Fredericton artists are leading the way from the industry to the stage for this year’s Music NB awards. Nominations were rolled out on Sept. 21.
The frontrunners
Country punks The Hypochondriacs stand the tallest, garnering eight total nominations for their album In ¾, two more than any other artist.
The Olympic Symphonium and their album Beauty In The Tension joins them with three nominations of their own, including Folk Artist of the Year and SOCAN Song of the Year for their track “Choral Voices.”
In the grand scheme of Olympic Symphonium’s discography, “this album is a really good mix of all four song writers,” said Dennis Goodwin, the guitarist and vocalist.
Both artists are included in a trio of Fredericton acts in the Album of the Year category. Rock/fusion trio Joyful Noise is the third with their debut album Cocoloco.
“Our objective was always to make it as good as we can with the resources we have . . . but we never really knew that it had the potential for an award nomination until it happened, it was a great surprise,” said Camillo Villamizar-Baez, bassist for Joyful Noise.
Industry awards
Two of Fredericton’s most well-known stages, The Capital Complex and Charlotte Street Art Centre, are both candidates for Venue of the Year. The Capital continues to stand out with their multi-stage setup, while the Arts Centre has been doing great work laying the foundation for the next generation with events like Girls Rock Camp.
Campus radio station CHSR-FM is up for Music Business of the Year after another strong year of cheerleading for the region’s local artists. Their efforts are led by station manager Erin Bond, who is up for Music Industry Professional of the Year.
On the festival front, the mid-winter spectacle Shivering Songs gets a nod for Event/Festival of the Year for livening up the dead of winter by bringing music and storytelling to rustic, unconventional spaces around the city.
Fredericton’s music scene has even had an impact on the education system, with the nomination of funk-artist Stephen Lewis as Educator of the Year. Lewis has done multiple workshops at schools in the area where he teaches young musicians the art of looping instruments. Eva George is also nominated for this category for her work as the ArtReach Program Manager at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre.
Genre specific awards
Local punk rockers Deep Fryer and their out-of-control stage show delivered on their albums mission statement of “Rockin’ Right Hard” and received a spot in the category of Loud Artist of the Year. Fredericton is also well represented in the genre of electronic music with strong showings from Wangled Teb, who released their second EP of a four-part series titled Earth, and Sleepy Driver with their album Sugar Skull.
The winners for all categories will be announced during this year’s Festival 506 which takes place Oct. 25 to 28 in Caraquet, NB.
