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This month’s issue means a lot to me. You may be asking yourself why we’re featuring a Canadian band on the cover, when we’re distributed solely in the United States. To which I would reply, “Stop talking to yourself, that’s weird.”

Simply put, The Trews are one of my favorite bands. The States have seen an influx of Canadian groups hit it big in recent years, but for some strange reason The Trews have languished in relative obscurity outside their homeland. One of our goals at Performer is to introduce our readers to amazing music they should be listening to, and in that respect, The Trews are a perfect cover choice. They’re one of the hardest working live acts I’ve ever seen, and their records are phenomenal representations of what heartfelt rock & roll should be.

Since no other American press outlets are giving the band their due, we’re stepping up to the plate to right that wrong. In other Canadian news, The Arcade Fire recently won the Grammy for Album of the Year. The Twitterverse completely freaked out, as moms across the country frantically asked “Who Are The Suburbs?” on their Facebook walls. Are the Grammys irrelevant? Sure, you can make that argument. But even the most jaded hipsters have to admit that an independent band winning the night’s most coveted honor is a pretty nice slap in the face to all the crappy, mass produced, soulless major label garbage stinking up TV and radio.

Not to mention the fact that a virtuoso female bass player toppled the mighty Justin Bieber juggernaut to claim Best New Artist. So be a Negative Nancy all you want; this editor has chosen to look at the silver lining. Besides, like my mother always said, “If you keep up that sourpuss, your face is gonna get stuck that way.”

And finally, in a bit of sadder news, Performer has learned that the epic mustache belonging to Boston music luminary Michael J. Epstein was recently shaved off by fellow musician Ryan Schmidt. Sources close to the incident report that the ’stache’s road to recovery will be a long one, but hopes are high. For the latest developments in this ongoing story, please head to blog.michaeljepstein.com.

-Benjamin Ricci
Editor

P.S. – So you’ll be happy to know that karma has come around to bite me. In last month’s “From The Top,” I thought it would be a good idea to brag about the lack of errors in the February issue. Well, turns out that was a terrible decision. As many of you pointed out in delight, there were a few regrettable typos in the March issue. We are well aware that there should be an “e” at the end of the word “response” (pg 52, March). We also now know that a person typically “says” something, because if he “syas” it, it probably won’t make much sense (pg 15, March).