CREDIT: JESSICA THOMPSON
The winner of the 2015 Musicounts Fred Sherrat award, Trevor Dubois, practices his guitar in a Fanshawe studio.

As his hand slowly wrapped around the guitar, as his eyes met the screen, and he began to click the proper fret buttons to match the rhythm of an AC/DC classic, Trevor Dubois was hooked on the music and on the instrument.

After playing Guitar Hero at age 11, Dubois quickly purchased a bass and entered a talent show with his friends.

Though it was after standing in the back row, behind the lead guitarists when Dubois realized he wanted to be the one standing in the front with the ability to play solos.

“I bought a guitar, started singing and that was the end of it, I got the [music] fever, it was awesome,” Dubois said.

He practiced endlessly throughout high school, with a focus on his band the Fire Crows, and then applied to Music Industry Arts (MIA) programs throughout Ontario.

With the acceptance from all but one of his choices, Dubois decided on Fanshawe, a decision that allowed him a chance to develop and hone in on his skills; a decision that led him to receive an honourable award.

Though the entire college experience was one that Dubois remembers with a smile, it was his two-man band, Toast of the Town, which held his favourite memories.

“We had a mentality of whether it is five or 5,000 people we have to put on the same show and put the same effort into it,” Dubois said.

And that mentality showed through performances at Gordy’s, in front of a crowd of five people including the staff and in front of a packed public transit buses.

“We called it London Party Busses where on Friday or Saturday night at 9 p.m. on public busses, I would have a ukulele and Kyle would have a guitar and we would just play top 40 [songs],” Dubois said.

According to him, 99 per cent of the time, they had the entire bus singing along.

“We weren’t necessarily allowed to do this but we did,” he said. “It is like, ask for forgiveness not permission – something we were taught in class.”

As Dubois neared the end of the MIA program at Fanshawe, he decided to do something memorable.

“I did London Voice … but I didn’t know if Fanshawe students are allowed to sign up so the judges were quiet about it,” Dubois said.

The first round, the judges picked 12 finalists, the second round the audience used an app to pick the top seven, and then the judges picked the top three, one of whom was Dubois.

Dubois ended up winning the entire competition.

Though Dubois thought this would be the only award that he would win during his Fanshawe experience, he was quickly proven wrong, when the 2015 Musicounts Fred Sherratt award recipients were announced this past July.

“I think the teachers saw that I worked hard, especially by the end of my second year; I would be in the teachers’ offices every day asking them questions,” Dubois said trying to rationalize how he was a recipient.

“I was part of a group of full time professors who thought Trevor would be a good winner to represent MIA,” Mike Roth, Professor of Music Business at Fanshawe College said.

Roth immediately noticed the work ethic and positive attitude that would help Dubois prosper as a musician.

“He has a unique talent and a great sense of humour, which he uses in his music,” he said.

According to a Musicounts press release, the award recognizes the outstanding achievement, talent and leadership of graduating music program students and aims to assist the recipients in their transition from school to career.

The 12 winners were awarded $2,500 and a trip to Toronto to attend an educational day of networking and touring top Canadian music industry institutions.

“It was inspiring to see so many promising young graduates getting very impactful advice from industry leaders,” Fred Sherratt said in a press release. “I know there is a bright future ahead of all 12 recipients.”

According to Dubois, going to Universal Studios was the best part.

“We sat at a big boardroom table, told them what we did and they would give us tips on what to do... I tried hard to speak in a way that would be memorable,” he said. “I made everyone laugh at one point so that was good.”

As for Dubois, he plans to move to Toronto, work on writing songs and hope that his music can bring people together.

“Something that is so overlooked about music is that it does bring people together,” he said. “That is the power of music and that is at the end of the day what music is all about.”