Singer Kroeker joins Harlots on Universal shipping list

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/02/2003 (8568 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IN the waning days of 2002, Universal Music Canada worked through a paperwork backlog, giving the green light to new projects like Winnipeg rock band The Harlots’ distribution and promotion deal.

As it turns out, another Winnipeg recording act hooked up with Universal at the same time: expat singer-songwriter Joel Kroeker.

Kroeker, 30, has signed a contract with True North records, a Universal-distributed Canadian label best known for putting out Bruce Cockburn’s music. An indirect product of the Winnipeg folk scene, Kroeker cut his teeth in Edmonton’s music scene and now lives a communal existence with his wife and several friends in Vancouver.

Raised in Winnipeg, Kroeker played gigs around Winnipeg and studied music at the University of Manitoba before moving to Edmonton in 1999. There, he found a novel way to get the government to pay for his education in the music industry: The research for his masters degree in ethnomusicology involved interviews with established Canadian singer-songwriters such as Stephen Fearing, Veda Hille and Fred Eaglesmith.

The True North deal sprang out of a series of showcases he performed last year, soon after he left Edmonton for Vancouver. He describes his current sound as edgier than folk-rock and not exactly what people might expect from a so-called singer-songwriter.

“I’m not Britney Spears,” says the 30-year-old musician. “That’s why it’s so interesting a (major) record company sought me out.”

Kroeker plans to record his True North debut in the spring and hopes to release the record this year or in 2004.

And what about The Harlots? Well, the Winnipeg quartet has been given April 29 as the tentative release date for its new album, Crawl Spaces.

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