By Pepper Parr
June 4, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Ciarán Downes, one of the six men that play under the band name Oh Geronimo, said that for an unrepresented band he felt they had done well in being named one of the top 25 bands in the region by CBC’s Searchlight for talent.
The group is made up of – Ciarán Downes- Vocals, Guitar Kyle Robertson- Vocals, Guitar, Banjo Andrew Donofrio- Guitar Drew Mattiacci- Drums Cole Mortillaro- Bass Stuart Mitchell- Vocals, Guitar, Keys, Percussion
Ciarán Downes, Kyle Robertson, Andrew Donofrio, Drew Mattiacci, Cole Mortillaro and Stuart Mitchell.
Burlington got bundled in with Hamilton (they always do that to us) in the creation of 23 regions – with one winner coming out of each region and two other bands chosen by popular vote.
As part of a process that stretched the search out for a longer period of time there was a top 25 in each region then a top ten and then a top five
Ciarán Downes
Oh Geronimo didn’t make it beyond the top 25 level in their region but that didn’t seem to matter to the crowd at The Dickens last night.
This year’s CBC Searchlight competition was described as “incredible, with so much amazing talent across the country.” It was a tough decision for the industry panelists.
Oh Geronimo won with their “Arctic Shores”. Here is what the panelists had to say: “Oh Geronimo’s ‘Arctic Shores’ had me simply for the first bars of harmonies, then I started paying attention to the lyrics and then this solid, banging guitar riff hits. And then boom, the song was over! Didn’t feel like an almost 4 minute song, which blew me away. I’d see them live anytime.”
The crowd at Dickens Friday night loved Oh Geronimo – pretty good band to move the beer a lot of beer.
There were more than 2,000 acts submitted with songs, ranging from hip-hop to rock to country to folk-indie, showcasing diverse talents from coast to coast to coast.
This year’s Searchlight competition had a big twist: the top four finalists vied for the grand prize on a prime-time televised broadcast on CBC-TV, competing in front of a live audience and our celebrity judging panel.
Musicians also had the chance to have their entries heard by a Searchlight industry panel, which included music programmers, journalists, label representatives, managers, radio/TV hosts, publicists and more.
But, in the end, one act was named Canada’s Searchlight winner. Desirée Dawson, from Surrey, B.C., was crowned Searchlight champion. She appeared at the CBC Music Festival in Toronto on Saturday, May 28, and will receive $25,000 from Yamaha Canada Music and a Career Booster Package from Canadian Musician magazine worth over $25,000.
