Meet The Juno Nominees: Great Lake Swimmers

Toronto's Great Lake Swimmers are one of the 94 first-time 2010 Juno Awards nominees.

The band's fourth album, Lost Channels, a haunting sonic love letter to Ontario's 1,000 Islands region, was previously short listed for the Polaris Music Prize and will now vie for the honour of group roots and traditional album of the year.

Singer Tony Dekker and drummer Greg Millson took a break from working on new material to talk about their first Juno nod.

CHARTattack: Don't be modest, how do you feel about being nominated?
Tony Dekker: It feels great. We've been working really hard for the last year, and it's a great honour to be recognized by the industry for all the hard work we put to getting this project off the ground.
 
What was your musical highlight of the last year?
TD: We toured China in January. That was awesome. Making a cultural exchange is pretty cool, and it's interesting to see that there's an audience for a little Canadian folk band over there. The audiences were really nice.

How do Chinese audiences show their appreciation?
TD: They click their fingers.

Awards show producers love medleys. If you were invited to perform at the Junos in a medley with one of the other nominees, who would you want to collaborate with?
TD: That's a tough one. Maybe Carolyn Mark. That would be cool.

April Wine are this year's Canadian Music Hall Of Fame inductees. What's your favourite April Wine song?
Greg Millson: "Just Between You & Me." That's a song, right? Or what about The Nature Of The Beast? That's the first cassette tape I ever bought! It's not Number Of The Beast — that's Iron Maiden.

You could bring it to the Junos and get it signed.
GM: Well, I'd have to find it. It's probably melted in my truck.

Name something you'd do with your trophy other than put it on your mantle.
TD: I don't know. Hoist it aloft?