In this week’s edition of Royal City Studios’ Weekly Music News:

  • Sony signs The Kid LAROI to a worldwide deal.
  • The Hip to receive the 2021 Humanitarian Award on May 16th.
  • Shred Kelly concludes their Festival Tour on Feb. 27th.

But first…

Daughtry Performs March 12th on Gigs Live

Grammy-nominated rock band Daughtry performs their first full-band livestream of the year on March 12th, 2021, on Gigs Live. The performance (live from Nashville) will feature some of the band’s greatest hits, a live Q&A, a virtual fan wall, exclusive commemorative swag, and meet-and-greets with the band.

Tickets start at $20, with an additional Ticket + Virtual Fan Wall package beginning at $75 (for a limited time), which includes an opportunity for fans to appear on virtual audience screens and interact virtually with the band during the performance and Q&A.

>> Grab your Daughtry tickets here.

Not a Daughtry fan? Check out Gigs Live for all their upcoming virtual concerts.

Shred Kelly Concludes Their Festival Tour on Feb. 27th

If you’re not familiar with Shred Kelly, the five-piece Canadian folk rock band from the heart of the Canadian Rockies, you can catch their last free Virtual Festival Tour show on Feb. 27th, 2021 (5 p.m. MST). Airing on Shred Kelly’s Facebook page and the Facebook pages of the festivals associated with the show, the performance includes:

  • A 40-minute full-band set
  • An episode of Festival Season (a comedy series curated for the show)
  • A campfire song featuring unplugged songs from iconic performers

While the show is free, purchasing tickets ($9.47 – $22.19) is an option, with proceeds going to help support the band, production team, and each festival. Plus, 25% of proceeds will be donated to Protect Our Winters Canada, a passionate community of outdoor enthusiasts advocating for policy solutions to climate change.

For a Shred Kelly music sample, click here to listen to “Like a Rising Sun,” or watch their incredible ski video for “Sing to the Night” (amazingly filmed in a single shot).

Royal City Studios Weekly Music News

Sony Signs the Kid LAROI

On Feb. 22, 2021, Sony Music Publishing announced the signing of Australian rapper/singer Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard (a.k.a. The Kid LAROI) to a worldwide deal.

Making music news headlines and captivating fans across the globe in 2020 with his debut commercial mixtape F*ck Love (which reached #3 on the Billboard 200 Chart), LAROI made history in February of 2021 as the youngest solo artist ever to reach #1 on the Australian ARIA Charts with his deluxe edition mixtape F*ck Love (Savage).

Sony Also Signs Kane Brown

Three days after signing LAROI, Sony announced the signing of country superstar Kane Brown to a worldwide deal with Sony Music Publishing Nashville, which will also house Brown’s publishing company Verse 2 Music. As a joint venture of Sony Music Publishing and music industry veteran Kent Earls (who signed Brown when he was a fledgling writer living in Chattanooga, Tenn.), Verse 2 Music aims to discover emerging country music artists and develop their careers.

The Hip to Receive the 2021 Humanitarian Award

The Tragically Hip will receive the 2021 Humanitarian Award Presented by Music Canada during the 15th annual JUNO Awards, airing May 16th, 2021, on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, and CBC Music, and streaming globally on CBCmusic.ca/junos. Announced Feb. 24, 2021 by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), the award recognizes the Hip’s philanthropic pursuits in donating and helping to raise millions for various social and environmental causes, including Camp Trillium, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Sunnybrook Foundation, the Special Olympics, and more.

Matt Groopie Launches Quarantine TV

On Feb. 18, 2021, Toronto singer/musician Matt Groopie launched the first episode of Quarantine TV, a new monthly YouTube show featuring indie music videos, and he’s open to submissions. Email mattgroopie@gmail.com with links to your music video on YouTube, and you’ll hear from him if your video is something he wants to use.

Hennessy Begs Eminem to Shut Up in Parody Videos

Just like Dave Grohl has long offered fans both great music and great humor (Fresh Pots!), Toronto guitarist/composer Dylan Hennessy equally offers followers an ongoing blend of incredible music mixed with occasional humor, like two of his latest parody videos:

Compose Your Own Blob Opera!

If you don’t know about them, they sing perfect four-part operatic vocals, and they look like the answer to the question, “What if a Minion had kids with a stress ball?” They’re the Blob Opera, a new online machine-learning experiment by David Li in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture.

Forbes writer Dave Thier called Blob Opera “genuinely one of the best games all year” in a recent music news article, and yes. Blob Opera qualifies as a game. Yet the Blobs offer creators more than simple amusement, evidenced by Tom O’Connor’s Blob arrangements on YouTube, including “Bohemian Rhapsody” (naturally called “Blobhemian Rhapsody”).

Undiscovered Indie

We all have little-known but awesome songs on our playlists. Here are some on ours:

  • Hard Luck Girl – Technicolour

From the artist who recently delivered an amazing version of Home Free’s “Love Me Like That,” Alex Bruce (under the name Technicolour) delivers the same blend of vocal excellence and musical craftwork in “Hard Luck Girl” (Basement Records), an instantly infectious song combining Bruce’s original music with lyrics by Samantha Ti.

  • Something More – Josh Collesso

From its soft acoustic opening to driving rock climax, “Something More” by multi-instrumentalist Josh Collesso (Valet, Noah and the Roaches) is a riveting song with its progressive influences, scorching leads, and captivating vocals by Noah Allard (also of Noah and the Roaches).

Good News to End Off This Issue of RCS Music Weekly

On Tuesday, Feb. 23rd, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health reported zero new cases of COVID-19, and active cases fell by 20 from the previous day to 60.

As reported by CTV News Kitchener, it’s the first time the region hasn’t had a case increase since October 3rd, 2020. And with the region now on Red, certain businesses can now operate under strict capacity protocols.

This includes our rehearsal studios and recording studio.

We can now accommodate the following numbers in our rehearsal rooms:

  • 2 people – small room
  • 3 people – medium room
  • 5 people – large room.

Need more room? We can accommodate up to 10 people in our music hall.

Pre-book online, call us at (226) 314-2177, or email info@royalcitystudios.ca.

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