Bekiaris nominated for 5 MB Loud Music Awards

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/06/2024 (319 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jason Bekiaris is living his best life, and he is living it loud.

The Steinbach musician is nominated for five Manitoba Loud Music Awards. Voting is on daily until June 30 at loudawards.com, and Bekiaris will be at the awards at Park Theatre in September.

It is his first time being nominated after 35 years playing in bands. He is now 50 years old, and his perspective has grown since his high school days bringing his brand of metal to the Southeast and playing in clubs in Winnipeg, then across Canada and the United States.

A lot of Bekiaris’s recent success is directly connected to his son Holden, who was six when he played bass guitar on his dad’s single Left Inside. That song was one that helped Bekiaris land a U.S. record deal with Blue Pie Records in April 2023.

“Everything I do is just to create the best life for him. The best life I could live is what I’m living right now, and he inspires me every day to just get better at being a better dad, being a better person, a better friend, son, musician, whatever,” said Bekiaris.

Now with the help of the label, Bekiaris’s music is being played in places as far as Mexico and Japan.

When Holden is not laying down the bass tracks, Bekiaris plays all his own instruments at his home studio and writes all his own songs. All that effort has him nominated for vocalist, guitarist, performer, songwriter, and album of the year for A Bitter Angst.

“We’re getting to the back nine here in life so the last thing I want to do is waste time, so all these years later to feel like I’m getting a little bit of recognition for some of the hard work that I’ve put in over the years, I’m humbled and I’m excited about it. It’s the first time I’ve been nominated for any award let alone five,” said Bekiaris.

He has been a fixture on the metal music scene since his days with bands like Wreckage in the ‘80s and other groups including Chemikill. He joined Steinbach group Sound Rage, which toured with other groups in the U.S. like RATT, LA Guns, April Wine, Foghat, Warrant, Poison, and Judas Priest.
The story of how Bekiaris got to tour with such big acts came as a sort of relief.

“We were at this 92 CITI FM battle of the bands thing. We’re literally going to go up and play – we’re in the finals – and I have to go to the washroom,” started Bekiaris.

“So I go to the washroom and my phone’s ringing. I’m at the urinal… and I’m looking down and I see this number, I don’t know who it is so I pick it up.”

A concert promotor from North Dakota had read Bekiaris’s email saying he would be in the area and was looking for a show to play. The promotor asked Bekiaris if his band was regional or national.

“I didn’t know the difference. So I asked what would you define as a regional band?”

He was told, “Well I guess for you guys out there it would be like The Tragically Hip.”

“And I’m like, yeah, we’re probably more like a national band. And the guy’s like, ‘oh cool, so we should book you on the A stage then.’ And I’m like, well who would we be playing with?” described Bekiaris.

He said he went back on stage after his bathroom conversation and told the his band and the crowd he was put between heavy hitters LA Guns and Skid Row, and was booked for a three-week tour.

They were a hit, selling out their merchandise and necessitating creative ways to get more across the U.S. border.

“I shouldn’t even be saying this, we’re tucking CDs in our pants and our shirts,” said Bekiaris.

The other big bands noticed the group, too.

“The guys from RATT and Warrant and Jackal, they’re watching our show and we come off the stage and Jesse James Dupree from Jackal comes up to me and says ‘Jay man, you guys just stole the show for the weekend.’

“I’m like what? I don’t know any of this stuff, you know, I’m just some kid from Steinbach, how would I know any of this stuff? This guy’s been on the road forever. He’s like, ‘that’s the show to beat, nobody’s beating that show.’”

His advice for aspiring musicians?

“Always take the call at the urinal.”

The rock keeps rolling for Bekiaris, who wrote a 34 songs and recorded eight during the Covid pandemic. His cover band Echo 385 is now working on a studio release based on The Tragically Hip. Bekiaris is also working on something a bit different for him: country music.

His label asked him to write songs, some of which Bekiaris said can go to Idol performers who could get a lot more exposure with younger audiences on their social media alone.

“Ok, can I write songs in which genre in case somebody wants to hire me to write for them. So then along the way I started thinking well, I’ve never written a country song,” said Bekiaris.

He now has four country songs he said he is happy with.

“I think it was more of a challenge thinking, OK, I’ve written this one genre of music for the last 30-plus years. Can I write something other than that?”

While Bekiaris is playing fewer shows as he raises his son and focuses on creating more music and accompanying videos, he does plan on getting back on stage. He is also looking at getting involved with music for video streaming sites, commercials and video games.

Bekiaris is looking at doing more concerts in the U.S., saying people can keep up on where he will be next on his website and social media.

“We tried to replicate these big ‘80s shows on a smaller stage. It was lots of hairspray and leather and latex, and now it’s wigs and latex,” laughed Bekiaris.