“London musicians, superfan fight homelessness with festival It was music and the people who make it that brought Jerry Gosse’s son Brandon to life. And it’s music the Gosse family is hoping to use to help others at the first Musicians Raise the Roof festival at a former golf course in Melbourne, featuring 13 acts. It will be hosted by Jerry and Brandon, who lives with cerebral atrophy. The festival, funded entirely by Jerry Gosse, aims to raise money to support London’s homeless, with proceeds going to LifeSpin, which supports people living on low incomes, and Keeping Kids Warm, which provides homeless teens with handmade hats, mittens and scarves. Gosse said he and his son and wife Missie attend as many musical events as they can each week, upwards of 250 a year. Brandon was honoured at this year’s Forest City London Music Awards for his support of local musicians. “It keeps him happy and motivates him — it’s his life,” said Jerry Gosse of his 27-year-old son, who has become a fixture on the London music scene, where he’s often seen dancing in front of the stage or on it at the invitation of the musicians. Those include Sarah Smith, who met Brandon three years ago at GT’s in Port Stanley. “She was so nice and she saw Brandon and brought him up on stage and just brought back life into him. “All the musicians in this city are just such great people and when I started planning this, I just knew they’d do it because they also see all the problems of homelessness in the city.” Smith will open the day-long festival at noon Saturday, followed by Chris Eh Young taking the stage at 1:15 p.m., Kate Channer Band at 2:30 p.m., Cordcalling 3:45 p.m., Mike Barrette 4:30 p.m., Mike Trudgeon 5 p.m., Letters From Hawthorne 5:30 p.m., Rexxis 6:15 p.m., The Universe Featuring Ray 7:15 p.m., Sweetwood Mac 8:30 p.m., Prism Tape Philosophy 9:30 p.m., Nimway 10:30 p.m. and Mad Moxxis closing out at 11:30 p.m. Denise Conway of the art rock duo Cordcalling said: “This is to support London individuals who are surviving on low incomes. We are appreciative of the generosity and vision of event organizer Jerry Gosse. We are also inspired by the heart of London musicians in joining together to build this amazing fundraiser. “ Raffles will also be held for a 1976 moped and a drum set. Gosse said he’s spent $12,000 of his own money on the event and hopes to recoup his expenses with the proceeds going to the two charities. The truck driver said he’ll make a donation on his own even if he loses money on the event. Donna Atkinson-Wilson, founder of Keeping Kids Warm, said the generosity of the musicians donating their time to the festival is “overwhelming.” “All these wonderful people who I haven’t even met — it makes me feel overwhelmed what they are doing for us with their talents,” she said. If you go What: Musicians Raise the Roof music festival, featuring 13 London-area music acts When: Saturday, noon to midnight Where: 6395 Parkhouse Drive, Melbourne Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the gate, with camping available at $5 per site; available by emailing Jerry Gosse at bigjag11@hotmail.com and online at eventbrite.com.” - Joe Belanger

“On this week's edition of SW Sounds, we hear from a husband-and-wife rock duo from London called Cordcalling. Chris dela Torre speaks to members Denise and Brian Conway about their musical relationship, and their single, 'Ransomed Felon.'” - Chris dela Torre

“Art Rock Duo Brining Punk-Blues Fusion to Sarnia The high-energy London duo Cordcalling is gearing up for their debut at Sarnia’s summer-long music series, one with up-tempo bands of all shapes and shades through the end of August. Cordcalling, the husband-and-wife duo of Brian and Denise Conway, is an outlier by design. The band has two albums; 2016’s We Are Still comes off as a more ambitious, cohesive version of the duo’s 2010 in-your-face debut Obsessed by the Light, each with songs ranging from vintage blues to raw, stripped back grunge and punk. Songs from both albums will get significant play at Sarnia’s waterside Suncor Agora when Cordcalling takes the stage July 23, following opening act Darryl James. “There’s one new song, Ransomed Felon, and then a new cover that we’re doing,” Denise Conway, drummer and vocalist for the band, said. “We want people to have fun but we also want people to think a little – to think about life.” The London band will take a prime spot in the free concert series, one running at parks around the border city from June 4 through to Aug. 22. Now celebrating its 30th year, the public series has expanded to include a garage band series for teens, and shows at Germain Park and Kenwick Park, the latter in Bright’s Grove. Even then, virtually all bands — like Cordcalling — are from the area. “We’ve got just over 40 spots open for bands to fill. This year, we had more than 70 bands wanting to play,” Rachel Veilleux, recreational co-ordinator with the parks and recreation team, said. “Everyone in the concert series this year is from Southwestern Ontario.” Cordcalling will likely have new music out before the end of the year and an album out shortly thereafter if everything goes according to plan. Both band members said they want to avoid another six-year gap between releases, instead building to their new release through streaming singles. “The first (album) is easier, catchier, more accessible, I think,” Denise Conway said. “The second one is more thoughtful; it takes a little more time to get into. It’s more of a concept, I think. We’ll see what happens with the next one.” For more information on the band go to cordcalling.com; for more information on Sarnia’s free summer series go to sarnia.ca/summer-entertainment-series. IF YOU GO What: Cordcalling Where: Suncor Agora When: July 23 Time: 7:00 pm Cost: Free” - Louis Pin

“ Just discovered @Cordcalling https://t.co/SFJgEkG2Oa via @fluence_app They do NOT waste time. — Alan Cross (@alancross) February 18, 2019 ” - Alan Cross

“Cordcalling Release New Single, Video: "Ransomed Felon" Brian and Denise Conway, collectively known as Cordcalling, have been banging out songs together since 2008. They’ve released two full-lengths, an EP, and singles of wildly unpredictable tunes. Subscribing to the tradition of bands like Guided By Voices or The Ramones where you don’t need a long song to make a good song, Ransomed Felon amps up the anger meter with each biting, verociously verse sung by Denise Conway. Opening lines “I don’t want what the world is selling. I don’t want the lies it’s telling” get straight to the point. Fuzzy guitar riffs from Brian and Denise’s own drum smacks pulsate behind the lyrics. When the song reaches the third and final verse, Denise’s voice has reached a coarse, shrill and seems about to break out of frustration. The recording and mix was masterfully done by Chatham ON’s Ben Srokosz. It is slick, minimal and clean. The music video (available on Youtube) is actual footage of the band’s recording session, providing the listener and viewer an insiders glimpse to the artists in their habitat.” - Steve Murphy

“https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hldtuck14E_uJfO9mvBUpsD81rqcuQY0/view” - Saturday Morning with Howie Zowie

“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFTz3tXpXZA” - Saturday Morning with Howie Zowie

“DECEMBER 2017 FIRST FRIDAY RIPPING UP WITH CORDCALLING London ON Cordcalling consisting of husband and wife duo Denise on drums and Brian of guitar, were our in-store entertainment for the evening of the December 1, 2017 First Friday. Doing several interesting cover songs with their own distinctive growl and roar to them, along with originals, many customers compared them to The White Stripes, especially as they were doing a White Stripes song. Some of the other covers they did were U2 ‘Streets With No Name’ where Denise’s vocals very much reminded us of Patti Smith and a version of The Beatles ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ that had an urgency and abruptness to it that made it distinctly their own. Along with these and other covers, they performed many originals from their most recent album release called ‘We Are Still’ . A quote by Jason Schnieder of the Kitchener Record dec 6 Cordcalling-WeAreStill-DigitalCover (1)newspaper describes them very well. This husband-and-wife rock duo is “doing more with less”. “Marching to the beat of their own drum.” They are a force of 2 to be reckoned with. CLICK HERE to view photos that Roland took.” - Mary Anne

“All in all, 2017 was a good year for music in the Forest City. Clubs and concert venues did steady business, most summer festivals drew thousands of fans and London artists produced some really great music. Music, Music, Music On the local recording front, London artists continued to produce excellent albums covering a variety of genres. TVD (Salvation Through Distraction), Dave Semple (Calm Before The Storm), Hantiks (Shift), Sarah Smith (11), Izzy Bartok (From The Streets), Westminster Park (Figure 4: Molt, Rebirth), Texas King (Circles), Andy Chillman (Up Hill Both Ways), Chad Price (S/T), Kate Channer (Revived), Broomsticks & Hammers (Mirror Box), Mountain Of Wolves (Poison), Bath Salts (Mardi Gras), ‘63 Monroe (Jeff ), AskHer (Favourite Things), Cordcalling (We Are Still) and Hybrid Monster (S/T) are just some of the artists who released impressive recordings in 2017.”