Jimmy Fontaine In the music world, especially in the past few years, the rule of thumb has been "evolve or die." It's why Green Day grew from three-chord pop-punk to Broadway musicals, why the Black Keys added bass and keyboards to their bare-bones sound and why Metallica made an album with Lou Reed (we didn't say evolution was always an ...

Caitlin Durlak Usually when a beloved band goes on 'hiatus' it belies conflict between members. But when the Constantines split in 2010 it surprised many -- they had just celebrated 10 years together with a successful tour and were gaining recognition and respect outside their native Canada, not to mention there wasn't a whiff of hostility. ...

Caitlin Durlak | AFP/Getty Images The Constantines always projected a working-class vibe, but no one could have predicted that, after the band went on extended hiatus in 2010, frontman Bry Webb would nearly give up music completely to join the working class. After celebrating the Ontario band's 10 anniversary with a series of shows in ...

Courtesy of the Tea Party When Stuart Chatwood, bassist/keyboardist/webmaster for Canadian rockers the Tea Party, registered the band's domain name back in 1993 -- so deep into the past that Google didn't exist -- there's no way he could have foreseen the controversy that now surrounds www.TeaParty.com. Nowadays sought-after domain names ...

Polyvinyl Naming a band is hard work. Pick the wrong one and you might toil in obscurity forever while the right name might net you attention from the right people. So why not take some inspiration from what's around you? There's plenty to be said for the civic pride of naming your band after your hometown, especially if it evokes ...

Roger Kisby, Getty Images It may be the time of year when fans of Canadian music turn their attention (and armchair criticism) towards the Polaris Music Prize, but the annual ECHO Songwriting Prize is starting to garner its fair share of attention. This year, the five songs chosen as finalists are 'Albatross' by the Besnard Lakes, ...

As if Broken Social Scene weren't busy enough lately. In the last few months they've released their long-awaited fourth album -- which was subsequently shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize -- played festivals around the world, helmed their own hometown show featuring the reunited Pavement, been featured in a quasi-concert film and contributed to ...