they left. In October 2020 the oncologists contacted Rae and told them that the cancer was back in the original site. That they needed to come to Victoria for more cancer treatment in the form of a surgery. Rae drove back to Victoria for the surgery. They kept paying rent for their apartment in Toronto monthly and had to pay for short-term accommodation in Victoria too. To align with the rest of Rae’s good luck this year they had to have the transmission in their van rebuilt for $6000. They may also have to pay for an engine rebuild in the next month. 

On November 16, 2020 Rae had a radical hysterectomy and double oophorectomy. Over twelve weeks Rae has been dealing with an ongoing pelvic abscess. The surgical site never healed because the tissue there was too damaged from the radiation treatments. Many other complications occurred because of the irradiated tissue including Rae receiving a permanent colostomy (meaning a permanent bag for their feces). On February 19, 2021 Rae will have another surgery. This time a plastic surgeon will attempt to bring in tissue from parts of their body that weren’t exposed to radiation. Rae will also be given either a urostomy or a nephrostomy (both meaning that they will have a permanent bag for their urine). The healing time for this surgery will be 2 to 8 weeks in hospital and 6 months overall. 

Rae needs to find a place to live in Victoria, apply for long term disability from the BC government, get onto Fair Pharmacare in BC, and dissolve their current corporation as they can no longer sustain it. All of these will help Rae heal and stabilize into a life that matches their ability. They also want to prioritize creating a new business model for Coax Records, so the label can keep functioning after they dissolve their corporation. 

DONATE TO RAE SPOON’S FUNDRAISER HERE 

CHALLENGES

● Over a year of not having medical coverage during all of their cancer treatments. 

● The high cost of having to rent a three bedroom to house the people caring for them during their initial treatment for 6-months. 

● Having Rae’s main form of income, performing live, became impossible due to COVID.

● Having the emergency situation of paying the double rent they paid between Victoria and Toronto for five months.

● The new (very high) monthly cost of caring for their colostomy and urostomy. 

● Keeping Coax Records alive while dissolving Rae Spoon Productions Inc. 

GOALS

● Rae’s working on getting onto long term disability, but it may take three to six months for it to happen. 

● Rae’s working on getting onto Fair Pharmacare in BC, but it sometimes takes a year to get on it. 

● Rae’s looking for subsidized housing through the BC Housing Registry. They may have to pay market prices on rent for the months or years it takes on their waitlist.

● To transition Coax Records to an artist’s collective. 

Total Ask: $32,000 

DONATE TO RAE SPOON’S FUNDRAISER HERE 

WHERE THE MONEY WILL GO

● $15,000 at $2,500 a month to help with damage deposit, rent, food and utilities for 6-month transition.

● $4,980 to help with medical expenses for 6-month transition: 

  • Rae’s care material for their new ostomy is $350/month (there’s the possibility of them getting another one which will double that cost). 

  • Their regular prescriptions are $200/month.

  • There will be at least $100 of health supply incidentals for drugs to transition out of hospital like antibiotics or anti-coagulants.

  • Rae’s counseling is $180 a month.

● $3,000 to help with vehicle registration and insurance that’s going to come up in May 2021 for Rae’s van (a key piece for Rae’s and people who care for them’s mobility).

● $7,500 for an engine rebuild on Rae’s van.

● $1,200 for a $200 loan repayment to Rae’s ex-parents in law (the loan was to help Rae’s ex-spouse move to Victoria when they were too disabled to work). 

WE MAY INCREASE OUR FUNDING GOAL IF: 

● Rae’s surgery results in another ostomy and the costs associated with their ostomies double for them. 

● Rae needs any health equipment to make their move out of hospital smoother (bed, stand up chair). 

● Rae needs care from a care aid that isn’t covered by provincial healthcare.

IF THE FUNDING EXCEEDS THE GOAL: 

● We will donate 50% by creating microgrants for other sick and/or disabled LGBTQ2S artists from all over the world. It will be juried by Coax Records artists. 

● We will use 50% to help pay for the transition of Coax Records to an artist collective whether it’s labour or for legal and accounting advice.

IF RAE DOESN’T SURVIVE SIX MONTHS AFTER FEBRUARY 19, 2021: 

● We will pay for death doula support for and/or people close to them. 

● We will pay for any costs related to MAID (Medically Assistance In Dying).

● We will supplement any costs for getting them cremated,

WITH ANY MONEY LEFT: 

● We will donate 50% to creating microgrants for other sick and/or disabled LGBTQ2S artists from all over the world. It will be juried by Coax Records artists. 

● We will use 50% to help pay for the transition of Coax Records to an artist collective whether it’s labour or for legal and accounting advice.

DONATE TO RAE SPOON’S FUNDRAISER HERE 

AS A THANK YOU TO EACH DONOR: 

As a thank you, each person who donates will receive a link to download a digital copy of The Rae Spoon Songbook (a digital book of sheet music for all of their songs and the music from all of their solo albums).

RAE SPOON ONLINE 
ARSENAL PULP PRESS - GREEN GLASS GHOSTS
COAX RECORDS STORE
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
BANDCAMP
YOUTUBE
PATREON
SPOTIFY

For inquiries please contact: 

Greyson Gritt, G.R. Gritt - manager@grgritt.com

Krystal Thompson, Osum Artist Management - krystal@osumartist.com 

Rae Spoon, Coax Records contact@coaxrecords.com

BERNICE ‘CHOOSE YOU’ IN NEW SINGLE FROM UPCOMING LP

LISTEN AND SHARE “WE CHOOSE YOU” HERE

BUY / STREAM “WE CHOOSE YOU” HERE

TORONTO EXPERIMENTAL FIVE PIECE NEW LP, EAU DE BONJOURNO, OUT MARCH 5, 2021 VIA TELEPHONE EXPLOSION

“The song is a luminous expression of existentialism and synthesized saxophone from Robin Dann,” - The Globe and Mail (on “It’s Me, Robin”)

“On “Groove Elation,” they offer up a warm and delicate rhythm that lures you further into its waters on everyday elations, from the abstract (“Maybe our spirits align”) to the concrete (“Maybe it’s an orange you’re peeling”). Listening to the eclectic Toronto group alchemize genres feels like ruminating on a summer love; the ever-changing and exciting possibilities swirl around you.” - Pitchfork (on “Groove Elation”)

“The track... plops Dann front and centre as synths, saxophone and other blips dart in and out. All this talk of space can feel distant, but Dann and member Felicity Williams' harmonies draw the listener in to something much more intimate. Like an optical illusion, focusing your mind and energy on a work by Bernice can yield many satisfying rewards.” - CBC Music (on “Groove Elation”)

“The track captures so much about what makes Bernice special, with bandleader Robin Dann delivering pure poetry surrounded by dreamy R&B textures. It may have the intimacy of a party for one, but it really feels like a big-hearted invitation for the whole world to tenderly boogie.” - The FADER (on “Groove Elation”)

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Photo Credit : Colin Medley // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Today, Bernice is sharing another new track from their upcoming album, Eau de Bonjourno, out March 5 via Telephone Explosion (figureight records EU/UK). The intro of “We Choose You” begins with Robin Dann asking : what are you saying? A vocoder voice answers, “the top”. Let’s take it from the beginning again. “This is a song about the impossible nature of the present moment, as individual people on a planet that’s too hot, too crowded, too connected, too divided,” says Dann. “We can’t imagine how to do it, how to make it better, but we’ll do it anyway. There is a body of water in each one of us - we’re listening now. The waterfall in front of us is loud - but we can still speak. We can live in the future.”

LISTEN AND SHARE “WE CHOOSE YOU” HERE

BUY / STREAM “WE CHOOSE YOU” HERE

Bernice is the experimental pop vessel of musician/songwriter Robin Dann and her longtime collaborators Thom Gill (keyboards, guitar), Philippe Melanson (e-percussion and drums), Daniel Fortin (bass) and Felicity Williams (voice). Their upcoming record, Eau de Bonjourno, arrives nearly three years on from the release of their Polaris Music Prize-nominated 2018 LP Puff: In the air without a shape (for Bernice a rapid turnaround by comparison to the seven-year gap between their 2011 debut and Puff). It marks their first collaboration with producer Shahzad Ismaily, the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist who has worked with artists as varied as Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, John Zorn, and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. While their genre reconstruction remains distinctly Bernice, Dann’s lyrics bring a newfound focus to storytelling in the present moment, compassionately meeting ourselves where we are, and finding joy in spaces that are familiar but ever changing. 

Eau de Bonjourno, according to Dann, “openly plays with the shape of a pop song,” drawing on the band members’ backgrounds in jazz, subverting rhythmic formulas, and resting in grooves that sit just outside of predictable. Instead of letting instruments take extended solos, the tone is set on opener “Groove Elation” with brief blurts of synthesized sax, patient passages of space, or clusters of beats, tenderly held together by Dann and Williams’ intimate vocals. 

LISTEN AND SHARE “GROOVE ELATION” HERE
BUY / SHARE “GROOVE ELATION HERE

The album’s sound is experimental in its truest definition, chopped up like musique concrète and then delicately placed back together with the loving touch of a scrapbook collagist. 

“We have an impulse to open doors that you might not expect, and that translates from groove to melody to lyric,” says Dann. “Phil and Thom have this strong aversion to building a beat that sits there in front of you and does exactly what you expect it to do. We come out of so many musical traditions and are trying to make something that’s not a direct descendent of any of them. We’re trying to make the music that feels like us right now.”

The album was written at an artist centre on the Toronto Islands, a short ferry ride from the city across Lake Ontario, over the course of a month in a repurposed school portable. Dann welcomed the band into her writing process over a concentrated time period for the first time, sharpening their focus “with the intention of creating a group of songs that speak to each other and tell a collective story.” Between writing sessions the band would skinny dip and cook, often with Madonna’s personal chef, who Dann says “was at the artist center writing a novel not about Madonna, but not not about Madonna.” 

WATCH AND SHARE “IT’S ME, ROBIN” HERE
BUY / STREAM “IT’S ME, ROBIN” HERE

It was this idyllic location where Dann met the feathered friend that inspired “Lone Swan”, a bird who followed her along the beach, or perhaps vice versa. Its subdued, weightless sound and straightforward lyrics of romantic longing were an experiment in themselves, as she attempted to write “a folk song that anyone could sing with a larger than life meaning.” This guiding theme of deconstructing identity is also found in “It’s Me, Robin”. While practicing the ancient Indian principle of ahimsa (non-violence towards herself and all living beings), she speaks to our vulnerability and multiplicity with the belief that “we are always a product of all the people around and who came before us.” 

Dann imagines these songs as vessels, inspired by visionary sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guinn’s book The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. Redefining the notion of a creative work from a phallic tool used to inject singular meanings, she now sees them as containers for portals into moods and worlds that are individual to each listener. “You present a basket and then we’re all inside it,” she says. “There’s feeling in it for me, is there feeling in it for you? When it’s done, the basket falls away and we move on to the next. It’s thinking of these songs as one large shape that holds us instead of moving along a linear time-space pathway.” 

In late 2019, Bernice traveled to Brooklyn to record the album with Ismaily, who members met through previous collaborations with Sam Amidon and Leif Vollebekk. Like their writing sessions during Dann’s artistic residency on Toronto Island, they aimed to record in a concentrated time period to generate a cohesive sound over 10 days in the studio. With a shared understanding of the language of jazz and a boundless musical imagination, Ismaily brought a fresh, energizing dynamic to the group of musicians who have known each other for fifteen years. “Rather than wasting time by breaking things apart and talking about them, he encouraged us to just keep going,” says Dann. “We embraced things that felt good and didn’t question them.” 

Ultimately, it is this playful spirit that continues to guide the music of Bernice. Pulling from their jazz schooled education in improvisation, the five members create ad hoc games to stir their minds at all moments when they’re together. “Big Mato” began from a conversation one morning on Toronto Island when Dann shared the anecdote that her nephew used this term to refer to oversized tomatoes. As they riffed on lyrics about waking up in the morning craving a salad and choosing ingredients, this evolved into a euphemism for love and intimacy. Its delivery is earnest and straight faced, while the song’s feeling remains effervescent. 

“I think that’s the only way to make art,” concludes Dann. “If I take myself seriously, nothing good will come of it. I have to come from somewhere that feels like pure imagination, turning off the self-critic, and finding flow. All of those words that artists use a lot to me just mean finding joy. When we make music together, we look for things that make us laugh and groove and that feels great.”

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DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

EAU DE BONJOURNO TRACKLIST
1 Groove Elation
2 It’s Me, Robin
3 Big Mato
4 Dry River Bed
5 Lone Swan
6 Empty Cup
7 Personal Bubble
8 Your Beautiful House
9 Infinite Love
10 We Choose You

BERNICE ONLINE
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