I really love compilations. I also really love and respect the music coming out of this very Ambitious City.

The Ambitious CD : Series 1 is an amalgamation of the many acoustic, eclectic and eccentric musical personalities currently making their mark in the Steel City. This is our third compilation of local talent and is also a re-affirmation of what I've always believed...that Hamilton's musicians are some of the most ambitious and industrious in this country!

For a whole rundown of who's on the comp and a little bit about each artist by heading over to our special Ambitious Bio page.

Read a great review of The Ambitious CD by James Hayashi-Tennant over at View Magazine's website. Make sure to pick up a real copy at many locations all around Hamilton!

We have just hooked up some online distribution with the cool folks at New World CDs. You can now go direct through them to order The Ambitious CD. Check out their site by clicking on their logo!


HAPPENINGS

For Immediate Release:

Hot Tub and Dr. Nasrad presents:

RARELY SEEN : An Evening of Hamilton Music Videos

Saturday November 2nd at Staircase Cafe Theatre

27 Dundurn Street North (one block north of King) in Hamilton, Ontario

The Staircase is quickly becoming known as Hamilton's most versatile arts and entertainment venue. The Staircase is an architecturally spectacular cafe named for its cast iron spiral staircase. They serve up delicious cappuccino, thin crust pizza, and decadent desserts. Hidden behind the cafe is an intimate theatre complete with surround sound, plush seats and popcorn!

Music videos are very much like a "commercial" for a band and their music. Many local musicians have made videos to showcase their sounds - but not all of them have gotten a chance to be widely seen. We want to change that! We hope this evening of Hamilton music videos makes it possible for their work to be appreciated again in a fun and exciting atmosphere. This way they can be enjoyed as not just commercials for a band, but as works of art to be enjoyed by all.


MORE HAPPENINGS

Our friends over at Almavale Sound Recordings have just launched Almavale Tuesdays, a weekly music night devoted to the area's best singer/songwriters.

Every Tuesday, musicians from all across Southern Ontario will set up shop in the Casbah's Lounge. Almavale Tuesdays will feature 3 artists every week -- some local, some from out of town. Almavale's head honcho Aaron Wrixon will host the night.

Admission is $5. Doors open every Tuesday at 7:30pm, and music will run from 8pm-10pm.

Almavale Sound Recordings

The Casbah


COMPILATIONS

THE AMBITIOUS CD
2002 Hamilton Indie Music Collection
"The Ambitious CD : Series 1 is an amalgamation of the many acoustic, eclectic and eccentric musical personalities currently making their mark in the Steel City. This is our third compilation of local talent and is also a re-affirmation of what I've always believed...that Hamilton's musicians are some of the most ambitious and industrious in this country! " Click here for more!

THE AMALGAMATION COMPILATION
2001 Hamilton Indie Music Collection
"The 2001 instalment in the on-going history of Hamilton pop culture. Contenders include Dunnville smart-rockers, Chore, the soul beats & guitar-burn combo, 68 BPM and the New Realist hip-hop sounds of Warsawpack. Small-scale pleasures such as the low-fi, six-tease-styled kitsch-greak of Transylvania 500,can be found here as well. And watch out for the bonus track by noted synth-abuse outfit, Negspect." Click here for more!

DROWNED IN THE HARBOUR
1999 Hamilton Indie Music Collection
"Drowned in the Harbour was put together to give some much needed exposure to the Hamilton music scene. Drowned collects 16 tracks from eleven bands including Sara Somebody, The Probes, Marvin K. Mooney, Big Brother and Holy Joe and it runs the gamut from the '60s-inspired garage groove of Evil Engine's "3 Miles" to the folk of Zildo Ildo's "Unnecessarily Sad" to the more direct pop rock of Hereafter's "Scream". Click here for more!


ABOUT HAMILTON

Hamilton - a.k.a. The Steel City, Hammer-town, The Head of the Lake, The Ambitious City, The Hammer.

Located halfway between Toronto and Niagara Falls at the head of Lake Ontario, Hamilton is an entity unto itself, so unlike either of the communities that act as its bookends that it may as well be on another planet. Founded by Hollywood actor George Hamilton in 1846, Hamilton is a split level community, with the older downtown section nestled between the harbour to the north and the Niagara Escarpment to the south. The upper portion of the city is an ever expanding, largely residential, area colloquially referred to as "The Mountain"

Few people realize that Mr. Hamilton's trademark tan was acquired during his early years in Hamilton, when he was employed in the open hearth at Stelco. His complexion was slowly roasted to an attractive golden bronze by the very same blast furnaces that have helped produce world class tans for many subsequent generations of Hamilton steel workers. Hamilton is a working class town, with a definite style of its own, that bears little resemblance to the metropolis of smokestacks and Mafia that many outsiders have pictured in their minds.

You must read the rest of this!


ABOUT HOT TUB

Don't let the name deceive you, Hot Tub is not a record label per se. In the words of Dave Kuruc, the man in charge of this local organization, it is more of a "loose based collective of like-minded musicians and artists." They began in 1998, when the music scene was pretty silent, "… just the same old, same old." Through their efforts, they "proved that people in this city were still interested in live, local music." Since its inception, Hot Tub has been promoting local talent through regular shows, the Soundout Festival weekend, the Hamilton Indie Music Expo and the compilation albums.

Dave Kuruc has seen the music scene change in Hamilton in the past five years. From a cut-throat industry made up of competitors for the gigs, local bands have unified. As "sixties" as it sounds, a community has formed in which "people are happy to help each other out." The good thing about this, as Kuruc has found, is that anyone who's interested can step in and get involved. He "hopes Hamilton's music community continues doing what it's doing… 'Cause it's working."

Click here for more!


CONTACT HOT TUB

PO BOX 36633 - 75 CENTENNIAL PKWY
HAMILTON, ON CANADA L8E 2P0

Email Hot Tub Dave!