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Laura Cole: Drying Tears with Her Gifted Voice and Soulful Lyrics

These songs go to whom are sick of dirty dirty cheaters, liars, tired of wham bam thank you ma’ams, still not understanding it’s not you it’s ME type of peeps! If you are in mood to listen blues/soul sounds with a bit of spiced up rock&roll, ladies and gentlemen let us introduce you Laura Cole Band! They will dry your tears with their lyrics and cheer you up with their sound and enthusiasm. Guaranteed by dearymusic! You are worth more than THAT anyway.

The first time I saw Laura was in Taste of Italy back in June 2014. I randomly stopped by the corner and bumped into a great show. A young blonde beautiful lady was singing love songs. After a couple of songs later, I found myself dancing in the crowd. I dearly loved the way she sang and how she interacted with the audience. I took a couple of photos and then started stalking her Facebook fan page.

To save you from the troubles of stalking; Laura Cole Band is formed by Laura Cole (vocal, songwriter), Ron Cole (keyboard), Steve Bings (guitar), Chris Chiarcos (bass guitar), Mark McLean (drums). Laura Cole is such a strong singer who started playing music when she was 3. We believe that she has one of the best voices that we have ever heard in the city. When we learned that she was going to play with her band (Laura Cole Band) at the Paddock Tavern, we got really excited and we even got a new digital audio recorder to capture the best sound! On the gig day, we arrived to the venue a little bit early to settle in. We couldn’t have the opportunity to meet with the full band but Laura welcomed us with great warmth and her sweetest smile. We grabbed a couple of great shots then waited for her to rock the stage.

Laura Cole Band (LCB)took the stage around 10 pm and started the set with “Darling Sweetheart” then continued with “Sweet Escape”, “ Unworthy You”, “ Week There One Day”, “ On My Own”, “ Let It Roll”, “ The Only One”, “ Dirty Cheat” and “Death Row”. It is really hard to tell which song was our favourite but “Dirty Cheat” definitely wreaked our chests out! We felt every single line of the lyrics in our hearts. It was maybe the best song of the performance. We also really enjoyed “Darling Sweetheart” which a high tempo love song will take you to your happy place with your loved one.

Overall the performance was absolutely great. Laura Cole literally puts her soul on the stage and blows all the songs away! Don’t get us wrong, every band member is amazing and especially Dad Ron Cole –yes, he is Laura’s dad- is an awesome keyboard player. They truthfully enjoy playing with Laura. We really love all of songs of LCB but we think that “Unworthy You” and “Death Row” have big potentials to become hits.

Laura has a great voice, the band rocks, lyrics are just awesome enough to cheer any broken heart and we know you haven’t planned much for couple of days now so if we were in your shoes we would definitely take this opportunity to see one of their shows. LCB plays in Toronto every month or so and they mostly play in Hamilton which is not very far J We’d definitely recommend to check her music. You can visit her website as well as her Facebook page but before that you may want to take a look at our video! We hope that you would enjoy her music. If you are having a bad day, she will dry your tears with her gifted voice and soulful lyrics.

p.s: Dear deary music followers, we have a surprise for you! Don’t forget to click the second video at the bottom. We have added a new feature now we have interviews with the bands/musicians! Hope you’ll enjoy!

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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Most People: One of the most entertaining local bands in Toronto

“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.” George Carlin

Are you ready for dancing? You better be! We’d like to introduce you one of the most entertaining local bands in Toronto. Most People will thrill you with their live performance. I discovered them two years ago at the Holy Oak Cafe.

Unfortunately I can barely remember that night because I was feeling a bit under the weather. After that gig, I had many chances to see their live performances at variant venues like Handle Bar, The Garrison, and Horseshoe Tavern. I probably saw their shows at least 6 times in the past two years that’s why they were one of the first bands that came into my mind when we decided working on the blog. Mustafa really liked their sound as well – yes, he does like dancing – so we thought why we wouldn’t bring their music onto deary music for our dearest followers?

After having agreed on covering their show, we started stalking them on Facebook. The closest gig was on the 7^th of September at the Wavelength Festival so we marked our calendars! On the gig day, one of our friends Marvin accompanied us to take our photos and some footage to be used in the teaser video. It was a fantastic ferry trip on a beautiful sunny day. We arrived at the island then figured out how to get to the venue. The festival area was really cool as well as the crowd. It seemed like everyone was having a good time. I was really pumped to dance but we were on a big mission so we immediately settled in for the shooting.

First, we watched an electronic based band, dressed like Daft Punk. They were pretty awesome. After them, Most People took the stage and started the set with “You Said” (on 2012 LP). This song has really cool guitar riffs and makes you feel hyper. Then they continued with “Young and Wild” “Falling Apart” (2014 EP) “Love Don’t Mind” (2014 EP) “No Name Yet” (upcoming ep) “Release” (upcoming ep)

We really liked Falling Apart from new E.P. It may remind you a little bit The Cure but it is quite different. All their songs are cycled through electronic tunes, double-drumming, and harmony-drenched vocals. Most People sounds very 90’s and this is maybe another reason why we really enjoy their music. Their live performance is also really energetic. They dance and jump. They are all over the stage. It is 100% team work and band members Brandon Gibson-DeGroote and Paul McEachern love playing together. We have to say that they jazzed up the crowd even though they had a really short set list!

If you’d like to see their live performance, they are not going to play soon in Toronto but they will be opening for Twin Shadow at the Halifax Pop Explosion on October 21^st so if you are in Halifax, check them out. You can also check our video to hear how they sound!

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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Maneli Jamal: A Great Talent With A Humble Soul

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” ― Lao Tzu

I had the opportunity to listen to Maneli Jamal’s incredible music at a friend’s house party. He played for such a small group of people and weaved intricate story after stories with his tunes. Everyone in the room admired him; we could see it in their eyes. After the concert, I had a chance to meet him and learn about his interesting life story…

Maneli Jamal is a Toronto based, Canadian acoustic guitarist but before he moved to Canada, he pretty much travelled the whole world. You will find his interesting stories between the lines of his songs.

We were really excited to watch his show on August 15^th 2014 at the Harbourfront Center, but unfortunately we were a little bit late for the show. Mustafa always bikes so it was not a problem for him, but I had to take TTC, so it was a big challenge during rush hour.

We arrived at the venue before he started playing a piece called “Most Glorious Day” which has a quite interesting story. During the show, Maneli told us little anecdotes about his songs. He said, Canada was the first country where he became a citizen and after the court day, he decided to make a song about his experience. “Most Glorious Day” has a beautiful and deep story but we don’t want to mention what it’s about because we’d definitely recommend you to see his live performance.

Then he played Zim Blues, Us Against Them, Ziur, On the Run and Awakening -we are not very sure about the exact order- Us Against Them is one of his greatest songs which carries an interesting story. Maneli and his family used to live in Unites States for about 9 years, and then one day they received a letter from US immigration that asked his family to leave the country in a month. The song definitely makes you feel his sadness and fragility and maybe a little bit anger. Basically, every song has its own story, which makes Maneli is a unique musician because the audience can listen to his beautiful tunes with interesting stories. Maneli was in full storyteller mode, which we saw at the Harbourfront Center once again.

Most of the songs he performed were from his previous albums or his latest album called Lamaj Movement, but there was also a brand new one called Zim Blues. He said he was really inspired during his Zimbabwe tour. This piece particularly sounds pretty different than his other pieces. It is a heavily blues-influenced tune with some percussive use of the guitar. If you would like to hear this song, you can find it on his Youtube channel. It is difficult to write about a talented musician and we have to say Maneli’s live performance is amazing. The way he played and communicated with the audience was fabulous. We did not hear any mistake during the show which is not quite possible during live performances. If you are curious about his music you can check our video out. We highly recommend you to see his show, because he is a great talent!

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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