This Thursday, October 13th, John Orpheus, Sam Casey and Alex Exists will be performing at the Garrison in Toronto. Doors are at 8:00 PM for this fabulous triple bill. Advance tickets are $15 and it’s $20 at the door.
Advance ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/415128278857
We are thrilled to announce that Wey Ya Call Dat Ting by John Orpheus will be featured in the trailer for and the first episode of CBC Gem’s Virgins television series. Here is the series description: “Too provocative for their African parents and too shy for Canada’s biggest city, Virgins follows the lives of four 20-something year old East African women straddling two cultural spheres, navigating adulthood as milennials, love and relationships as virgins and dodging the Aunties they see along the way.” Thanks to good friend Warren Bray for the great ears and creator Aden Abebe for the opportunity. Tune in!
We are excited to announce that The Confidence Emperors will be presenting a triple bill at The Garrison in Toronto on October 13th featuring John Orpheus, Sam Casey and Alex Exists. John combines hip-hop swagger, Afrobeat energy and dancehall rhythms to create a sound built on big catchy hooks. His rabble-rousing live shows are filled with audience participation, chanting and impromptu dance-offs. Sam Casey’s starkly honest music demonstrates that, as an artist, she is incredibly confident in articulating her personal life experiences through songwriting. Her “goosebumps” voice will send shivers down your spine. Alex Exists is fascinated by pop culture and his music is inspired by hyper surrealism with an acid tongue planted firmly in his cheek. His musical signature is his unique sonic touches, drum heavy rhythms and classic “pop through a blender” melodies. How can this live show be anything other than a can’t miss event?!
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/415128278857
Our boutique record label, The Confidence Emperors, releases the new John Orpheus single and video House of Cards today. It is John’s unique AfroPop version of the Radiohead song from their In Rainbows album. On what inspired him to interpret House of Cards, he says, “The lyric of the chorus is really the soul of the tune: ‘Forget about your house of cards and I’ll do mine.’ It implies the difficulty, the near impossibility of trust in new relationships. The incredible exposure we put ourselves through for them and the leap of faith required to fully surrender to the promise of love.”
The single was produced and mixed by our very own Mike Schlosser. You can check out House of Cards here:
https://smarturl.it/HouseofCardsJO
As the return to the live music landscape weaves through its peaks and valleys, Popguru Sound & Vision is bringing fresh sights and sounds for all to experience with an engaging new event series. Today, the fully integrated, Toronto-based music company is thrilled to announce The Popguru Revue – an immersive full-production livestream concert series featuring performances from an array of the company’s diverse and dynamic artist roster. Kicking off on October 9 with sets performed at Revolution Recording in Toronto, the showcase intends to provide an engaging audio and video experience every Saturday night hosted from the Popguru YouTube channel.
Popguru Sound & Vision Founder, Graham Stairs, reflects on the company’s history: “When I started Popguru, my mandate was to make a difference for me, for my artists and for my community. It has been fulfilling to see artists like The Wilderness of Manitoba and Grand Analog that I took from scratch and helpedthem develop into critically acclaimed and successful artists. They’ve performed and toured North America, the UK and Europe. They’ve both been nominated for Sync Artist of the Year, and The Wilderness of Manitoba has been nominated for a JUNO. We’ve become friends over the years and that bond has strengthened the sense of community.”
“Odario has guested on a Ghost Caravan track. John Orpheus’ producer, Mike Schlosser, is working on tracks with new signing, Sam Casey. The collaborations are something that I encourage and something that was a part of the fabric of great labels like Motown and Island in their heyday, both of whom drew on their communities. The Popguru Revue, our livestream concert series, was envisioned in the same spirit and will bring the various artists’ music to an international viewing audience. It will also be a great way for people to spend their Saturday nights in October and November!”
The first performance will be delivered by acclaimed singer, songwriter and author, John Orpheus, on October 16 at (9:00 PM EST). Combining hip-hop swagger, Afrobeat energy and dancehall charisma to create a sound built on big catchy hooks, John is known for his rabble-rousing live shows filled with audience participation, chanting and impromptu dance-offs that feel more like Caribana road parties than concerts.
In addition, performances will include: an additional acoustic set by John Orpheus, who released his latest album Saga King via Popguru’s label imprint, The Confidence Emperors, in July, and an accompanying memoir this year; Toronto’s The Wilderness of Manitoba, who will share recent works from their upcoming album, Farewell To Cathedral (out October 29 on Popguru Sound & Vision); hip hop artist, DJ and CBC Music radio personality Odario; emerging Toronto-based singer-songwriter, Sam Casey; the multidisciplinary indie pop laden sounds of musician-actor-filmmaker, Simeon Ross, the empowering songs of Ghost Caravan, a group of collaborators lead by singer/actress, Shaina Silver-Baird; indie pop duo TANDM and larger-than-life glamster Alex Exists.
See the full schedule lineup and learn more about the artists below.
Founded in 1998 by A&R maverick Graham Stairs, Popguru Sound & Vision is a fully integrated music company that makes a difference. Its core business is artist management, but, as a diversified company, Popguru is involved in music publishing, two record label imprints and providing music for film, television and other media.
Prior to starting his own company, Stairs was a partner in Intrepid management and did A&R for Intrepid Records, Latitude Records and EMI Music Canada. He was involved with such seminal Canadian artists as Martha and the Muffins, the Rheostatics, National Velvet, Chalk Circle, Damhnait Doyle and Sandbox. He was also behind the soundtrack album for the film, Highway 61, and the Bruce Cockburn tribute album that gave the Barenaked Ladies their first national hit with Lovers In A Dangerous Time. To this day, it is still one of the most played songs on Canadian radio. More recently, Stairs did A&R for True North Records where he signed Catherine MacLellan, Hunter Valentine and Australian band, the Audreys.
The strength of any company is its artists and repertoire. Popguru subscribes to the philosophy of building a community and long-term careers for its artists. The company’s mandate is to develop content for the Canadian and international marketplaces. The business model uses diversification as a strategy to create and monetize content for the existing and next generation uses of music. Since reactivating Popguru in 2009, Stairs has signed Martha and the Muffins, Odario, Grand Analog, the Wilderness of Manitoba, John Orpheus, Ghost Caravan, producer/songwriter, Mike Schlosser, and Sam Casey for management. Stairs’ vision of the interdependencies between record labels, music publishers, management companies and licensing agencies is the reason that Popguru organizes all of them within the same company. This is Popguru’s response to the needs of artists today and into the future.
Popguru Revue Performance Schedule – stream via Popguru’s YouTube Channel
October 16 – John Orpheus (electric set)
October 23 – Simeon Ross
October 30 – Sam Casey
November 6 – The Wilderness of Manitoba
November 13 – John Orpheus (acoustic set)
November 20 – Ghost Caravan
November 27 – Odario
December 4 – TANDM + Alex Exists
We acknowledge the support of FACTOR and the Canada Council for the Arts in funding these livestream concerts.
It has been an amazing year so far for John Orpheus. In January, Penguin Random House Canada launched his book Saga Boy and then we released his thematically linked and powerfully emotional single Fela Awoke (I Will Miss You). Recently, we released the single and hyper-fun video for IG. The video was a trip and, if you haven’t seen it, head to YouTube right now! Next came the lyric video for We Nah Worry Bout Dat, and (finally) the album Saga King on July 30. You can dance, get sexy and, as John would say, do all the tings to his music!
SmartURL: https://smarturl.it/johnorpheussagaking1
It’s been an interesting journey. We started off representing John Orpheus for sync. We enjoyed working with him and were blown away by his collaboration with Chemical Dreams on their track, Look To The Moon. Then, we placed his song Stay Woke in the Netflix series Tiny Pretty Things. Over time and as we began to hear the new songs that John was working on with producer/songwriter Mike Schlosser, it made sense to become more involved with both John and Mike. Today sees the release of IG, the first single and video from John’s forthcoming album Saga King. It’s SAUCY, FUNKY and maximum Caribbean pop! The summer starts today! You need it in your life.
https://smarturl.it/johnorpheusIGsingle
Linus Entertainment Inc. and Popguru Sound & Vision Ltd. announce today that they have signed a global exclusive licensing deal that will see future and back catalogue Popguru releases being marketed and distributed by Linus, that includes music from both The Confidence Emperors and Popguru label imprints. The new pact enables Popguru to now bring Linus’ marketing team and global reach to its artists. The first release under this new arrangement will be the John Orpheus album Saga King. Earlier this year, Penguin Random House launched his book of memoirs entitled Saga Boy under his real name of Antonio Michael Downing. There will be new albums to follow from The Wilderness of Manitoba and Martha and the Muffins.
Linus president Geoff Kulawick says, “It’s a real honour to be able to work with Graham Stairs again, he has repeatedly proven his A&R and record production skills, and his ability to personally connect with artists across many genres makes Popguru an ideal label partner for us.”
Popguru president Graham Stairs says, “I have known Geoff Kulawick since our early days in the music business when I signed Rheostatics to Intrepid Records and Geoff signed them to Warner-Chappell for publishing. That was one interesting ride! Then, I was doing A&R and International at True North Records when Geoff bought the company. He has built a great group of companies and I look forward to working with Geoff and his team on upcoming Popguru and The Confidence Emperors releases.”