This past weekend my wife and I had a great get-away to Canada's Wonderland where we saw 3 amazing rock bands, including one of my favourite bands, Kutless. Fireflight was the first band - they rocked out and played an inspiring, fast paced rock set before Kutless came on and played an inspiring worship-infused rock set.
Skillet were the headliners. They came out with a bang and put on an amazing theatrical set with pyrotechnics, an amazing light show and a live violinist and cellist. All in all it was an incredible experience and very inspiring. I got a lot of cool ideas on how we can make our band set even more intriguing and get the audience more engaged and involved. An amazing bonus about the weekend was that my wife and I had the privilege to meet Kutless and solo artist Jamie Grace.
The band is getting ready to lead worship and perform in Winchester on Canada Day. Leading worship isn’t what I usually focus on. I see myself more as a performer, but someone reminded me that performing songs about God is really worship. I stand corrected! This is a way to give back to people who have supported me and the band, and we’re looking forward to it.
We’ll be missing our bass player, Marc Ouellette who has left the band to focus on family and other ministries. We really enjoyed having Marc with us for the past months and wish him well. Jon Wilts has changed roles from lead guitarist and stepped up to the plate to play bass – way to go Jon! I also have had to step up to the plate and play more guitar but I'm ok with that. I leave you with some awesome pics I got from Wonderjam 2012.
Someone just pointed out that I wasn’t nearly as good a blogger as a tweeter. I had great intentions when I started this blog back in January, but the busyness of life has interfered. So, what I have been doing for the past 5 months? Stuff! Lots of stuff!
I’ve been blessed to pull together a great group of guys to play with and we’ve been focusing on nailing down the music and performing together. We did a great CD release concert in March, opened for NewWorldSon in May, and a couple of other gigs in between. On the home front, Sheena and I sold our Ottawa home and will soon be moving down to Kemptville.
I feel like I’m on a great, but sometimes slow journey, because God is trying to equip me to travel effectively. I’ve learned a lot about myself and letting go of what I think and want to control – and it’s all good.
So there, I’ve broken the proverbial ice on my blog and promise to share more often. Speaking of sharing, I want to give you my favorite Bible verse: Jeremiah 29:11 (from the Message):
“I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”
So now you know my inspiration, which also was the inspiration for the songs “Hope For Today & Best For You”.
Here is my current radio single lyrics video "Far From Beautiful" on youtube. I hope you enjoy the video and I will post video clips from the NewWorldSon gig in my next post. Thanks for reading. I'll see you in a couple weeks. May God bless you all!
Wow! Where do I start...This year has been a whirl wind of new experiences including my amazing trip back in October 2011 to the Covenant Awards that were held in Calgary, Alberta this past year. It was such an honour to be nominated amongst so many talented music artists. I was nominated for Modern Rock Album of the Year for my debut album "Hope For Today". Unfortunately I didn't win but on the other side of coin. The Producer Andy Horrocks I worked with on my album won producer of the year a 2nd year in a row. We are so proud of him. It was an awesome time in Calgary though. I got to network with a lot of artists and music executives and radio people. We are also got to take in a day trip to the beautiful Banff, Alberta and went up the Gondola. We got some amazing pics. I will share some on my twitter page and on here once I have the pics uploaded. Click on my twitter to follow me.
All in all we had a great time in Calgary and look forward to going back next year if we can. Congrats to the fellow artists who took home Covenant Awards. God has been opening up the doors wide for my music and I'm so thankful for that and look forward to this year ahead. He has blessed me with an awesome band and we are currently rehearsing for our upcoming CD release show which will be in my home town, Ottawa, Ontario. Stay tuned for more info in the concert section when a date will be set.
Thanks to everybody who has supported my music. You people are awesome!
Blessings, Ian.
Here are some pics from our trip on top of the Banff
observator and the new friends we made @ the 2011 Covenant Awards in
Calgary, Alberta.
on top of banff observatory!
a panoramic shot of the rockies!
breathtaking view of Banff, Alberta! :)
My wife and I on top of Banff observatory
Me with my producer Andrew H. who won producer of the year!
Me with worship leader/recording artist Fraser Campbell
Me & Canadian recording artist Jake Bertrand!
Me with Music Director for CHRI Family Radio Brock T.
Me & worship leader/recording artist Dan Bremnes!
Award winner Sean Spicer, me & Yochanan from City of Peace Records
