Music
Press
George Paul,
Windspeaker Contributor,
Cape Breton N.S.
The top entertainment story to come out of Cape Breton lately is the quick rise of the Mi'kmaq rock band Forever. The rock band has been together for only a year-and-a-half, but within this group of musicians there are decades of combined experience, strong song writing capability, great musicianship, and vast road experience.
Band leader Keith Dawson put this band together to achieve one goal. From day 1, the group decided that they weren't going to become another cover band just playing local bars and singing other people's music. Forever set its own standards and performed original material.
Dawson's approach to the band has been a business venture.
"Once you have a proven product, it's a lot easier to market. Our team keeps growing bigger as the demand for the band increases."
The rock band includes Eskasoni First Nation musicians, Derek Johnson (vocals), Stan Johnson (keys), and Keith Dawson (drums). Glace Bay's own Bernie Eagles is the lead guitarist, along with bass player Peter Christmas from Membertou First Nation. The only member not from Cape Breton is Graeme MacCausland (keys) who is from Saint John, N.B.
They released their first CD, Welcome to Forever, on Sept. 19, 2002, which was produced at Soundpark Studios, Big Pond, N.S., with East Coast Music Award winner and recording engineer, Jamie Foulds.
Forever's first single, "Here With Me," was released the same month and Forever became the first Cape Breton rock band to have a top five hit in more than a decade on K-94, Sydney.
"Here With Me" is also receiving airplay on radio in all four Atlantic Provinces, as well as international airplay on radio stations in Denmark, Italy, Germany, Holland, and France.
Forever shot their first music video for their second single, "Without Your Love" in Halifax on Jan. 19. Forever applied for a video application from VideoFACT. Out of 252 video applications nation-wide, 38 were approved, including the application by Forever. They are in good company. Other successful artists included Swollen Members, Nelly Furtado, and Bif Naked.
Forever is the first Mi'kmaq band to have a professional music video.
The concept and production for the video was made under the direction of award-winning music video producer Charlie Cahill of New Scotland Pictures in Halifax. Cahill brought in his favorite collaborator, Jim Spitler, from Nashville, Tennessee, to handle direction and cinematography. Final editing is underway in Nashville.
Forever's agent, Jay Bedford of EastQuest Entertainment & Communications in Sydney, who plays a major part in promoting the band said, "The video will take us to the other level we need to go-a nationwide audience."
- Windspeaker News
When Forever released its first CD, Welcome to Forever, in 2002, it didn't take long for the band to get noticed. Their first single, Here With Me, turned Forever into the most played Atlantic Canada rock band on Atlantic Canada radio for three months running and earned the group an East Coast Music Award (ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers Association, Geneva, Switzerland, www.ecma-international.org) An international association founded in 1961 that is dedicated to establishing standards in the information and communications fields. ) and a Music Industry Association of Nova Scotia(MIANS MIANS Music Industry Association of Nova Scotia ) Award.
It appears that Something to Dream of ... will allow Forever to continue to build on the success they achieved with that first album. The new CD won the group their second ECMA and MIANS awards in the Aboriginal recording of the year category and earned them three nominations at this year's Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards in the best rock album, best group or duo and best music video categories.
The group's new album is dominated by love songs-some upbeat, some less so. Taken together, the 14 cuts on the CD paint a picture of a relationship gone very wrong. The album includes ballads along with hard-rocking cuts, and everything in between. There's even a Latin-inspired number--Sloppy taco.
All in all, Forever's second CD should both please existing fans, and draw even more into the fold.
The five members of Forever all hail from Cape Breton, N.S. Vocalist Derek Johnson, keyboardist Stan Johnson and drummer Keith Dawson are from Eskasoni First Nation Coordinates: The Eskasoni First Nation is a First Nation in Nova Scotia, Canada. Their territory spans three reserves that have a combined area of 41.93 square kilometres. . Bernie Eagles, on guitar, is from Glace Bay, while Pete Christmas, on bass, is from Membertou First Nation.
- Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA)
Nova Scotian Group Receives
Two Canadian Aboriginal Music Award Nominations
Toronto, October 21, 2005... When the winners of the seventh annual Canadian
Aboriginal Music Awards are announced on November 25[RB1], 2005, among
the hopeful will be a talented group of Nova Scotian nominees. The rock band
Forever, from Eskasoni, is nominated for Best Rock Album, best video and Best Group or
Duo for their album Something to Dream Of. Forever is a hard driving aboriginal
rock band, composed of veteran musicians with decades of road, studio, and
songwriting experience between them. In the past 3 years they received two
MIANS Awards (2003 and 2005) and two ECMA Awards (2004, 2005) as well as
a nomination for “Best Video” for their debut release ”Welcome to Forever”.
Each year[RB2], the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards celebrate the musical
contributions of Aboriginal people by honouring the premier musicians, groups
and industry members across Canada. To qualify for a Canadian Aboriginal
Music Award, nominees must be Canadian Aboriginal—status, non-status, Metis
or Inuit—by birth, adoption or community acceptance.
The winners will be announced at the 2005 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards
on Friday, November 25 in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre’s John
Bassett Theatre (255 Front Street West). Tickets for the awards are $35 in
advance and $40 at the door and are available at Ticketmaster
(www.ticketmaster.ca, 416-872-1111). The Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards
are a part of the 12th annual Canadian Aboriginal Festival which runs in Toronto
November 21–27.
The Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards are generously supported by Newcap
Broadcasting, Scotiabank, FACTOR, Casino Rama, Galaxie, and the Canada
Council for the Arts.
The public can visit www.canab.com for complete festival details.
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Media Contact:
Heather Kelly Communications [HKC]
Amber Authier, amber@heatherk.ca, 416-760-7323
Gwen McDonald, gwen@heatherk.ca, 416-893-4454
Heather Kelly, heather@heatherk.ca, 416-364-5701
www.heatherk.ca - Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards
Discography
1. Welcome to Forever 2002 release (winner 2 awards)
singles - Here with Me #5 on top 30, #1 on top 9 at 9 21 times and on top 9 for 37 weeks
- Without your Love #4 top 30, #1 top 9 at 9 26 times and on top 9 for 42 weeks
2. Something to Dream of 2004 release (winner 4 awards)
singles - One More Time #5 on top 30 #1 top 9 at 9 17 times on top 9 at 9 36 weeks
3.Christmas EP 2006 release
single - Christmas Time, regular rotation every X-mas holiday
4. Reborn 2009 release date. (winner 2 awards)
singles - Angel (commercial radio release)#1 on top 9 at 9 and #76 in Top 100 of the year.
Save Me ( Hard rock single)
5. Soul Seeker - 'Practice What You Seek' "NEW!" 2010 Release Date
Photos
Bio
Soul Seeker is an instrumental project featuring guitarist Bernie Eagles and drummer Keith Dawson. Both have played with many artists over the past few decades like Helix, Peter Criss (from KISS), Vexen and most recently 8-time Award winning rockers Forever which they founded in 2001. Having won 8 awards, (including 3 ECMA's) with FOREVER, deciding to ‘retire’ Forever was a tough decision, but both felt they needed to move on and free the restrictions of a band format to be able to create any style of music they wanted.
This first project from Soul Seeker, ‘Practice What You Seek’, was a last minute decision to see what they could ‘throw’ together. This original project also includes a Gordie Sampson cover 'Blood is Strong' and a Paganini/Bach/Eagles mix. The project from start to finish only took 3 days, (tracking, producing, mastering and designing), and they were so happy with it, they plan to release 3 more CD’s over the next year and a half. The next 3 CD’s will be a trilogy from a novel written by Keith called ‘Welcome to the World of Hydrax’, which takes place 150 years in the future. The cd’s will be called Part 1 ‘The Shame of Kaine’, Part 2 ‘The Phoenix Discoveries’ and Part 3 ‘Two Worlds’.
Bernie and Keith both agree that this project is all about having fun, exploring new ideas, challenging yourself and having creative freedom, which always comes back to the ‘fun’ part. Soul Seeker will be performing workshops and clinics over the next few years so keep an eye and ear out and always ‘Practice What You Seek’.
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