Joel Plaskett Emergency: Best Of 2007

12/12/08 12:20pm

by Scott Bryson (CHARTattack)

Thanks to Ashtray Rock, their landmark slice of Canadiana, Joel Plaskett and his band the Emergency (David Marsh, Chris Pennell) have had enough praise heaped upon them to swell 100 heads. Ask the native Haligonian, however, and he'll swear he's baffled by all the attention he's been getting. His modesty might be annoying were it not so gee-whiz earnest. It may be that his band have gotten used flying under the radar over the last decade. Perhaps it's just the way east coasters are bred.

Plaskett and crew recently took home six trophies at the Music Nova Scotia Awards — pop rock artist/recording, video, group, SOCAN songwriter, album and entertainer of the year — but when asked what fond memories he'll take away from 2007, Plaskett reveals that it isn't the hardware that he's most thrilled about.

"The tour that we did when the record first came out, in April and May," he says. "We had some pretty great shows on that tour and I really mark the last night of the tour in Toronto — the second night at the Opera House — as something exciting. I thought the band was playing as good as we ever have."

Plaskett loves playing in his home and native land most of all, but points out that the band's overseas touring has been a special experience as well.

"We spent six weeks in Australia earlier in the year," he says. "That was a pretty epic journey. It was definitely something to remember the year by. What's been cool about the way things have been going is that every year, something unique happens that hasn't happened before and it kind of gives you a marker with which to remember what you're doing."

While his half-dozen Nova Scotian awards are a significant feat, Plaskett
also looks back on Ashtray Rock's nomination for the Polaris Music Prize, and the Emergency's appearance at the associated gala, as one of his fondest memories of the year. His disc didn't come out on top, but a humble Plaskett still considers the event a success.

"We weren't expecting that at all," he says of the nomination. "When I thought about it, I think my first reaction was, 'Do we really fit the bill for this?' It seems like something for new music. But then I looked at it and [realized] a lot of the other artists have been around for quite some time too.

"It was kind of neat because it felt like there was an aspect of a community that I was involved with years ago, carrying into a bigger, more Canadian level. It opens your eyes to the fact that there's stuff going on everywhere."

When Plaskett starts waxing nostalgic about the glory days of Can-rock, it's enough to give just about anyone a case of the warm and fuzzies — a sure sign that the right musician is finally getting his due.

"The way I see it," Plaskett surmises, "the past few years of hard work have come to fruition."

Joel Plaskett of Joel Plaskett Emergency's album of the year:

OLD MAN LUEDECKE For Pete's Sake
"He's a great, great lyricist," says Plaskett of his fellow Nova Scotian. "Of the Canadian stuff, that's definitely it."

George Stroumboulopoulos says:
"One of the most underrated singers in our country. And I also think that Thrush Hermit was really underappreciated by radio. I think they were trying to sell them as another Sloan, and I think that was a mistake. Thrush Hermit were more like The Rheostatics to me."

The following feature is taken from the December 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, head on over to the Chart Shop.