A BAND A DAY WITH NXNE: EIGHT AND A HALF

The Basics:
• Members: David Hamelin (guitar/vocals); Liam O’Neil (synths); Justin Peroff (drums)
• Hits & Must-Listens: Their first album just dropped this month, so we’ll let you be the judge. That said, we like the singles and album cut Wait Up.
• Year Formed: 2011
• Genre: Synthy, popesque rock
• Of Note: Rose from the ashes of The Stills (Liam O’Neil and David Hamelin) and the…um, shards?…of Broken Social Scene (Justin Peroff)

A BAND A DAY WITH NXNE: EIGHT AND A HALF

THE NXNE 12:
• All the members’ tweet (perfect for all your stalking needs): David Hamelin (@FinalDavid), Justin Peroff (@juniorpande), Liam O’Neil (@liamoneil).
• There’s an awesome tumblr you can follow, too.
• Drummer Peroff, ex of Broken Social Scene, acts on the side. He appeared in Kate Hudson/Matthew Conaughey’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days as well as CBC teen drama Our Hero. 
• 90210 actress Jessica Stroup is the sexy star of the video for “Go Ego.”
• Eight and a Half was self-produced and mixed by Metric producer John O’Mahony.
• Montreal native David Hamelin has called the fair city of Toronto the “Capital of Uncool”, (crycrycry), but opts to live there anyway. Which makes us cooler, so all good.
• Are you a film buff who caught that the name was cribbed from Federico Fellini’s epic flick 8 1/2?
• Eight and a Half played their eighth-ever show at SXSW. Apparently it wasn’t half bad.
• The first happened earlier this year at the Drake. Pictures here.
• Hamelin and O’Neil first met at school. Their first band played ska with O’Neil on saxophone.
• Justin Peroff also DJs under the name Juicetan and does party promotion.
• They play tonight (April 27th, 2012) at Bookie’s Big Blast at Sound Academy, alongside NXNE alumni Young Empires and Dinosaur Bones.

… Don’t fret if you can’t weasel into the show tonight – they play NXNE 2012 this June. Head to http://nxne.com/2012/eight-and-a-half/ for more.

A BAND A DAY WITH NXNE: ART VS. SCIENCE

12 FACTS

• High school friends that came together after Dan McNamee had a gig and no songs.

• Another band’s garbage: Art vs. Science was discarded by friends who were also starting up a band (sorry, no takebacks.)

• Conquered Australia with a sold-out tour. Take that, kangaroos.

• Appeared with Yo Gabba Gabba! live in New York. Kids these days don’t know how good they have it.

• “That’s why we try to keep it really simple, because the simpler it is, the louder it can be.” We can totally get behind Dan Mac in this Vogue piece.

• Their live show is well loved. If only they were playing Toron… Hey! Nice.

• Every show is different, sez the band.

• Gotta love a literary type. “Higher” contains the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory inspired lyrics, ‘Get a little greedy like Augustus Gloop.’

• Their official website features a section of ‘experiments,’ allowing fans to hear bits and pieces of songs as they are developed.

• The boys were rockers until a Daft Punk show converted them. They were amazed when they saw “how dance music can really affect people, people just move so well and get really excited about it.” The guys, who played rock tunes to empty bars for years, learned that the best way to get asses in venues is by giving them something to shake to.

• Like to stare at your feet and avoid eye contact? Maybe this isn’t the set for you. These boys love the crowd experience of dancing and enjoying the show. 

• Jim Finn: “Every song we write, we like to see the response it gets. If we think there’s a part in the song where everyone is gonna go nuts, lose their shit and start dancing, and they don’t go quite as nuts as we thought, then maybe we change it a bit. We really take in what the crowd does and go with that.” If more democracies used dancing as a form of voting, the turnout rate would be sky-high.

Art vs. Science plays NXNE 2012. Visit nxne.com/2012/art-vs-science for more more more.

A BAND A DAY WITH NXNE: THE BLACK BELLES

LOWDOWN:

• Band members: Olivia Jean (vocals/guitar), Shelby Lynne (drums), Tina NoGood (keys), Ruby Rogers (bass)
• Biggest hit: The Colbert Bump gave them big exposure with Charlene II (I’m Over You)
• Must-listen, little-known hit: We’re big into the b-side “Lies” which sounds a whole lot like a much badder-ass Nancy Sinatra number.
• Year formed:  
2009
• Genre: Garage rock (assuming your garage is full of goth gear)
• Most notable achievement/fact: The Nashville band was quote-unquote “discovered” by Jack White. They’re signed to his label, Third Man Records.