Music is a wonderful thing. It can help you get over a breakup, help you get through a bad day, keep your spirits up when you're sick, and many other things. Artists put their souls into their music and often leave the true meaning up to interpretation. But can some songs can be used to tell the story of a struggle and help communities heal from a devastating event or tragedy? When you make a new friend, one of the first things that you talk about is more than likely what music you listen to. If similarities in musical interests can help you make a new friend, why can't it help end a conflict and help a community heal? If two people hate each other because of their differing religions, but they both listen to the same music, they may end up seeing each other as not that different, no longer an other. I personally remember that when I was in elementary school, I was being picked on by a group of kids. When one of them found out that we both liked Slipknot, he started talking...

Every city has that one music venue that everybody loves to go watch a show at, but I'm here to tell you that Ottawa has 10 of the best venues in all of Canada! While Ottawa may not have as many venues as Montreal (over 100) or Toronto (the biggest city by population), the National Capital Region does have its gems. I will only be including venues that are still open so Zaphod's and Ritual will not be included. 1. The Brass Monkey The Brass Monkey is a venue in the Nepean area of Ottawa. There have been some major bands that played there, such as Every Time I Die. I personally have played a set there and the in-house sound guy is pretty good. The BM is a bar so they do have alcohol and some food there. The stage is a decent size and there is room inside for just over 100 people. 2. Avant Garde Avant Garde is one of the smallest venues in Ottawa. There isn't much room on the actual stage and there is nowhere to store your gear, but due to the size of th...

Recently in Ottawa, a popular venue had to close its doors. It was a sad day in the Ottawa music scene; the venue, Zaphod Beeblebrox, or Zaphod's for short, was popular among the indie scene and electronic scene. The reason that the venue closed was that it wasn't making enough money to pay staff and all its bills. I have noticed recently that the Ottawa music scene is now starting to grow. Over the last couple of months the shows that I have attended (I try for a minimum of one a month) have slowly had larger turn outs; but a few months ago I noticed that the majority of people in the crowd at shows I was attending were either members of a band playing or friends and family of bands playing. If the majority of people in the crowd are the artists themselves, this means that venue and promoter hell, even the artists, are not making any money. If the scene isn't making any money then the artists, promoters, and venues will feel like there's no point in putting on shows or...

Coming up with a good name for your band may seem like a daunting task but I'm here to tell you that it really isn't as bad as you think. There are many ways to come up with names for your band and I'm going to help you figure out which one works best for you! I am in two bands, one is called Guarding The Sky and the other is called Batavia. I came up with the names for both. I based the name of Batavia off of a book I own called Batavia's Graveyard. I came up with the name for Guarding The Sky by just brainstorming names I thought would go well with the style of music the band is making. The first method I use to name my bands is to look at books, movies and video games that I like and think of characters, towns, events or even the titles and use the ones that I like best as a name, Batavia being an example of that. Batavia's Graveyard is a book about a ship, called Batavia, that got shipwrecked off the coast of Australia. Batavia's Graveyard is one of...

Writing lyrics to a song is one of the hardest parts of being a professional music artist. There are so many factors to think about and writing a hit is even harder. The way that I write my songs is I listen to one of my favourite artists (Rise Against, City and Colour, Enter Shikari, Nighttime in Kansas and a few others) to help me get the creative aspect going. I personally like to have my music tell a story about an event in my life or an article I've read. For example, my song "Two Wrongs" is about an article I read. The article was about a woman whose son is on death row and how weird it is to know your child will eventually be killed for what you consider a simple mistake he made as a young adult. I just find that I personally can get inspiration from anything. Many artists use similar methods to the one I use or just write about things that they experience in their daily lives. "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits was written inside a department store...

HOW TO GET OVER YOUR STAGE FRIGHT: S tage fright affects everyone at some point, anyone who says otherwise is either lying or a very rare exception to the rule. Most performers don't ever get rid of the stage fright they just become good at hiding it. For example I myself don't really get nervous until there's about 20 people in the crowd. Smaller crowds are my best-friend, however when I do play in front of a large crowd I find it useful to just take a second and breathe. I also think about how that situation is what I want to spend my life doing, it's how I want to make my living. The other thing I've learned is practice makes perfect. I took a program at Algonquin College called Introduction to Music Industry Arts and in the second semester we had a class all about performing. The professor for that class, Dick Cooper (of the Cooper Brothers), told us that the best way to get over your stage fright is to make sure that you have your part memorized and not just...

Saturday was Canada Day. For Canada Day this year the federal government had acts playing on Parliament Hill, Major Hill Park and down by City Hall for Ottawa Jazz Fest. Some of the people performing were: Allesia Cara The Tragically Hip Walk Off The Earth Gordon Lightfoot Dean Brody and more I was fortunate enough to get on the hill and view the performances. It was a fun time and even though there was rain, you could tell that spirits were high. The downside to the day was the long lines, huge crowds and the streets that were blocked off.  Due to the blocked off streets there was almost no room to move and lines to get into the parks and museums were huge. When I was in line to get onto the hill so that I could view the performances the line was huge and moving slowly. The planning for the day was in my honest opinion very poor. They didn't have speakers in the queuing area for people to listen to the music so I missed Gordon Lightfoot and a couple other performers...

Hey guys! Kyle here, I am going to be posting a monthly "letter from the editor" style post on the blog from now on. I just want to keep you all updated on what to expect in the coming weeks and share some of my own personal thoughts. The blog has now been going for 4 months. It has expanded faster than I ever dreamed it could and the readership is also expanding. For that I would like to say thank you to everyone. I hope that in the coming months I will be able to focus on the blog as my only job, but that will take some time. This month is Blues Fest and I hope that everyone who attends has a great time. Unfortunately the blog didn't qualify for press passes and we can't get in. If any readers want to have their pictures and videos posted on the blog I will accept them at  subs.ottawasound@gmail.com . There are also some exciting new articles and interviews coming this month. We will be posting on the blog at least once a week and the articles will from now ...