The Puckhogs gained national exposure when their song, “For the Love of the Game”, placed 2nd out of over 1000 entries in the national 2013 CBC Hockey Night in Canada Song Quest. They lost to Dave Gunning, which is more than respectable, and with song in hand and solid nation-wide support, managed to raise over $2000.00 to donate to the Human League of Sudbury to help underprivileged kids get into organized sports.
Yes, it looks like the hockey-themed name has stuck. No, there are no other hockey songs on their debut album.
With three singer-songwriters – Sean Barrette, Chris Leblanc, and Brent Wohlberg – who all bring their own ideas to the table and then work together to make the songs better, their sound varies stylistically. Overall, it’s probably best described as Canadiana, or “music about your camp to listen to at camp” – the tunes are lively, authentic, sincere, and often humourous glimpses of what it means to live in the north. In any case, it’s best not to overthink it – they sure didn’t!
In this interview spotlight, I chat with The Puckhogs about their latest release, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
The Puckhogs all hail from Sudbury, Ontario Canada. The group is made up for 3 local singer-songwrites, Sean Barette, Chris Leblanc and Brent Wohlberg. We have dubbed our musical style as Canadiana.
The album is a mix of Rock and Country, and there should be a song or two on it that everyone can joy.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
We are all getting on on years, and it is purely the love of writing music that keeps us going. Some people paint, collect cars, write or read books.. Our thing is still to write and record songs., and with 3 of us, we are always there to bounce ideas off, maybe malke slight improvements, and attempt to make the songs as good as we can.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Although we have all released music in the past, this is our first album together as a unit. Our inspiration for getting together to make a full album came from placing 2nd in a Canada wide CBC contest for penning the next Hockey Song. We realized as a group we were a good songwriting, recording team, and decided to pursue an album.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
The biggest challenge as an independent is to find people that enjoy listening and supporting New Music. The onus is on the musician to search out those awesome indie supporters and encourage them to “Press Play”.
What was the last song you listened to?
I Like to Rock. (April Wine)
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
MP3s
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I think I prefer Itunes the most, but that being said, any format that will sell our music is awesome..
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Anything else before we sign off?
Just Thanks for your Help and Support!
