Joel Plaskett
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | INDIE
Music
Press
“Plaskett Album Is Three Layer Goodness. It's true: Good things do come in threes… There's a familiarity to his songwriting on Three that makes the tracks feel comfortable — like sitting on that old, comfy couch in your basement after a long day.” - Chart Attack
“the tall man tells a story of going, being gone and going back—pausing to consider the associated joy, melancholy and sadness and the tension of staying to stand ground or searching out … the artist draws on his tripartite form: the punchy troubadour heard on the horn-pecked “Through & Through & Through,” … and the perky pop of “Deny, Deny, Deny”. The acoustic balladeer sings us into stillness, silence, as on “Heartless, Heartless, Heartless.” - The Coast
“I’m not sure any Canadian artist has finally tuned their style as well as Joel Plaskett. His unique palette of influence and inspiration blends an appreciation of the history of music – fiddle, vinyl, country, R & B, the constant themes of being home and traveling the world – but avoids any of the pitfalls that plague artists that rely on the past by keeping his songs upbeat and energetic. He splices tradition with drum machines beats, crunching indie inspired riffs and clever word poetry, and as a result he’s able to expose fans to musicians long since forgotten without alienating people who fell in love with his previous efforts.” - herohill.com
“What makes this better than his previous solo outings is the immediacy and intimacy that recording at home afforded him. It’s as if he spent most of his time honing the songs and then recorded them quickly and casually. The resulting minimalism and rawness complements the concept beautifully – and unpretentiously.” - Now Magazine
“With La De Da, one of this country’s brightest young talents provides even more proof that the singer-songwriter tradition that turned troubadours like Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Young into national icons is alive and well.”
- Canadian Music Network
“Just as the sun-baked escapism of Lying On A Beach seems an excellent way to stave off the cold-weather blahs, the whispery warmth of Plaskett’s performances are tailor-made for the iPod stuffed inside a winter coat. It’s a welcome break for all of us.”
- The Globe & Mail ****
“We didn’t know it would be as jaw-dropping as it is. . . an instant classic.” - The Coast
“La De Da showcases why the Haligonian is one of Canada’s finest songwriters.”
- Chart Attack
“Every time Joel Plaskett releases an album, I can’t imagine it being any better then his previous. But with his latest, he’s managed to knock my socks off yet again. La De Da is an ideal showcase of just how incredible Plaskett’s song writing skills are“.
- The Reflector Online ****
“As a fan in Ottawa said this week,’Joel Plaskett’s music is not complex, but it’s always solid, fun, and as catchy as hell.’ The solid hand of his writing and performing keeps its grip throughout.”
- The Ottawa Citizen ****
Discography
Scrappy Happiness (2012)
Maplemusic Recordings/New Scotland Records/ Universal Music Canada
EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations (2011)
New Scotland Records/ TheIndieStore.com
Three (2009)
Maplemusic Recordings/New Scotland Records/ Universal Music Canada
Ashtray Rock (2007) Maplemusic Recordings/ Universal Music Canada
Make A Little Noise DVD (2006) Maplemusic Recordings/ Universal Music Canada
La De Da (2005) Maplemusic Recordings/ Universal Music Canada
Truthfully, Truthfully (2003) Maplemusic Recordings/ Universal Music Canada
Down at the Kyber (2001) Re-released Maplemusic Recordings/ Universal Music Canada
In Need Of Medical Attention (1999) Re-released Maplemusic Recordings/ Universal Music Canada
Photos
Bio
Canada has produced some of the worlds most enduring songwriters and Joel Plaskett is being hailed as one of the best.
Since spending his teenaged years recording and touring with Halifax indie upstarts Thrush Hermit, Plaskett has been writing his own story. After releasing two critically acclaimed albums In Need of Medical Attention (1999) and Down at the Khyber (2001) independently, Joel signed to Maple Music Recordings for the release of 2003s Truthfully Truthfully, a rock tour de force with his band, The Emergency. That record scored with critics and fans alike and truly put Plaskett on the national radar once and for all. Truthfully Truthfully was nominated for a Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year and won an East Coast Music Award for Rock Recording of the Year.
During a summer break from touring in 2004, Joel responded to a longtime fans offer of recording time at a home studio in Mesa, Arizona. The results of that journey are on Plasketts MapleMusic effort, a solo album called La De Da. The album is solo in the sense that Joel plays all the instruments but its by no means a simple acoustic project. It also isnt a permanent move away from his work with The Emergency. Rather, its the mark of an artist at home with his instincts and his creative muse and one thats willing to follow fearlessly where those imperatives lead. La De Da attracted attention at regional and national media and the hit single Happen Now topped the Canadian campus music chart for months running.
Joel has toured extensively both solo and with The Emergency, to sold-out clubs, theatres and headlining festivals throughout Canada, the United States and Australia, on the heels of great Canadian success with his Make A Little Noise DVD & EP (2006) and Ashtray Rock (2007). Make A Little Noise spawned an infectiously catchy hit single, Nowhere With You, that landed Plaskett on the Top 10 at Hott Adult Contemporary (AC) radio. He also garnered three 2007 East Coast Music Awards wins for Nowhere With You, DVD for Make A Little Noise, and Songwriter of the Year. Ashtray Rock was nominated for the high profile Polaris Music Prize award, and earned Plaskett and his band all six of the 2008 of the year ECMAs for which he, and they, were nominated: Recording, Group Recording, Single (for Fashionable People, another hit song), Video (also for Fashionable People), Rock Recording, and Songwriter. Topping that off was Joels Juno Award nomination for Songwriter of the Year and his placement as First Place Winner in the 2008 Great American Song Contest and the Billboard World Song Contest for his single Fashionable People (in the Pop category).
Joels triple layered album, Three (released March 2009) features a stellar line up of guest musicians including his father Bill Plaskett, Rose Cousins, Ana Eggie and his band, The Emergency (Chris Pennell and Dave Marsh). Three received overwhelming response from media and radio programmers across the country and was nominated for the prestigious 2009 Polaris Music Award, which recognizes the best Canadian recordings in the last year. Without a doubt, another personal career highlight for Joel and his band was sharing the stage opening for the legendary Paul McCartney (in Halifax, Nova Scotia) performing to an audience of over 50,000 people.?
As a special treat to his fans, in 2011, Plaskett took on yet another project: a collection of demos, outtakes, rarities and B-sides from over a decade of music-making, deliciously titled EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations. Boasting twenty tracks culled from dozens of unreleased or rare recordings, EMERGENCYs is a fascinating slice of Plasketts history, from his earliest days with the Emergency (three songs from 2001s Down at the Khyber are featured in demo form) to his latest trips into the studio post Three.
The year 2012 started in high gear for Plaskett, and anybody whos been following along already knows the reason why. Out of the doldrums of another long Canadian winter, Joel and The Emergency worked around the clock, sending weekly volleys to fight off the seasonal blues: a brand new song recorded, mixed, mastered, and released every single week for ten weeks, accompanied by snippets of video documenting the process in-studio. It was an epic undertaking, which came together in the physical release of Scrappy Happiness on CD and vinyl. The album is garnering outstanding reviews from the media, is long listed for the Polaris Music Prize, and Joel Plaskett Emergency kicked off their Scrappy Happiness Canadian tour with a live performance on CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight.?
Whether it's touring in Canada, the US, Australia or the UK; with his rock band The Emergency, or more intimate shows as a solo artist, Plaskett consistently excites and inspires his audiences.
Links
