The Canadian music market has become a vital, creative force on the Stellar to say the Given the fact the JUNO Award and an earlier Indie Award win at CMW do r- 2009 came about well in advance of the album’s release, it’s fair Illumination EP garnered a bit of heat – enough that you might wonder if Lights felt Though she’s legally changed her name to Lights Valerie Poxleitner, the the kind of pressure upon the release of her debut that many artists international scene. Many singer/songwriter does have still another alter ego: Capt. Lights – inte when they release a second record. After all, sometimes when you’ve had stellar warrior woman/super heroine who fights super villains while the appetizer, the meal seems redundant. For her part though, Lights just roaming the space ways in a tricked out starship. Down here on Earth, went along doing what she does, and didn’t worry about how the albumof songs to however, she travels a bit more humbly, trading in her starship for a van, would be received. “I just continued on, writing every chance I had,” she and her ray gun for a keytar… says. “There was really no pressure, no stress.” factors contribute to the As we speak, Lights is on her way to a gig in Windsor, ON. “It’s our Within a year of the EP’s release, Lights again had a fistful e first show in Canada this year. We’ve been on tour all year, through Europe she considered strong enough to finish her debut. The EP was enough and the States opening for Owl City,” she says. “I’m so excited.” give listeners a pretty fair idea what she was about, she explains, but not She is. And she’s a fast talker to boot, which makes transcribing our the full picture. “I still felt some kind of artistic leeway to be bravenewer with tracks th other songs and step out a little bit.” interview a bit challenging. But even as a disembodied voice emanating from That didn’t mean making a jarring change of direction so much uniqueness of Canada’s a laptop, and even after several listens, I should add, Lights’ enthusiasm is refreshingly, genuinely contagious – much like the airy, hook laden synthself- pop as fine tuning her sound. As with her previous songs, the she’s swiftly becoming known for. And she has every reason to be excited. Since taking home the , The Listening 2009 JUNO for Best New Artist on the strength of her six-song, music environment: our titled 2008 EP, the 23-year-old singer put a lot of ground behind touring Canada’sin support of the EP’s follow up – her full-length debut, Magazine for released in September of 2009. Co-produced and co-written pairs up withsongs Thomas from the “Tawgs” EP with Salter songs and from Dave later Thomson, The Listening sessions, but the two different projects had a great deal in common. “It, butwas diverse cultural make-up, the same process,” says the singer. “The EP was the best stuff I’d written up to that point in my life. I consider the EP an appetizer. I thought, ‘I’ve got some great songs,’ and I know I need to put out a full-length record I thought I’d put [the EP] out to start building a foundation.” - The EP did far more than build a foundation. The videos for her the impact of international singles “February Air” and “Drive My Soul” made a significant impact at - MuchMusic, hitting number three and number one on the Much Countnd when down, respectively, gaining the young singer national recognition. While Much may not be the be all and end all it once was in terms of break ing young Canadian acts, the attention certainly didn’t hurt. A influences and the country’s you’re a girl from Timmins, ON playing in a field that includes both new sensations with the stature of Lady Gaga and heritage institutions like Madonna and Gwen Stefani, you’re unlikely to get any of that attention huge geographical span. unless you really have something going on. Quick Flashes LIGHTS Korg X-50 keyboard Together these factors result Korg MicroKorg keyboard Yamaha KX5 remote keyboard .QQMKPI+PVQ Sennheiser monitor pack & transmitter Ultimate Ears in-ear monitors ARDS) AVER (KEYBO ADAM WE in a music market that is Korg X-50 keyboard Korg MicroKorg keyboard - Moog Little Phattie keyboard MOTU interface Apple MacBook 13-inch exciting, fresh and break ANN (DRUMS) Lights AUFM MAURIE K Young • Photos by LanA PESANT Ludwig kick drum (22x14) BY KEVIN Ludwig floor tom (16x16) Ludwig tom (13x9) ing new ground – but also If you’re unfamiliar with Lights, a quick trip to her website will tell you pretty much everythingent Ludwig Supraphonic 402 chrome snare (14x6.5) you need to know. To say she’s an efficient communicator is a bit of an understatement. Ludwig Supraphonic snare (14x5) What you don’t get there, you could just as easily get from her manager, Jian Ghomeshi, - SABIAN AA 15” hi-hat should you happen to run into him downtown Toronto. To be honest, Ghomeshi’s enthusiasm SABIAN AAX 19” dark crash about Lights and her music nearly surpasses his young client’s own level of excitem Zilco 20” cymbal about her recent success. Gibraltar 8606 snare stand one that is spread-out, iso Ghomeshi is probably best known as a CBC Radio personality, scourge of Billy Bob Gibraltar 8607 hi-hat stand Thornton, and former member of Moxy Früvous, but for the better part of the past decade,eady Ludwig Speed King pedal CANADIAN MUSICIAN • [35] he’s been quietly, carefully, managing Lights, mostly, by letting the artist – formerly knownng Pearl kick pedal as Valerie Anne Poxleitner – grow into her own, on her own. Behringer 502 mixer “Back then, I thought ‘I want to do whatever I can to help this girl.’ And I believed, lated and difficult to reach. passionately, that I saw talent here that I’d never seen. At the age of 12 she was alr recording demos in her basement, playing all the instruments on all the songs.” The you artist’s metamorphosis took time, however. “The goal is to get to the point where you find your own voice,” Ghomeshi says. “She went through Lights the pop singer, the goth rocker, the punk, the new wave kid...” Then, about four years ago, he says, she penned “February Air,” Thus the market thrives on and everything began to fall into place. Lights (left) with keyboardist Adam Weaver communication. In 1979, & drummer Maurie Kaufmann. Canadian Musiciann BY CRAIG was LEACH is very satisfying having your hard work ABIN pay off. Not only does it provide a great R sense of accomplishment and self-worth, USTIN launched – a national,It D : but it also, and more importantly, validates all the sweat, HOTO perseverance, and ball-busting required to pull the P whole thing off. It’s something that Canadian rockers Arkells bi-monthly magazineknow much about. Developing their chops playing clubs in the decid- edly blue-collar steel town of Hamilton, ON, Arkells emerged as hard-working and humble as the local- populace. “Hamilton is a really great place to nurture a band,” notes Max Kerman, who handles lead vocals and designed to provideplays guitar with the outfit.com “There are so many good musicians around and we get a lot of great touring acts coming through, playing the smaller clubs.” In 2008, after signing with Dine Alone Records, the five-piece – consisting of Kerman, guitarist/vocal - munication supportist Mike DeAngelis, keyboardist/guitarist/vocalistto the Dan Griffin, bassist Nick Dika, and drummer Tim Oxford – released its debut, full-length albumJackson Square. The band then spent the following two years playing extensively throughout Canada, supporting tours head- Canadian music linedmarket. by artists like Matt Mays and El Torpedo and Winnipeg’s own The Waking Eyes. The band maintained that momentum during the summer of 2009 by performing at nearly every major Canadian festival, sharing the stage with The Tragically Hip, Pearl Jam, and countless others. Then, as the snow began to fall, the band embarked on its own 25-date Canadian tour, which started in Halifax and headed west to Vancouver Island, hitting major and not so major centres along the Trans-Canada highway. The tour culminated back in the Golden Horseshoe with a hometown gig in the “Hammer.” After two years of paying dues on such a road- warrior schedule, it seems as if the hard work has finally paid off and the guys are beginning to reap what they MAX KERMAN, NICK DIKA, TIM OXFORD, MIKE DEANGELIS & DAN GRIFFIN. have sown. What will surely become the band’s break- out year, 2010 has seen Arkells perform four shows and we really relate to it,” says Kerman. “He’s always up for fun things, reaching out to the audience, and always has we wouldn’t have considered before.” during the 2010 Olympics, snag the Juno for Best ideas for tours. When we were getting into it, we were looking for someone who worked as hard as us.” He adds: Some of those sounds with which the band has New Group, share a seven-date tour with Canadian “Dine Alone is totally that and beyond.” been experimenting of late include more keyboards, or indie rockers Metric, and land an opening slot for Them It’s when this cohesiveness between band, crew, label, and audience is entirely seamless that Kerman really “putting a slap back effect on vocals, which we never Crooked Vultures’ Toronto tour stop.