Feb. 13, 2008 - Issue #643: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Psst. Wanna hear a Secret Broadcast?

 For a Valentine’s Day issue that focuses on bands breaking up, Calgary’s Secret Broadcast doesn’t quite fit in. Charging out of Cowtown armed with a new EP, the band is celebrating its two-year anniversary by giving away one track every week this month, and is committed to the inexpensive price of only $5 if you were to buy a hard copy at its upcoming show. These moves, explains lead singer and guitarist Matt Lightstone, are in an effort to reach as many ears as possible, in the hopes that the music will speak for itself.

“It’s a different industry than it used to be, and we just want to get our CD and our music out to as many people as possible,” explains the musician. “Right now no one is going to make a living off of their CD sales unless they’re like a giant pop star or an American Idol winner. If you can build a following though, which you can do by just getting your music out there, you can try to support yourself with touring and merchandise and all that stuff .”
 

In an effort to build that ever elusive following, Secret Broadcast—which also includes John de Jesus on bass and Bryan Craig on drums—has focused on attending industry festivals, making a splash at last year’s Canadian Music Week and hoping to repeat that this summer at NXNE. For Lightstone and his mates, one of the best reasons to play the festivals is to get away from the slightly buttoned-up nature of their hometown scene.
 

“One thing I’ve noticed about cities outside of Calgary is that they’re a little more willing to let themselves go at shows—and I think Edmonton is like that too—so when we played Toronto we noticed that everyone just went absolutely crazy, the dancefloor was completely filled, people were really open to our music, and we sold a hundred CDs—which was just a demo at that point,” he gushes. “Now that we have an album I think it’ll be a really good opportunity to make friends with new bands, possibly meet some important people and see some great bands because there’s a lot of great acts scheduled as well.”

 

And because it’s the band breakup issue, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least ask Lightstone if he had any good stories about a former band dissolving in spectacular fashion. 
 

“Not really breaking up, but interestingly enough I just got word that the ex-bassist from one of my bands was arrested for child porn. I hadn’t heard from him in eight years and I was trying to get a hold of him on Facebook, and my friend sent me a link to a newspaper article that said six hard drives of child porn were seized from the guy’s house,” Lightstone uncomfortably explains. “I don’t know if that’s Valentine’s Day friendly. I had nightmares about it—I mean, you think you know a guy.” V

Sat, Feb 16 (8 pm)

Secret Broadcast

With Stonehocker, Acronycal

Velvet Underground, $10

http://www.myspace.com/secretbroadcast

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