Busty and the Bass

We are thrilled to announce that the winner of Rock Your Campus is McGill University's Busty and the Bass.

After hundreds of students entered their original songs and the public voted for their favourites, our celebrity judges Cirkut, Max Kerman from Arkells, and CBC Radio 2 host Talia Schlanger, determined Busty and the Bass the winner of the competition.

Busty and the Bass is a nine-piece collective of musicians from across North America who met during their first year at McGill University. Originally born out of small, impromptu Montreal house parties, "Busty" has evolved to become a tight electrofunk band playing powerful original music and innovative covers.

"Hopefully Rock Your Campus empowers them to keep going. Being validated once in a while will help in momentum," says Max Kerman from Arkells. "I was very surprised, this was much better than the music we made in university. Things are looking up."

"We are blown away by the level of talent on campuses across the country. But ultimately, it had to be Busty and the Bass," says Talia Schlanger. "Exceptional musicianship, wild creativity and pure fun, we can't wait to see where they go."

"A big thank you for giving us a platform to get our stuff out to the world and a big thank you to our fans," says Milo Johnson, bass player for Busty and the Bass. "This process of the competition, of Rock Your Campus, has been such good training for us and a reminder that the music we play is to bring to the places that we come from – our homes, our colleges and of course, our moms. Thank you for allowing us to continue this surge of playing music for people."

Busty and the Bass will receive a $10,000 cash prize, a concert performance at McGill University and the opportunity for a one-year contract to join a YouTube multi-channel network for management, as well as the bragging right title of Best Campus Band 2014.

For more info on Busty and the Bass' performance at McGill University, check out rockyourcampus.ca.

Watch below as the judges discuss the Rock Your Campus Top 5 with Gunnarolla and decide on a winner:
- CBC

Maybe you all have noticed, but premieres have become a major part of the site again. We here at Baeble are passionate about providing a platform for up & coming artists that we love to share their work. But we aren't being selfless. We know that every now & then we'll stumble upon an act destined for greatness. Give it six months, and every indie music lover on the planet will know Busty and the Bass.

We have the U.S. premiere of the video for the Canadian nine-piece's "Models," and it isn't simply one of the best singles I've heard this week. It isn't one of the best singles I've heard this month. It's easily one of the best singles of 2015 so far. Imagine a world where Chromeo, Vampire Weekend, and Capital Cities got together to raise an adopted Canadian child but you stripped away all of the occasionally grating irony of any of those acts, and you have the horn-driven, pop grandiosity -- with a touch of R&B for good measure -- of "Models."

I wish the track were on Spotify so I could put it on repeat for about the next two months. This is a party jam with brains, and its self-aware video knows just how on the cusp Busty and the Bass are. If you aren't out of your chair dancing by the time the guitar/horn breakdown hits, you need to turn in your music loving card. - Baeble Music

Montreal nine-piece Busty and the Bass make a blend of hip-hop and live soul that resonates with college kids. Last year, the CBC named them "Canada's top university band" so it only makes sense that they'd hit the road and entertain the students during frosh week.

The group have pieced together a hefty tour across the country, from Quebec through to Vancouver and back, and they'll also dip into the United States for a show in Burlington, VT.

Peep the full tour itinerary below, where you'll also find the band's recent appearance on Exclaim! TV.

Tour dates:

09/01 Montreal, QC - Discover McGill
09/04 Montreal, QC - McGill Science Frosh
09/09 Quebec City, QC - Show de la Rentrée
09/12 Burlington, VT - OTIS Mountain Get Down
09/13 Kingston, ON - Ale House
09/16 Edmonton, AB - Mercury Room
09/17 Calgary, AB - The Gateway
09/19 Victoria, BC - Rifflandia
09/20 Vancouver, BC - The Cobalt
09/25 Guelph, ON - Guelph Concert House
09/26 Waterloo, ON-Maxwells Concert and Events - Exclaim

Busty and The Bass was one of the best surprises throughout all of 2014. Seemingly out of nowhere, these guys exploded onto the Canadian music scene. Based out of Montreal, these guys bring their fusion of rock, jazz, soul, funk, and even hip-hop at times to the table. It’s incredibly refreshing to hear such quality within these genres come from a Canadian band.

These guys sound just as good, if not better live. It’s mind-blowing, especially considering how many pieces are in this band. It’s understandable how tight they are when you hear their raw talent coming from each individual part of the band throughout every single song of theirs. The fact that they’re all music students at McGill likely helps as well. Busty and The Bass easily earns the number two spot on this list with their explosive track, “Tryna Find Myself.” - The Vault

Nine-piece electro-funk outfit Busty and the Bass, out of Montreal (they started playing together when they were all jazz performance students at McGill University), announced their forthcoming EP, Glam, on Tuesday. The collection is slated to arrive June 2 and will feature “The Real,” which EW is premiering exclusively today.

The high-energy track, replete with Motown horns and a soulful vocal, is streaming below. The group is currently on tour, playing notable stops like Brooklyn Bowl and Rockwood Music Hall in New York. A full list of dates follow. - Entertainment Weekly

Busty And The Bass Set A 'Model' Example Of Groovy Exuberance
bustyandthebass1
APR 16 2015WRITTEN BY MARK J - [ @SOLITARYM ]1
We have a simple rule of thumb here at Next2Shine - 'horn sections make everything better!'. No surprise then at the galvanizing effect that Canadian, and McGill University, spawned Busty And The Bass had on our ears with their electrifying 'electrofunk/hip-hop/soul' eclecticism when we first heard the brass-laden punch of 'Tryna Find Myself', their rambunctious and rousing CBC Rock Your Campus-winning track. With tour dates in Canada and the U.S. behind them, this fast rising band on the Canadian music scene is in the process of finishing up their upcoming 'GLAM!' album, and here they return with the reflective groove and exuberant crescendo of the first single from the album, 'Models'. - Next2Shine

Busty and the Bass: More than Funk and Games

I’m at Divan Orange, one of the coziest local music hubs in Montreal, sipping a cider, waiting for the show to start. I’m here (officially) for the last band – I have never before seen the bands due to play tonight. People are coming in from the cold and the room quickly fills up with young and old…that Saturday-night vibe lingers above our heads in a mellow but excited buzz. Busty and the Bass are up – first three, then four, oh my, all nine of band members crowded the stage. All McGill University music students, and all mad talented, they started the night off with a bang; and funk; and some jazz; and Single Ladies; and Toxic.

Busty and the Bass was born out of small, impromptu frosh house parties decided to “write some things” and grew to steal the hearts of Montrealers at venues like l’Astral and Sala Rosa. “Busty” – the name that originated from a frosh t-shirt joke – is one of Montreal’s most vibrant and exciting collectives on the scene today. In the words of the guitar player and one of earliest members, Busty is more of an adjective. Fresh, inspired, dedicated, uninhibited, soulful and funky (and busty!), these dudes got on my music radar right away. I was lucky enough to catch them after their set at Divan Orange and set up a laugh-filled chat with Milo Johnson, Louis Stein, and Chris Vincent.

OCR: Let me start out by saying – great experience seeing you on Saturday. How did you feel after the Divan Orange show?

Milo Johnson: GOOD! It was our first show playing together, since the break. There is a lot of business that goes into the band, and everyone gets tired of scheduling rehearsals, with our respective responsibilities, but then we get on stage and play a show, and everyone’s like, “Oh, yeah, this is why this is the best band ever!”

OCR: Was there a lot of anxiety?

Louis Stein: At this point the feeling I get before the show is less, “I’m nervous” and more, “I am so excited, and these people have no idea how much fun this is going to be.” So before shows, I usually just grab Chris and say, “Do you realize what is about to happen?”

Chris Vincent: We spend about five minutes talking about what’s gonna happen, and then we play!

OCR: Nice! So what is it like for each of you to be on stage, in front of all these dancing, smiling people? What are the thoughts that pop into your head?

LS: At first, in the early days of performing, (and this group has given me a lot of experience performing), I was really occupied with “I hope I sound good, I hope people see me.” And then you realize you are one of nine, and people are really less there for you, and are really looking to have a good time. So it’s less about how well you do and more about the performer-audience energy, and so I try to give everything I can, and really, we all have fun, but sometimes you get caught up experiencing the fun, and you forget to share it. I am always just trying to make sure I am sharing and playing off of everyone’s energy in the band, and when you see the audience joining in, it really makes the whole thing fantastic.

MJ: It’s definitely one of the, if not the biggest, idea behind the band – getting people who come to our shows to experience an energy exchange between an energetic and involved band and an even more energetic, dancing audience. This is the first band that has instilled that in me, as a performer. I’ve played in groups that people danced to before, but it has never been with the same amount of energy, of pure joy. I can go up on stage, completely sober, and I am stage-high in five minutes. I think this is an experience a lot of the band members share as well, being in that position and connecting with that many people in intimate ways is just really, really special.

CV: I learned so much from this band, so far, probably everything I know about music – performing, writing, arranging, logistics; I mean, I love you guys, but everything up ’til this point has been a nightmare – a perfect nightmare. And when it comes to being on stage, and playing for people, and trying to build a connection with the audience, I think it’s something that we talk about, and we’re very conscious of, and we make a deliberate effort to really engage the people, which I think is the most important thing. It’s the fact that, yes, you’re presenting music, but you really have to make sure everyone’s on the same page, audience included, so we can all enjoy it together.

MJ: And I think that’s definitely a founding idea behind our repertoire choice – unfortunately, you didn’t get to hear our Disney suite…

OCR: Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing!

MJ: Yeah, and people hear “Single Ladies” and “Let’s Get It On”, and they go, “Oh, I know and I love these songs,” and then you look at the kids born in the early 90s and late 80, and they hear us coming with Hakuna Matata, and they’re like, “Whoa, what are these guys doing?” So, it’s really just getting people to realize that instrumental live music has such a different performance experience, then if you were to go an electronic music show, or a dubstep show. [This connection] is really something we are trying to differentiate ourselves with.

CV: The most special part of our music is that it’s in English and French and Spanish and Korean, and so it’s very accessible. You don’t have the language barrier, and the market is huge.

OCR: There are nine of you in the band – how do you keep everyone happy and organized?

MJ: Well, you’re looking at part of it. I’ve dealt a lot with trying to figure out how to motivate people without taking on the role of the boss – I think that’s something that we’ve all been growing with. Just because we have such distinct personalities, all nine of us, and collectively can create such great things, but you’re dealing with jazz musicians, who are sometimes very irresponsible, super spacy…

CV: Incredibly lazy.

MJ: Incredibly lazy!

CV: Beyond belief!

MJ: Yeah, and navigating through all of this has really been an adventure, to put it lightly. But we’re doing our darnest to motivate everyone, and you want everyone involved, everyone contributing, keeping them happy, keeping yourself happy, so that instead of bragging or shaming, you want people to want to do these things. In the perfect world, that would be our management system.

CV: We organize ourselves a lot with Facebook, we promote a lot on Facebook.

OCR: What is the biggest musical influence on the band – is there an idea, or another band that has really moved you?

MJ: I would say an idea that I have talked about with every member of the band is the fact that we’re all jazz musicians, coming from different backgrounds. And jazz, at its root, is pop music for an audience, and at its roots, jazz was dance music. So we’ve pretty much taken that idea and applied it to today, whereas a lot of jazz musicians are taking pop tunes from the 40s and 50s that would have appealed to the audience then, and playing them in new and innovative ways, but that really only appeal to other jazz musicians, or a very select group of people who know what’s going on.

LS: And definitely not dance music.

MJ: No, not danceable at all. So what we’re trying to do, is take the pop music of our generation, and put it into a context that connects with an audience of our age, and that they would be able to dance to. One of our challenges, and also one of our opportunities, in being able to navigate that. So we take a Kanye West song, where it’s all sampled and there are all these tracks that you created in a studio, and translate that to playing it on stage as something people will recognize and be able to connect to.

CV: For about two months now, I have been hooked on this Toronto group, called KC Roberts and the Live Revolution, and they are a funk band that do weird and heavy things. And I want to bring that to our group, but at the same time, I don’t want to superimpose it. So it’s the whole thing of trying to find the right balance of what you think is going to be most effective and you lay it out, or you keep some things to yourself, for another time.

OCR: Do you have any pre or post-show rituals? (Drinking doesn’t count.)

LS: There is definitely a pre-show thing of being all-together, and having everyone in the conversation, to bring everyone’s minds together before the stage, and it creates that feeling of being in-tune with each other.

MJ: One situation that came to mind, was when we had a show at the end of last semester at l’Astrale, which was our nicest and biggest venue so far. That was one of the unique times when some people were having nerves, it was a big opportunity for us, and we’ve been playing together for two and a half years, so it’s something we rarely experience. We all noticed that, and after we’ve figured out the set-list, we all got in a huddle and sort of just started rocking back and forth, and put forth he idea that Louis has brought up before, that these people have no idea what they’re about to experience. And we say that without any kind of ego, simply because we offer an experience people have never had before.

CV: After Divan Orange we sat around for at least twenty minutes afterwards, and talked a lot about what we had coming ahead – we’d like to have a tour, and we’d like to record an album, and we just have this ongoing discussion about what’s coming. We do some damage assessment too, but I know personally this is the only group that I play with, that talks before and after the show, it’s like a fucking family, and it’s so awesome.

OCR: What do you think about Montreal’s music scene – what’s it like to be a band in a city where everyone’s in a band?

LS: I’m from New York, and there are a lot of bands, and no band has all their members because it’s always subs. And there, I get a sense that it’s a little bit concentrated in terms of opportunities to play to bands. Here, I feel like people are pretty open, and the general public is pretty down with listening and experiencing new things, and they won’t just go to bands that they know. So Montreal is a good music scene for me, to go through music development as a music student, because it provides the opportunities, and there are no reasons for you not to be successful – it’s all on you, to make it good. There are not really societal limitations, and there are a lot of cool bands to play with, and nothing is really out of reach. I think as a city, it’s pretty open, and welcoming to new things, and an exciting place to be.

MJ: I think the music community in Montreal is very very tight, and very very collaborative, which is something that helps all of us. There is a lot of exchanging of services, and a lot of collaboration, whereas most people would see the music scene as, “Oh, how many followers does this band have, are we better than them, what can we do to be better than them?” That at least one things that Montreal has for me, that’s very similar to the music scene in DC (where I’m from), but talking to a lot of people, it’s not like that in most cities.

CV: This city also provides a very great environment for getting away from the ego, and really learn how to be friends in music together. There is a lot going on every given night, and you can’t go to everything, and the challenge in itself is to create music that people want to see.

MJ: And I think we have a very loyal fan base, which is something that’s really amazing. Our shows are an experience for them, as opposed to trying to choose where to go that night.

LS: I think something I’ve taken away from musicians that I respect, is that you don’t really have to concern yourself with: “How am I going to cut through everything else, and how are people going to come listen to my show and not someone else’s.” I think that if you do whatever you’re doing, really well, people will like good things, and you will attract attention, simply because you are doing it very well. I don’t think it’s very useful to think about how to get over the clutter – I have a lot of faith in good music attracting a lot of people, and that’s a very hopeful thought – I seek to retain that.

Focused on pure sound, and staying true to themselves and their music, Busty and the Bass really do make good sound happen. Aiming to make the people who don’t dance, dance, the group provides amazing energy, great talent, and a communal vibe. You can catch them doing shows regularly in Montreal (check out their Facebook for more info), as well as on their up-coming USA tour – February 20 to March 9 – covering Burlington, Boston, Hartford, New haven, Baltimore, DC, and New York. Along the way, they will also be presenting in High Schools, showing first hand that just because they are professional jazz musicians doesn’t mean they can’t make relevant music. There is talk of an upcoming album – keep your ears open for their sound, because this is a band to watch. - Orange Country Reverb

Busty & The Bass will be performing for the Rock Your Campus concert featuring Arkells on November 24th—for free!

Today, November 18th, a limited number of tickets will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis. The tickets will be distributed exclusively to McGill students, so make sure to bring your student IDs. The time and location will be kept secret until later today. Check the event page, or follow Twitter @TD_Canada, to learn where and when you can get free tickets.

Busty & the Bass need no introduction, but we’ll give one anyways. They’re a nine-member electrofunk band comprised entirely of musicians from McGill’s Jazz Performance program. Capturing an original and emotive sound, they rose from small impromptu Montreal house parties to playing across the city, including at a Graphite Publications event in October. They recently won CBC’s Rock Your Campus contest, a nationwide competition with hundreds of entries participating to be the next big campus music act. Having won a $10,000 prize, Busty & the Bass have just produced their first EP, Bustified, and will be on the move touring the US’ east coast this December. Visit their Facebook page for updates concerning the tour.

For those of you who don’t know, Arkells is a Canadian rock band from Hamiton, Ontario, known for their classic songwriting and electric live shows. They released an album in August, High Noon, composed of a collection of politically charged songs with “heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics combined with adventurously modern and throwback production stylings.” - Graphite Publications

“It’s f***ing gorgeous out,” said Milo Johnson, bassist for Busty and the Bass, as he ended his afternoon stroll to talk to EWM. The ecstatic emphasis Milo put on the habitual “how’s the weather?” line mimicked Busty’s music and set up EWM for an informative convo on music education, touring, Bustified and a fear of foreign microwaves. Here’s what Busty and the Bass had to say.

EWM: So in March you went to New York and you played a few shows?

Milo: Yeah it was actually part of an 11-day tour. We were like, “ok boys, let’s see if we can put together a tour.” It ended up being from Montreal down to DC, then out to Kingston and back.

EWM: How did you hook that up? How did it happen?

M: Lots of phone calls and emails.

EWM: Yup, we know what that’s like.

M: Oh yeah, the grind that people don’t talk about. It was just a lot of, “huh, lets Google places to play in Hartford, Connecticut. Lets call all of these places and hope that someone bites.” Yeah it was a good experience. Jordan [Benjamin] came along and was our tenth guy. It was super, super fun.

EWM: Ok, quick question. How come there aren’t any girls in the band?

M: We all met in the jazz department at McGill, and I guess it’s just a representation of the demographics of the department I would say.

EWM: Wow…that is so depressing.

M: Yeah it is depressing! That’s why we’re trying to branch out. We’re working with a couple of female vocalists on some upcoming projects. We’ve done stuff with people live, but the core group is all male…as it were.

EWM: Fair enough. So how do you coordinate so many dudes? I mean, nine people in the band…what’s that like?

M: You know, very frustrating at times. But it can be even more rewarding… No I’ll be real with you – mobilizing nine people isn’t always the easiest, especially after the tour. The tour brought everyone to their wits end. We’d be out late the night before and then have to leave and drive six hours the next morning. The drivers would be like, “guys like get the f**k up!” But we’re figuring it out. We’ve been together for a little over three years, and we’re still figuring out our process. It’s cool because it started out super “throw-it-together” - friends making music - and then we were like, “oh, we should start figuring out how to do this for real if we’re going to do it after school.” So this summer and this year have been really big year for us in terms of us getting our s**t together. Period. We’ve gotten a little better at coordinating.

EWM: You guys are from all over the place, ON, BC, AB, Maryland, Massachusetts, NY, Cali…after graduation are people moving away, are you going to stick in Montreal? What’s the plan?

M: We haven’t made any decisions yet, but I think that the general plan right now is Toronto - just because our fan base is between Toronto and Montreal and then between Montreal and New York. You know? Montreal is nice because it’s cheap but it’s also really limiting in terms of the music industry and then the market too. Toronto is good because it’s not too far away and it keeps us in our track of where our audience is so far. It also allows us to meet people in the industry. Toronto is sort of the jumping off point to the bigger markets in the US. We can get on radio and daytime TV there that’s not in French.

EWM: We read that you wanted to do a masters degree in finance…why?

M: Oh! That was sort of just like…I don’t know. That was partly parent influence, but it was a really good decision for me just because without that business knowledge we might not have gotten here. I also have some problems with the music school here. Learning music in an institution, just because that was never how I’d done it before. Basically, to run a band of nine people is a business, so you have to have to know how all the parts of that work together, and one part of that is definitely finance.

EWM: And hence the finance part of the degree!

M: Yeah it just ended up being a business minor. I really don’t like math that much. The guys in the band, we all improved a lot just from where we were and the fact that we were given lessons and a space to play everyday is extremely valuable and I think if we had met anywhere else we wouldn’t have stayed together. It gave us three solid years to get to know each other, to play in a group that was not financially sustainable whatsoever just because it was fun, but while we were in school it worked! School definitely facilitated us because we couldn’t play our music if were untrained musicians, but it’s back to that balance that really just isn’t taught in school.

EWM: With that being said, when do you all feel like you’re totally satisfied with what you’re putting out? I guess in reference to the new album, Bustified.

M: (Laughs) Oh never. It’s a constant drive to better yourself. With everything that we can do musically and with the different perspectives of nine inquisitive members we’re always striving to do something better and new. I would say that what we just put out is a documentation of our development over the last eight months, but the music we were playing was from the last three years. With the possibilities of things we can do musically just given the size of our group and nature of the different members means we’ll never have a problem thinking of new things to try out. I think that is the exciting part.

EWM: I really enjoyed Bustified by the way. Is there an over arching theme to it?

M: Ok so a little background on the name first. We use “busty” as an adjective a lot. So if a certain activity is “busty” or if someone is feelin’ “busty” then that naturally translates to, “yo, that s**t is “bustified””. We used to play a lot of covers, we had a lot of fun taking songs and making them our own. When we would talk about what we had just done with the cover, it would be like, “Yeah, we just bustified that cover!” We did that with “Toxic”. That was the first video we put up from like two years ago. So yeah, I guess that’s the story behind the name – this is what we put together in a context that people haven’t heard before. The actual music material actually started with Jordan [Benjamin]. We got together before we went on tour, and in the span of about two hours we had written four full tracks. The musical chemistry was off the wall right from the beginning. One day we ended up having nothing to do in NY and our guitar player found a friend’s studio (some guys who had played at the Manhattan School of Music) and their whole thing is that they want to make a professional quality recording accessible to more people so they charge $40 an hour for a really nice space and a really good recording engineer. We went in and were like, “Yo, ‘Don’t Forget Me’ is the single, we got to record it.” That was the theme song with Jordan.

EWM: You guys have listed people like Stevie Wonder, KC Roberts, Live Revolution Disclosure, BADBADNOTGOOD, Kaytranada as some of your influences. I think a lot of people listen to your music and think it’s funk and can hear the Stevie Wonder vibes, but where do people like Kaytranada and BBNG come in to your music?

M: In the last three months we’ve only recorded one new track, and that was the one we did the music video of, “Tryna Find Myself”. We got a bunch of new toys over the summer that have let us delve into the electronic realm a bit more, and our trumpet player Mike and drummer Julian are both producers. Within the group there are a lot of people with experience in production and we all love listening to that stuff, but it wasn’t until this summer that we had to tools to make it a viable option at shows. Up until then we had one keyboard that had only a few sounds. Basically, we got new tools that allowed us to play all these sounds that you would hear in a Kaytranada track, or any other producer that we listed on our influences. That was also like ten artists out of thirty that we had to choose from. With that in mind, I think you’re going to hear it more in where we’re going.

EWM: So then what are some of the artists that excite you and make your eager to hear more?

M: Right now Chance has been the guy that I’ve gone to for a lot of my thinking on how we want to proceed. Chance the Rapper - he’s the man. Born in April of the same year as me, only about six months older than me, which is such a good motivator. I’m thinking, “Man, this guy is everywhere.” Musically he is someone we look to because he brought trumpets back to popular music. It’s just really cool to see someone be able to release music in the way that he did and then keep it so him. It’ s not like someone saw his talent, threw a bunch of money into him and the influenced the way that he sounded and how it was presented. He put out an album, earned some street cred, spent a year working the next one and did it pretty low budget with a bunch of guys he knew from Chicago. Then he put it out after making it perfect or, as perfect as you can make something in a year, and he put it out for free. The thing blew up! And that was only a year ago! And now he’s the biggest thing out there. That’s super inspiring for us, and also helpful in terms of where we should be focusing our energies. I mean this dude put out a thing for free; it did well and got him some street cred. Then instead of rushing and throwing stuff out he took the time, put it out for free again and how he’s touring all over.

EWM: Now a bit of a personal end to the interview…We hear you have a fear of microwaves?

M: Ok well unfamiliar microwaves are scary sometimes you know? You go in, you’re trying to heat something up and you have to press four friggin’ buttons just to choose the time, like…that’s frustrating.
~
After speaking with Busty and the Bass, it was clear that they had the drive and talent to do big things. Fortunately, our thoughts were made reality on Monday, October 27th at 1PM. As Busty wrote to us,

“[We were] gathered together in a living room, crammed onto a couple small couches, waiting for the winner of the ‘Rock Your Campus’ competition to be announced on CBC radio 3. As soon as we heard the word “Busty”, we all jumped up into a big, loud, group embrace. Pure love and celebration. We’d been working towards that moment for months, and the idea of winning it still hasn’t entirely sunk in for all of us. We feel incredibly lucky and grateful to be in this position, and we can’t wait to show everyone what’s in store for the future."

EWM definitely recommends you keep a firm eye on Busty and the Bass….maybe you can be the douchebag who said, “I followed them wayyyyy before they got huge”. - East West Melody

What a tune! "Don't Forget Me" is a master of instrumentation, combining an amazing horn section and piano with some funky Isaac Hayes-ish throwback sounds and soulful vocals from Benj. Benj, a Canadian-turned-LA-resident, has been throwing out some great tracks recently building up to his album release with Latium Entertainment and EWM can't wait to hear more from him. Busty and the Bass, centered in Montreal, are releasing their infectiously funky album TOMORROW so stay tuned as they are sitting down with EWM this week! - East West Melody

So much groove in one song

Damn was that good.

Coming at us from all the way up North in Montreal, Quebec is electrofunk/hip-hop/soul mega group Busty and the Bass with their song “Tryna Find Myself”.

We often use the word unique to describe bands featured here, but that word wouldn’t do Busty and the Bass justice. Combining elements of electronic, funk, hip-hop, and soul music, Busty and the Bass create an unbelievable sound different from any band I have ever heard before.

“Tryna Find Myself” showcases that sound with a spectacular blend of brass, keys, synths and vocals that will leave your jaw on the ground and your feet moving across the floor. Born out of small Montreal house parties, Busty and the Bass have taken their highly energetic, exciting, and powerful brand of music to the bigger stage, now frequenting some of Montreal’s best venues.

Busty and the Bass is currently competing in CBC’s ‘Rock Your Campus’ competition and have clearly shown that they deserve our votes. Lets help out an amazing band get the recognition they deserve by voting for the group HERE.

For more music from Busty and the Bass, head on over to their YouTube channel! - The Undiscovered

This year alone, McGill has produced everything from a Nobel Prize-winning researcher to Olympic gold medalists. You can now add Canada’s top university band to that list.
As announced on Oct. 27, Busty and the Bass, a nine-member electrofunk band comprised entirely of musicians from the Jazz Performance program, won CBC’s Rock Your Campus contest. The competition, a nationwide talent search looking to discover the “next big campus music act,” was open to anyone enrolled at a Canadian university that received hundreds of entries.
“It’s hard to put into words,” said Milo Johnson, Busty’s bassist, immediately after the announcement was made on CBC radio. “Needless to say, we’re all pretty thrilled. It really validates all our work.”
When Johnson and the band got the call giving them the good news on Monday morning, he said it was pretty much bedlam. “We were jumping up and down screaming our song in the living room. It was pretty loud.”
Johnson says that it looks like a significant portion of the $10,000 prize money will go to a tour van – symbolic of just how far the band has travelled since its early days as a bunch of McGill jazz students who played at local house parties. “Our first mini tour (a two-day trip to Kingston and Toronto) was last November,” said Johnson. “With a van, we’ll be able to tour in style and, more importantly, in comfort.”
And that van will come in handy. Having just produced its first EP, Bustified, less than a week before winning the CBC competition, Busty and the Bass is a band on the move.
“I can’t believe these guys are only in university,” said judge Max Kerman, frontman of the Juno Award-winning band, The Arkells. “Their musicianship is killer, the guy has a great voice… there is a million great hooks… I am very, very impressed.”
“I love the soulfulness, love the edgy lyrics, love the horns,” said Henry Walter, known professionally as Cirkut, a music producer and songwriter who has worked with everyone from Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry to Rihanna and Britney Spears. “Their sound is spot on.”
“The musicianship is epic… It kills,” said the third judge, Talia Schlanger, CBC Radio host. “I want to see them live and dance my face off.”
Members of the McGill community will have the chance to dance their respective faces off to Busty’s beat. CBC will pay for and produce an upcoming concert on campus. The date of the concert has yet to be determined.
Not ones to rest on their collective laurels, the members of Busty and the Bass are just days away from shooting a new video in collaboration with Effusion A Capella, a McGill a capella ensemble.
When asked if principal Suzanne Fortier was going to make another dance cameo, as she did in the band’s recent video Tryna Find Myself (which you can download for free here), Johnson laughed. “I don’t think so. She’s a busy woman – something about having to run a university.” - McGill Publications

The searching notes of a saxophone float over the bar’s quiet murmur, cutting across open bottles and muted conversations. A drum line slips between the notes, riding the low strums of the bass playing alongside it. Trumpets, trombone, guitar, and the sweet shiver of keys all gradually fold themselves into the music.

It’s the rare sort of mature and cohesive jazz that would be surprising to see out of a group of young musicians, yet here they are—nine young McGill students playing together with ease. U3 Nick Ferraro on alto saxophone; U2 Scott Bevins and U2 Mike McCann on trumpet; U2 Chris Vincent on trombone; U2 Evan Crofton on keys and vocals; U2 Eric Haynes on keyboard; U2 Louis Stein on electric guitar; U2 Milo Johnson on bass; and U2 Julian Trivers on drums.

However, the busy lineup actually reads as one name: Busty and the Bass.

Tonight, the band is at its best, grooving along with every note it plays. The song continues unabashed in its beauty, carving out dips and crescendos on the turn of a note. As it draws to a close, Ferraro gives one last bold, lurching cry on his saxophone. The ending is grandiose and gorgeous, leaving a courteous pause for the expected applause.

But aside from my cheers, the response is hollow—just a couple detached claps from the few patrons present. The band’s music is tailor-made for a live audience, meant to be absorbed by a moving crowd. The lack of response is uncomfortable, and the performance feels incomplete.

I am the only McGill student here, and I don’t understand why.

* * *

My first experience with Busty and the Bass was at McGill’s Open Air Pub (OAP). As with most OAP introductions, it was loud, happy, and took place over a couple beers. The group played its way through a number of songs, switching from jazz-pop tunes to more funk-inspired music, including a crowd-pleasing rendition of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”

Created two years ago under the tall ceilings of Solin Hall, the band affectionately known as ‘Busty’ began with a group of musicians who came together one evening during a house party.

“We had never met before and spontaneously started jamming,” said Haynes. “It was sweaty and messy, but somehow it just worked. While recovering the following morning, we realized we’d had too much fun to let it happen just once.”

(Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)
(Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)

Dancing with the crowd that day at OAP, it was hard to believe that I had never heard much about McGill music or its student bands. These musicians were miles away from the earnest high school bands I had naively equated them with.

In my time at McGill, I had not set foot inside the music building—primarily due to my science background and a lack of classes outside of my faculty. As a result, my evening at OAP had introduced me to a whole new side of McGill that I had never experienced. Judging by the reactions of those around me, it seemed like the other students were just as surprised to hear that the musicians on stage were McGill music students.

* * *

Founded in 1904, the McGill Schulich School of Music is housed in the Strathcona Music Building and made up of over 850 students and 240 faculty members. Wide stone steps lead to a lobby of oil paintings; just down the hall is the New Music Building, a gleaming glass structure of world-class studios and audio research labs.

While technically part of the downtown McGill campus, the 10-metre span of University Street acts as a much larger barrier to the rest of campus.

“There’s Carrefour [Sherbrooke], there’s the music building right next to it, and then there’s campus,” said Vincent, the trombone player for Busty and the Bass. “So the music building’s completely off campus, and most of the students never even see [it]. And unfortunately, playing at Gert’s is probably the biggest nightmare of the music school because [Gert’s has] the worst sound system in the whole city. That would be the primary means of interacting with the general student body, and it’s just pathetic because it’s so hard to do.”

For those who aren’t studying music and don’t have any friends in the faculty, the Schulich School of Music can be one of the few unknown spots on campus despite its close proximity to McGill’s core. And for music students, the opposite holds true: it can be tough to break out of the music faculty.

“It’s really easy to get tied into this bubble because you have classes in the [music] building,” said Johnson, the bassist for Busty and the Bass. “When you don’t have classes, you’re practicing in a 10m x 10m white room and only see other people who are doing the same things you are. So it’s very easy to get tied up in that world where you’re either in class with people who are doing the same thing as you, or you’re practicing next to people who are doing the same things as you.”

The Schulich School of Music is internationally renowned for its programs and has notoriously tough entrance requirements. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the faculty on campus, despite the hundreds of concerts and events presented by the school every year.

The problem may be that when most students look for music in Montreal—a city known for its artistic temperaments—their first instinct is to look outside of McGill. Of the students I knew, most would keep an eye out for big-name artists playing at the Bell Centre, while others would look for smaller shows played by Montreal musicians in local bars.

“It hadn’t crossed my mind that there would be opportunities for [listening to] music in our own school,” said U2 Arts student Chris Burnett. “[I guess] most students just wouldn’t think to look so close to home for entertainment.”

Nearly everyone I knew had never seen nor heard McGill student music. I hadn’t either—at least not in the Faculty of Music—so I decided to go behind-the-scenes with Busty and the Bass to get a glimpse of their musical process.

(Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)
(Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)

* * *

The walls of the room were nearly bare. Cables, stands, and headphones lay strewn around the room. There was one large audio mixer in the centre of the room flanked by a number of stereos. A monitor had been placed in front of the mixer, the screen showing a mosaic of audio tracks. In the far corner stood a small TV streaming a live feed of the musicians in the other room.

The band was at the Strathcona Music Building late on a Monday night to record two new tracks, “All Me” and “Light It Up.” I was told that the process would likely take the band into the early hours of the morning.

When I arrived, Haynes, Stein, and Crofton were busy setting up their instrument stations.

“This is the second out of three steps this evening,” explained Haynes. “Earlier, [Johnson] and [Trivers] came in and recorded the bed track—the bass and the drums. Right now, we’ve got the rest of the rhythm section—acoustic piano, synths and pads, and guitar—[and] we’re going to be recording on top of that.”

As the band started recording, I began to appreciate the hard work and dedication Busty and the Bass put into every note of music they produced. The band’s audio engineers, Gintas Norvila, Dave Ison, and Xavier Bourassa, gave the musicians constant feedback in the studio. The consistent repetition between takes pushed the session past the one hour mark; by the time the rhythm section had finished recording, it was obvious that everyone was exhausted. As Haynes, Stein, and Crofton packed up their instruments, I heard the sound of horns warming up—the brass section was about to start their portion of the track.

After the night’s studio session, Norvila, Ison, and Bourassa would spend a few weeks editing and mixing the recordings until they produced a satisfactory track. The band has so far released a six-track album of some of their most popular songs, with more on the way.

Live music has become increasingly more valuable for many as faceless songs have come to dominate the scene. That’s really what Busty and the Bass is all about—the show.

As the months passed from my first experience with Busty and the Bass, I watched as the band’s popularity grew. On Sept. 6, the day after their performance at OAP, the band had just over 400 ‘likes’ on Facebook. Today, Busty and the Bass has nearly 1,500—a number that continues to rise.

I followed the band as they played their way across Montreal, Kingston, Toronto, and back again, taking on smaller events of just a couple dozen fans, to packed venues of over 100 people. I started seeing friends and friends of friends at their shows—everyone I knew seemed to know Busty and the Bass. The band was making a name for itself across campus at a staggering rate.

Today, Busty and the Bass has an unparalleled fan base on campus. The band has grown exponentially since the beginning of the year, and will continue to push to expand their music and audience.

(Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)
(Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)

According to Stein, the band’s success has been due to their opportunistic approach.

“This year, we had the attitude of just playing for as many people as possible because not that many people know us,” he said. “So it’s been a combination of us just taking almost every gig offered and broadening our audience very fast.”

Natalie Yergatian, U0 Music, believes that the reason behind Busty and the Bass’s popularity is based off of the way in which they present themselves.

“I think Busty does a great job of marketing themselves,” she said. “They have a product that they’re selling, and people like it.”

On February 22, 2014, Busty and the Bass announced that they were doing an East Coast tour over reading week. The tour would take them through Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, D.C., and New York.

“Our stance with Busty and the Bass is to reach out to other people on campus,” Haynes said. “[We will always be] loyal to our student groups—that will always be our target audience. But it’s good to be accessible to as many other people as we can and as many different age groups as well [….] We’re hopefully going to do as much as we can over the summer and pick up where we left off next year.”

However, Busty has not been the only McGill music group to have risen in prominence this year. Other bands such as VLVBVMV have increased their presence on campus and in the wider Montreal community. Independent musicians out of McGill have also started to draw attention among students. Jordan Benjamin, who goes by the stage name Benj., is a rapper and singer who has garnered a large following among students.

This growth may be indicative of the wider McGill student body’s increased appreciation for McGill music. Numerous student groups and clubs on campus have featured Busty and the Bass this year. For the musicians trying to make a name for themselves, students in the Faculty of Music have also started to recognize the benefits for increased exposure to the general student body.

“I definitely think the music school is starting to realize that you need an audience, and that most of the audience is people who are not in music,” said Stein.

“There are musicians here [who] I believe have something to say, and deserve to be heard,” Yergatian said. “If I had to say something to the rest of the McGill student body, it would be: Make an effort to check out shows, because there are amazing musicians at McGill.”

* * *

A short while ago, I went to see Busty and the Bass again. They were playing at La Sala Rosa this time—a joint bar and music venue. It was comforting to hear the band’s familiar sound—the meringues of saxophone, the deep shrug of bass, the light dance of keys, the swing of guitar, the feathery brush of drums, and the rich bellows of brass.

The performance reminded me of that moment months ago, watching Busty and the Bass alone at a local bar. Except this time, there was one noticeable, key difference. Echoing around the room was the sound of dozens of people laughing and dancing to the music—the way Busty and the Bass was meant to be enjoyed.

For far too long, McGill music has wanted an audience. Students are finally listening. - McGill Tribune

Last Sunday, Busty and the Bass and Effusion A Cappella performed an astounding show at L'Astral, one of the most memorable concerts from my time in Montreal. The entire night was different from a typical concert experience; the audience was of all ages and everyone was sitting down, anticipating each song change.

L'Astral

Busty and the Bass, a local Montreal band with 9 musicians, opened the night. After hearing the group play live in September at OAP, they have been on my music radar and I was extremely excited to see how they had developed over the year. To imagine Bustys' sound, think incorporating a groovy bassline as the name suggests, with drums to set a rhythm, and blend this sound with funky element from trumpets, a trombone and an alto sax. To finish, mix this musical conglomeration with catchy melodies of an electric guitar and two pianos. The sounds merge to create a jazzy mix of soul and party-rock.

Busty and the Bass at OAP

Fortunately enough, the band had unrecorded material to share with the audience. It must have been one of their first live performances of their cover for "Toxic" by Britney Spears as well as the original song "Mmhmm", written by Nick Ferraro, the alto sax player. The musicians did an incredible job of writing that changes tempo while playing. A song can start slowly and pick up in an instance with the addition of another instrument.

Afterwards, Effusion A Cappella came on. It's astonishing how a group of 16 vocalists with pitches ranging from bass to soprano and everything in between are able to perform music live completely in time with one another. Who needs computer programs when an a cappella groups can make any song or beat from scratch?

Effusion A Cappella

I've been an Effusion fan for the past two years and have been to almost every show during that time. It's incredible how the group manages to make music and hold a crowd's attention without any instruments. A song I look forward to most is the "Newbie Song", made and performed exclusively by the first years of the group with an interesting story behind it. As an initiation, all the first years are locked in a room with a bottle of liquor until they have a song completely finished. Creativity comes out and the resulting song tends to be a highlight of the Effusion shows.

Another personal favorite is "Back to Basics", a classic that's performed with a new skit at each of their shows. Unfortunately, my camera died so I was unable to capture it during the performance last week. Instead I'm posting a throwback of "back to basics" from an Effusion concert in 2011. Three of these bassists, including Maxwell McLarty, Kevin Lee, and Jordan Benjamin are still with the group today. - IX Daily

Busty and the Bass played a fantastic set this Friday night taking the term “crowd pleasers” to a new level. The nine-piece band plays a revitalized version of funk music. After an 11-day tour recently, they were ready to rock their hometown Montreal. There was not a single person standing still on Friday, and Busty and the Bass made it impossible not to dance with their new funk style. Clearly, Busty and the Bass enjoy performing almost as much as the crowd enjoys watching them.



The band formed during their first year at McGill University, giving them a running start as they had many residence-mates who supported them in their early days. After some hard work and a few lineup changes, this band became more that just something a few college kids did after class. In 2013 they recorded Busty in the Basement, an EP which, like their set on Friday, is made up of both original work and covers. The band has been touring this album, playing shows in New York, DC, and Boston. They have even been filming a documentary, “Live in Kingston,” which you can watch HERE!

Friday’s set included some female vocals for a bit of a change, and a few fun pop covers. The crowd could not get enough of them as Busty and the Bass played a song by Justin Timberlake and Single Ladies by Beyoncé. Both are still stuck in my head.

Busty and the Bass is a must-see band. Their on stage synergy is unmatched. Every note and each beat was perfectly timed, making it a flawless performance. Though the venue was small, the concert felt like a larger venue. Everyone had a fantastic time, and it would be hard to find anyone present who would say no to seeing Busty and the Bass perform again.

Busty and the Bass perform at McGill’s Open Air Pub Event on April 25. - hear

CBC Music and TD are thrilled to announce that Busty and the Bass has won Rock Your Campus, the musical competition for college and university students.

After hundreds of students entered their original song and the public voted for their favourites, the CBC Music audiences with the help from judges: Grammy Award-nominated record producer and songwriter Cirkut, Juno Award-winning Max Kerman from Arkells, and CBC Radio 2 host Talia Schlanger, determined Busty and the Bass as the winner of the competition.

"Congratulations to Busty and the Bass for winning the Rock Your Campus competition" said Chris Stamper, senior vice president, corporate marketing, TD Bank Group. "We're excited to be a part of this initiative, which allows students to showcase their talent and share their music with the country. TD loves music and we're committed to providing opportunities for young people with access to music and music education in communities across Canada - and to help everyone discover a love of music."

"Hopefully Rock Your Campus empowers them to keep going. Being validated once in a while will help in momentum," says Max Kerman from Arkells "I was very surprised, this was much better than the music we made in university. Things are looking up."

"We are blown away by the level of talent on campuses across the country. But ultimately, it had to be Busty and the Bass," says Talia Schlanger. "Exceptional musicianship, wild creativity and pure fun, we can't wait to see where they go."

Busty and the Bass is a nine-piece collective of musicians from across North America who met during their first year studying at McGill University. Originally born out of a small, impromptu Montreal house parties, "Busty" has evolved to become a tight electro-funk band playing powerful original music and innovative covers. Busty and the Bass is one of Montreal's most vibrant and exciting collective, and to attend one of their shows is to be filled with a powerful sensation of energy and freedom, making dancing and shouting irresistible

"A big thank you for giving us a platform to get our stuff out to the world and a big thank you to our fans, who put up with our incessant campaigning over the last couple of weeks. It was exhausting for us and them, I'm sure," says Milo Johnson, bass player for Busty and the Bass. "This process of the competition, of Rock Your Campus, has been such good training for us and a reminder that the music we play is to bring to the places that we come from - our homes, our colleges and of course, our moms. Thank you for allowing us to continue this surge of playing music for people."

Busty and the Bass will receive a $10,000 cash prize, a concert performance at McGill University and the opportunity for a one-year contract to join a YouTube multi-channel network for management, as well as the bragging right title of Best Campus Band 2014.

About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages.

A space for us all is CBC/Radio-Canada's new strategy to modernize the public broadcaster and ensure that it continues to fulfill its mandate for Canadians and for future generations. Through to 2020, it will increase its investment in prime time television programming, and continue to create radio programs of the highest quality, while promoting the development of digital and mobile platforms and content.

About CBC Music.ca
CBCMusic.ca is Canada's free digital music service connecting Canadians with the very best in Canadian and international music, concerts and features. Simple and easy to navigate, CBCMusic.ca gives access to 50 Web radio stations, 12 distinct genre-based music communities, CBC Radio 2 and CBC Radio 3, plus content from the most knowledgeable music personalities and programmers from across the country, hundreds of concerts, playlists and more.

About TD Music
Since 2003, TD has helped customers and communities experience the love of music by sponsoring major music festivals across Canada. Every year TD supports many music-based community and educational programs. Continuing with its commitment to support music programs throughout Canada, TD is proud to be a National Sponsor of the 2014 JUNO Awards and Live Nation's year-long concert series.

For a complete list of publicity contacts and for more information including series synopses, press releases, hi-res images, video clips and bios, please visit the CBC Media Centre at cbc.ca/mediacentre. Follow CBC's publicity team on Twitter @CBC_Publicity. - McGill Publications

McGill’s very own nine-piece electrofunk band, Busty and the Bass won the Rock Your Campus contest by CBC and TD. The top bands were determined by public voting and from that, the winner was chosen by a panel of celebrity judges. Busty and the Bass received a $10 000 cash prize, a concert performance for McGill Universty students, and the opportunity for a one-year contract to join a YouTube multi-channel network for management. In addition, Busty’s big win made McGill students and the city of Montreal extremely proud! Also shout-out to Maja and Devona for some of the pictures below!

Members of the band include: Scott Bevins and Mike McCann on trumpet; Chris Vincent on trombone; Nick Ferraro on alto saxophone and vocals; Lous Stein on guitar; Milo Johnson on bass; Julian Trivers on drums; Eric Haynes on piano and keyboard; Evan Crofton on keyboard, synths, and vocals. The members met at McGill University and have since developed into a tight funk/soul band playing original songs and innovative covers. Their newest music video “Tryna Find Myself” even features Suzanne Fortier, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University.

On Monday November 24th, Busty and the Bass had the unique opportunity to open for Arkells at Corona Theatre. This was a FREE concert for all McGill students, thanks to the “Rock Your Campus” contest. Weeks earlier, a secret location was announced half an hour before the tickets were being given away. Hundreds of students lined up from McTavish gates to Leacock building just to grab a free Busty ticket. The line up was long, but it was well worth the wait!

Busty and the Bass commanded the stage with their powerful sound and unique style. They played many original songs off their new EP Bustified, including “Johnny Afrobeat,” “Mmmhhmmm,” and of course their hit, “Tryna Find Myself.” They also played a cover of “Latch,” originally by Disclosure ft. Sam Smith, but of course, Busty put their unique electrofunk twist to the song. There were also some amazing solos by most of the band members, proving to the audience that they are an amazing group, but also, brilliant individual musicians. One soloist stood out to me, and that was Nick Ferroro. Although he is most well known for being the vocalist of the band, Ferroro flaunted his chops with an amazing alto sax solo.

Near the end of their show, Busty told the audience to get down to the floor. Everyone followed, and together, we slowly rose from the ground. Busty thanked their fans for “building them up,” and then everyone started to jump! It was a heartfelt and energetic end to the show.

However, the audience wasn’t ready for the end just yet. The harmonious chants of “Bus-ty! Bus-ty! Bus-ty!” from the audience quickly brought the band back on stage for their encore. For their encore, Busty chose to play a variety of Disney covers such as “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King and “I’ll Make a Man Out Of You” from Mulan.

Next up on stage was Arkells. At first, the audience was unaccepting of this second band because most of them came to support Busty and the Bass. But, Arkells did not let this bother them, and they delivered a killer performance that did not disappoint the Busty fans.

Most of the songs played by Arkells were off their new album, “High Noon.” Some songs they played include: “Never Thought That This Would Happen,” “Leather Jacket” and “11:11.” They also played a cover of “Blitzkreig Bop” by The Ramones with the participation of the audience on the lyrics “Hey ho, let’s go!” Max Kerman, lead singer and guitarist, was eager to cater to his Montreal audience by making references to the St. Lawrence River, Osheaga, and testing out his French.

Anthony Carone, keyboardist of Arkells played an unforgettable keyboard solo. Most likely improvised, the solo was jam-packed with syncopation, complicated chords, and fast glissandos. You don’t see many keyboard solos at concerts, and after hearing Carone’s solo, you are left to wonder why.

For the encore, Arkells invited Busty and the Bass back onstage and the two bands played a few songs collaboratively. Kerman let Louis Stein take his guitar for the last song of the night: a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight.”

Concertgoers received free soft drinks, CDs, T-shirts, lanyards, posters, and earphones, courtesy of TD. But all those free gifts were incomparable to the amazing concert by Busty and the Bass and Arkells! McGill and Montreal are very proud to have such amazing talent. Look out for Busty and the Bass in the near future! - CKUT.FM

- as seen on the "Listen to This" subsection of reddit. - reddit.com

Formed by a group of music students at Montreal’s McGill University, Busty and the Bass has been steadily winning over audiences with their smooth, modern blend of funk, R&B, hip hop, and jazz. Led by the pulsating single “Models”, the effervescent and eclectic debut full-length Glam is set to come out next week, but PopMatters is more than happy to premiere it today.

“As nine musicians and friends, we decided to explore our musical influences and intuitions,” the band says. “Together, we created Glam: a collective experiment and collaborative celebration.” - Pop Matters

Which city has the best university band in Canada? Obviously Montreal. If you haven’t been introduced already, the band is called Busty and the Bass and they’re a 9 piece electrofunk/hip-hop/soul outfit of McGill students who met during their formative years in Montreal. Oh, and they just won a $10,000 cash prize and a one-year contract with a YouTube multi-channel network. Plus they played a live show to a packed Corona Theatre down in Little Burgundy to open for Arkells.

It’s because they’re the best.

Entering into the TD Rock Your Campus competition, Busty and the Bass competed with hundreds of bands across Canada and came out with first prize. Determined by a popular vote (good work Montrealers) as well as the input of celebrity judges Cirkut, Max Kerman from Arkells, and CBC Radio 2 host Talia Schlanger. The results of the vote proved what we already knew: Montreal has the best music scene in Canada.

We were fortunate enough to see the boys play live at the Corona Theatre, where they were cheered on by their moms and a packed theatre of their classmates.

Cultivated around their own love for music and sharing that love with friends, Busty fixed themselves an undying name on their campus and have begun making big moves into the city’s music scene. As far as their music goes, they’re all about the sound, the excitement, the power, the energy, and the good times that an ensemble of ridiculously talented, unpretentious musicians can bring to the stage.

With song names like “Sum DrunkFunk” and “PS I’m Pregnant,” Busty truly embodies the experience of a generation. But it’s Busty’s musical prowess and their commitment to having a good time that makes the band special. The talent and energy means that each member could be expected to take center stage at any moment.

Here’s the band:

Julian Trivers’ excellent rhythm holds everything together and he showed his ability to turn the beat on a dime as he transitioned flawlessly from raucous funk to smooth gospel.

Evan Crofton brings the hip-hop flavour to the band, rapping, auto-tuning and playing some ridiculously stylish synth.

Prize for enthusiasm and bass-face goes to Milo Johnson who whipped out a fantastic solo at the end of the show while Crofton egged him on.

Louis Stein’s rhythm guitar backed the band up, but his moment of glory came from an extended solo that left at least one girl in the crowd dazed and confused.

Though Eric Haynes seemed unassuming and left the showboating to his bandmates, his piano work brought the band to life and sent rolling applause through the crowd on more than one occasion.

Chris Vincent, Scott Bevins and Mike McCann made up the brass section and some of the most dominant of Busty’s sounds. No matter what they were doing, it pumped up the crowd. Especially when Bevins played cowbell with so much gusto that he broke a drumstick. They were tight and flawless.

Finally, Nick Ferraro held a strong center stage. Blasting some of the highest notes his sax could play and singing his heart out. Ferraro’s energy and charisma was just another pillar of Busty’s greatness.

When you watch Busty perform it’s clear that there are 9 individuals on stage. No single personality overpowers the others —every piece functions within the whole— yet each character is undoubtedly distinct. The show Busty and the Bass put on to their friends and family will be remembered by many and will undoubtedly be a pivotal point in 9 exciting careers. - The Main