What a year for Nimbus Alumni at the 2023 Junos this past weekend! A huge shoutout and congrats to “Boslen” (Corben Bowen), “Rare Americans” (James Priestner), Jessica Schmidt, and Ricardo Germain who all received nominations in their respective categories.
For those who don’t know, the Junos is an award ceremony (similar to the Grammy’s) that acknowledges and gives credit to Canadian artists making waves in the music industry. As a whole, it is inspiring to see the level of artistic prowess that comes from Canada, and to see Alumni from Nimbus either attending as nominees, or that have worked on albums that are nominated is no short of amazing.
Corben Bowen, aka “Boslen”, is a graduate of the Nimbus Music Production and Engineering program. He thrived amongst his peers and teachers, making connections, and relationships, all while maintaining a strong focus on his goal; proving himself in the Music Industry. Boslen now is considered by many as an “up and coming” rapper in music, but without a doubt, he has solidified himself in the industry. Now eclipsing over 800k monthly listeners on Spotify, Boslen’s influence is reaching ears all over the globe. Boslen was nominated alongside the likes of “Nav”, “Jazz Cartier”, “Classified”, and “TOBi“: a list of Canadian Rap heavyweights. We as a community are incredibly proud of Boslen, and can’t wait to see what is next for him!
James Priestner, founder and current member of the Canadian Alternative/Indie Band “Rare Americans”, was nominated this past weekend at the Junos for Breakthrough Group of the Year! James formed the band during his time at Nimbus with friends. He was able to utilize studio time and the connections he made to further his passion and form his musical identity. Rare Americans officially debuted in 2018, and since then have amassed over 500M global streams, 2+M social media followers, 1.3M Spotify monthly listeners, 800k YouTube subscribers, a previous 2020 Juno for their song “Brittle Bones Nicky”, a song featured in Warner’s Scoob! The Movie soundtrack, and a spot on Billboard Top 100 charts for their album RA2. It is incredible to see the amount of success James has had, and hope it just keeps growing! Congrats James!
Jessica Schmidt and Ricardo Germain are proof that the connections you make with students at Nimbus have a long-lasting reach as you start working in the music industry, as both Alumni were a part of the recently nominated Rock Album of the Year, Nickelback ‘Get Rollin‘.
Jessica graduated only a couple of years ago and has been working hard ever since for numerous bands, around a number of studios in Vancouver. After showcasing her technical knowledge and abilities, she was able to use her talent to assist in the creation of the 2023 Juno-nominated Rock album as a Technical Assistant. Congrats Jessica, we know it’s nowhere but up from here!
Similarly to Jessica, Ricardo also only graduated a couple of years ago. Since graduating from Nimbus, he has worked with Devin Townsend, Cory Weeds With Strings, and Like A Motorcycle. His talent for being a whiz in the Engineer’s chair didn’t go unnoticed, and Ricardo had the opportunity to be an Assistant Engineer on the 2023 Juno nominated Nickelback album. Ricardo will most definitely continue taking his talent forward and we can’t wait to see what else he does!
The Juno’s are Awards. But receiving an Award or Nomination isn’t the thing that matters. It’s a way to prove to us as a community that students are taking their careers into their own hands, and doing amazing things! We are nothing short of proud of these Alumni, and many others that are making hits, working on hits, and proving themselves in the industry every day.
Want to follow in some of our Alumni’s footsteps or create your own path in the industry? Book a tour with a member of our Admissions Team to learn more about the school and the programs we offer!
