The Matinée and Shore's Sounds of Summer

This season Shore 104.3FM is hosting the Sounds of Summer song-search contest. Selecting the very best accoustic tunes from local artists, singers and songwriters, Shore hopes to showcase some of the city's best talent while giving us all the very best soundtrack to our summer.

"It's great to have radio stations like this that are supporting local artists quite heavily," said Matt Layzell from The Matinée, one of the Sounds of Summer's top 20 finalists. The band has had a great relationship with the station already, calling in from the road to provide updates and having their songs played on air.

The Matinée were selected from over 200 applicants who submitted their songs to the Sounds of Summer.

Although the band was excited to have been chosen, Matt said they were unsure if they would get very far in the competition at first. "Most of the top 20 are singer/songwriters or duos as the nature of the contest is that they wanted an accoustic song. So with 6 members we had to think about that, and who would play on it." Matt ended up pairing with Matt Rose on guitar for their submission, "Let Her Go" and this move has obviously paid off so far.

"Our contest really focuses on the songwriting and the artist," Patrick Zulinov, Programmer and Music Director at Shore 104.3FM told me. "It's about how they can perform those songs rather than what they can do in the studio or with all the technical magic available to them right now."

The Top 20 finalists, who will be featured daily on the Shore at 11:45am and 6:45pm include:

You can have a listen to the current top 20 online.

Shore 104's Sounds of Summer song search continues on until the judges (including Terry McBride, Sam Feldman, and Bruce Allen) select the top 10 songs at the end of this month. The contest will then be opened up to a public vote to select the winner who will receive prizes from Tom Lee Music and a slot at the Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival and Shore Fest during the Celebration of Light fireworks.

The Matinée are playing Fort Langley tomorrow (Saturday June 26) for the benefit concert Jammin' 4 Jay. The Jammin' 4 Jay Charitable Society strives to educate young drivers and generate awareness amongst them in promoting safe driving practices by sharing the story and celebrating the life of Jay Drew.

The Matinée will be on at 9:15pm followed by Dustin Bentall at 10:30pm.

This would be a great chance to not only support a cause, but to check out the band that could have Vancouver's first official "Song of Summer".