Tara Holloway 1. What has the last year been like for you? BUSY. hahAHA Which is the best way to be when yer tryin to pull a career outta yer ass! ahhhahHA   Alot of travelling this year, and new songs, new recordings, session work, and hustling. 2. Has your sound changed? Mmm, depending on whether i'm writing alone, recording with friends, or in any number of situations i write differently maybe. My sound is definitely my voice. And my voice is an instrument i like to play with. It's always a little variation of what it was the day before. I like nuances. 3. What makes your sound different from other bands? I am living and breathing my art. It's me, and it's my life-  i figure we're all unique when we follow our own path and our own truth. 4. Have you changed much personally? In that last couple years of touring and playing music full-time? Yes i'd say so. I'm kinda always changing personally though hahahahahHahah 5. What's the most fun about touring? here's the list: travelling, meeting new friends, the gigs different every night, bar drinks, bar food, and driving!!!... I guess the BEST part about touring is all of it haha! Cuz once yer on the road, it means you've done all you can for booking/rehearsing/preparing/hustling, and all that's left to do is make sure you get to each gig and enjoy yourself. 6. Describe what it feels like to perform on stage? Home 7. What do you want people to remember after going to see you perform live? That maybe they got to know me a little bit. I like being totally personal with an audience. 8. How would you describe your sound? earthy, edgy, raw,  quirky but poppy too 9. What motivates your band? I am "my band" so, hmm, what motivates the bands that back me up (and there are alot) is sometimes money, and most times enjoyment of the music and the gig. If I answer for just myself- What motivates me is an obsession to work in music, to write music, to hit the road for music, -singing is like a saritonin thing for me I think. I just fucking love to sing. 10. Final thoughts? What are these questions for anyway? hahaHAhhaha   you can check her out at myspace or at a pub near you BY SHAWN DUFFIN

Dead Celebrity Status After an abscence of roughly two years Dead Celebrity Status made  their triumphant return to a Sudbury stage tonight; however earlier in the day I had the chance to sit down and talk with the two MC's of the group - Yas Talaat and Bobby McIntosh.  It's clear from the moment that they enter the venue for soundcheck and set-up that they are both excited for the night and relish performing for their hometown crowd.  "Ya man, we played here like two years ago and now we're back to crush it", Talaat says with a hint of mischief on his face.  Their most currect album, "Blood Music", came out in late 2004 and features special guest appearances from such noteable musicians as Joss Stone, Dave Navarro, DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit, Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson and more.  When posed with the possibility of having guest stars on their upcoming release set for later in the year they give a definite yes but refuse to divulge who those stars might be. "We got a few people on the record but we don't want to give anything away right now, you know?", McIntosh says.  "We just want to kind of keep it a secret." Over the years the group has gone through a transformation of sorts.  Starting out as a hip-hop duo under the name Project Wyze, the group quickly made a name for themselves in the local music scene and ended up opening for artists like Dream Warriors, Maestro Fresh Wes and even Public Enemy.  After yet more change the band released two EP's (Trapz of Poetic Poison and Only If I Knew) as a rock/rap act.  The band was later signed to Sony Music and in 2001 realeased their major label debut entitled Misfits, Strangers, Liars, Friends.  Now back on their own and back to their hip-hop roots Dead Celebrity Status has quickly made themselves known as one of Canada's elite hip-hop artists and have gone on to tour extensively through Canada, the US and Europe. On the European crowds McIntosh says, "Its a total different view on hip-hop over there.  They're into everything from the music, the dance, the graffiti and not just the music." I quickly offer up the suggestion of the hip-hop scene in Europe encompassing a more "wholistic" approach. "Ya man, thats a good word," McIntosh says with a little laugh. DCS has yet to unveil an official realease date for their new cd but offered up a little detail about it when pegged for some information for the fans. "Well we're hoping to have it out before the end of this year...if not, very early next year, very early in the next quarter for sure," Taalat beams in.  Rumours that the album would be called "Dead Day" have been floating around the internet for some time and the pair quickly put a rest to that. "Not at all, thats not even close to the name of the album", scoffs McIntosh. "Heres what Dead Day is," says Taalat. "I'll give you the exclusive on this one.  Dead Day is going to basically be a period before the record drops that we're going to start releasing videos and song samples and blogs and things like that on our myspace and on the web.  Thats going to be the start of Dead Day building up toward the release of the record." To end the interview I thought I'd take things to the lighter side and ask the boys what their guilty pleasure is musically speaking.  What might they listen to that fans wouldn't believe? "Alot of 80's music," they pipe in almost in unison.  "Duran Duran," laughs McIntosh. Taalat offers a fun fact.  "I love cheesy love ballads dude.  Sometimes Bobby and I will be listening to just really cheesy love songs backstage before a show." BY RYAN CLEMENT