Joel Plaskett
William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.[3] Plaskett learned to play guitar and write songs while listening to an eclectic range of music, from singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young to rockers such as the Sex Pistols and the Pixies.[5][6] In late 1998, Neuseiland was formed by Plaskett of Thrush Hermit, as well as members of popular Halifax bands The Super Friendz and Coyote, the Euphonic, both of which had also recently broken up.In August 2014, the band released a digital-only compilation collection titled Rarae Aves, which included outtakes, CBC RadioSonic performances, and select demos from recording sessions dating back to 2002, on Bandcamp.Khyber was a harder-rocking album that featured a new backing band, The Emergency, consisting of Plaskett, drummer Dave Marsh and bass player Tim Brennan.[19] During the week of December 10, 2007, Plaskett and the Emergency played six consecutive shows at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto as part of the music venue's 60th-anniversary celebrations.[2] In May 2011, he became the first artist ever to reach one million plays on CBC Radio 3's online music streaming site,[25] and released an exclusive acoustic version of "Nowhere with You" to the network for the occasion.In June, he released a B-sides and rarities compilation titled EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations.He has acted as record producer for a variety of Atlantic Canadian artists, including Steve Poltz, David Myles, Mo Kenney, Sarah Slean, and Meredith Shaw.[38] Fellow East Coast Canadian musician Classified (Luke Boyd) featured Plaskett on his single "One Track Mind" from his 2009 release, Self Explanatory.Plaskett and Chris Murphy collaborated on the production of Prize for Writing, a posthumous album by singer-songwriter Matthew Grimson which was recorded in 1995 but was not commercially released until 2020.