| Big Daddy Shad
The seasoned performer Mark Macmillan has done stints with Matt Minglewood, SamMoon, Theresa Malenfant and Dutch Mason to name a few. He wrote Highway to yourHeart, which is hailed as one of the most popular Matt Minglewood songs and itreceived an abundance of radio play around the time it was released. Over the course of the three years Big Daddy Shad have been together, they havehad the opportunity to open for some bigger acts around the Maritimes such asJP Cormier, Gordie Sampson, Scott MacMillan, Dave McIssac, Joe Murphy, ShirleyJackson and her Good Rockin Daddies, and Hot Toddy just to name a few. Theyhave also shared the stage with Blues great Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials!Opening for these acts really helped get the band off the ground and gain manynew fans. The festival circuit is really starting to open up for the group as well. Inthe summer of 2003 the band headlined the Loto-Quebec stage at theInternational Maximum Blues Festival in CarletonQC on the Friday night of theirfestival! In addition, the group was honored to become a finalist in the CBC/GalaxieRising Star semi final contest in Saint John and WINNER in the CBC/Galaxie Rising Star finals (NewArtist Showcase) at Fredericton’sprestigious Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival! Big Daddy Shad can also boast theSabian Showcase Drummer of the Year award that was presented to Tom Cooke byWayne Blanchard of Sabian! The band has also had the opportunity to play atFestival by the Sea in Saint John NB, twice at the Muddy Bottom Blues Festivalin Windsor NS, and twice at the 72 Hour Jam during the ECMA’s. The band’s music has been played on Radio Atlantica, two of the band’s songs have been featured on Garageband.com as Blues Track of the Day, and their self recorded live album reached as high as number 3 on the Mount Allison radio station CHMA. They have gained even more exposure by doing various interviews on ATV, Global, C98 FM with Dan Reid (Saint John, NB) and RadioFreeECMA. At the present, Big Daddy Shad is recording their Debut CD and are currently in talks with some labels that may be interested in backing them. A release date has not yet been set, but the band is looking at January/February 2004 as a possibility. From there, the group will embark on a tour of the Maritimes, Quebec and surrounding area promoting their release. |
Mark Macmillan: Lead Guitar, Organ,Vocals, Songwriter
Big Daddy Shad was formed in early December 2000 in Amherst, NS. After playing some blues cover tunes at a few of the local bars, the membersrealized that Big Daddy Shad was indeed something very special. Almostinstantly the group formed a tightly knit and diverse sound, which wasaltogether their own even while playing other artist’s music. It was thenthat Big Daddy Shad started writing their own material and have been wowingaudiences ever since.