Kicking Off 2010 with Local Talent, Billy Talent

Juno-award winning, multi-platinum selling Canadian band, Billy Talent, kicked off the New Year at Metalworks Studio.

Kevin Dietz, Assistant Engineer, who’s been at Metalworks for four years now, after graduating from Metalworks Institute’s Audio Production Engineering Program, said, “Billy Talent is a tight band, and each player is very solid on their instrument. On top of that, they're cool dudes, it was a lot of fun working with them.”

The band was in studio working on exclusive material which will be released on iTunes. Dietz, said the band did what they do best- they rocked out.

Billy Talent, formerly known as Pezz, hails from Streetsville, Ontario. They came together in 1993. The band is made up of lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz, Ian D’sa on lead guitar and backing vocals, Jonathan Gallant on bass guitar and backing vocals and Aaron Solowoniuk on drums and percussion.

The band remained underground in Toronto for almost a decade before shooting into stardom. After getting into a legal dispute over the name Pezz, the band renamed itself Billy Talent. The new name brought new found stardom. Kowalewicz’s contact with someone at Warner Music Canada’s gave the band a record deal and launched them into mainstream. Their latest album, Billy Talent III was released July 14, 2009.

Billy Talent has been nominated 25 times at the MuchMusic Video Awards and has won six times. They are twelve time Juno Award nominees, of which they also won six.

Another Metalworks Institute graduate, Chris Snow, acted as the pro-tools editor on the session. He also graduated from the Audio Production Engineering Program, and after interning at the studio was hired as Second Engineers at Vespa Music Group. He is making the most of the hands-on experience he’s getting and says, “Things may work themselves out to a certain extent, but you have to put yourself in the way of opportunity.”