November is the time of the year when our biggest swells start to emerge. It’s also when the weather turns cold, our days turn shorter, and many Canadians feel the effects of seasonal affective disorder and many other mental health challenges.

The issue and support of mental health has always been very close to our hearts and is why we partnered up with Jack.org four year ago to create Brainfreeze—a polar bear dip to revolutionize youth mental health. What began as a grassroots initiative in Toronto, quickly grew to a nationwide event bringing together our surf communities and mental health advocates from coast to coast, and every river and lake in between.

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To date, Brainfreeze has raised $218,562.00 dollars and has become a staple fundraising event in Canada and keystone event for Jack.org. This year, we had been planning and preparing to grow the event even further and break another set of fundraising records. Unfortunately, as with many events in 2020, we were forced to cancel the event to protect the health of our participants and organizers. With the chronic effects of isolation and distancing, there has never been a more important time to raise awareness for mental health initiatives. Although we won’t be jumping in the freezing waters across the country this year, we have resolved to unite our communities online to strengthen our bond and offer support to one another during this difficult time.

This same pandemic which has altered our lives and cancelled so many initiatives, has given us an opportunity to reflect and re-evaluate. We have been able to consider some of our broader business practices, our personal actions and priorities, and our commitment to causes greater than ourselves. Over recent years, this last Friday in November has been appropriated by large businesses to promote commercialism and consumerism. As a fledgling business in our first few years we felt compelled to conform to the status quo. This year, we choose to focus our efforts on greater issues and to break this vicious cycle. Instead of a ‘Black Friday’ consisting of door crashing sales and slashed prices, we are harnessing the collective power of our communities to move away from individual savings to think more broadly and fundraise for organizations affecting positive change in the world.

We would like to invite you to join us for our first ever Jack Friday—this year taking shape as a live, free, online jam session in support of youth mental health. Join us on Facebook from the comfort and safety of your home on Friday, November 27th at 7:00pm EST for live performances by local artists Erica Knox, Kadeema, Randy Luke and Wayley. Simply head over to our Facebook Page at the time of the event to watch the event live.

To wrap up the weekend, we invite you to join us for a free online Tidal Flow movement session on Sunday, November 29th at 11:00am EST. To attend the session, sign up using our Eventbrite page. All details to join the class on Zoom will be emailed to all participants one hour prior to the class start.

All events are FREE. If your household has the means, we ask for a small donation for Jack.org to help us reach our $5,000 fundraising goal. Every dollar counts and you can donate by visiting the fundraising page.

Stand up tall, sit in peace, sing along, and move with us. Together we can revolutionize youth mental health in Canada.

About the Artists

Erica Knox

In the midst of collaborating her new sound, 23 year old singer-songwriter Erica Knox from Georgetown, Ontario, Canada is set to showcase herself in 2021 with music that you won’t be able to forget. From upbeat excitement to mellow nostalgia, her self-portrayed intimate lyrics about love, life, and identity are heavily influenced by music legends Stevie Nicks and John Mayer, with catchy hooks that’ll remind you of modern day hitmakers Lorde and Taylor Swift.

Having prematurely completed her first tour with fellow Canadian artist, Andrew Sherriff, she has played nearly 40 shows in 2020, thus far, and would have continued her cross-Ontario trek until October. Knox has also shared the stage with Canadian artists Virginia to Vegas, Hollerado, and Young Empires.

Her most recent release, ‘Doing Me’, alluding self identified confidence and female empowerment, is available on all streaming platforms.

Kadeema

Kadeema are a duo who write rock songs with sarcasm and wit, capturing day-to-day malaise and finding empowerment in expressing their frustrations on their debut EP, the tongue-in-cheek Napoleon Tornapart, set for release in 2020.

Vocalist Jimmy Chauveau and guitarist Tal Vaisman developed their songwriting partnership during their time as members of Ascot Royals, whose dissolution led to the two forging a path onwards as Kadeema (translating to ‘forward’ in Hebrew).

Working with drummer and producer Isaac Carpenter (AWOLNATION, Duff McKagan, Adam Lambert), Kadeema embraced their newfound freedom, translating stories of personal and professional imprisonment into cathartic assertions of their ability to rebuild and live honestly.

Featuring the effortlessly catchy lead single, “Gotta Get It,” Napoleon Tornapart cements the duo’s knack for juxtaposing anthemic choruses with stark lyrical observations, combining grunge with songs that venture into dancier, dreamy territory.

Randy Luke

Briefly a jazz student and musician for hire, 24 year old Randy Luke fell in love with songwriting and the road while planting trees in northern British Columbia. Randy Luke has worked on a spectrum of projects across Canada, including post-hardcore band Tall Talks based in Hamilton, and alt-rock outfits Rasberry Jam in Calgary, and Deep Bight in Toronto.

From rural Ontario basements, to hardcore havens in Hamilton and camper van festivals in Golden BC, Randy has been blessed to have seen so much of Canada with a guitar in hand. However, his favourite stage has always been around a bonfire with close friends and kindred spirits. Currently, Randy Luke is a part of up and coming Hamilton post-hardcore band, Motion Coast. While on his own, he works to promote the music of the late Deep Bight and to refine his own songwriting.

Wayley

Wayley, is the Folk/Pop alter-ego of Americana artist, Andrew Sherriff, that was brought to life in 2018 through a quest for creative freedom. Sherriff is most well known for his work in the Indie/Folk Duo, Andrew & Veda, which gained worldwide success after the release of their debut single ‘Alive’ and debut LP ‘Conversations’. Shortly after the release of ‘Conversations’ in 2017, the duo took a hiatus and Sherriff began performing as a solo act under his own name. In 2019 Sherriff released his debut single, “It’s Gonna Take a While”, which was followed by a Canadian Tour in early 2020.

Andrew has always admired the catchy lyrics and unforgettable melodic hooks similar to the likes of The Lumineers and Vance Joy, which he says have greatly influenced the sound of the forthcoming Wayley EP.

Wayley released the first single off his EP in May of 2020 called, ‘What’s It Gonna Take’. The song was well received by fans and gained the attention of the press worldwide. It was featured on Alexrainbirdmusic’s July 2020 Compilation and has been featured on many other high profile playlists. Following that, Wayley released his second single called ‘Waiting For You’ in August 2020, which is the first release after signing with Paris Based Publishing Company, ORA.

Health & Safety

The health and safety of all participants is of utmost importance to us. In organizing this online streaming and fundraising, we are taking the following precautions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:

• Only the producer and the performing artist will be allowed in the studio at any given time;
• Each musician will have their own backstage room in preparation for their set;
• All participants will wear masks and maintain a minimum of 6ft distance at all times (musicians will remove their masks only during their performance);
• Each musician will bring their own microphone and musical instruments;
• Only musicians from the same bubble will be playing together;
• The studio will be sanitized between each set.