BRR Team

Grant Stovel, from CKUA’s Alberta Music, caught up with Mike Rud and the winning student designer for his album cover competition, Alan Ngo. Check out the full clip where they discuss the competition and Mike’s upcoming release for Salome’s Dance: The Mike Rud Trio Invites Peter Bernstein.

After the cancellation of the 2020 Artist Spotlight, we reached out to Mike Rud to hear how he is faring during these uncertain times. We also asked about how he writes his music and where he wants to take his project in the future:

How has COVID-19 affected you personally?
What was a very fluid scene with quite a few performance opportunities is now barren. What remains is online, and does not pay. I am doing okay for now. But many musicians I know are feeling the hurt.

What music have you been listening to during this time?
Been revisiting Mahler, Kurt Weill and Randy Newman.

Which tune were you most excited to play at the Spotlight? Why?
Really more about the relationships with the other musicians than individual tunes. It’s the players I was looking forward to reuniting with. The title track, “Salome’s Dance,” is quite evocative, and I really look forward to crowds hearing it.

What is your motivation to keep writing new music?
It is who I am. I learned to play guitar initially almost entirely for writing songs. I haven’t been writing consistently for a while now, so I’m really looking forward to being in that zone of getting excited about new material. That’s when it most feels like I’m really alive.

Is there a particular artist that you would want to work with? Why?
Peter Bernstein, our guest on this album, is someone I’ve always wanted to record with. I feel he is the guitarist on Earth who’s music is most fulfilling today. Also the great John Stowell, from Portland Oregon, is a fascinating and visionary guitarist
with whom I plan to record soon. My roommate, the incredible pianist David Restivo, and another virtuoso pianist from Toronto, David Braid. I’ve had the honour of working with each of them and the textures were in each case other-worldly, though they are very distinct from one another.

What do you want to do in music going forward?
Sing more, write more lyrics.

How do you think the COVID-19 situation will impact on the music industry in the future?
Nobody knows. But it’s a chance, if you can stay safe, to focus on creation of new work, undistracted from live performance.

Have you been working on music or composing during this time? In what way?
Not yet. Our semester at Selkirk is ending, and I have been working hard to see that my students complete all their coursework. But the few months should give me a chance. As for the process…well…a good cook never reveals his or her secrets haha!

Tune in to our Bent River Records Artist Feature this Tuesday, April 21 @ 7pm on Instagram Live as we check in with Mike and other artists from the label!

After the cancellation of the 2020 Artist Spotlight, we reached out to Nisto to hear how he is faring during these uncertain times. We also asked about his experience recording with Russell Broom, how he writes his music, and where he wants to take his project in the future:

How has COVID-19 affected you personally?
I try not think about it. I’m fortunate enough to already come from an isolated life, so I’m used to it. Any plans to perform, working has had to be put on hold. I have family members with immune deficiencies and that scares me more than anything else. That being said I think it’s important that we do what we can to just relax—stay put—and be safe, until this blows over. I’ve been using the time to be with my family, dogs, enjoy music, laugh a lot, and reconnect with my roots a bit.

What music have you been listening to during this time?
Lightnin’ Hopkins, Stax Records stuff, John Prine, Guy Clark, The Strokes’ new album The New Abnormal and Dan Auerbach’s Waiting On A Song.

What was you favourite part of the recording process with Russell Broom?
My favourite part was performing the songs live in the studio with Russell and Dan Stadnicki, who each brought their own distinct sound to the songs. We kept it in the moment. That to me, is where most of the fun and magic happens. I’m not very calculated in the way I do things. I just hang on and let ‘er buck.

Which song were you most excited to play at the Spotlight? Why?
“Folk Song” The way you hear it on the EP is the first time I’ve played it like that. We sort of blended these different versions I’ve had into one, and then I got to crank my amp at the end, which is something I find my self wanting to do more often these days. I like noise.

What do you find yourself writing about in your songs?
In the past more so, it was living in a remote area, hopelessness, paranoia, and substance abuse. The songs were all written when I was younger and in a much darker place in my life, but they also lead me out of that lifestyle, so Little People is in some ways an execution of those thought patterns for me. These days I write more about the things I see around me,
rather than woe is me’s.

Is there a particular artist that you would want to work with? Why?
More than anything I like to rock, play blues and trip people out, so someone like Sturgill Simpson or Dan Auerbach, but that’s out of the ball park probably.

What do you want to do in music going forward?
Nisto was set out to be a rock band when I released my first single “Los Sin Dios”, but it never ended up happening, because I’m a recluse. I still want to tinker with that idea, create more rude, greasy, heavy sounds circulating around junkyard, backwoods blues, and Black Sabbath. Ultimately recording that band and playing some shows around the country would be a dream come true… I’ve still never left the province of Alberta.

Have you been working on music or composing during this time? In what way?
Yeah. Writing a lot of more than I’ve been able to in a long time. Just me, my guitar, my notebook, and the sound recorder on my phone, after everyone is sleeping. I enjoy the peace and quiet.

Tune in to our Bent River Records Artist Feature this Tuesday, April 21 @ 7pm on Instagram Live as we check in with Nisto and other artists from the label!

Do you find royalties mightily confusing? You’re not alone! To make a living as a recording artist, it’s essential to be properly registered to receive royalties generated by the performance, purchase, and broadcast of your music. Join Olivia Street, A&R Associate with Bent River Records, for a one hour lunch-time Zoom session on Wednesday, April 22, hosted by Alberta Music. She’ll give a guided tour through the SOCAN platform, as well as talk about the many other royalty streams that can generate income for artists, songwriters, composers, session musicians, and more. 

Music royalties are a complex bundle. As Vel Omazic of Canada’s Music Incubator has often explained, you have to think of a musical creation as being made up of two distinct parts: “The first is the sound recording of a musical work, which is performed by musicians. The second is the underlying musical work (or song) created by songwriters. There are four major groups of people involved in the making of recorded music. These groups are technically referred to as “rights holders” and they are each entitled to earn royalties for their role in the making of recorded music. In the case of an independent songwriter who performs on and funds his/her own recordings, they hold the rights of all four groups.”

These rights-holding groups are:
1. The performer. This could be a recording artist, band members, session players, someone who played the tambourine in the background… anyone who performs on a sound recording of a musical work.
2. The maker. This means the record label, or if you are self-released, it means you. You own your masters, so you’re the owner.
3. The songwriter/composer. The person or people who wrote the tune. Music, or lyrics, or both.
4. The music publisher. Don’t have a publisher? Then, you’re considered self-published, and you own this chunk.

There are royalty collection streams associated with all of these rights-holding groups. Learn more from 12 pm to 1 pm on April 22nd!  Click here to sign up for this free seminar.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce that due to the COVID-19 crisis, our 2020 Spotlight has been postponed. Along with our 2020 Spotlight, we will also be postponing the releases of Allan Gilliland’s Dreaming: The Prague Sessions and Nisto’s Little People EP until further notice. We are incredibly proud of what these artists have created and have decided to delay the releases until a time when we can celebrate them properly. While we are disappointed that we cannot continue with the event and releases as planned, Bent River Records is still actively working to promote our artists and to contribute to Alberta’s vibrant music scene. 

Despite the current situation, we will be celebrating the release of:

Mike Rud’s Salome’s Dance: The Mike Rud Trio Invites Peter Bernstein  
Single release of “Salome’s Dance” available on streaming services April 28th, 2020
Album available to stream or purchase May 12th, 2020

Contact us at BentRiverRecords@MacEwan.ca if you would like to purchase a physical copy of the album on vinyl or CD.

Many of our artists are continuing to celebrate music from the safety of their own homes by sharing their new work through social media and live-streaming, often using Instagram and Facebook Live. Be sure to check out their social media pages and websites, where you can support them by buying merchandise and listening to their music!

Take care and stay safe,
The Bent River Records Team

“Listening to vinyl is a very physical experience… It’s about actively participating in
your music experience.” These are Dr. Craig Monk’s words, MacEwan’s provost and vice-president Academic. They reflect his deep passion for music and particularly of vinyl records that was sparked while he was working in a record store in the late 1980s. That passion hasn’t waned since those early days and he makes a point of visiting a used record store in whatever city he finds himself in.

Earlier this year, Bent River Records held a contest for design students to submit their ideas for the new albums being released in 2020. After Dr. Monk saw these designs, he was inspired. “I hadn’t realized Bent River produced vinyl, and it got me interested in the ways that album production could involve different program areas across campus.” This realization led to Dr. Monk making a generous major gift of $50,000 to fund Bent River’s production of vinyl and to ultimately encourage a cross-disciplinary engagement amongst students to create these albums, like the previous design contest.

This gift enables Bent River Records to engage with students across MacEwan and offer them opportunities to contribute to the many releases the label is working on. Dr. Monk’s gift will have a huge positive impact on Bent River. All the associates, interns and artists at Bent River would like to extend our deepest thanks, for it is donors like Dr. Monk that keep local artists and arts organizations like Bent River Records alive and well.

If you’re interested in hearing what inspires Craig Monk on a daily basis, listen to his Top 50 Vinyl Listen’s on Spotify!