HOLY SH*T! We're up for a Canadian Grammy!

Jamesy Boy tells the story of representing Rare Americans at the 2023 Juno Nomination Ceremony

Guys! We did it! For the first time in our career, we’ve been nominated for an award, and its a pretty cool one to say the least. We’re up for “Breakthrough Group of the Year” at the 2023 Junos. As the large majority of you are in the USA, you probably don’t know what the Juno’s are. They are the Canadian version of the Grammy’s, so its a big deal here. People often forget how much of a powerhouse Canada is in the music industry. Several of the top artists in the world hail from Canada like: Drake, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Tate McRae, Avril Lavigne, and the list goes on and on.

But before I tell you about the actual experience of being at the nomination event, how about I tell you about my experience in getting there…

On the way to the airport, I started feeling sick with a tummy ache. I thought it might pass like stomach ache’s usually do, so I just decided to board the overnight flight. Oh boy, did things ever go downhill quickly. I started feeling worse, and my mouth started watering… can you guess what happens next? FUCK! I ran to the bathroom and it all came out, yep, from both ends. I thought okay god damn whatever I ate is finally out of my system and I can sleep now, wake up in Toronto and be all good. Unfortunately my body crashed on me and I spent the whole flight in the bathroom. Luckily it was a red eye and everyone was sleeping so they didn’t freak out.

I arrived in Toronto Monday morning super weak, tired, and my body was sensitive. I spent the whole day in bed hoping my body would heal itself so I could go to the nomination event the next morning. Good news - I heal quick. 24 hours later I was back on my feet, I guess it was food poisoning?

Boarding my flight to Toronto before it all went downhill

There was about 300 people in the CBC studio. All industry people including artists, managers, press, labels, etc. I’m not a great networker so these events give me a little anxiety. Luckily our manager Eric thrives in these settings so we’re a good team. We schmoozed for a bit and then waited for the nominations.

Eric and I in the CBC studio

I thought we had a shot at Alternative album of the year, Music Video of the year, and Breakthrough Group of the Year. We struck out in the first two categories and Breakthrough was one of the last to be announced, so when it came on the screen my heart was f’ing pounding! When our name came up, we were both super excited and also relieved. We didn’t want to go all the way to Toronto and lay a goose egg. But sure enough, the band that could got nominated and recognized by the Canadian music industry for the first time.

Our category nominee announcement

The red carpet is just like you see in the movies and magazines. A bunch of press outlets, cameras, and flashing lights. It’s pretty chaotic. We didn’t have a publicist so the Junos appointed us a “wrangler”. Their job is to do a 1 second pitch to these press outlets saying “This is Rare Americans, up for Breakthrough Group of the Year - want an interview?”. The press outlet deliberates for a second and says either “yep sure” or “no we’ll pass” and you move on to the next one. Every outlet obviously wants the biggest and buzziest artists. We are brand new so no one knows us yet, but maybe my blue hair helped make us look interesting HAH!

I did about 6 of these quick interviews. You have to think fast on your feet, be as charismatic as possible, and give your most interesting responses in order for these outlets to share them online. It was fun and adrenaline inducing as it all happens so fast. I think celebrities get so used to doing these events that they get comfy quick. It was my first time, so it felt like I was on a roller coaster, along for the ride. I give myself credit, I think I did well.

On the red carpet talking to CBC

Getting a Juno nomination is like joining a club, it feels like we’re not part of the bigger conversation. We’ve always built our band by going direct to fans and building through word of mouth. The industry has never really supported us, we’ve always been told by press that “they don’t really get it” or “they are just not for us”. Because you guys have spread the good word over the years about the band, people are starting to notice, and can’t ignore us anymore. It’s really exciting and feels like a big win for the whole team! We go to Edmonton March 13th for the actual award ceremony. It will be a celebrity and press filled event, the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, so I’m super excited! Fingers crossed we come away with our first Juno.