Root & Soul Productions and the Broken Record Bar & Music Room have announced plans to establish a regular showcase event for new and emerging bands from the Fredericton region.
Matt Carter
Eddie Young is determined to make Fredericton a hub for live music in the Maritimes. Over the past several years, Young has made his mark as a music promoter and artist manager. Through his work booking bands to perform at Grimross Brewing Company and founding the Living Roots Music Festival which takes place each June in venues across the city, Young deserves full credit for expanding live music’s presence beyond the downtown core.
This week Young announced a new initiative in partnership with the Broken Record Bar & Music Room. New Music Night will be a regular showcase style event for new and emerging bands to get their first taste of performing before an audience. Similar to the ubiquitous open mic nights that regularly take place at The Cap, Grimross Brewery, the Tipsy Muse Café, Maybee Brewery, and on other stages around Fredericton, Young sees New Music Night as a way to introduce audiences to new talent while also providing local promoters with a means to hear these artists live on stage.
Young gets several requests from local bands looking to book their first shows. But without hearing many of these bands in a live setting, he says it can be a challenge to find a suitable bill and there is always a risk in not knowing if these bands are indeed ready for the stage.
“We have seen a need for this due to the amount of requests to play shows we receive from newer bands,” said Young. “[New Music Night] will give us the opportunity to see them in a live setting, see how they handle themselves on stage and with an audience, and will give us a better idea on how to bill them on future events.”
From a promoter’s perspective, Young says New Music Night will also help demonstrate a band’s ability to show up on time, keep the length of their set within the time allowed, and clear the stage within a reasonable amount of time.
New Music Night will take place each Tuesday at the Broken Record Bar & Music Room with three to four bands playing thirty minute sets. The event is open to all genres and all New Music Nights will feature pay-what-you-can audience pricing. Young hopes to launch the first event in the coming weeks.
Artists interested in showcasing are asked to contact rootsandsoulmusicroom@gmail.com or brokenrecordmusicroom@gmail.com with New Music Night in the subject line.
