Chesterfield Rock

Chesterfield Rock
(opening for Wide Mouth Mason) Friday-Saturday Casino Regina
By GERRY KROCHAK for the Leader-Post


The conversation has changed from talking about how young Chesterfield Rock is to how good Chesterfield Rock is.

Despite one of the worst names in the history of music, the Emerald Park teens are on their way to Toronto after winning the 2005 X-Treme Band Slam as well as the 2005 Last Band Standing contests.
Although singer-guitarist Josh Giambattista says that he never approached the competitions as anything other than a chance to play in front of as many people as possible, the benefits have already been paying dividends.

“We went from nobody knowing who we are to doing interviews, having people buy our CD and people coming up to us talking about seeing us at the Casino,” says this 17-year-old junior heartthrob with the breathy John Mayer delivery. “I guess (the contests) are kind of necessary, but art is something that should be shared among artists.

“We didn’t look at it in terms of winning and losing — everybody just showcases their stuff and the cards fall where they fall.”

What the boys really won was the opportunity to pay their own way to the national X-Treme Band Slams finals next weekend in Toronto, during Canadian Music Week. Giambattista, guitarist-keyboardist Carter Kolbeck, bassist Aaron Coons and drummer Shawn Ritco have been scraping up money for the trip via various fundraising endeavours and recent gigs.

Once there, Chesterfield Rock will be competing against regional winners from across Canada for $50,000 in prizes, including studio time, guitars, basses, amps, microphones and other assorted gear, as well as a national radio promotion and publicity package plus three months of agency representation.

“We’re just going to try and look at it as another gig,” Kolbeck says. “It’s in a bar. Hopefully they like us and hopefully the judges think we’re doing something good — we’re just going to do our best and see what happens.”
The key to the group thus far has been in its songs. Where others might have more playing experience, tunes such as “Don’t Fill My Head,” “So Bloody Cold,” and “As The Rain Pours” are mature far beyond the band’s average age of 17.

“Songs about relationships, girls and just regular teenage stuff” is where Giambattista says CFR draws its inspiration. “Things that we all go through . . . we just turn into songs.

“I think Carter writes more about stuff that actually happens, whereas I write things that are all over the place. If songwriting is an outlet, I look at it this way: When you have a problem and you put it into a song, you’re kind of wrapping the problem up. It’s done. It’s over.

“We’re an easy-listening band and our songs have messages, but you don’t have to look really hard to find them. People can relate.”

Perhaps the best part about winning the regional X-Treme Band Slam competition is that it comes with the opportunity to open a pair of shows for veteran recording artist and fellow Saskatchewan band Wide Mouth Mason this weekend at the Casino Regina Show Lounge.

Friday and Saturday nights will mark the last two shows Chesterfield Rock will play before heading to Toronto next Wednesday.

“People tend to cut us a lot of slack because we’re a young band,” Giambattista says. “But hopefully we always surprise them with our songs and our musicianship.

“I guess we’re not like a lot of other bands in that we don’t jump around a lot and stuff. We just play and I think people can tell that we’re sincere about our music.

As for these two gigs, we’re excited to play with Wide Mouth Mason. We want to hear some stories about what it takes to be in a touring band and we’ll take any advice they can give us!”

For more on Chesterfield Rock, log on to www.chesterfieldrock.com.
- Regina Leader Post

Rawlco Radio is putting its money where its music is. The company that operates Z99, Jack FM and CJME in Regina, as well as C95, Rock 102 and CKOM in Saskatoon, is making investments in Saskatchewan talent that had previously been unheard of within the province’s radio landscape. By now, you may have heard of the wildly successful 10K20 program, which has already contributed a total of $290,000 to 29 Saskatchewan-based artists and musicians ($10,000 each) for recording and furthering the careers of the province’s budding music stars.
In response to the program’s success, Rawlco’s seven FM stations throughout the province are now playing 40-per-cent Canadian content. That’s five-per-cent higher than CRTC regulations, which call for 35 per cent of a radio’s playlist to qualify as “Can-Con.”
Radio, like any other medium, is constantly changing and Tom Newton (vice-president and general manager of Z99, Jack and CJME) calls the company’s new philosophies merely smart investments in our province’s homegrown talent.
“The Canadian content decision became easy when you consider the response that we got with Project 10K20,” he said during a recent conference call, which also included Jamie Wall (vice-president and general manager of C95, ROCK 102 and CKOM). “The reality is that we had over 200 entries for the recording (bursaries).
“We had originally planned to give 20 Saskatchewan artists $10,000 apiece — that became impossible. Given the response and the quality of the submissions, we increased the budget and signed 29 artists. We’re very proud to have done so.”
For Saskatchewan artists who had traditionally been shunned by local radio stations in favour of cookie-cutter formulas, the opportunity to be heard on Rawlco stations is, quite frankly, as important as the recording time and cash.
“It was always our goal to play as much of the music as possible on our radio stations,” Newton says. “In the next two months a lot of these newly recorded CDs are going to be completed and are going to be featured on Rawlco radio stations.”
Established Regina artists such as Jason Plumb, Jack Semple, David J. Taylor and Skavenjah (which used its 10K20 cash to record its forthcoming album El Ritmo De La Vida) have benefited, as have exciting new acts such as Chesterfield Rock (guys, you’ve got to change the name) and Saskatoon artists Carrie Catherine, Megan Lane, Nicol Lischka and Jordon Cook.
Wall says the project has only confirmed what Saskatchewan music fans had already known from the days of Streetheart, The Northern Pikes and the Queen City Kids, to The Waltons, Age of Electric, Sylvie, Into Eternity, and The Ghosts Of Modern Man.
“I don’t know if the quality of music in Saskatchewan has ever been as strong as it is right now,” he says. “And we want to be part of that.
“10K20 started as part of the Edmonton Smooth Jazz licence. But (Saskatchewan) is where our company is based. We have had so much goodwill – not just from the music community, but to the listeners at large who are really excited to hear this music.
“It’s a big wake-up call when you realize how much listeners really do want to hear musicians from their hometown who are doing great things.”
In addition to all of the activity that has been taking place with 10K20, the project has launched an event called Saskatchewan Star Search, a partnership between Rawlco and SaskTel.
Saskatchewan artists will compete for a $10,000 recording package, onstage tickets to the Rolling Stones, a backstage tour at Mosaic Stadium, and a chance to perform at a pre-Rolling Stones concert event in the Show Lounge at Casino Regina on Oct. 8.
Saskatchewan artists must submit a recorded song to any Rawlco radio station before 5 p.m. on Sept. 15. Five finalists will be selected to participate in a live showdown Sept. 30 at The Odeon nightclub in Saskatoon.
No matter who wins, Saskatchewan artists and radio listeners are already richer because of Project 10K20.

Note: Chesterfield Rock was selected as a finalist in the Saskatchewan Star Search Competition
- Regina Leader Post - Gerry Krochak