***Fig. A: the humble beginnings of the Cups N Cakes Network***

The Cups N Cakes Network is a volunteer based, not-for-profit music media site that covers independent Canadian music.

It all began as a bi-weekly internet radio show playing only Canadian independent acts. The program started as a way for hosts Jeff MacCallum and Carey Newton to maintain their friendship while sharing laughs along with their favourite music. In May of 2017, Jeff began elevating Cups N Cakes to new heights by morphing it into a multi-media music source with the launch of this website and re-branding to The Cups N Cakes Network. With the new look came the addition of weekly written reviews, an interview based podcast, the Vinyl Unveil YouTube show and, of course, the original internet radio program. In 2023, MacCallum stepped back from the day to day operations of the network, and handed things over to the first volunteer that Cups N Cakes ever brought on board, Sean Davis Newton.

Cups N Cakes is a necessary experience for music fans still interested in discovering the latest and greatest acts. Near the end of 2018, the rapid growth of the Cups N Cakes Network forced MacCallum to seek help by assembling a team. Although everything began from audio programming, the sites growth in popularity is in large part due to this impressive team that pumps out tons of written content. It is this content for which the network has become most popular. Over 25 volunteers deliver long and short form reviews of Canadian releases, premieres, music news, written interviews (In Conversation), and live show reviews (Live, In Review). The wonderful humans that volunteer their time to the Cups N Cakes Network are the site’s backbone, Cups N Cakes could not exist without them.

Meet the Cups N Cakes Team!

**Jeff MacCallum** is the founder of the Cups N Cakes Network. He created Cups N Cakes simply because he had a love of local music. Soon the platform grew beyond the confines of his scene in Edmonton to include all of Canada.
"I did it all very DIY. Everything you see was me learning on the fly. I'm a carpenter not a musician, or a journalist, or a publicist... I'm a carpenter and a weird crazy music fan that thought he could do something fun that might benefit something I care about"
Over the years, MacCallum's commitment to elevating Canadian music earned him a spot as a Polaris Prize Juror, a WCMA Juror, a consultant for music festival curation, and a dear friend to independent music in Canada.

**Sean Davis Newton** has been volunteering with the Cups N Cakes Network since 2018, originally as the host and producer of *Inside the Artist’s Studio*. He is also a songwriter and recording engineer, and released his debut album *Bird Brain* in October 2024. Sean mostly helps out behind the scenes nowadays while he pursues other journalistic endeavours.

**Chris Lammiman** is a lapsed bass player, aspiring naturalist, and cooking enthusiast. He loves music, and tries to attend as many live shows as time and old bones allow. To make money, he works in disaster management, planning for and responding to major emergencies. Chris lives with his partner, one dog, and one cat on Treaty 7 land in what is now known as Calgary.

**Louise Jaunet:** After spending many years studying biopharmaceutical sciences, Louise Jaunet made her way freely into Montreal's underground psychedelic rock scene to seek answers to some questions that modern science tends to ignore. As a self-taught outsider, she draws inspiration from the Dadaist and Surrealist movements to proudly channel her Franco-German cultural heritage. The film *Metropolis* by Fritz Lang had a profound impact on her psyche during her childhood, to the extent that she now has obsessive thoughts about posthumanism, cyborgs and alchemy. She believes that music is simply the most effective means of communication of our century.

**Penelope Stevens** is a musician and artist living in small town New Brunswick, best known as 1/3 of beloved art-rock group Motherhood, or, more recently, as lead singer of the eponymous Penny & the Pits. When not playing or yapping about music, you can find Penny running with the world's cutest dog (Valentine) or making needlessly pretentious cocktails.
Photo credit Hayley Frail

Julie Maier (Picks Of The Week)Julie Maier is a musician and educator from Saskatoon, where her earliest musical experiences were shaped by school concert band and nicking CDs from her older siblings' bedrooms to learn about what was cool. While her bass collected some dust after high school, she volunteered for many years as a community radio host, and in the service of CanCon quotas she finally started to really pay attention to all of the awesome music coming out of Canada and the Prairies in particular. In the spring of 2015, she joined two of her sisters to form The Garrys, which has given her many opportunities to build back her finger calluses while taking in various music scenes and festivals around Western Canada. At about this same time she also got involved as an organizer and bass instructor for Girls Rock Saskatoon, and credits this as hugely-important in her developing awareness of issues related to access, equity, and diverse representation in music, and her own privilege while moving within these spaces. — **Julie Maier** is a musician and educator from Saskatoon, where her earliest musical experiences were shaped by school concert band and nicking CDs from her older siblings' bedrooms to learn about what was cool. While her bass collected some dust after high school, she volunteered for many years as a community radio host, and in the service of CanCon quotas she finally started to really pay attention to all of the awesome music coming out of Canada and the Prairies in particular. In the spring of 2015, she joined two of her sisters to form The Garrys, which has given her many opportunities to build back her finger calluses while taking in various music scenes and festivals around Western Canada. At about this same time she also got involved as an organizer and bass instructor for Girls Rock Saskatoon, and credits this as hugely-important in her developing awareness of issues related to access, equity, and diverse representation in music, and her own privilege while moving within these spaces.

**Em Moore** has four great loves in this life: music (especially punk rock), reading, writing, and cats. She can be found moshing and playing her music too loud across the vast expanse of the Greater Toronto Area.

**Mikail Kayani** is a videographer, musician, and freelance writer based in Edmonton, Alberta. When not writing reviews, he is usually behind the camera shooting for his short films and skate videos, jamming with his band, or watching way too many movies.

**Clay Geddert:** Your friendly neighbourhood ice cream truck driver by day, ageing skateboarder by night. Clay was born and raised in Lethbridge, AB, but now resides in Calgary with his partner and their dog. You’re more likely to find him plucking a banjo on his porch than serenading on a stage, but he doesn’t let that stop him from critiquing music from his armchair.

**Craig Martell** is a food writer, music promoter, and curator. He was born in Cape Breton and now lives in Edmonton, Alberta, surrounded by his cute family and friends. His hair went gray when he was 16. His knees started to hurt when he was 25. He started playing DnD when he was 35. He quit smoking when he was 40.

**Simone Atenea Medina Polo** is a philosopher, music producer, and freelance writer based in Edmonton, AB (amiskwacîy-wâskahikan). Known either for her academic publications and clandestine essays in philosophy, Marxism, and psychoanalysis or for her hyperpop / experimental pop project pseudo-antigone, Atenea gets herself into situations and predicaments that enter into dialogue with a variety of niche interests in arts, music, and culture. Website: pseudo-antigone.com

**JD Ormond:** Winnipeg based writer/musician.
Bands: Ultra Mega; JD and the Sunshine Band; Blond(e) Goth; DHID; Manitobandits.
Enjoys :directionless strolling; ; Miss Vickie’s salt and vinegar chips; Mr Show

Amanda Shekarchi is a singer/songwriter from Toronto Ontario. Her favourite instrument is the piano. Amanda is blind and learned to play music by ear. She has the gift of perfect pitch, and can figure out how to play any song just by listening. Amanda is also an arts and culture journalist.
In 2023 she graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University where she studied Media Production. In 2024, the CBC aired a documentary that she hosted and co-produced called “Playing By Ear” which spotlights blind and low vision musicians and how to find success in the music industry.
Currently Amanda is a music programmer at Met Radio, where she covers festivals including Departure (Formally Canadian Music Week) and North by North East, as well as other pop culture events in the city. Recently Amanda’s work was also featured in CBC Arts where she wrote about accessibility at fandom conventions.

**Ned Kroczynski** is an Edmonton based songwriter, and one fourth of the indie rock sensation Pails/Buckets.

**Matt Carr** is an artist and educator in Regina. He grew up with a dog, but currently keeps pets of the feline variety. From the hammer to the pallet jack to the chef knife, Matt has settled on teaching, and as in the professional realm, Matt continues to expand through genre and media, from the written word to visual art and sound. Current music acts include These Estates, Pop Pop Vernac, Failed States, Phlegm Gadget, and Psst Shh, ranging from sound art, folk, indie rock, and pop to garage rock, art punk, hardcore, and harsh noise. Maybe someday Matt will once again have a dog.

**Levon Vokins:** As a recording engineer and artist, Levon has found his home in the Edmonton music scene. He can be found frequenting local shows (sometimes behind the soundboard), on stage with his band (Garden of Ash), in the studio, or at home enjoying an album, whether it be a personal favourite or something brand new.

**Brandon Kruze:** News reporter by day and artist by night, Brandon Kruze is a lover of all things art-related. Between literature, acrylics, and music, Kruze spends his off time expressing himself through music, paintings, and occasional short stories. Having previously volunteered for Cups N’ Cakes in the early 20s, Kruze has returned to add music reviews to his everlasting juggling act between mediums.

Past Volunteers:

Harman Burns (Pick Of The Week)

Born in the Saskatchewan prairies on Treaty 6 land, Harman Burns is a trans sound artist and filmmaker. An aspiring hack and Tums™ enthusiast, she spends her days looking at large bodies of water and thinking about food and envying people with pets. She currently resides on the unceded ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

Meet the Cups N Cakes Team!

Past Volunteers:

Friends of the Network