Lineup: 2010
Carmen Townsend
Sydney, NS
Rock and Roll power trios aren’t dead.
Like the the long forgotten secret ingredient of authentic rock and roll, Carmen Townsend is reanimating rock fans town by town across Canada with an intensely unforgettable live show. At once homage to canonical rock monsters of yesteryears, Carmen’s music hits on something a little more raw and primal. With an eerily unique and powerful wail and a guitar sound that resonates like a 1975 GTO, it’s not unusual to find yourself shaking and soaked when the lights come on after her show.
After fifteen years earning her keep in rock bands all across Canada, Carmen came back to Cape Breton in search of her dream band and hooked up with long time (thirteen tight,sweaty years) bass and drum combo Shane O’Handley and Thomas Allen. In their downtime, Carmen and the boys back up Sydney, Nova Scotia’s Tom Fun Orchestra with as an aggressively searing, beautifully harmonic rhythm section.
Carmen has been touring Canada relentlessly for the last three years sharing stages with The Rheostatics, Matt Mays, Blue Rodeo, Joel Plaskett, Sloan, Slowcoaster, Wintersleep, and Hey Rosetta!, tightening up licks in preparation for the release of her long anticipated debut record. The record, tracked at Carriage house Studios in Connecticut and Soundpark Studios in Cape Breton, is raw, melodic, at times abrasive and heartbreakingly gorgeous. As well as the new record, Carmen’s rendition of Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” was featured on an all female Neil Young tribute compilation in 2008 released on Laundromat Records. Carmen’s vocal talent was also featured in the award winning indie film “Just Buried”. She also caught the ear of Grammy winning songwriter Jesse Harris (Norah Jones, Bright Eyes) and has put her own rock spin on two of his songs.
Ms.Townsend and her band has evolved into one of the most promising rock acts in the country and she doesn’t mind tearing a strip off your tight indie t-shirt. The 5 year old Carmen that would lock herself in her Dad’s Chevy to sing along to his Doors tapes definitely didn’t care as to what was considered “hip” music at the time….that hasn’t changed.