DJ Bones: Always In Photo and Music
By Jillianne Hamilton
(06/06/09)
Necessity is the mother of invention. And, according to Maritime DJ, photographer and music lover Marc Xavier LeBlanc (aka DJ Bones), necessity is how Indie Pop Night all began.
"It started back in 2004 when I was DJing at a gig in downtown Moncton. I was playing mood music in between bands and a guy by the name of Shawn Doyle came to talk to me and
really loved the stuff I was playing," LeBlanc said. "After a few musical chats, we decided Moncton needed a night where people could come and listen to different kinds of
music besides punk rock and metal in bars around Moncton. Since we were both into indie pop rock music, we came up with the idea to host a few events. Thus Indie Pop Night
was born."
After several events, Doyle moved out west and LeBlanc decided to continue the events by himself.
"After a year or two, I had people from Fredericton coming to my IPN events in Moncton. The Capital Bar (in Fredericton) asked me to play at their grand re-opening
after they renovated the place in March of 2007 and people really loved it and I started doing it monthly there as well," LeBlanc explained. "Not long after that in, August 2007, I had
my first Charlottetown event." From there, the events spread to Sackville and Saint John and Halifax. "Last December I even ventured out for my
first event outside of the Maritimes and hosted one of my IPN events in Medicine Hat, Alberta where my girlfriend is from and it was a great success."
LeBlanc says he regularly sees both new faces as well as familiar ones at his monthly events across the Maritimes.
"IPN events have become like a little musical family. It's a meetup point where people can just come and hang out, let go, be themselves, listen to and dance to a great
mixture of mainstream indie pop rock music and more underground east coast bands."
A big part of the fun and energy is from the people who come to the events, LeBlanc said.
"Another thing I find cool is that people are travelling a lot more to other cities where I have my events- people from
Charlottetown come to my events in
Moncton and vice versa! It's really cool to see people from different cities get along so well and really bond over the musical comunal vibes."
LeBlanc seems genuinely modest about his affect on the Maritime music scene.
"Hopefully I've helped it out in a positive way and I've opened up new ears to all the great music being made out here," he said. "I do get a lot of feedback from people who
say they really
love that I play a lot of young, up-and-coming talent at my events."
But LeBlanc isn't only a DJ. He's got, like, a zillion (or so) other things on his plate.
"I've been hosting my own weekly radio show in Moncton for almost 19 years where I play a lot of indie pop rock music from all over the world. I've been organizing shows for
bands as well as documenting live bands with my
photography. That's garnered me some good attention."
"Some good attention" is putting it lightly. LeBlanc has been nominated six years in a row (2004-2009) for
Photographer of the Year and Media Person of the Year
in 2008 and 2009 at the
East Coast Music Awards. LeBlanc even co-owns a photography studio in Moncton,
StudioGraph Photography, with photographer/designer
Heather Sproat.
"I'm also a weekly contributor and do a music column on CBC's show called
Shift (based out of
Saint John, NB) where I spotlight French talent from all over
Canada," he said.
He's even making friends and musical ties across the world.
"I've taken part in many events in a cool little spot in Tokyo Japan called "Canadian Style" and "Swedish Style" where I compiled musical playlists for events based around
those countries as a guest DJ. I'm also an
East Coast Scene reporter for Radio Canada's very cool audio visual musical podcast called
Bande À Part."
But when LeBlanc is playing requests and his own musical finds at
Indie Pop Night events, the feeling of community togetherness and love (for music) is always in the air.
"It's what music should be all about- bringing people together! I love it!"
For more info on DJ Bones, check out some of his photos (click on a thumbnail to see a larger version) and the links below.
Images:
Related links:
+
DJ Bones' MySpace
+
Indie Pop Night Events Fbook group
+
Follow DJ Bones on Twitter
+
DJ Bones on YouTube
+
DJ Bones on Flickr
+
StudioGraph Photography
+
Contact Email
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Jillianne Hamilton is a writer, blogger and a lover of indie music, funny movies, artsy things and the color red. She is studying Journalism at
Holland College, had an internship at the
Truro Daily News
and blogs for various college and pop culture websites. To contact Jill, visit her
website.
