After only two years together as a group, Sudbury hard rock band Blackwood Sinners has not only released its first album, it's been signed by the record label Ariella Records.
Signing with a label wasn't something the band was necessarily looking to do, said lead guitar player Andre Beaulieu. In fact, Blackwood Sinners has turned down offers from other labels in the past.
“But Ariella came around and it was just the perfect fit,” Beaulieu said.
“We could offer them exactly what they were looking for and they were giving us the creative freedom to do what we needed to do. I think it's going to be a perfect match.”
Last year, Blackwood Sinners entered one of its songs, “Reno,” into the CBC Searchlight competition.
It ended up as the regional finalist for Northern Ontario, and one of the top 25 finalists in Canada. That's out of more than 2,000 musicians and bands who entered songs in the contest.
The band's participation in Searchlight attracted the attention of Jason LaFauci, the program and creative arts director and chief financial officer of Ariella Records.
“We looked at everything — their music, their branding, how they interact with social media, every criteria necessary that we look for in signing a new band,” he said. “They met everything. The music was great. They're so tight.”
With the record deal, Ariella Records — a label that specifically focuses on Canadian bands — will pay for for Blackwood Sinners to record their upcoming second album, which the band hopes to release this fall.
“It's a very exciting time for us right now,” Beaulieu said.
LaFauci himself is from Sudbury, but moved to Southern Ontario in recent years to further his career. He said there's a lot of great bands in Sudbury, and he'd like to sign more of them.
“We have a little bit of focus on the Sudbury area in terms of looking for artists and trying to keep an open door for local musicians there,” LaFauci said.
If you belong to a band interested in potentially signing with Ariella, or if you're a fan of a local band you think is deserving, LaFauci invites you to email him at [email protected].
Learn more about the Blackwood Sinners on the band's Facebook page.
