Justin Plet

January 29 - February 11, 2009 - Issue 584

.....In addition to honouring musicians in their hometown, the London Music Awards also promotes London-area musicians at three key music festivals in North America. They are Canadian Music Week International (CMW), The North by Northeast Music Festival (NXNE) and the South by Southwest Music Festival (SXSW).

First up is Canadian Music Week (CMW), Canada’s leading annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries. Now in its 26th year, Rogers Wireless CMW combines two information-intensive conferences; a cutting edge trade exposition; five awards shows and the nation's largest New Music Festival. Scheduled for March 11 – March 14, 2009, CMW will take place at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel and at over 45 live music venues in downtown Toronto.

As far as local artists are concerned, Scene is proud to once again sponsor a special showcase for London musicians at the CMW. The five bands/performers who received the highest number of nominations for the LMA received special invitations to take part in the showcase. The Scene Showcase will take place on Thursday, March 12 at Holy Joe's (651 Queen St. West) in Toronto. This showcase is the perfect opportunity for new London bands and musicians to display their talents to both fans and record company A&R reps on the lookout for next year's stars.

The line-up at this year’s CMW Scene Showcase includes: singer-songwriter Justin Plet (9:00 p.m.), alternative rock group Pilgrim (10:00 p.m.), indie rock duo Cordcalling (11:00 p.m.), hard rock power trio Redinger (Midnight) and alternative rock group Elworthy (1:00 a.m.). Although they will not be performing at the Scene Showcase, other London artists slated to appear at CMW include Baptized In Blood, Basia Bulat and The Job.

- Scene Magazine

February 29th - March 12th Issue

Justin Plet - King of Cups (Indie)

"After giving up his day job to devote more time to his music and dozens of gigs, Justin Plet has released his debut CD, King Of Cups. Justin's Devotion to music shows as this is a fine, well crafted first effort, displaying his heartfelt, plaintive vocals and excellent guitar work. Great care has been taken to get things just right, with sparse but clever arrangements that compliment each song. My favourites included the ballads 'It Is What It Is,' with its use of bongos as the main percussion instrument and 'Spinning Tires' which rocks out with some fine electric guitar work by co-producer Andre Doucette. The production certainly captures the intimacy of Justin's performance." - Dave Clarke
Performance: B+ / Production: A
- Scene Magazine

Bringing a stage presence that is unequalled among independent musicians, Justin Plet can win over an audience even before he lets loose with his captivating singing voice. His music may lean more towards pain sadness and anger, but his live show has a perfect balance of laughter and heart ache. During one of his shows, Justin explained to his attentive audience that his music is best described as “sad bastard” music. But sitting in this packed music hall, its obvious to all of us that the pain really only shows in his music, and he has a disposition that could make a leper feel comfortable. Justin brings this rare personality to his live act, engaging the audience in a joke or two and seamlessly moving from detailed stories surrounding his songs, to finding the humour in certain world issues that really get his goat.
Like many of his greatest influences, Neil Young and Blue Rodeo to name a couple, Justin managed to take me on a wonderfully therapeutic emotional rollercoaster during his solo performance this past Saturday. He was the supporting act at the London Music Club for Lesley Pike, an accomplished and well respected Singer/Songwriter out of Toronto. As Justin’s set came to a close, the murmur in the crowd was filled with “man, he should be opening for bigger names” and “this guy could totally have his own opening acts.”
I was asked by our editor to do a story on a relatively unknown local musician, and to my good fortune, I stumbled into the LMC to take in one of our finest rising stars. In this reporters opinion, Justin Plet will be a household name by this time next year.

Sarah Hume - LocaLoop.ca
- localoop.ca