Hedley Fill Arenas but Haven't Won a Juno Award, Yet
Hedley haven't won a
Juno Award yet, but it's not for lack of trying. The band has been nominated 11 times, including the two they're up for on April 18 for Group of the Year and Pop Album of the Year for 'The Show Must Go.' Not to mention they've performed on the Canadian awards show multiple times.
But frontman Jacob Hoggard is looking forward to the festivities in St. John's, Newfoundland, which, win or lose, the pop-rock act won't be leaving until capping off their national arena tour at Mile One Centre on April 20.
"It's cool they started moving the Junos around and making Canada feel a bit more of an all-inclusive country," says Hoggard. "They not only started opening it up to an entirely different audience, but really started to give people that feeling of national pride. Sometimes, when everything comes out of Toronto -- this big mystical city where most people haven't been -- you don't feel included. When the Junos come to your city and you get to be the host, it really makes you feel a part of the whole thing -- similar to the Olympics."
Hedley is from the Vancouver area, which, of course, just hosted the Winter Olympics, and the band performed at victory ceremonies at BC Place and in Whistler. "It was super rad," exclaims Hoggard.
Hedley is currently one of the most popular bands in the country. Hoggard, a former 'Canadian Idol' finalist who joined forces with seasoned, respected Vancouver musicians in Hedley -- a band name he kept from his high-school days -- had to work extra hard to earn credibility and over the past five years has consistently gained a bigger and bigger fan base.
At a recent sold-out show at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, the singer reminisced with the crowd of 8,100 screaming fans, recounting how Hedley had gone from playing the tiny, since-defunct 360 club in downtown Toronto, to the larger Kool Haus, then multiple nights at the three-level soft-seater Massey Hall, finally landing at the ACC.
A big part of that success, in addition to numerous hit singles, is the way Hoggard, guitarist Dave Rosin, bassist Tom MacDonald and drummer Chris Crippin treat their fans -- signing autographs and posing for pictures. Their tour schedule makes it too challenging to do this year's Juno Fan Fare meet 'n' greet, but Hoggard says it's "an exciting way to incorporate fans of the music into the Juno Awards and get people a little closer to the people that they're proud of and support."
Hoggard remembers watching the Juno Awards on TV at his grandparents' house, but true to his nature was often distracted. It never crossed his mind he could one day be there. "Maybe it would've been better if I had dreamt of being there; it would be a much better story now," he says. "I definitely have a much better appreciation for it now than I could ever have imagined wrapping my head around at an earlier age. I didn't know what goes into it all and how it all gets decided and who gets to be there and why. It's a really special privilege."
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