Since the mid 1980s, Jason Plumb has contributed to the musical landscape of the Plains, Canada and many other parts of the world.
As lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for Regina pop group, The Waltons, he received many awards. A Juno Award for best new group, A SOCAN Award for the song “In the Meantime”, the COCA Award for best college band and a Certified Gold album for “Lik My Trakter”.

The British music magazine Q honored Waltons second album, “Cocks Crow” with 4/5 stars and stated; "Songwriter Jason Plumb is not only one of Canadas best tunesmiths, but possibly one of the Worlds".

Waltons third and final album, “Empire Hotel” was placed in the top 20 Canadian albums of 1998 by the Globe & Mail and heralded as some of the Waltons best work by many critics at home and abroad.

Upon the return to his home in Saskatchewan, Jason began expanding his musical horizons to include album production for other artists, scoring/music supervision/editing for film and television as well as co-writing with other songwriters.

To date he has written songs with the likes of Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies), John Mann and Geoffery Kelly (Spirit of the West), Bernie Leadon (The Eagles, Burrito Brothers), Craig Northey and Stephen Drake (Odds) to name a few.
His first Solo Album, “Under and Over” (2004) was Produced by longtime friend and Barenaked Lady, Ed Robertson.

Dicover his Just released brand new album “Beauty In This World”.

Zink Music is now also a label concentrating on the classic Westcoast sound and classic soft Melodic Rock/AOR. The label will do both originals albums and re-releases. They started slowly with the release of the debut EP from Swedish act CC-Rock, a high class release with top notch production and skilful musicianship. The band is looking backwards to the big sounds of the eighties and it's very melodic and highly addictive. Says the label: "2008 will be the year when we really kick things off and we have signed a couple of artists that we really are proud of and two albums will be released around February/March."

Peter Friestedt will release his new album LA Project II; it is of-course the follow-up to the critically acclaimed album from five years ago. The new album features lead vocals from Joseph Williams, Bill Champlin, Randy Goodrum, Lou Pardini, Michael Ruff and Bill Cantos. Some of them also lend their help as featured musicians on the album, among the other musicians we also find Peter Friestedt (of-course) and friends like Abraham Laboriel, John 'JR' Robinson, Tris Imboden and Stefan Gunnarsson. The album is mixed by Ronny Lahti and mastered in HD-quality by Björn Engelman at Cutting Room in Stockholm. The material on the album is very strong and Peter has amongst others co-written with Bill Champlin and Randy Goodrum. What makes this record irresistible is the combination of outstanding musical performances, state of the art song-writing and high quality production!

Daniel Andersson is a new name on the Westcoast scene, but the music he represents is mature and true to the classic sound created in California in the late seventies and early eighties. Daniel has been playing music all his life, he started out by learning the guitar and singing has always been a natural thing for him. The interest for music has grown through out the years and the styles have varied, but some influences have always been there, stuff like Toto, Chicago and Airplay! In 2003 he got the opportunity to study in Los Angeles at MI, where he met and recorded with heroes Jason Scheff (Chicago) and Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets). Being in L.A. was a tremendous experience and he got the chance to meet with a lot of great players and producers, including the Airplay duo Jay Graydon and David Foster. Back in Sweden he decided to write and record his own songs in the same style as he grew up listening to - take part of his Days In L.A.

Just in time for Bruce Springsteen's European visit, Hemifran is publishing a brand new,
exclusive interview with Patti Scialfa at http://www.hemifran.com
Patti is actually in Europe to promote her third solo record, “Play It As It Lays”.

Read more...

JOURNEY--Neal Schon (guitar), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valory (bass), Deen Castronovo (drums)--is proud to introduce fans all over the world to their new lead singer, Arnel Pineda (“pin-eh-da”). He replaces Jeff Scott Soto, who parted ways with the band earlier this year after stepping in for Steve Augeri, who had to leave the band in 2006 for medical reasons.

Arnel hails from Quezon City in the Philippines and has been singing Journey songs--in addition to original material--with his band, The Zoo, for the past couple of years in clubs all over his homeland. Joining the legendary band is a dream come true for him.
“It’s so exciting to sing with one of the best bands in the world. It’ll be a lot of hard work on my part and I’m actually looking forward to the scrutiny I’ll get from the hardcore JOURNEY fans. I know they’ll expect me to sound exactly like ‘the voice’ (Steve Perry), but that will never happen. I know there's only one Steve Perry in this world.”

When it was time for JOURNEY to look for a new lead singer, the internet came to their rescue. Guitarist Neal Schon wanted someone new to the music business, so he turned to YouTube. After finding Arnel singing “Faithfully,” he knew he had found the perfect frontman.

Frontiers Records is thrilled to announce the European release of STEVE LUKATHER’s brand new studio album entitled “Ever Changing Times” on February 22nd 2008.

Best known as guitar player and singer for TOTO and tireless session man, Steve Lukather released so far three vocal solo albums. “Ever Changing Times” is certainly another musical gem to be added to the list of top quality productions featuring his classic trademarks: exquisite playing, finely crafted productions and a very diverse range of music styles, encompassing heartfelt ballads, straight-ahead rockers and fusion extravaganza.

“It’s been 10 years since my last "vocal" record”, explains Lukather, introducing his new album “And I thought it was time to rock again and sing”. While his songwriting and abilities naturally evolved with time, one can’t deny that “good music is always good music”, especially when the creative process was “done in the traditional way: guys playing in a room together and writing good songs”.

The result of this new studio effort, which lasted several months in between Toto tours during 2007, are eleven songs which incorporate all aspects Steve Lukather is well known for. “The record rocks harder than Toto, but there is enough melodic stuff on there to please any Toto fan. There is also stuff that sounds youthful because my co-producer Steve Macmillan and my son were keeping me honest and up to date” says Luke, “It shows a lot of my influences and music I like. If it sounds good, then I keep it”.

Steve of course could not make it all on his own. How could a musician that played on hundreds of records of other amazing artists could make it without some help ? But this time there are some very special people and friends involved. “My writing partner / executive producer Randy Goodrum suggested that I should do this record. He got me excited to do something different and work with such great players and songwriters. I was also thrilled that my son Trevor co-wrote 2 of the tunes with us and my daughter sang on a tune and all my friends and amazing musos came out to support”. The list of special guest also includes former Toto singer Joseph Williams and Chicago’s Bill Champlin on background vocals, Leland Sklar on bass, Steve Weingart, Jeff Babko, Randy Goodrum on keyboards and synths plus a Steve Porcaro cameo on one track, Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums and other friends and guest stars who all lent their talent to ensure a truly exciting and fresh result.

“I think if you blindfolded rock critics and played them "Tell Me What You Want From Me", they would be VERY surprised to find out who the artist is”, says Luke presenting the songs on the new album, adding “I also really like the way “Stab in the Back” turned out. I am a Steely Dan fan and I know Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and this was a tribute to them”.

“Ever Changing Times” offered Steve Lukather a unique chance to showcase his invigorating musical freedom and is set to give the listener a complete reward for his attention and dedication.

The complete track listing is as follows.
Ever Changing Times, The Letting Go, New World, Tell Me What You Want From Me, I Am, Jammin With Jesus, Stab in the Back, Never Ending Nights, Icebound, How Many Zeros, The Truth.

Steve Lukather will also tour Europe and the rest of the World with his band in the summer 2008. Lookout for dates in a city near you on www.stevelukather.net

WWL Productions (What We Like Productions) presents a new great passionate music event:

Gino Vannelli in concert featuring Michiel Borstlap as a pianist and friends
December 4, 2007 at 8:30 pm in Paris

Concert hall: Espace Pierre Cardin
Adress: 1 avenue Gabriel, 75008 Paris (very closed to the Champs-Elysées Avenue and Concorde). Subway station: Concorde (or) Champs-Elysées Clémenceau.

Tickets available at Fnac.com and Ticketnet.fr.

Thanks to Richard Benhaïm and Laurent Grosman for producing this new GREAT concert. Don't miss Gino Vannelli live in Paris!

Gino Vannelli, is one of the greatest musicians and most intriguing artists of our time. Part philosopher, musician, composer and poet, he brings these talents together in his music. He is a perfectionist, breaking all the rules to journey to the heart and soul of a musical inspiration.

Westcoast Rendez-Vous is one of the media partners of the concert.