Paul Brennan, the Vancouver drummer for Toronto band Big Sugar, has parted ways with the group. Formerly a drummer with Vancouver's Odds and Mae Moore, Brennan is leaving to make time for new projects. Big Sugar's new drummer is Rich Brown, who hails from Oaklahoma.

Bass Is Base...Is No More

Toronto hip-hop/R&B; group, Bass Is Base has called it quits after four years (and two albums on A&M;), and extensive North American touring. All three band members, Ivana, Mystic and Chin, will pursue solo endeavours.

Indie Band to Appear on Napalm Death EP

In an effort to "help out all of the struggling yet talented bands out there," Earache Records and Napalm Death are holding a contest to give an indie band the chance to cover a Napalm Death song and have it appear on the group's upcoming fall-scheduled EP. Bands who are not under a recording contract are invited to submit a cover version of any Napalm Death song on DAT tape, to be judged by the members of Napalm Death itself. Entry forms will be found in the new Napalm Death album, Inside the Torn Apart, due out June 3rd (cute marketing ploy, boys!), or by sending a self-addressed, stamped (uh, that would mean an American stamp, O aspiring Napalm Death-like bands...) envelope to: Entry Form, Earache Records, 915-295 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012. Entry form requests must be made by August 1, 1997, and the deadline for DAT submissions is August 31, 1997. For more information or complete contest rules, contact Jon Paris at Earache at (212) 343-9090.

Universal Music Canada Launches Web Site

After six months of development, Universal Music Canada announces the birth of its own web site, with a primary focus on its Canadian roster (which includes The Tragically Hip, The Age of Electric, Limblifter, Sloan, Super Friendz, Cowboy Junkies, Farmer's Daughter, Genocide, Rush, Headstones, Holly McNarland, Ron Sexsmith, Laura Smith, MAdE, Jason McCoy, Raggadeath, Sara Craig, Rachel Matkin and Surrneder Dorothy). Centred around a space theme that coincides with Universal's logo, the eight key areas of the site are The Universe (company profile and links to affiliated labels), Super Nova (spotlights), Intelligence (music news), The Galaxies (Canadian artist listing, bios, etc.), Orbits (tours in Canada), Black Hole (game), Search (site search engine) and Observatory (overview, map). Head into Universal's own definition of cyberspace at http://www.universalcanada.com

Waterloo Concert Organizers in Hot Water With the City

Waterloo, Ontario's annual Sounds Of Summer two-day concert is making headlines locally because of an interesting situation. To save money this year, the SOS' municipal organizers decided to concentrate the big-name artists on the main stage only on the second day of the festival. A local musician and a local promoter approached City Council and obtained permission to use the vacant main stage on the first day for an indie showcase where seven regional bands would play. It turns out that this indie promoter is related to Meryn Cadell, and he managed to raise funds privately to have her headline the indie (main) stage. The City Council is apparently fuming because they say it will now detract from the smaller stage they are in charge of booking. Basically, the indie (main) stage organizers did too good of a job and the event organizers aren't happy. Ha! Serves them right. Maybe the indie organizers should be offered jobs for next year's shows...
-submitted by Patrick Wilkins, Chart magazine's Waterloo correspondent

D.A.M.N. is compiled by Karen Pace