Unknown Artist That Nikki You Know

Nearly a decade ago, I started  a band in Guelph, Ontario called Dear Me. There aren't many recordings  from that time, but we did have one of our first out-of-city gigs  recorded. That gig was at The Rockpile in Etobicoke. It was an old heavy metal venue that had a decorative electric chair next to a mug shot wall. We had only been a band for a couple months at most and we were all still getting used to playing these songs. Between a nearly complete  lack of monitors and inexperience, it certainly wasn't our best show,  but we had a great thing going on in those days.

Join me as I stroll down memory lane, listening to songs I almost never play anymore...but maybe I should.

At the end of 2015, I met Tim Coker at the legendary Grumpy's open mic. Together, we started The Misprints. Ok, we started 16 Towers that turned into The Misprints and we may have had a few other names in there as well.

That year, we played at every open mic we could and quickly started getting paid gigs. Our band grew into a 6-piece with saxophone, bass, drums, lead guitar and two singer/songwriters, me and Tim. We played at Brutopia, Anti-cafe, The Bar Fly, The Pistolero and many others. We performed at POP MTL at Bar LeRitz with the Maybe Greys and May Have. Shortly thereafter, we lost our sax player to New York and everyone else just fell apart.

But, we have a recording of the first time that Tim Coker, Christopher Poolman and I got together to make music in Tim's big room in the gay village. It was pretty magical.

Matt and I worked together on the Bluebird EP we recorded in  Wakefield last December. Since then, we've continued to play together on  each other's songs. He came into the studio this summer while the  quarantine was relaxed and we had a nice, chill time.

Matt’s  latest project is a cross-national collaboration with Brandon Carswell  produced remotely between Montreal and Nashville during the early stages  of quarantine. Check out Nice Dreams.

Wanda Waterman is a strong advocate for social change. She is a  musician and poet who often interweaves the two to create her own sound.  We talk about feminism and relationships, child abuse and  transformative justice, and her relationship with her sister.

Check out Wanda's website, The Mindful Bard.

Unknown Artist Season 2 is recorded live @ The Library courtesy of Godberd (Email for details).

Before COVID came in and  crashed our party, Steven Lee Rachel came into The Library and played us  some tunes. We had some good chats about life, social media and music.

Steven Lee Rachel is the musician behind Goblin Butler --Click for latest release!

Erik Fines is a  Peterborough-born local musician who plays in many local bands. He's  also a talented songwriter in his own right.

I apologize for any  rogue tambourine -- Erik allowed me to jam with him on it despite having  nearly zero experience and not having ever practiced with his songs.

You can follow him on Facebook and Instagram.