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| In
darkened clubs across Canada, bands take the stage and fans gather
to listen and dance the night away. Venues supporting independent
music have formed a strong network for bands across the country,
ensuring hipsters from coast to coast have a chance to get out to
a show. |
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Indie nation
From Vancouver’s Gastown to Montréal's
Mile End, follow the well-worn path to Canada's hipster
havens
By Katie Wallace
From neo-wave to no-wave, post-punk to dance-punk, and electropop to indietronic,
the biggest buzz genres in independent
music are alive and well north of the 49th parallel. The proliferation
of indie rock currently throwing a number of Canadian bands into the international
spotlight of stardom is just the tip of the country's popular music iceberg.
Every city has a scene. Even the smallest centres have their own musical
personality, with all of the accoutrements of fashion, venues and attitude.
Across Canada, bands play shows and drag their gear in and out of vans as
they tour the country. There is a well worn path of stages supporting homegrown
talent and supplying audiences for touring bands hoping to win some fans
and hawk some merch.
Here are some places to catch emerging music across the country.
Halifax | Montréal | Toronto | Vancouver
Halifax
| There is a well worn path of stages supporting emerging homegrown
talent and supplying audiences for touring bands hoping to win some fans and hawk some
merch. |
Just because the buzz touting Halifax as the next rock Mecca in the 1990s
never really panned out doesn't mean that everyone just hung up their guitars.
Sure, Toronto and Montréal still siphon bands away, but the city works hard
to support its own indie scene, with venues for local favourites and out
of town indie scenesters who make it out to the coast.
The Pavilion is
an all-ages club and operates as a venue to foster new performers and offer
a stage for burgeoning bands to try out their tunes. It also hosts up-and-coming
out of town bands and creates a community among indie musicians.
The
Khyber Club is part of a non-profit, artist-run center,
The Khyber, whose name is referenced in local indie-rock darling Joel
Plaskett's 2001 album Down at The Khyber. The club creates a
hub of live music shooting off in all directions year-round and also
plays host to the Halifax Pop Explosion and Jazz East.
The Marquee Club is
the place for the bigger indie acts in Halifax, in a historic building downtown.
Considered one of the best live music venues in Atlantic Canada, its stage
has hosted a who's who of local and Canadian music staples.
Montréal
Montréal always knew it was happening and didn't need the New
York Times, Rolling Stone and Spin magazine to label
it the “next big thing” and tout it as a musical hotspot. Although
Montréalers seem eager to shake the hype, it is unrelenting as the
city's bands experience continued and widespread success. The Plateau and
Mile End neighbourhoods have found themselves in the eye of this hipster
storm.
L'Hémisphère
Gauche likes to consider itself one of Montréal's
best kept secrets, but it seems the cat's out of the bag. The bar's full
slate of live independent and underground music makes it an increasingly
popular hangout.
| Along the way
Here are some other hotspots to catch live music on the long haul from coast to coast.
Charlottetown is a college town, making The Wave, a venue on the
University if Prince Edward Island campus, the best place to catch bands who make it
east of Confederation Bridge.
Ottawa's popular venue for local, Canadian and international bands
on the college rock circuit is Zaphod
Beeblebrox.
If you are looking for live, loud alternative rock in Winnipeg (and
who isn't?) check out The Collective
Cabaret to find it almost every night of the week.
Calgary provides a stage for road-weary bands dragging themselves
across the country at Broken City,
a venue whose stage is alive with the sound of music several nights a week. |
Casa Del Popolo, La
Sala Rossa and El
Salon are three of the city's hottest stages, managed together
to provide different sized venues. All play host to eclectic variety of local
acts and touring buzz bands.
Mile End Cultural
Centre and The
Green Roomalso work in tandem to get music to the people.
The Mile End Cultural Centre stage is referred to as “Main” Hall,
echoing the moniker of its home on St. Laurent Boulevard, Montréal's
main drag and busiest artery. The Green Room is part hangout and part live
music venue, while “Main” Hall is a performance space, not
only for music, but for fashion, film, dance and theatre.
Toronto
By virtue of its size and location at the center of the Canadian universe,
Toronto has a lot going on. Despite the famous names that call Toronto home,
there is room for the legends of the future to find a stage and for out of
towners from all corners of the country to book a show in the big city where
they may get that lucrative record deal.
The legendary Horseshoe
Tavern has been a live music venue for 52 years. Although
its stage plays host to big name acts, the venue strives to be an artist
and industry-friendly venue, booking emerging Canadian and international
artists.
Sneaky Dees is
another staple rock venue in the city. Boasting punk karaoke and occasionally
known as Sneaky Disease. The stage plays host to shows for Canadian Music Week
and the Wavelength Music Series, a weekly live music series started by independent
musicians to foster the indie scene. Wavelength also includes a zine and an
indie rock drop-in centre.
The Queen West Art and Design District offers the hip Drake
Underground in the bohemian Drake Hotel and the newer Gladstone
Hotel with venues for a cross pollination of scenes. These
stages are perfect for indie acts about to emerge from under the radar.
Vancouver
With memories of a prolific underground scene in the late 1970s and designation
as home base of D.O.A., Canada's most influential punk band who took their “hardcore” counterculture
around the globe, Vancouver is still a haven for bands with DIY, or “do
it yourself,” indie spirit.
Richard's
on Richards, at the edge of Gastown where Vancouver's hip
urbanites and low income residents meet, is the place to catch Canadian
and international indie bands on the cusp of mainstream breakthroughs coming
through town.
The Media Club is
an intimate live music lounge supporting media, arts and music in the city.
The stage has played host to a long list of cutting edge and emerging indie
artists.
The Railway
Club embodies the laidback hangout attitude of the city. Boasting
two decades of being home to the city's punk, jazz and rock talent, the
stage is occupied with a local or touring band almost every night of the
week.
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