The Wilderness of Manitoba Archives - Popguru Sound & Vision

Today, we announce that The Wilderness of Manitoba will be performing at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on October 5th with special guests Robinson Kirby. It will be a night to celebrate the band’s music and their most recent album, Farewell To Cathedral. It will also be a night to remember Adam Balsam.

Here is a statement from the band: “The Wilderness of Manitoba’s upcoming show at The Horseshoe Tavern comes with mixed emotions. Just a little under a year ago, the band was preparing to unveil their new record Farewell To Cathedral live on the very same stage when they received the tragic news that their beloved friend and bandmate, drummer Adam Balsam, had passed away. To honour Adam’s memory, the band will be performing the same set list that they had planned to do before his passing which includes a number of songs from Farewell To Cathedral as well as a diverse selection of songs from The Wilderness of Manitoba’s back catalogue.”

You can buy advance tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-wilderness-of-manitoba-with-special-guests-robinson-kirby-tickets-413452957927

THE WILDERNESS OF MANITOBA ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF THEIR FAREWELL TO CATHEDRAL ALBUM TODAY

October 29, 2021

Popguru Sound & Vision, The Wilderness of Manitoba

Folk Rock, Indie Pop, Singer Songwriter

Today is a sombre day for JUNO-nominated and Toronto based band, The Wilderness of Manitoba. They release Farewell To Cathedral on Popguru Sound & Vision, their first album following a three year hiatus, but also face heartbreak with the sudden passing of their bandmate, brother, and drummer, Adam Balsam.

“We are heartbroken by the sudden loss of our bandmate and brother, Adam Balsam. Since joining the band in 2018, Adam has been a constant source of enthusiasm, boundless creativity and encyclopedic music knowledge. He was a truly gifted and deeply musical multi-instrumentalist whose playing was filled with passion and love.

Today is a bittersweet day because we are releasing Farewell to Cathedral, and Adam is not here to celebrate with us. He worked hard on the album and was so excited to share this music with everyone. We offer our heartfelt condolences to his family, and we are dedicating this release to his memory.

Adam’s contribution to the band’s growth is immeasurable and he is sorely missed. We love you, Adam.”

Farewell To Cathedral is available to purchase and stream now, and you can listen to it here. In addition, today the band shares the standout track, The Well Has Run Dry. Listen here and watch its live acoustic rendition. The Wilderness of Manitoba will also be airing a live stream digital concert (Adam’s final performance with the band) on Saturday, November 6, as a part of The Popguru Revue – an engaging new live event series streamed for free from Revolution Recording in Toronto. You can watch the weekly event series here and learn more in this recent announcement.

“Farewell To Cathedral is about leaving your safe space in order to grow and move forward,” says Will Whitwham, singer, songwriter and founding member. “It deals with the oblivion and uncertainty while remaining hopeful and melancholic. The themes centre around seasonal change and the parallel passing of time in its reflection.”

The album was recorded in just two days at Revolution Recording in Toronto, which was completely unprecedented. In the past, Whitwham felt he laboured over a lot of the sonic details, often adding overdub after overdub. But for this album, the songs were captured at their most live and purest stage. The results show that, at the end of the day, the quality of the songs is not necessarily contingent on the recording process. This can be heard in the already released singles, The Alchemist, Sometimes and Oblivion.

On Farewell To Cathedral, Will adds: “There was this beautiful Ukrainian cathedral I would always see from my window. The cathedral became a symbol to me of something I was leaving behind when I decided to move out of that house. It was the longest place I’d lived in my entire life and leaving was hard in some ways. The cathedral was a symbol of a safe place that I was constantly able to return to and I think that we all need some kind of version of that; whether it’s tangible, literal or metaphorical. Many of the album’s songs deal with loss through the eyes of hope and I’ve always believed in the hope one can find through melancholy. Farewell To Cathedral is about leaving your safe place in order to move forward and grow.”

ANNOUNCING THE POPGURU REVUE: A LIVESTREAM CONCERT SERIES

September 15, 2021

Ghost Caravan, John Orpheus, Odario, Popguru Sound & Vision, Sam Casey, The Wilderness of Manitoba

Concert Series, Folk Rock, Hip Hop, Indie Pop, Livestream, Pop, RnB, Singer Songwriter, Soul

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.

The Wilderness of Manitoba Releases New Singles and Videos

September 13, 2021

Popguru Sound & Vision, The Wilderness of Manitoba, Uncategorized

Folk Rock, Indie Pop, Singer Songwriter

I signed The Wilderness of Manitoba twelve years ago. Since then, they’ve toured the United States four times; performed in the Consulate General’s living room in Los Angeles; played twice at SXSW in Austin; toured the UK twice; received a standing ovation at the End of the Road Festival in England; played Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD Festival and cooked bison burgers by request; performed at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg; played festivals in the Netherlands; toured or played shows with Aimee Mann, Lord Huron, Other Lives and Low Anthem among others; released five albums and three EPs; had songs featured in several US television series and been nominated for a JUNO award. I’ve been fortunate to be there for those shows, in those studios and hearing all those songs as they were written. Well, it’s that time again. After a three year hiatus, the band will be releasing their sixth album, Farewell To Cathedral, on October 29^th. Before that though, we have videos for the singles The Alchemist and Sometimes. The songs were written by founding member Will Whitwham who was ably accompanied by singer/guitarist Victoria Carr, bassist/singer Tavo Diez de Bonilla and drummer/singer Adam Balsam. The Alchemist video was created by Will Whitwham and the Sometimes video by Maggie Gray.

SmartURL for The Alchemist: https://smarturl.it/TWOMtheAlchemist

SmartURL for Sometimes: https://smarturl.it/wildernesssometimes

POPGURU SOUND & VISION AND LINUS ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE GLOBAL LICENSING DEAL

June 8, 2021

John Orpheus, Martha and the Muffins, Popguru Sound & Vision, The Confidence Emperors, The Wilderness of Manitoba

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.”

The Wilderness of Manitoba’s First Show In Three Years Cancelled Due To COVID-19

February 29, 2020

Popguru Sound & Vision, The Wilderness of Manitoba

The Wilderness of Manitoba had announced that the group would be playing the Dakota in Toronto on Friday, April 3rd with special guests Mango Reinhardt. The show was to reveal the new line-up consisting of founding member Will Whitwham on vocals and guitar, Cayley Thomas on vocals and guitar, Tavo Diez de Bonilla on bass and vocals, and Adam Balsam on drums, guitar and vocals. Unfortunately, because of the current crisis and restrictions, the resposible thing to do was to cancel the show. Hopefully, when this is all over, we can reschedule. Stay safe!

Advance ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-wilderness-of-manitoba-with-mango-reinhardt-tickets-96977088081

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/211316283256668

Will Whitwham of the Wilderness of Manitoba Releases Debut Solo EP

November 30, 2018

Popguru Sound & Vision, The Wilderness of Manitoba, Will Whitwham

Will Whitwham of the Wilderness of Manitoba releases his debut solo EP today. There are seven original songs on End of Dreams including one that Whitwham initially wrote for Martha Wainwright, but decided to keep for himself! The songs were written, performed, recorded, mixed and produced by Whitwham at his own Delaware House studio except Alleyways and The Autumn Sun Set Will Set The Land On Fire which were produced by Graham Stairs and recorded at Revolution Recording in Toronto. On those tracks, Whitwham was accompanied by Brian Kobayakawa (Serena Ryder) on stand-up and electric bass, Tom Bona (Sue Foley/the Wilderness of Manitoba) on drums, David Gouveia (Ivana Santilli/Bass Is Base) on congas and percussion, Mika Posen (Timber Timbre) on violin and Stefan Banjevic (the Wilderness of Manitoba) on cello. String arrangements were by Jim McGrath (The Last Mogul).

Check it out here: http://hyperurl.co/EndOfDreams

Popguru Announces Sync Representation For Independent Artists

September 19, 2018

Grand Analog, Popguru Sound & Vision, SyncGuru, The Bae Beach Club, The Wilderness of Manitoba, Zaki Ibrahim

Popguru Sound & Vision announces today that it is launching a sync division to represent independent artists. Company founder Graham Stairs says, “There is so much great new music being created and a lot of independent artists have no way of getting their music to the decisionmakers. The music supervisors want to work with a trusted source. I have been doing this for a long time on behalf of my management, label and publishing clients, and have developed the skill sets and contacts. So, why not offer that service to independent artists? “

The first independent artists signed for sync representation are two time Polaris Prize nominee Zaki Ibrahim and the sunshine pop of St. Catharines based band The Bae Beach Club. Pitchfork described Ibrahim’s The Sceret Life of Planets as “a future-soul marvel that connects sounds across time and oceans, creating thrilling moments of pop music synthesized through her wise and worldly vision”. Substream Magazine called The Bae Beach Club’s music as “a warm flood of pure pop bliss that keeps you coming back for more”.

For the past fifteen years, Popguru Sound & Vision, in partnership with New York based Steven Scharf Entertainment, has successfully placed music in North American film, television and commercials. At the inaugural Canadian Sync Awards, two of the four nominees for Sync Artist or Songwriter of the Year were Popguru Sound & Vision artists: Grand Analog and the Wilderness of Manitoba. Grand Analog has had over sixty syncs including a song used in a North American advertising campaign and two songs featured in a movie starring Eva Longoria. They also wrote the theme song for an animated television series. A Wilderness of Manitoba song appeared three times in an episode of popular NBC television drama This Is Us and another from the same EP played over the final scene of an episode of Elementary.

“We’re looking forward to working with Zaki, The Bae Beach Club and other great independent artists that we are in talks with and introducing their music to North American music supervisors.”

The Wilderness of Manitoba

The Wilderness Of Manitoba Announce Resheduled Show