Sheguiandah member tops Indigenous music charts with song titled The Flood

By Sam Laskaris

TORONTO – Graeme Jonez has fulfilled a dream most musicians dream of – having a Number 1 hit.

Jonez, a member of Sheguiandah First Nation on Manitoulin Island, reached the top of the Indigenous Music Countdown for the week of Mar. 9-15 with his song titled, The Flood.

The Indigenous Music Countdown, featuring the Top 40 songs of the week, is aired on various Indigenous radio stations across North America.

“It’s unique how the countdown works,” Jonez said. “It encourages the fan base to vote for you every day.”

So Jonez, a 45-year-old who has lived in Toronto the past two decades, hopped on his social media platforms, primarily Facebook and Instagram, and asked his friends and followers for their support. He also sent out numerous emails asking his contacts to vote for him.

“It’s very grassroots,” he said of the countdown process.

The Flood had debuted on the Indigenous Music Countdown this past January at Number 38.

“Then, there was a couple of weeks that I made a bigger jump than some of the other artists,” Jonez said.

That’s when he started to think he might have a shot at cracking the Top 10. The Flood kept rising until it hit the top of the chart.

Jonez said he started writing The Flood around 2015. The song is about a fictional flood in New York City.

And he was inspired to write the song after watching An Inconvenient Truth, a documentary that had been released in 2006. The film features former U.S. vice-president Al Gore and his campaign to educate people about global warming.

“I took that idea and ran with it,” said Jonez, who also works as a freelance digital marketing professional.

The Flood is on Jonez’ first full-length album, Creatures & Criminals, which was released last year. The first single released from this album was called 100 Days Deep.

“I actually thought that was my strongest radio song,” Jonez said, adding 100 Days Deep did not make it onto the Indigenous Music Countdown.

As it turned out, The Flood, the second single released from his album, ended up being a chart-topper.

“The first thing I thought about was myself as a kid,” Jonez said when he found out The Flood had made it to Number 1. “My favourite movie was La Bamba.”

Jonez used to get a kick out of watching the film about Mexican-American rock star Ritchie Valens playing his guitar.

But to hear his own name and song introduced at the top of a music chart was quite the feeling.

“It was surreal,” Jonez said. “I was very, very excited. It was beyond what I really expected.”

Jonez, who was born and raised in St. Thomas, said he had a life-changing moment when he was 15.

“My dad took me to see Bob Dylan live in London, Ontario,” he said. “It changed everything for me about wanting to be a musician.”

Before becoming a solo artist, Jonez was in a group called Davey Parker Radio Sound, which included his childhood friend Jason Fitzpatrick.

The group name was based on the areas of Toronto where they were living. Fitzpatrick lived in Davisville while Jonez was living in Parkdale.