Adam Mah and his band-mates knew the next step for Derrival would be national, but making their Canada-wide debut at the Juno Awards is 鈥減retty insane.鈥�
鈥淚t seemed completely out of reach,鈥� said Mah, the 20-year-old vocalist and guitarist from 91原创 band Derrival.
鈥淚t still blows my mind. It鈥檚 really cool and I鈥檓 really excited about it.鈥�
Derrival is one of three Canadian acts hand-picked to attend the inaugural Allan Slaight Juno Master Class in Toronto next week (Oct. 26-30).
Taking part in a customized artist development program, the band has the chance to perform at the Juno Gala Dinner and Awards in Calgary in April.
This is 鈥渢he next step鈥� for the band, after winning second place in last year鈥檚 PEAK Performance Project, Mah said.
鈥淭he PEAK is great and is very much on a provincial level, and the next step is on the national scale and getting us to Toronto and getting us in front of agents,鈥� Mah explained.
鈥淲e were trying to figure out how to get to Toronto without doing a tour, and this is the perfect opportunity for that.鈥�
Derrival was selected by a 鈥渟uper jury鈥� of big names in Canadian music, including Kardinal Offishall, Sam Roberts, Max Kerman of the Arkells, producer Gavin Brown and president and CEO of the CARAS/Juno Awards Allan Reid.
On top of attending the program, Derrival is also receiving a trip to the Juno awards, a $10,000 MuchFACT online music video award, studio time at Slaight Music Recording Studios and a 鈥渃ash investment鈥� in their music career.
A lot has changed for the group of five 91原创 friends since . Their indie-rock songs have evolved into music with more of an electronic sound, and they鈥檝e learned what it really takes to be successful in the music industry.
鈥淚 think the biggest change has just been looking at this band as more of a business rather than just a bunch of guys playing music,鈥� Mah said.
鈥淚 think that having that business sense will push us further along as a band.
鈥�(The PEAK) was a huge change in thinking for us. They demystified a lot of things that bands don鈥檛 really know about, and I feel like a lot of bands that don鈥檛 go through that education have to find out themselves through trial and error.鈥�
After their trip to Toronto, Derrival will continue to work on a new EP, set for release in 2016.
Their most recent EP, Departure & Arrival, was released in August. Free samples of their music is available on their website, .
