On Friday, March 5th SMILE CASE and pals PETE TREMBLAY & THE BOOZY TRUTH stop by at Grooves for a Free in-store concert before heading to a gig in Ingersoll later that night...!

Here's a review of "Let's Lose Our Heads" from the Welland Tribune!

Making modern music
Posted By MARK TAYTI TRIBUNE STAFF

Ben Andress, whose Black Top Records, has produced and distributed a bevy of indie talent, is preparing to launch his first solo CD, Lose Our Heads. The Welland resident and Niagara College graduate is comfortable on both sides of the music business -- on stage and behind-the-scenes.

MARK TAYTI Staff Photo


Ben Andress's apartment is chock full of cardboard boxes and acoustic guitars.
The boxes are full of CDs that he hopes will produce the next big thing on the Canadian music scene. Among the thousands of CDs are an eclectic mix of indie bands that he has assembled under his label, Black Top Records.
Andress isn't your typical recording mogul. No flashy high-rise office with glass doors and a reception area pasted with award-winning bands.
For Andress, the foray into the recording industry has been a natural evolution that began when he picked up his first guitar and mustered together his first band.
His story is a familiar one: a musician and a series of bands that never really went anywhere.
After a split with the band Black Top Recess, his band mates went one way and he went the other. He kept half the band's name and launched a record label.
At first, Andress was pushing CDs through his computer and putting them out in brown paper wrappers. It started with a hundred here and another hundred there.
Now he is cutting a thousand at a time for up and coming bands who want CDs to flog at local gigs or send out to radio stations and industry bigwigs.
Some of the bands are known on the local club scene. Others have had minor brushes with fame. These are mostly people who have day jobs and play for the love of the music -- with some exceptions.
Andress, a graduate from Niagara College's broadcasting/ radio/television/film program, credits the advance of technology -- and more specifi cally the Internet -- for his ability to produce and distribute up-and-coming Canadian music acts. Whether it's grabbing Canadian distribution rights or just putting together CDs for friends, Andress is having a ball.
"It's not something that I am getting rich doing," he said this week from his Welland apartment.

And, while he is not ready to quit his day job at a local call centre, Andress holds out hope that he might just sign the next Arcade Fire and be on his way.
When he is not producing and promoting other people's music, the Welland musician is making music of his own. He has just cut a solo CD that he plans to release in St. Catharines at the end of the month at 73 St. Paul St., a club that caters to the local music scene.
The CD is called Lose Our Heads and draws its inspiration from bands such as Violent Femmes and Ween.
The acoustic based CD is a concept album, with the majority of the work done in his apartment using Apple's Garage Band software.
"I'm into everything from Abba to Zappa," Andress said. "That is probably why Black Top Records is handling so many different types of music."
Breaking open a few of the cardboard boxes stacked against the wall, Andress comes up with a handful of CDs. There's a copy of Frankie Mayfield, Damn, You Created It; The Campbell Apartment, Insomniac's Almanac; Hard-core Warrior, Thunder Under Pressure; and Jonas Matrango, And.
He credits Jillian Grenier, a Niagara College journalism and graphic design graduate, for the artwork on the liner notes.
"The Internet has changed everything," he said. "You could put up a song and become an overnight sensation. Back in the day, you had to work, work, work."
Andress said he does a thing called Ben's Web Party and he posts it on YouTube. One night he was in the middle of an acoustic set and he started having a sneezing attack. He just kept playing and sneezing. Within a day, the YouTube spot had gotten more than 500 hits on the website.
He agrees there is no such thing as bad publicity. It's whatever gets your name out there.
He may not be the big record exec with a flashy suit and a big office, but Black Top Records is definitely putting a new spin on things.

http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1652538

And Pete Tremblay and The Boozy Truth will also play a set:
http://www.myspace.com/theboozytruth