Release Day Series Podcast

Mimi O’Bonsawin is a contemporary roots singer-songwriter from Northeastern Ontario. Through her rhythm and story-driven songs, Mimi embraces the beauty of the land, all the while yielding to her Franco-Ontarian and Abenaki roots.

Mimi and Alex discuss her 6th studio album "Willow" that was released on March 3rd, 2023. We discuss her approach to songwriting and what she teaches students of songwriting workshops, ...

Canadian Country/Folk - Pop artist Jenny Mallard is a celebrated musician and storyteller who is known for her authentic lyrics and impactful storytelling.

I absolutely loved Jenny's debut album Into The Deep. She takes you on her journey through love and loss, while giving you glimpse into what it's like for her living with Bi-Polar disorder. Jenny's refreshing honesty in sharing her experiences created an...

The first episode of 2023 brings you the last conversation I had in 2022 with this incredible Montreal based Rock N Roll Duo - The Flamingos Pink. Sacha and Julz are here to talk about their Sophomore album, Free Livin. 

The energy and excitement that comes through their riff-heavy music makes it hard to believe they are solely a two-piece thrill ride - and they have easily been one of my favorite musical discoveries since the relea...

2022 Canadian Folk Music Award winning singer-songwriter Alicia Toner joins the show this week to talk about making the most of an album release.

Her sophomore album "Joan" (absolutely fantastic) was released on June 25, 2021. Aside from releasing singles and music videos leading up to and following the release of the album, what caught my interest was what she did 1-year later. She celebrated the 1-year anniversary by rel...

David Myles hangs out this week to talk about his new album "It's Only A Little Loneliness" (September 23, 2022). We dive into the album's creation, the risks and fears he had during the songwriting process, how the production of the album differed from previous album recordings, and why he feels the release rollout may be the most successful of all of his albums. We begin the conversation discussing the podcast...

Asian-Canadian artist Leanna Oki joins the podcast to talk about her brand new single "It was all a lie" (September 30, 2022), as well as her successful approach to connecting with music publications and radio stations.  Leanna has been featured across Canada by Toronto Guardian, Canadian Beats, Aesthetic Magazine, Ottawa Life, The Permanent Rain Press, The Wire Megazine, and Cashbox Canada, and was aired by CBC Radio, th...

After a 3-month Hiatus I am so happy to be back and sharing a great conversation with juno-nominated Singer-Songwriter Matthew Barber following the release of his EP No Singing Or Dancing (July 2022). Matthew and I have a great discussion about the tracks that make up the EP and how they were created, his longevity in the music industry, consistent revenue streams, writing for a theatrical production of The Graduate with Justin Rut...

Matthew Elliott - better known in the Hip-Hop community as Stephen Hero, is from Saint John New Brunswick. In episode 45, we talk about his Gold Collection EP that he released on May 13, 2022.

The EP forms a loose meditation on the self-destructiveness of wage aspirations; the way the poor hold up the rich in the hopes that they might one day join them, therefore maintaining the status quo and enforcing the division. 

Having a Hip-Ho...

Episode 44 welcomes Joey and Dave Landreth of the JUNO award-winning duo The Bros. Landreth, to talk about their 3rd album, "Come Morning" (May 13th, 2022).

We dive into the record, taking a look at what went into writing and producing their most vulnerable record to date.

Topics Covered:
Writing
Producing
Track Sequencing
Album Artwork Design
Health and Wellness

https://www...

Trials, tribulations, but ultimately - success. Kim Carson and Jillian Comeau of the Alt-Grunge/Sad Pop duo We Should've Been Plumbers stop by to talk about their debut, self-titled EP, and the efforts that went into remotely producing the record with Kim in Nova Scotia, and Jillian in Vermont.

We talk about what went right, what went wrong, and why they're ready to do it all over again.

https://weshould...

Toronto based rock and roll group Goodnight Sunrise join the podcast to talk about their new single "Belong" released on April 13, 2022.

We talk about the ongoing battle to feed the social media machine and how they've stayed creative when developing content to promote their new music, how they've evolved visually and sonically as a duo over the 10+ years they've been creating music together, and g...

On Episode 41, Alternative Folk artist Shawna Caspi joins us to talk about her 5th album "Hurricane Coming" that was released on August 27, 2021. In addition to the music that’s so beautifully put together - Shawna also created the cover art for the album, as well as 10 original paintings, each inspired by a song on the album. What she did with that artwork and how she collaborated with other artists for her music videos ...

On this  episode of the Release Day Series Podcast: B-Side - I am joined by Toronto-Based folk trio "Sleeping Bees" to talk about their latest single - "Rest" - that was released on March 20th, 2022. The song represents an exciting new direction for the band, as it was entirely independently written, recorded, produced, and mixed by the band members themselves.

We get into the recording process of the s...

Returning to the show is Electro-Pop duo Mountain Head to talk about their debut EP Backseat - released on March 18th, 2022. Their creativity knows no bounds and they truly know how to embrace their originality. We chat about how their songs for the EP came together, they used crypto-currency to pay for the media rollout behind their Billboard Canada Charting track - Let It Out, how building a community behind your music is way mor...

Young Canadian Pop artist Tamara Grace joins us on Episode 2 of the Release Day Series Podcast: B-Side to talk about her song "Autumn Tears" - released on February 11, 2022.

Tamara teamed up with her dream duo to see “Autumn Tears” through to its final product. The song was produced by Dominique Messier (Céline Dion) and mastered by Marc Thériault who boasts an impressive portfolio of working with top musical tal...

On episode 39, we are joined by Winnipeg based, chamber-folk musician Raine Hamilton to talk about their album Brave Land, released on January 21st, 2022.

We discuss the creation of the album, performing a song in latin, creating the album artwork with good friend Sarah Thiessen & Roberta Landreth. We also talk about the creation of the incredible shadow puppet music video for their song Eclipse. 

We also touch on accessibility i...

Alex Southey joins me to discuss his latest EP "My Nights on the Island" - released September 17th, 2021. We discuss his experimentation with the Mellotron on the project, his evolution as an artist, and his success with College radio airplay.

Release Day "B-Side" is a new addition to the Release Day Podcast Series.

Alex Southey Website: https://www.alexsouthey.com/

See Alex Live: http...

Joining me today is two-time Maple Blues Award songwriting recipient and two-time Edmonton Music Award recipient Ann Vriend, to talk about  her 7th album "Everybody Matters" (February 4th, 2022) and the inspiration her inner city neighborhood played in creating this powerful body of work.

Ann Vriend website: https://www.annvriend.com/
Everybody Matters Music Video: https://youtu.be/UoaEGqRB4S8

Video version of...

Graham's back!  We discuss the process of re-branding the visual identity of the Release Day Series podcast. We also get into how Graham - also a lo-fi beats producer known as Bedroom Antics - kick-started his creativity to begin 2022, by challenging himself to create and share 1 beat-per-day for the month of January - which he successfully completed. It was through his beat-per-day project that I discovered what would become ...