Fronted by vocalist Jon Knight, Soulstack is a band that can be rather hard to define. They describe what they do as everything from “Detroit-influenced, fuzz-tinged, rootsy rock and roll to Alabama soul.” To cover this range of musical styles, they combine southern harmony with tremolo-denched guitar tones aided by a Hammond organ sound and driven by a New Orleans style rhythm section. This Kitchener, Ontario based five-piece group consists of Jon Knight, guitar/vocals; Chris Latta, guitar; Mark Wessenger, vocals/piano/ organ; Darryl Peterson, bass and Tom Bona, drums. Soulstack have produced three studio albums, Big Red (2012), Five Finger Discount (2013) and Soulstack (2015), as well as their Live & Acoustic DVD/Blue Ray release also in 2015. Soulstack has been nominated for a total of 8 Maple Blues Awards, winning 3 of these as Drummer of the Year.[Nominated as Electric Act, Vocalist 2x, Keyboard Player, and Drummer 4x]. Recently the band has been performing with a special guest musician, Michael Francis, a 5x Grammy Award Winning Sax Player from 'Asleep at the Wheel' fame.

This multi Maple Blues Award nominee band will be on the Kemptville Live Music Festival stage on Thursday, July 20 to provide festival goers with their special blend of blues and swamp roots music.

In a world where “same” seems to be common, there is "Ottawa's own" MonkeyJunk. This power trio is totally different. Different sound, different take on blues and roots music. They combine quality song-writing with strong vocals and high caliber musicianship to produce something quite unique. MonkeyJunk was formed in 2008 and has been one of the busiest, hard-working bands around. Whether its coast-to-coast Canada, the USA or Europe, these guys seem to be on the go all the time. The band is made up of Steve Marriner, vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica and organ; Tony ‘D’ lead guitar and Matt Sobb drums and percussion. As Stony Plains recording artists, they have five studio albums to their credit; the latest, Time to Roll was released just last November. In addition to their 2012 Juno Award for Best Blues Album of the year, MonkeyJunk have also collected an amazing total of 10 Maple Blues Awards including winning Electric Act of the Year, five times. Come out Thursday, July 20 and be prepared to be impressed!

For more than 30 years, LOVERBOY has been “Working for the Weekend” (and on weekends), delighting audiences around the world since forming in 1978, when vocalist Mike Reno was introduced to guitar hot shot Paul Dean - both veterans of several bands on the Canadian scene - at Calgary’s Refinery Night Club.

After being rejected by all the major U.S. record companies, LOVERBOY signed with Columbia Records Canada, entering the studio with producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineer Bob Rock to record  their self-titled debut album, which went on to sell more than 700k records in Canada.  Columbia U.S. released the album in Nov. 1980, which went on to sell more than 2 million albums in the States and four million worldwide.

Soon the band found themselves playing on mega tours with Journey, Bob Seger, Cheap Trick, ZZ Top, Kansas and Def Leppard, to name a few. They quickly became MTV darlings, being one of the first bands ever featured on the music channel.

With their trademark red leather pants, bandannas, big rock sound and high-energy live shows, LOVERBOY has sold more than 10 million albums, earning four multi-platinum plaques, including the four-million-selling Get Lucky, and a trio of double-platinum releases in their self-titled 1980 debut, 1983’s Keep It Up and 1985’s Lovin’ Every Minute of It. Their string of hits includes, in addition to the anthem “Working for the Weekend,” such arena rock staples as “Lovin’ Every Minute of It,” “This Could Be the Night,” “Hot Girls in Love,” “The Kid is Hot Tonite,” “Notorious”, “Turn Me Loose,” “When It’s Over,” “Heaven In Your Eyes” and “Queen of the Broken Hearts.”

LOVERBOY went on to win a still-record six Juno awards in 1982, and until a three-year sabbatical in 1989, were one of the Top 5 grossing touring acts in the world, performing in over 100 cities across the U.S. and Canada.  Their success made them the first Canadian group ever to earn Columbia Records’ exclusive Crystal Globe Award, celebrating the sale of over five million albums outside their native country. Since 1992, the band has maintained a steady road presence, with Sony/Legacy releasing a greatest hits compilation, LOVERBOY – CLASSICS, in 1993, which went gold five years later. In 2001, the band released a live greatest hits CD, Live, Loud & Loose, which captured the group doing what they do best, entertaining their legion of rabid fans.

In 2005, LOVERBOY celebrated 25 years together by performing in selected cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. During the summer tour, the band introduced a couple of brand-new songs, which led to Just Getting Started, their first new studio album in a decade. In March 2009, the group was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame at the Juno Awards show at GM Place in Vancouver, BC, where they joined the likes of  Bryan Adams, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and David Foster.

Along with Reno and Dean, LOVERBOY still includes original members Doug Johnson on keyboards and Matt Frenette on drums, with Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve (a former member of Dean and Frenette’s pre-LOVERBOY band Streetheart), replacing the late Scott Smith on bass, and continues a healthy touring schedule around the world.

“Being in a band is kind of like being on a team,” says Reno. “Everywhere we go, we try to make it look and sound good.”

Unfinished Business is the latest Loverboy album released in 2014. The title came from Dean’s idea to involve the band’s fans in choosing the name of the album in a popular vote on Facebook, where the choices were first winnowed down to 10 and then opened up to Loverboy’s followers, who chose Unfinished Business, giving it the most “likes.”

But it is LOVERBOY’s reputation as a live act which has always been its calling card, as the group continues to entertain fans of all ages.

Join us in welcoming Loverboy to the 2018 Kemptville Live Music Festival as headliners on Friday, July 20, 2018.

Bill Durst is a Canadian Blues- Rock- Roots guitarist, singer, songwriter, entertainer who has written and recorded over 125 songs on 12 albums with 7 national radio chart hits. As a kid growing up in Wingham and then London, Ontario (which is halfway between Toronto and Detroit), Bill was heavily influenced by Motown R&B and Toronto Psychedelic Soul music as well as the British Blues Invasion and Jimi Hendrix.