Shae Morin

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Local rapper to perform at James Brown concert
by FRANK PEEBLES
Citizen staff

Local hip hop artist Shae Morin, one half of the duo known as Versus, has won a coveted performance position.
The Prince George rapper will open for music legend James Brown when the Godfather of Soul plays CN Centre Jan. 14.
"This is an opportunity of a lifetime," said Morin. "There are few performers who have made such an important contribution to modern music. For me, James Brown has always been an influence on my music. This is a dream come true. We will put on a show that will make our northern B.C. audience proud."
Morin has had a year to remember.
Versus was a feature act at the Prince George Folkfest this past summer, with Morin taking part in a special on-stage workshop with headliners Matt Good and The Paperboys" Tom Landa.
The latest Versus album Silverback was released this summer. Morin has also been chosen to headline a province-wide tour to deliver a drug awareness message to the youth of B.C.
" I'm honored and thrilled to appear with the 'hardest working man in show business," Morin added.
Tickets are $49.50 to $59.50 including GST, plus a service charge and facility fee. Call 614-9100 or go online at www.ticketmaster.ca.

- Prince George Citizen

Hip-hop artist heads out on Drug Awareness tour
by CHIRSTINE SKOREPA
Citizen staff

A local hip-hot artist has been chosen to travel all over the province next year and deliver a Drug Awareness message to youth.
Shae Morin, who produced his first CD in 2003, a has been performing to live audiences ever since, will share what he's learned from his own past.
Morin is also the access worker at YAP resource centre, and said his job is to connect with the youth that come through the doors of the centre.
"In terms of getting to know the youth, it gives me an opportunity to help them," Morin said.
"They have questions. Sometimes I have an answer, sometimes I don't"
Morin was asked to do the Drug Awareness tour by John Duff, a youth drug and alcohol counselor in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island, who heard about him when Morin entered one of his hip hop songs in the online Dig Your Roots competition, where songs chosen would be part of a complication album.
Although his song wasn't chosen, he won anyway because he will be able to reach out to
youth on this tour.
"I've had a lot of experience with that lifestyle ad getting out of that lifestyle," said Morin. "A lot of my songs touch on it in some way."
Morin will travel all over the province including Fort Ware, and the three day event in Ucluelet. During the main even on the Island, Morin will perform evening concerts, while days will be filled with other activities including a variety of workshops on drug and alcohol awareness, bullying. entrepreneurship and even music workshops. Morin has been funded to take as many as four youth from Prince George to the summer Drug Awareness even in Ucluelet and he has some promising young local artist to choose from.
To help further develop musical talent and give youth a new direction in life, Morin encourages some of the young people he deals with at YAP to come up to UNBC where he host his own radio show on the CFUR station. His Show is called Do You Want More?, which is names after Morin's favorite album by The Roots. His show airs Friday nights from 7 to 8 p.m.
"If I meet somebody and they take it seriously and they have a definite spark I'll take them up there and they can perform live," said Morin, who has his own recording studio where he allows some of the kids to record their own music. "I want the kids to know that they can be talented, but without the community support and giving something back there's nothing. I wish I could've had some help when I was a kid. So I help when I can."
- Prince George Citizen

All hip hop, no hype
Performer returns from successful gig at Vancouver festival
by Teresa Mallam
Free Press



He's back. Local rapper and hip-hop artist Shae Morin returned Wednesday from a knock-out performance at Vancouver's Folk Festival 2005.

" It went really well. They liked our music. I was interviewed by CBC reporters and our recording is supposed to hit the air next month. We each got to showcase one or two of our songs." Morin was one of 25 musicians chosen from across British Columbia to participate in Collaboratory 2.8.

The even was a collaboration of many musical styles.

Morin said the invited to artists performed on July 14 and 15, after just a couple of days of rehearsals. " When I arrived July 12 in Vancouver, we had a get together for all the musicians, then went straight into rehearsals." the performing artists were split into two groups.

"One group was composed of a cellist, percussionist, traditional singer songwriter along with a storyteller. Then there was me on drums. I also got to do some vocals which was just great." In the other group, Morin said, there was a beat boxer, soulful singer, spokenword artist, hip hop artist "with a twist"- and C.R. Avery on percussion.

"He plays about 200 instruments," said Morin. " He is just amazing. I learned a lot from him." Morin also go in some lessons on the tabla (Indian drums.) "Tabla is just about disciplined as classical music. It was really cool learning how to play them."

The artist is sure that the Vancouver Folk Festival will prove a valuable stepping stone is his career. "It was very good exposure. I met talented artists, made good music contacts and I think I've found management for my recording career. It was really the organizers invited me based on the quality of my CD and not just on some hype. They listened to my recording. They liked it. And that's how I got invited to the festival."
- Prince George Free Press

Local musician gets set for Vancouver Folk Festival
Hip hop artist participating in collaborative musical experiment

by Josh Hammerstedt
This Week Staff

When people think of folk festivals, they rarely think of hip hop. Local musician Shae Morin is out to help solve the problem at the Collaboratory 208 at the Vancouver Folk Festival July 15-17.

Collaboratory 208 will gather 25 musicians together to create a sound that is fresh, new, and completely unpredictable. With artists focused on everything from hip hop to world music. there is no telling what could happen - but Morin, who has been working in hip hop for three years, is looking forward to adding his contribution.

" I think it's cool that they ( the Vancouver Folk Festival) invited hip-hop artists," said Morin. " If you take what folk music is...folk music means music of people, and that's what hip hop is all about. it got popular based on people making it popular, as opposed to marketing. it's cool that they recognize it."

Morin found out about the event when he received and email from festival organizers a few months ago. His latest CD, Combat, had made its way to Vancouver, and organizers thought his sound would fit well into their plans for Collaboratory 2.8.

" I think it was just one of those cool situations where someone got my CD, passed it on to someone else, and it went down through about three or four generations of people, and eventually got to someone in Vancouver," said Morin. " I have an email address on the CD. Someone contacted me, said they liked what they heard, and they thought I would fit really well into this kind of thing because I play live instruments."

Other participating artists include Boris Sichon, who owns more than 200 rare and unique instruments from around the world, Tarun nayar, who plays an Indian instrument called the tabla, and beat boxer C.R. Avery. These and the rest of the 20 artists will gather in Vancouver July 10, and spend a week rehearing and forming a sound with each other before performing together at the festival. Over two days, musicians will play in two completely different groups, resulting in some of the most unique music around.

" The amount of texture that we're going to be able to come out with is good," said Morin. " It's going to be very improvisational, but at the same time all the musicians are going to be so talented and skilled that they're going to be able to hold it together without making it sound messy."

Collaboratory 2.8 is not the only thing Morin has planned this summer. In fact, a week after he returns from the Vancouver Folk Festival he will be returning to the lower mainland for Under the Volcano, another festival. Though projects like these are slowing down progress on his new studio album, Morin is glad to be appearing at shows like the Folk Festival.

" As soon as I found out it was definitely happening I was kind of giddy for awhile," said Morin. " To actually get paid to be put up for a week and just play music and concentrate on doing what I love is awesome."

For more information on Shae Morin email albino3000@hotmail.com. For more information on the Vancouver Folk Festival and Collaboratory 2.8 July 15-17 visit www.thefestival.bc.ca.
- PG This Week

New Versus CD marks another step in band's evolution.
by Josh Hammerstedt
This Week Staff

With his new album Combat making waves on community radio in Prince George, Versus' Shae Morin is really carving out a name for himself in the local music scene. His hip-hop stylings may be a part of one of the lesser-known genres in Prince George, but Morin isn't about to let that stop him from making Versus known throughout the city.

" I've had so much support from college and community radio and CBC... they have really gotten behind me. They're standing behind what they say about supporting local music." said Morin. "On Christmas day or Christmas Eve, I found out that I was number one on local community radio."

Morin's band Versus basically includes Morin and whoever he is touring with at any given time. This is his second CD under the Versus name, following up on 2003's Day One. Like his previous release, this one was recorded in Morin's very own music studio, located in his basement. The construction of this studio is what really kicked his lifelong musical hobby into a potential career.

" It was really all about taking a big risk - it's still growing," said Morin. " Once the studio was built, I spent about six months making my first CD. Then I started doing shows around town, and spent six months just touring and putting on shows."

With the experience he has gained since the Day One release, you may think his second album would emerge from the recording process faster than the last, but his desire for quality, as well as a balanced home life, meant the album took a year to create.

" I wasn't always working on music all the time," said Morin. A lot of time I was just taking care of stuff around the house. I was trying not to rush it: I wanted to let it develop organically on its own."

One reason his album took longer than others is his instrumentation. Morin uses a lot of live instruments in his music: this can take a long time, but Morin gladly resists the pressure to revert to synthesizers or computers to quickly simulate a band.

" There's a lot of pressure for some guys with computers to make a beat in 20 minutes," said Morin. " I do 90 per cent of my drums myself. I record most of it through trial and error - it's frustrating sometimes, but it's what I love."

Now that he has another album under his belt, Morin is getting ready to tour again. Just like in the studio, however, his plans are a little left of the hip-hop centre. Morin plans to put together a group of local musician playing real instruments, to give a live shows an energy that pre-recorded music does not provide. He often works with local breakdance group Native Youth Crew for that purpose.

Above all else, though, it is Morin's love of hip-hop music that keeps Versus at the top of its game.

" I've probably been playing different instruments for 10 years, but I'm a drummer first and foremost." said Morin. " There is a lot of innovation happening...my music has evolved a lot since my first CD, and I'm always looking forward to new things."

- PG This Week