Looking for Me?

Last summer, was a big leap in my transition, from a mostly studio based artist, into a live setting again. Whilst it is true, that I’ve performed live, I had never toured around with it the way I am doing now, the last performances I had done, of my own original music, prior to 2023, were back in my high school days!

2020, during the whole national closing down ordeal, that all Canadians went through, I spent that time continuing my second album, a project at that point in time that was going to be called ‘Corrupted’, but would eventually become ‘Rescue Me’, as we know it today. All I did during those days was work my full time job, at a local tire warehouse in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, then headed home, to work on my craft in my free time. I was able to collaborate with some surprising people, from all over the world, as well as closer to home. I’ve mentioned these folks in previous blog articles. From Cape Town, South Africa/Old Orchard Beach, Maine/Ottawa, Ontario.

By the time 2023 rolled around, things had started to calm down a bit, and places had reopened fully, as it was before the lockdown. I was able to go out to bars, and began to sing regularly at Rendezvous Restaurant, in Cornwall. It was there I met my friend Rodney Rivette, owner of Rockstar Party Productions, who runs the karaoke nights on a Wednesday, Saturday, every week (as of writing this) starting at 8pm. During my fun, and sometimes wild nights at that great venue, I was able to meet, and sing alongside some wonderful talent. Typically, I would drink 0% beer, which would allow me the freedom to drive wherever I wanted to after, say if I wanted to sing karaoke at another bar, I would not be limiting my transportation options.

That’s where I would meet Jonny Yumang, a highly talented, respected, and seasoned performer who even made a cameo appearance in my music video shot that summer, called ‘Señorita Por Favor’. I look forward to working with him, as well as the other great performers that I’ve had the pleasure of dancing, and crooning beside. No windows broken by our voices yet, and believe me we’ve tried…

Whilst singing karaoke, I met a fan of mine Bertha, who asked if I would be able to perform for the White Knucklerz RC, a local riding club that raise money for children with life threatening illness, and help them get their dream toy. I agreed to meet up with them, and on July 15th 2023 I had my first original live show. It was lots of fun, but a very hot and humid day, I would quickly discover. After that I went on to perform again, for the Martintown Grist Mill on that same month. The crowd was small that day, perhaps 10 people or so, and it was sweltering with heat, but I still managed to pool in $80 in tips, as well as sell one of the bracelets that my friend Mel had made for me to sell to fans.

Pictured: Rescue Me album opened up, it was a CD in a vinyl record style.

Later that year I created my CD versions of both ‘Wine’ (my 2017 album), and ‘Rescue Me’ which I released at that moment. I sold the pair $10 for Wine, and $20 for Rescue Me. In total by the end of the year I’d sold over 30 copies! I sign each copy for my fans. A print shop in Summerstown, close to the local small airport, called P&L Printing, helped me create my labels, and cover cards, I duplicate the CDs myself using a tower.

Pictured: My new album merch has arrived, ‘Rescue Me’ shirts have been selling nicely too. I’m in the process of ordering more as of writing this article.

So as it stands now, if you scroll to the bottom of my homepage on my official website: www.jameshardiment.com

You will find a contact form, which allows you to book me for a live event this 2024 season. My base rate is $250 and that price will increase by $100 based on how many extra performers or crew that I’d require. That base rate is based on a show that lasts up to 4 hours with intermission. I will do charity shows, if I approve of the organization, for free, I just ask that I am allowed to set up a merch table to sell my CDs, and Shirts, etc. to support myself (15% of proceeds will be donated to the host and their charity).

You can also just email: jameshardiment@outlook.com

I look forward to this new season, and can’t wait to engage, and connect with more of my incredible fans!

Until next time…

James

Calling for Backup!

(Pictured: Jonny Yumang singing some backups while I snap a quick photo in my garage. I chose the garage for the extra natural reverb.)

If you are new to the blog, my name is James Hardiment, and I am a singer/songwriter that is about to release a new album called “Rescue Me” in the coming months. I will also be doing a live tour with backing tracks around the local area, Cornwall, Ontario, Canada and the surrounding places. I was heavily inspired by ‘80s and ‘90s dance music from Europe, North America, and South Africa. I was also inspired by old Doo Wop tracks from the 1950s, think to songs like Rama Lama Ding Dong by the Esdels, from that era where people cruised in cars as big as boats around to the drive-in diner, rollerblading waitresses would serve them milkshakes. Think “Grease” type of time period, with John Travolta, and Olivia Newton John. The greasers, nerds, jocks, cheerleaders to name a few of the groups of those days. For some of my covers I require a different voice than my own for the back-up vocals. So I’ve been calling up my friends from the karaoke scene in town to help me out. My friend and performer Jonny Yumang came up to my house in Long Sault and we worked on a song together.

My Rescue Me tour will consist of me playing between 30-40 tracks (mostly originals) with some covers too, my various inspirations in my own music mainly. Most of which are not well know in this market, with a few exceptions, so I’m hoping it will make for a nice change. I see plenty of country, rap, and rock acts in the area, but not too many doing dance music from the 1980s from Europe, and South Africa. I’ve mentioned before my genres include Italo Disco, which came after ‘70s Disco, and before ‘90s house music. I also enjoy South African Bubblegum, Funk, and Synth Boogie styles, all from the 1980’s and ‘90s as well. If you are curious you can always go onto YouTube and take a browse, thats how I discovered it all back in high school.

I’m actually looking for a backup singer live right now, I think I may have found a candidate but if anyone else is interested please feel free to get in touch. I typically perform on weekends, since I work during the week at present. Looking for female at present, but also male eventually as well. If you scroll to the bottom of the home page, you can find all my socials there.

My first event as I’ve mentioned before is July 15th 2023 at the White Knucklerz place at 527 Pitt St. Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. It’s going to be from 12-3pm. Looking forward to it as they are raising money for a sick child called Ewan who has Cystic Fibrosis, trying to buy him his dream toy! I’m so honoured to be able to perform, I hope he enjoys the upbeat sound. I will also be at the Martintown Grist Mill, selling some merchandise (fingers crossed) as well as singing my songs on a stage out front on July 23rd at 10am-3pm (probably not the whole time obviously, there will be a break) check back on my website in the coming weeks for more details.

Remember to like, follow, and share the blog posts with others if you can. I really appreciate everyone, and their support to me as an artist in this awesome community that we have here. Lots of creativity, and love for music, art, and entertainment. Let’s keep it going for the summer ahead!

James

Retro Fun with a Green Screen!

Continuing the ‘Rescue Me’ album, set for release later this summer, I, singer/songwriter James Hardiment, teamed up with live performance artist Jonny Yumang, and filmmaker Jake Adamson to work on a new music video. This time, I would again continue with my upbeat, retro, Spanish Italo Disco, dance music style, which was popular in mainland Europe in the 1980s, especially at nightclubs. That style has been the primary inspiration of the project. The 3 of us filmed our parts on a green screen, which I had set up in my garage at home. I am based in a small town outside of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, called Long Sault (Pronounced Soo) for those reading from the various parts of the globe.

I love the fast synthesizer riffs which were typical of the genre, and the catchy melodies. I would sing the choruses in Spanish, and the verses in English. I love to blend languages in my songs, something many Italo artist would do as well back in the day. Artists such as David Lyme (Jordi Cubino) would sing his verses in English, chorus in Italian. The style originated in Italy, and despite being a Spanish artist, my guess was that he wanted to pay tribute to the country where it all came from. Not sure on that just my theory of course! He was also an opera singer to begin with, who discovered the style by accident, which might have been the reason as well.

The song is called ‘Señorita Por Favor’ and is all about falling in love with a dangerous woman, sort of a tongue in cheek, cartoonish melody. It has a bubblegum pop feel to it during the English verses. My dream girl rides a motorcycle, drives a powerboat on the river, and has a cute little pug that comes with her on her badass adventures. I find the Spanish language so romantic, and fun to sing in! The chorus basically asks a lady if she wants to join my gang of love, a very upbeat, and positive message. If everyone loved each other, things would be a lot better than constantly fighting, but that’s probably too much to ask.

I wanted to make a track that could make you get up and dance to, and I think I succeeded with that part at least. Dance music is one of my favourites, amongst other styles, including rock, pop, RnB, South African synth funk, and boogie. My album explores many different musical genres, but the constant theme throughout is that Spanish Italo Disco sound that I love.

Jonny Yumang is a Cornwall local legend when it comes to singers in town, especially, lately for the present karaoke sets across the city. He can be found often at Glengarry Pub, Rendezvous Restaurant, and Daffodil to name some of the venues in the town that offer karaoke nights. We often perform songs together at Rendezvous especially, sort of my home base. I’m there Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays typically, but Jonny has to work some of those nights. You might as well follow his Facebook page to know, or ask me since we are friends. Rendezvous is at 1213 Pitt St. Cornwall, Ontario. Jonny used to be an Elvis impersonator as well, and has an old costume lying around in an old cupboard somewhere. Lately he has been working another job, outside of music, like many of us have to pay the bills!

Pictured: Jonny Yumang on the keyboards! Fun times for sure.

As I mentioned earlier, I had the guys position on the green screen separately, as it wasn’t big enough for all of us to be in the same shot. There was a bit of room, but it was a bit of a squeeze for Jake with the drum pads on stands to hit to the beat of the track. I shot all the video with my iPhone SE built in camera, then edited the clips together using a powerful video editor app called Cyberlink PowerDirector. I love the cheesy, retro transitions I could throw together, similar to what you would have seen on a TV show in the ‘80s, which is what I was going for. I also ran the final edit through a VHS filter app, it creates a tape look to the footage, complete with distortion, and that analog fuzz you would have seen.

I’ve released the song to YouTube so far, thanks for everyone and their support, liking, commenting, and sharing. Every little helps an artist trying to get his, her, of their name out there. Check it out below!

That’s all for todays blog post I think, I’m excited for the stuff coming together this summer, it’s gonna be a record heatwave, hopefully I can sell some records as well! Feel free to explore my website too, there’s lots to read about, and I try to keep things local too, not always though.

Follow Jonny Yumang on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/RockinKing/

James

Sabadell Sound

Last year, 2022, I composed a song, part of a larger collection to go onto my upcoming album. The album shall be called ‘Rescue Me’, after the song I released in the Easter of the same year. For those new to the blog, I am a singer/songwriter called James Hardiment, who is based near Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. This track I worked on I decided to call ‘Sounds of Sabadell’.

Sabadell is a town in Spain, where a certain sound was created in dance music, back in the 1980s. Fast synthesizer riffs, lots of melody, and harmony. It was a Spanish branch of the Italo Disco style, which began in Italy, and branched out across mainland Europe. It replaced ‘70s disco, and featured synthesizers, drum machines, with the occasional sax, or guitar. The vocals were usually sung in English, sometimes mixed with other languages too. Artists such as David Lyme (real name Jordi Cubino) pioneered the sound, which dominated the dance music in Spain back then. He tended to sing the verses in English, and then throw in some Italian words for the choruses. Check out songs such as ‘Bambina’, and ‘Bye Bye Mi Amor’ are examples of this. Great songs by the way, and you can find some a pretty cool, lip synced TV performances from back then. There’s an awesome one, on a Japanese television program, that features a whole team of backup dancers, dressed in fun costumes. Jordi is dancing on the stage in an awesome black tuxedo, paired with a white dress shirt and bow tie. I love how classy dance music was back then sometimes, romantic too. Today it’s all rude and crude party songs, or so it seems anyways!

The sound, as I mentioned, has been a big influence on me. I find myself listening to Spanish Italo Disco the most, I love to dance to it. Other artists I should note include, Daydream, Squash Gang, Marce, and some next generation artists which I enjoy, as Italo has made a comeback, include Vincent International, and Stylove. The English is typically sung with a thick accent, which I find adds to the charm, and makes it more European in flavour.

I’ve written a few songs in the style, which have been so much fun, ‘Mistletoe Lady’ a Christmas track, ‘Rescue Me’, and ‘Sounds of Sabadell’. There are a few more in the works too, I look forward to releasing them all soon enough, I want to get the album out by the end of the year, hopefully anyways. ‘Sounds of Sabadell’ is all about dancing in the monsoon rain, wishing I was with the girl of my dreams, dancing together all night in Spain to the sounds of Sabadell.

I shot the music video on a smart phone, my filmmaker friend Jake Adamson helped me record it. Jake is also based in Cornwall. We teamed up with actor, and model Marianne Laver in the video, which features her, and I, strolling along the Rideau Canal together in Ottawa. It was a very fun shoot, so grateful for all the help from my friends. I added a VHS filter to the footage to make it appear like an old music video from the 1980s. Then I had my friend Duncan Fyffe, record a sax solo as well. Very retro, which is what I was going for, and romantic!

The song was mixed and mastered by audio engineer, Josh Hart, who is Ottawa based. If you need a song mixed, or recorded check out his website, to get in touch:

https://www.joshhartrecordings.com

I had such a blast with the project, I just released it to YouTube this evening. Hope everyone enjoys the tune, I’m so happy with how it turned out in the end!

Thanks for reading, that’s all for now!

James