''Ashtray Rock'' is an album by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Joel Plaskett Emergency William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of genres ...

, released on April 17, 2007. In interviews, band frontman

Joel Plaskett William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of genres ...

has noted that Ashtray Rock is not a genre of music, but an actual location—in the forest west of

Clayton Park, Nova Scotia Clayton Park is a community within Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. History The community of Clayton Park is named after a family that owned property in the area extending up the southern slope of Geizer's Hill. On 12 July 1962, the Clayton Par ...

—where teenagers go to get drunk. The album is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

about two friends growing up in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, who form a band together, fall for the same girl, and have a falling-out in their friendship. Plaskett intended a nostalgic feel to the album, and used songs from his days with the band

Thrush Hermit Thrush Hermit was a Canadian alternative rock band active in the 1990s, known for their "highly energetic, humorous, and unpredictable performances," as quoted by Vice News. History Thrush Hermit was formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1992 by Jo ...

: "Snowed In" was performed live by that band, "The Glorious Life" is from 1994, and the title track Plaskett wrote in 1992 when he was age 17. The album is Plaskett's most personal. He has suggested that his former Thrush Hermit bandmates will recognize themselves in some of the narrative, and that one of the main character's musical tastes are similar to those of his wife, Nova Scotia graphic artist and cartoonist Rebecca Kraatz, who designed the album cover art. "Snowed In" and "Fashionable People" have both been released as singles in Canada. On July 10, 2007, the shortlist for the

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was incr ...

was revealed. ''Ashtray Rock'' was announced as a finalist, alongside such other acts as

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...

The Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes ( ) are a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Formed in 2003 by the husband and wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, the band also includes Kevin Laing (drums), Richard White (guitar), Sheenah Ko (keyboa ...

, and Feist. Patrick Watson was, however, announced the winner on September 24, 2007. The track "Introduction" consists of a small part of the track "Soundtrack for the Night."

Track listing

All songs written by Joel Plaskett # "An Introduction" – 0:51 # "Drunk Teenagers" – 4:10 # "Ashtray Rock" – 0:50 # "Fashionable People" – 4:10 # "Penny for Your Thoughts" – 3:47 # "Snowed In/Cruisin'" – 6:27 # "Face of the Earth" – 4:09 # "The Glorious Life" – 2:16 # "Nothing More to Say" – 3:23 # "Chinatown/For the Record" – 2:48 # "The Instrumental" – 3:21 # "Soundtrack for the Night" – 4:57 # "Outroduction" (

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

)– 1:06

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of ''Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone (magazine), ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

* Chris Pennell –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, backing vocals

Guests

* Ian McLagan – piano on tracks 3, 5, 9 * Mr. Chill –

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

Gordie Johnson Gordie Johnson (born 22 May 1964) is a Canadian musician, best known as the front man for the blues/reggae rock band Big Sugar, Austin-based blues/gospel band Sit Down Servant, and southern rock band Grady. Johnson is a Grammy nominated pr ...

–

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s, piano,

lap steel The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional a ...

, string arrangements *

Two Hours Traffic Two Hours Traffic was a Canadian indie rock band, based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. They are named after a line in the prologue to Shakespeare’s ''Romeo and Juliet''. Critics have drawn comparisons to 1970s power pop band Big Star ( ...

and " Meligrove Mike" – gang vocals on tracks 2, 12 * Rebecca Kraatz –

monologue In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...

on track 11 * Andrea Lucarelli –

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar ...

on track 12

References

External links

Joel Plaskett official site
{{Authority control 2007 albums Joel Plaskett albums MapleMusic Recordings albums