Album Notes

Canada has produced some of the world's most enduring songwriters and Joel Plaskett belongs on the top shelf with the best of them. Since spending his teenaged years recording and touring with Halifax indie upstarts Thrush Hermit, Plaskett has been writing his own story. After releasing two critically acclaimed albums - In Need of Medical Attention (1999) and Down At The Khyber (2001) - independently, Joel signed to MapleMusic Recordings for the release of 2003's Truthfully Truthfully, a rock tour de force with his band, The Emergency. That record scored with critics and fans alike and truly put Plaskett on the national radar once and for all. Truthfully Truthfully was nominated for a Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year and won an East Coast Music Award for Rock Recording of the Year. During a summer break from touring in 2004, Joel responded to a longtime fan's offer of free recording time at a home studio in Mesa, Arizona. He packed up his trusty Chevy Suburban and drove across America with his songwriting notebook in the passenger seat. The results of that journey are currently available on Plaskett's MapleMusic effort, a solo album called La De Da. The album is "solo" in the sense that Joel plays all the instruments but it's by no means a simple acoustic project. It also isn't a permanent move away from his work with The Emergency. Rather, it's the mark of an artist at home with his instincts and his creative muse and one that's willing to follow fearlessly where those imperatives lead. La De Da has attracted attention in regional and national media and topped the Canadian campus music chart for months running. Joel's DVD release, Make A Little Noise is a collection of typically amazing live performances featuring the excellent Emergency band as well as solo shows - with a collection of family and friends - from the Marquee Club and Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in his hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia as well as Toronto’s Hugh’s Room. It also includes the entire video library from Joel’s CDs: In Need of Medical Attention - 1999, Down at the Khyber – 2001 (nominated for Best New Artist Juno), Truthfully Truthfully – 2003 (nominated for Alternative Album of the Year Juno) and La De Da - 2004, plenty of never-before-seen material and a couple of surprises as well. The DVD package contains a bonus CD EP with three new Emergency songs, produced by Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Black Crowes, The Trews). The first single, (Can I Go) Nowhere With You, became a staple at Canadian radio charting at #3 on Hot AC charts and earned Joel the 2007 ECMA Songwriter of the Year Award. Joel’s latest Emergency release, Ashtray Rock (released April 17, 2007) is a concept album about two young rockers caught in a band-fracturing love triangle. It's easily the best thing Plaskett's ever done, as well as one of the most ambitiously executed Can-rock records in years. On their own, the songs are superb. In first single "Snowed In/Cruisin'" and "The Instrumental," Plaskett brilliantly reclaims the riff-rock he'd seemingly forgotten in his solo years. The Mamas And The Papas tease of "Nothing More To Say" is ensnaring, and "Fashionable People" is like an anti-Bowie response track plucked from the past. Best, though, is that beyond being excellent songs on their own, they all work towards the greater story, which you'll be busy listening to over and over in order to uncover the subtle details. As anyone familiar with this artist will tell you, "it's only a matter of time." Joel most recently completed an Australian tour and is currently on tour throughout Canada and the US in support of his latest release, Ashtray Rock. Awards & Achievements.......... 2007 ECMA Songwriter of the Year Award ECMA Single of the Year Award (Nowhere With You) ECMA DVD of the Year Award (Make a Little Noise) The Coast voted “Best Canadian Male Musician” The Coast voted “Best Canadian Solo Artist" Canadian Radio Music Award nomination “Best New Solo Artist – Hot AC” Bucky Award CBC Radio 3” Song Most Likely to be a Future Classic” 2006 Music Nova Scotia Entertainer of the Year Award Music NS Songwriter of the Year Award (Nowhere With You) ECMA Male Artist of the Year Award (La De Da) ECMA Songwriter of the Year Award (Happen Now) ECMA Album of the Year nomination ECMA Single of the Year nomination ECMA Video the Year nomination Juno Songwriter of the Year nomination (La De Da) The Coast voted “Best Canadian Male Musician” The Coast voted “Best Local Male Musician” The Coast voted “Best Local Album (La De Da)” 2005 MIANS Album of the Year (La De Da) MIANS Male Artist of the Year Award MIANS Pop/ Rock Recording of the Year Award ECMA Rock Recording of the Year Award (Truthfully, Truthfully) ECMA Album of the Year nomination ECMA Group of the Year nomination The Coast voted “Best Canadian Male Musician” The Coast voted “Best Local Male Musician” The Coast voted “Best Local Song” 2004 MIANS Group of the Year Award (Truthfully, Truthfully) MIANS Alternative Recording of the Year Award MIANS Entertainer of the Year Award Juno Best Alternative Album of the Year nomination The Coast voted “Best Local Band” The Coast voted “Best Local Album (Truthfully, Truthfully)” 2003 The Coast voted “Best Local Band” The Coast voted “Best Local Live Act” 2002 Juno Best New Artist of the Year nomination (Down at the Khyber) ECMA Rock Recording of the Year nomination ECMA Best New Artist of the Year nomination ECMA Video of the Year nomination (Maybe We Should Just Go Home)” The Coast voted “Best Local Album (Down at the Khyber)” The Coast voted “Best Video (Maybe We Should Just Go Home)” The Coast voted “Best Male Solo Artist” film & television placements….. Nowhere With You - Zellers Summer 2006 Campaign Work Out Fine, Nowhere With You, Come On Teacher - Citizen Duane True Patriot Love, This is A Message, Just Go Home – TV show Food Jammers Extraordinary - 20th Century Fox Absentminded Melody - 15 Love (the Series) Absentminded Melody - North South TV Mini Series Maybe We Should Just Go Home - Fashion TV www.joelplaskett.com Management Contact: Sheri Jones sherijonesy@cs.com Tel: 902.429.9005 Mike Campbell mscampbell@ns.sympatico.ca Tel: 902.499.3284 Bookings: Tom Kemp kemp@slfa.com Tel: 416.598.0067 Publicity: Mary Mill mary.mill@maplemusicrecordings.com Tel: 416.961.4332