Miss Polygamy

Two Live 88.5 2013 Big Money Shot grand finalists – Miss Polygamy and BlakDenim – are participants in this years’ Ottawa Rock Lottery!

Miss Polygamy – already ORL alumni and one of Ottawa’s premier psychedelic rock bands have had a busy year. Not only did they reach the grand finals of the Big Money Shot, but they also performed at the 2013 RBC Bluesfest, which has led to becoming selected to perform in the upcoming Canadian Music Week in Toronto on May 8th.

This will be Miss P’s 3rd year of participating in ORL!

Check out their newest video, filmed by ORL sponsors Captivate Creative Studios.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fROy1mscfaM - Ottawa Rock Lottery

I had expected to see a trio of previously unknown-to-me-acts at Pressed Saturday night, but things took a turn for the Norwegian with a surprise appearance by heralded (well, actually, unheralded in this case) Oslo shoegaze combo Dråpe. Apparently their appearance was a surprise to everyone; they showed up at Pressed saying they'd been booked to play.

Starting with These Animals. "I was feeling pretty exotic until I found out there was a Norwegian band on the bill. " They're on a mini-tour with Kurvi Tasch and will be in Montreal tonight for a show at Le Divan Orange. Like Dråpe they've got a bit of a dreampop thing going on.

On to Montreal's Kurvi Tasch, who have a wiry sound.

Ottawa's own Miss Polygamy rounded things off; like everyone else they played a short set (that's what happens when you fit four bands into 2 and a half hours). You can also download their album and some singles at their website for free. Here's lead guitarist Jordan Hall and singer Sean Tansey. - National Capital Rock

Local band Miss Polygamy is playing a show at Irene's Pub on Bank St.
- Scribble Live

Miss Polygamy is not a Ms at all but a quintet of long hair, bearded guys that love dirty rock.

The roots of Miss Polygamy date back to 2010, when a joining of musical friends came together in pursuit of a shared artistic vision. Over three years new friends were made, and the band blossomed into the supercharged quintet it is today.

Taking influence from some of the legends—The Doors, Zeppelin, Beatles, Muddy Watters, Deep Purple—and mixing in fresh sounds - Black Keys, Sheepdogs, Grizzly Bear, Yukon Blonde, Wilco, Zeus—Miss Polygamy is sure to cater to even the most refined music aficionado.

The band’s debut, One Night Stand, was recorded over a six-month period in their home studio with generous contributions from members of the local Ottawa music scene. - Ottawa Indie Hotspot

Anyone who thought Saturday was rough, would have died Sunday. It was the hottest day of the year so far, and it marked a scorching hot conclusion to Bluesfest.

What helps in this kind of heat? “Lemonade,” of course, which is the song John Carroll and The Epic Proportions opened up with. Maybe they were trying to project some refreshments on us as they played at 1:45 under the blistering sun. Readers know I have drank John Carroll’s kool-aid. I love his sound and on-stage banter. He once again delivered. “If you like smoking and drinking, this song is for you. If you like smoking and drinking at 1 PM, this song is really for you,” and they played “Everybody Smokes in Hell.” They always impress me just a little more, and this time it was the amazing lap-steel guitar playing of Fred Guignon that did it.

After retreating to the shade for a bit and hydrating (yes, I drank water mom) it was time to re-emerge and head to the Bell Stage for more local content. Miss Polygamy played some rock with steady blues and folk sound. My favourite song they performed was “Cocaine Kisses.” They also made me laugh pretty hard when the singer said, “In case you did not know we are Skrillex, I just grew the rest of my hair out.” Another great element of their set was the involvement of many local musicians that joined them, including a banjo player and a violinist.

It was once again time for the shade. The prime location was the tree covered hills just left of the walkway when heading towards the Black Sheep Stage. There was only one little bummer about this location. On this day in particular, it was the “Blues in the School” showcases. Now I am not putting these kids down because it takes a lot of courage for a high school kid to get on stage in front of a Bluesfest crowd but some songs were, shall I say, hard to listen to. The one shout out I have to make though is to the kids who did the U2 cover of “Where the Streets Have No Name,” that was very well done.

Still hankered down in the shade, I could hear the smooth sensual blues of King King grooving at the River Stage. I wish I had I not been so much in survival mode and had checked them out a little more, but from what I could hear they were awesome. I really liked their jam “What Am I Supposed To Do.” King King are a must listen for real fans of the blues.

With the distortion blaring, Alice in Chains were rocking out to thousands of adoring fans. Opening with ”Dem Bones,” it was chilling how much William DuVall sounds like Layne Staley (the original singer). I closed my eyes and felt teleported back to the 90's. The band had no idea what to expect from Ottawa at 5 pm. I am pretty sure DuVall mentioned how hot it was between every song, capped with him saying it is a ”hot son of a bitch today.” I can’t blame him, I think my sweat was sweating at this point. I really liked the heavy riffs of the new single, ”Stone” off their latest album. But of course I am a fan of the older stuff, and hearing ”Man in a Box” and ”Rooster” live had me wishing for a grunge revival.


William DuVall (right) and Mike Inez (left) of Alice in Chains performing at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa on Sunday, July 14th, 2013 ~ RBC Bluesfest Press Images PHOTO/Mark Horton

The next person on my list was Serena Ryder. I haven’t listened to much of her music, other than her hit ”Merry-go-round.” I found her to be very fun and inspirational live. Her songs range from happy tracks with a ton of energy to melancholy jazzy blues, such as ”For You.” Her voice in ”For You” brought chills down my spine and made me feel like this is the closest I will ever get to seeing Amy Winehouse live. Serena Ryder is a very thankful person who has suffered through years of clinical depression. She found what she needed though. ”Music is the best medicine to overcome anything,” she said before playing the great ”Mary Go Round.” I can relate 100% with that sentiment. I can only hope that more and more people with positive messages and such a beautiful voice make it popular.

It was now time for the king. B.B. King took to the Claridge Stage and the biggest crowd ever at a side stage flocked to see him. It was pandemonium between all the lawn chair people (I HATE YOU) and the thousands upon thousands of people standing. Sitting on his chair, I am not sure who the show was really for. I think the show was more for his entertainment than ours. The 87-year-old, he reminded us of his age often, was all smiles and laughter all set. He was constantly chatting with audience members and handing guitar picks to bouncers to distribute. When he wasn’t chatting, him and his excellent backing band, played some beauty blues songs. He may not be as technical as he once was (he is 87 for God’s sake) but the man puts on a show. With Dog Blood anxiously waiting to take over the main stage, B.B. King kept on playing. He played more than 15 minutes over his time, and when his stage crew tried to convince him to ge - Ottawa Showbox

Here is the perfect filthy jam to get you through your hump day! Another ear worm from Ottawa dirt blues (and as previously mentioned, they got a hint of folk and psychedelic whimsy) band Miss Polygamy! Here is the first of a few Bluesfest multicams that we will be releasing, with the boys opening up for Alice In Chains on the main stage for the closing day of the festival. Enjoy!

This multicam was shot and edited entirely by Alexander Vlad. Audio pulled from the main sound board via a Zoom H4N, and was filmed on a 5Dmk2 running Magic Lantern and a hacked Lumix GH2. Everything was synched and assembled in Adobe Premier Pro. Big shout out to Vergil Grancherov for his assistance throughout the festival! - Captivate Creative Studios

Miss Polygamy is not a Ms at all but a quintet of long hair, bearded guys that love dirty rock.
These guys are ready to rock your socks off on Sunday.

How would you describe your sound?
Contemporary with a throwback sound. Influences from Yukon Blonde, Muddy Waters, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Otis Redding, Grizzly Bear, Sheepdogs, and more. We describe our genre as a mix of psychedelic-indie-dirt/blues.

How long have you been playing music, and how has your sound evolved over that time?
Since 2010 we became what Miss Polygamy is now. It started in 2009 as a duo (Allan Kinney and Sean Tansey) and in 2010 Arturo Portocarrero joined bringing in latin roots and old school drumming and Miss Polygamy officially emerged as a trio. As the years went by, Nick Hertzberg and Jordan Hall joined to create the energetic quintet that we are now. We like to consider Miss Polygamy as a collective as there are many musicians in the Ottawa music scene who have helped in the development of recordings, composing, and live performances. Sometimes we perform as a duo and sometimes we perform as an 8-piece band, Who knows what could happen?

What are you hoping to get out of your bluesfest performance? Fans, adoration, festival experience?
Expanding our fan base, to get our name out, and making sure people know about us and our new album “One Night Stand”, which is being given out for free at www.misspolygamy.com. Our album is physically represented by a Post Card (free digital download on the back of the post card) encouraging people to not only download the album themselves but to put a post stamp on the back of the card and send and share it with their friends. These post cards have been given out for free since the album release June 28th and have been given around Bluesfest’s premises throughout the festival. The day of the performance we will be giving even more post cards informing people about the free album download. We are also seeking to gain more festival experience and hopefully with our performance at 2013's Bluesfest closing day we will open some doors to start a tour outside Ottawa during the winter 2013/14.

Are there any other bands on the bill you’re excited to see?
B.B. King, Yukon Blonde, The Wicked Mercy, Monkey Junk.

Bonus silly question: What’s your secret place to hide from the Ottawa summer heat?
In our home studio, where the magic happens. As an independent band, we can’t ever stop working. it IS what we love doing, AND our home studio is pretty cool (Central Air, wink wink). - Apt613

Miss Polygamy is not a Ms at all but a quintet of long hair, bearded guys that love dirty rock.
These guys are ready to rock your socks off on Sunday.

How would you describe your sound?
Contemporary with a throwback sound. Influences from Yukon Blonde, Muddy Waters, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Otis Redding, Grizzly Bear, Sheepdogs, and more. We describe our genre as a mix of psychedelic-indie-dirt/blues.

How long have you been playing music, and how has your sound evolved over that time?
Since 2010 we became what Miss Polygamy is now. It started in 2009 as a duo (Allan Kinney and Sean Tansey) and in 2010 Arturo Portocarrero joined bringing in latin roots and old school drumming and Miss Polygamy officially emerged as a trio. As the years went by, Nick Hertzberg and Jordan Hall joined to create the energetic quintet that we are now. We like to consider Miss Polygamy as a collective as there are many musicians in the Ottawa music scene who have helped in the development of recordings, composing, and live performances. Sometimes we perform as a duo and sometimes we perform as an 8-piece band, Who knows what could happen?

What are you hoping to get out of your bluesfest performance? Fans, adoration, festival experience?
Expanding our fan base, to get our name out, and making sure people know about us and our new album “One Night Stand”, which is being given out for free at www.misspolygamy.com. Our album is physically represented by a Post Card (free digital download on the back of the post card) encouraging people to not only download the album themselves but to put a post stamp on the back of the card and send and share it with their friends. These post cards have been given out for free since the album release June 28th and have been given around Bluesfest’s premises throughout the festival. The day of the performance we will be giving even more post cards informing people about the free album download. We are also seeking to gain more festival experience and hopefully with our performance at 2013's Bluesfest closing day we will open some doors to start a tour outside Ottawa during the winter 2013/14.

Are there any other bands on the bill you’re excited to see?
B.B. King, Yukon Blonde, The Wicked Mercy, Monkey Junk.

Bonus silly question: What’s your secret place to hide from the Ottawa summer heat?
In our home studio, where the magic happens. As an independent band, we can’t ever stop working. it IS what we love doing, AND our home studio is pretty cool (Central Air, wink wink). - Apartment 613

Ottawa dirt blues outfit Miss Polygamy won’t give a clear answer for their band title. Instead, they give many.

“She’s a woman you can’t keep up with. She’ll take you for everything you got,” guitarist Jordan Hall said.

An apt description with lyrics like “With the cocaine kisses, no wonder, you never listen, now you can’t be my misses anymore,” on their track “Cocaine Kisses,” which has amassed the highest listens on YouTube.
But who could this femme fatale be? Where did the original name and bad-girl aura come from?

Vocalist and lead songwriter Sean Tansey recalled a time where he first uttered the soon-to-be band name.

A few years ago, he discovered by way of a mutual friend that a girl he was seeing already had a boyfriend.

“The next morning I called her, and the first thing I said was ‘Hey, Miss Polygamy.’”

And the name stuck.

“I thought, I don’t even care about this, but that’s a great band name,” Tansey said.

Despite the personal history, the guys in Miss Polygamy want their fans to interpret their emblem, and the musical experience, themselves.

“We want to create a lasting relationship with our fans, and we want them to keep listening, and come back, and download our record,” Tansey said.

“We don’t just want them to enjoy the show. I mean, we hope they’ll enjoy the show too, but we want more than that.”

Drummer and Carleton student Arturo Portocarrerro’s philosophy is not unlike Tansey’s. He said at the end of the day, they are friends jamming with friends.

“It’s more like, okay cool, we get to jam in a different place. I don’t like to say, ‘I’m in a band.’ ‘I play music,’ that’s what I like to say,” Portocarrerro said with a laugh.

The quintet, which also boasts Carleton alum and bassist Nick Hertzberg and Al Kinney on the keys and vocals, have kept it local by mostly performing at Carleton and around the Ottawa-Gatineau area.

Tansey said their first show was in 2011 and shortly after that their first EP, The Blues, was released in November 2011.

They attributed the time span between that release and their upcoming debut album, One Night Stand, to busy schedules and hard work in the recording studio.

“It’s not like we weren’t doing anything. We were writing a lot, we were playing a lot of shows, and we could have easily done a 20-song record if we had as much time as we wanted to.”

Emphasizing quality over quantity, Tansey said they decided to include the 10 best tracks.

Although they claim to be musically incestuous by jamming with other local bands, there are genres Miss Polygamy will never touch.

And this includes Nickelback and anything else that forays into pop-rock, despite drummer Portocarrerro’s stint in a pop-punk band in Guatemala when he was a teenager.

On the other hand, they have discussed a hip hop record, but that would be down the road, according to Tansey.

He said the Black Keys’ 2009 rap-rock album Blakroc is similar to that tentative future project.

For now, One Night Stand is their main concern.

“We’ve grown musically too, and I think this record will really help demonstrate that. I think we’re as ready as we possibly could be,” Tansey said.

Catch the psychedelic dirt blues five-piece at the Gladstone Theatre on June 28 for their debut album release. - The Charlatan

The fifth edition of the Ottawa Rock Lottery, which was held at Maverick’s, blew me away. You are probably wondering what is a rock lottery? Well you take 25 members from local bands, pull their names out of a hat to form 5 bands. Then give them 24 hours to come up with 20-30 minutes of original music. And for an added twist, you assign each band a special instrument that they must integrate into their set. If all of that does not sound fun enough, consider that all proceeds of the event go the the Ottawa Foodbank and there were free draws between sets with a lot of merch from sponsors and bands.

The event’s special guest host was CBC Radio 1's Amanda Putz. Amanda hosts the show Bandwith, which focuses on Ontario music. In her opening remarks she declared that not only does Ottawa have one of the best music scenes in the province (eat your heart out Montreal and Toronto), but “one of the greatest scenes in the country.”

First up was But I Don’t Want to be a Pirate. The band was comprised of Arturo Portocarrero (Miss Polygamy), Cody Allen (Cody Allen), James Rooke (Modern Era Pirate), Mike Libbos (The Goodluck Assembly) and Rory Lewis (Kalle Mattson). They were tasked with the coolest random instrument of the night, a keytar. Man can Rory rely shred on his guitar and he even did a solo on the keytar. They set the bar very high. And Ottawa is very lucky, as Jame Rooke won a three song EP recording from Audio Valley Recording Studio and announced he will use it to record with But I Don’t Want to be a Pirate.

The second band of the evening was Sextadeth. The band said the name was in honor of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who they assume will be sexted to death now that he is back on Earth. Fitting that the band that ended up with two drummers, also got assigned the spoons, and had an epic percussion finale. Sextadeth was, David Wisjman (Fire & Neon), Max Savage (StillNative), Peter Zachar (Those Gulls), Reverend Doctor D (The Pelts) and Riishi Von Rex (Riishi Von Rex). They played a really fun set, but unfortunately David announced at the end that “due to creative differences we are breaking up.” the crowd got a good kick out of that.

Black Usher was up third. They were two Keys, two MCs and a Macbook. The keys were Patrick Steele (StillNative) and Sarah Bradley (Fevers), the MCs were Atherton (Atherton) and HYF the GypsySun (Missing LinX) and the man on the Macbook was Jordan David (The Love Machine). Their set was awesome! The dynamics of the five members singing or spitting rhymes throughout their performance was very good. And the energy…oh lord the energy. They finished with the incredible “Weird, Odd, Strange” that could very well have been the song of the night. And it was fun to watch both MCs play on pots and pans with wooden spoons.

Fourth to the stage was Slow Dance Chubbies. As per their name, they slowed it down a little bit. Their set was full of guitar solos, incredible trumpet play and funny lyrics. The crowd got into their set singing along with the band. Slow Dance Chubbies was Connor (sorry no last name provided), Erik Hertzberg (Cold Capital), Gregg Clark (Pony Girl), Jake Ting (Zoo Legacy) and Shawn Desjardins. What happens when one band gets two drummers, another band gets none. But that did not stop Slow Dance Chubbies. Jake Ting, who had never played drums live before, took on the task and did a great job.

Closing the show was Nicolas Cage in Con Air. The band was made up of Craig Barlow (Loon Choir), Dave Nado (The Wicked Mercy), Jon Schofield (The Yips) Just Jamaal (Missing LinX) and Kalle Mattson (Kalle Mattson). All of their songs were named after Nic Cage movies, they opened with Ghost Rider Two, followed with Ghost Rider One, which led to Raising Arizona and concluded with Face Off. Nic Cage was an amazing combination of rap and slam poetry over rock. Their special instrument was the whistle, which they integrated into more than one song, the only band to do so. While the band tuned, Just Jamaal used his instrument, his vox, to keep the crowd entertained with some freestyling.

I think Amanda Putz said it best when speaking of the evening. “The talent tonight blew me away.” I overheard many people in the crowd saying “I figured this would be a train wreck, but this is awesome.” And I must agree, it was a great night. If you did not go this year, or are an artist and did not participate, I strongly encourage you to do so next year.

Every song from the show should be available by May 25, thanks to Audio Valley Recording Studio. Keep checking back at Ottawa Rock Lottery website for it. - Ottawa Showbox

This past weekend I had a chance to head out to The Black Sheep Inn. It’s been years since I’ve been able to catch a show at this legendary venue. It was a fun night of music by some great local bands. The venue was packed and the crowd was definitely into the music.

First up was Miss Polygamy. Unfortunately I only managed to catch the last couple of songs, but I liked what I heard. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to catch a full show sometime.

Up next was The Wicked Mercy. They had a dirty blues/rock sound and played a great set. I especially enjoyed the final 3 songs of their set. I hope to catch them again. Definitely check them out!

Finally it was local favorites The Strain. Fresh off their Big Money Shot win, the band had the crowd dancing and cheering. I have seen them play numerous times over the last couple of years and it is always an enjoyable show. If you haven’t heard them yet, you definitely need to give them a listen! - Spotlight Ottawa

The Ottawa Rock Lottery took 25 local musicians, randomly matched them up into five new bands and gave them all 24 hours to create concert sets.

But while the musicians were frantically trying to meet each other, write original music and practise for the concert, there was also a film crew trying to capture all of the creative mayhem.

“I’m excited to see it, there’s probably going to be lots of laughs at the screening,” said musician Sean Tansey, of the upcoming screening at the Ottawa International Film Festival (OIFF).

Tansey, who plays guitar in the band Miss Polygamy, said the lottery was an eye-opening experience as he made friends and found himself taking on a new, more laid-back creative role as he was drafted as a drummer in the lottery band.

Other bands in the film include The Love Machine, winner of Live 88.5’s Big Money Shot, as well as The Acorn, The Murder Plans and others.

“The Spotlight Series was created not only to promote Ottawa filmmakers and their work but to also show the city just how much great work is being done here,” said Spotlight Series manager Shawn Kazda.

Tickets for the show are $8 at the door. - Metro Newspaper - Ottawa