CBC Music’s Searchlight continues to search for Canada’s undiscovered talent and Barrie is well represented in the annual event.
Hundreds of musicians from across the nation send one song they’ve written into the competition for the chance at prizes that include a feature on the act on CBC platforms and studio time.
Kat Chabot, who has been playing music since she was a kid, told BarrieToday music has always been the centre of her life.
“I am definitely the outcome of the environment I grew up surrounded by, since my family is so passionate about all genres of music,” said Chabot. “I remember my mom would sing to us when we were younger and loved the piano, and my dad always played drums and the guitar and encouraged us to write songs.
"For many years, my dad, brothers and I had our own little rock band and played at our family reunions, and high school talent shows mostly covering Rush, Journey and Styx songs," she added.
The 28-year-old Chabot and has been living in Barrie for most of her life and has written more than 40 songs.
Coffee By The Sea is her submission to Searchlight and Chabot wrote it in 2017 when she was a student at Georgian College.
“It was the winter semester, and I had an 8 a.m. class, which meant I was both tired and cold all the time. My temporary solution was to imagine being on a beach with a warm drink in hand,” said Chabot. “The ironic part of the song for me is that I am actually not a coffee drinker, since I find it too strong, so the only way I drink it is with double the sugar and double the cream so it’s basically a dessert in a mug.”
CBC's Searchlight received 2,500 song submissions from artists all around Canada, and chose 400 of those songs to be included in the next round of the competition. The prizes are all focused on artist development and voting for round one continues until Thursday, May 20 at 3 p.m.
Another Barrie submission is something the rockers might be voting for.
Barstool Confession and their song Hold Your Ground may sound a bit familiar to some, and lead singer Buck Goodbrand is hoping the votes show that.
“We’re kind of living the dream as we’ve been out into the regular rotation at 89.1 MAX FM (rock station serving central Ontario/Muskoka), which, at 50 years old, is pretty cool for all of us,” said Goodbrand. “We were happy to make it through the first round and to get where we are, you can’t score if you don’t shoot and submitting the song was our shot.”
The band — which features Jeff Hamilton, Brian Fell, Paul Sadlon Jr., and Goodbrand — just finished recording an EP and shot a video for Hold Your Ground, which Goodbrand says is about standing firm through life’s challenges.
“Anything you have to hold your ground on, if you’re being bullied, the stress of work, whatever it is. We hope people hear it and it motivates them to be strong when needed," he said.
Goodbrand said he and the band had been playing music since their teens, but as life became busier, they all took a break.
“Now that we’re older, we seem to have more time on our hands, have a little more time to play,” he said. “After a 25-year hiatus, it's good to have our family and friends see us and share in this.”
You can vote once a day daily on each device you own, and the 50 songs with the most votes will advance to the Top 100 round. The other 50 are selected by CBC music industry judges.
Other Barrie acts in the contest include:
One Way Ticket (Barrie's Live Music Show Founders Band Jake and Jorden Mathias) — You Are the One
Brian John Harwood — Good Boy
Mindset — Stress
Eric Kidd — Dreamer
Carl Rundown Band — Here
Alyssa Bart — New Shoes
For more information and to vote, click here.
