Want to work in The Music Industry as a Promoter, Producer, Publicist, Executive, DJ, or Tour Manager? Industry Insider gives Music Vice readers an exclusive insight from inside the industry as we talk to music professionals. We find out the specifics of their position and how you can grab their attention. In the latest installment of Industry Insider, we speak to Steve Stumble.

Steve Stumble performing with The Lucky Ones

Steve ‘Stumble’ Levitt  owns and operates punk label Stumble Records (which has distribution through Universal Music Canada). He also fronts punk band The Lucky Ones, and is the founder of the annual one-day SCENE Music Festival, held in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The festival features mostly alternative music and attracts increasing thousands of music fans to the city each year. Scene has hosted such groups such as Alexisonfire, Cancer Bats, Billy Talent, City and Colour, The New Cities, Cute is What We Aim For, Lights, The Johnstones, Down With Webster, The Trews, and The Black Lungs.

Music Vice’s Ngawara Madison recently caught up with Steve to pick his brain about the music industry and get his advice for bands wanting to hit the big time…

You own punk label, Stumble Records; sing in The Lucky Ones, as well as running the annual ‘SCENE’ Music Festival in St Catharines, Ontario! At what age did you get involved with the music industry and what was your first band or business role? How did you get your first ‘step in the door’?

I got involved in the Music Industry when I was 16 years old. I guess my first involvement was in my original punk band Sick Boys. I did a lot of local concert booking while I was in that band, and that got me rolling!

How many people do you work with as regards running your record label, and how did you source those people to make sure you have the right team of people around you to ensure the smooth running of your company?

Well its pretty much always just been me here! We’re now in our 15th year as Stumble Records so we’ve seen lots of things change over the years! If we do have anybody else involved in a project, they come as an outside, third party contractor. For example; we use Kerry Goulding at Rebel Music in Toronto for a lot of publicity campaigns.

You are the name behind the extremely successful and popular SCENE Music Festival. How important is it for a band these days to have a strong presence on the festival circuit?

Scene Music Fest

I’m not really sure how important it is to be on “the festival circuit” but festivals are usually great to play, because you’re usually stacked with a pile of different bands and get to play to a larger, and much more diverse audience that the norm. You wouldn’t get that same crowd in a typical, indoor, club style environment.

What are some of the biggest bands that have performed at SCENE, and what is the arrangement process for a band wishing to perform at your festival?

As for artists that have played S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival… Man there’s been tonnes over the past 17 years! Alexisonfire, City 7 Colour, Bedouin Soundclash, Billy Talent, Del the Funky Homosapien, Down With Webster, Lights, etc. Bands interested in playing can apply through our website www.scenemusicfestival.com or if you are booked by an agent and we’re interested in you, we’ll come looking for you!

What does it take for a band to get picked for the Main Stage at Scene as opposed to a smaller side show?

Well it really depends on the hype of your band! Some spots are reserved for agents and some are for contest winners such as the HTZ FM Rock Search winner; but we mainly put in who we feel would be appropriate for the festival, and that day, and year. There really are no rules!

It seems that with the rise of the Internet Generation, we have a lot of bands that are gathering fan bases abroad that perhaps would not have had that opportunity in earlier years. Through the spreading of viral videos and social media links bands are able to reach out to would-be fans in countries all over the world. Do you use Social Media to promote your events? How important are Facebook and Twitter in the promotion of a band these days?

Social is very important these days, and I wish we were better at it… I’m pretty much a “computer retard”, haha! We do use them to promote events, etc. Actually right now I’m setting up a bunch of stuff on Reverbnation. But yeah… look at the band “Walk Off The Earth” for example. Two weeks ago nobody cared about a band from Burlington, Ontario and then suddenly 2 weeks later and 27 million views later of their Gotye cover – they’re flying out to LA and are on the Ellen show! All due to good old Youtube!

Illegal Downloads: Inevitable in this day and age? How can a band still make money when the number of people actually buying records lessens everyday?

Illegal downloading sucks! If you like a band you should support them… but really it is no different than it used to be making mixed tapes for people in the 80′s! I always tell bands: “If you’re not out playing and selling T-Shirts, CDs and binyl off stage – then you’re not selling anything at all!” People aren’t likely to go buy your music on the internet and record stores are disappearing faster than ever!

Steve and Ngawara

On top of all your work as a label head honcho and event producer, you also sing in the punk band The Lucky Ones. What were the highlights for the band last year and what are your recording and performance plans for 2012? What are your objectives with your music? What do you sing about?

2011 was pretty awesome for The Lucky Ones! We got to play on a bunch of great Festivals in Canada including Rock Fest in Montebello, QC…SCENE Fest, obviously… Burly Calling, Rebel fest.  But the biggest highlight for myself had to be opening for Stiff Little Fingers on their only Canadian date! I’m a huge fan of theirs and it was amazing to meet Jake Burns because he is one of my biggest influences! We also got to record a new record with producer Steve Rizun which was awesome too! As for 2012 – our new record Heartbreak, Hangovers & Punk Rock comes out Feb 8th in Canada and we’re doing some dates around that, including Canadian Music Week.

We’re in talks to license our record to a label in Europe and try to make it over there in late summer/fall! The objective is to get out there, support our two releases, and play as much, and to as many people as possible!

There is a lot of organisation needed in the production and promotion of a music festival. What is your schedule like in the weeks running up to SCENE? What is the reality of your position for someone looking to do what you do?

Its pretty crazy! Our festival team is usually running around like chickens with their heads cut off! But we always get it all together and pull it off. We’ve been working with the same team of people for years now so everybody knows their roles and what needs to be done in order to pull it off in time for the day of the festival.

What was the musical highlight of 2011 for you and who should we look out for in 2012. Who are the ones to watch, in your opinion?

Well the musical highlight for me was definitely the Stiff Little fingers show! But seeing The Specials again was pretty awesome too. Also hanging out with Lars Frederickson of Rancid again and checking out his new band The Old Firm Casuals was awesome. Check em out!

Hmmm bands to look out for???…The Lucky Ones of course silly! You can check out our drummers other band, USS – they’re really popular these days. Apparently Jay from USS is gonna remix one of our songs so that should be interesting to hear.

© Ngawara Madison, Music Vice

Internet links:

SCENE Music Festival
StumbleRecords.com
The Lucky Ones
Stiff Little Fingers

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Scene Music Festival 2009, St. Catharines, Ontario
Festival review and photos by Music Vice editor Brian Banks – 30 June, 2009

Gig/Concert: Scene Music Festival 2009
Venue: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Date: 28 June, 2009
Headliners: Every Time I Die, Cancer Bats
In one word: Ballistic

This year’s S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival in St. Catharines gave me a serious case of deja vu, being a carbon copy of ’08 in terms of the format, venues and, yeah, the weather. The only real difference was the line-up, with the standard of bands appearing at this year’s Scene festival being of a higher calibre. My experience at Scene last year had felt like merely a teaser, as I was only able to attend for a few hours, and that meant I missed out on all the big name bands – no such worries for this year, as I was in St. Catharines until the wee hours of the night, soaking up what has now overnight become one of my favourite festivals in the gig calendar.

The buzz began with Polar Bear Club at the main stage in Market Square. PBC were even better than I remembered, which wasn’t a huge surprise having first seen them live at the arse end of 2008 at a show in Toronto that I was rather apathetic about. Seeing the band here and now, in the light of the day and the height of the summer, Polar Bear Club are a bigger and badder animal. Six months of rehearsing and gigging has no doubt made their performances tighter, and the Rochester hardcore/punk band also seem to have a few new songs under their belt; or at least older ones that now made a bigger impression on me a second time around, Another Night In The Rock being one that I’ll pinpoint. Man on the mic Jimmy Stadt was once again bearish (yeah, that’s a real adjective), as he snarled out the vocals which are often the rough side of the sandpaper, with the instruments proving the backing melodies which are often less abrasive and grating – the rough with the not so rough. An excellent way to kick off the day.

“Thankfully The Snips are not a ska band, or at least The Snips are not Reel Big Fish – so the trumpet wasn’t coming in at the end of every bar.“

Over at the outside stage behind Mansion House, a strong crowd gathered in anticipation for The Snips. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this band; the name was telling me it must be some kind of punk band, but then the warning bells went off when I noticed a trumpet sitting on stage. Fearing that The Snips might be a ska band, I planned my exit in advance, with the gap in a safety barrier or the porthole window in the neighbouring car park both looking like viable options for an emergency exit. Thankfully The Snips are not a ska band, or at least The Snips are not Reel Big Fish – so the trumpet wasn’t coming in at the end of every bar. The trumpet played more of a cameo role for the most part, as its player – who had an uncanny resemblance to Shia Lebeouf – had other duties like backing vocals and guitar. So that was a relief.

At first I was enthused by The Snips, who came out all guns blazing, with some meaty chug-a-long riffs providing ample Duracell power for The Snips cocktail of punk, pop and metal. After five or six songs though my interest had waned, especially as the trumpet was becoming more prominent, and it was time to move on.

Away from the bigger venues and bigger crowds, I came across People You Know who played to a crowd of a dozen, including Cancer Bats guitarist Scott Middleton. This all girl group from Toronto had the odds stacked against them, what with being stuck at the back of 73, which was pretty much the temperature in C inside this veritable bakers oven of a venue which was in dire need of some A/C. People You Know had a very raw indie sound which had drawn me inside, with punchy hooks, simple progressions and beats. There was a wicked vibe to PYK’s intimate little gig – well worth getting a little hot and sweaty for.

The next couple of hours are from about 5-7 p.m. are a fuzzy blur – I caught snippets of about half a dozen bands, all of which have been blown from my memory by Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah. Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah know how to make an impression. Or “Heck Yeah Frig Yeah” as frontman AL911 jested, as their show began a couple hours before the watershed. But nah, don’t be mistaken; Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah didn’t have any qualms at all about using bad language, or being offensive. AL911 taunted passers by who walked along James Street past the open-windowed front of White Haut where HYFY were playing;

“You guys are nazis! Anybody not inside here is a fucking white supremacist! Fuck you! Keep walking, keep walking!…”

Probably the best example of self-promotion through reverse pyschology – because after all, nobody wants to be labelled a nazi.

AL911 really is a psycho on the microphone. He put on a gripping performance – gripping in the sense that it’s like he’s got you by the balls, and you better not walk away or you might just lose those family jewels. Till the noise stops, AL911 is the alpha male and your the fucking omegas at the bottom of the food chain, so its your duty to feel privileged enough to stand there and enthralled. It not as if you’d want to walk away anyway, because the music is pure dynamite in a can. Loud, trash, crass, class.

One guy in a Casualties leather studded and spiked jacket made a pitiful attempt to become part of the HYFY party – after circling three times like a wolf, he walked away shunned. There’d be no mosh pit or circle pit here; just a crowd that were partly bemused and partly scared shitless into being in a statuesque but appreciative state. However, AL911 did meet his match, as he picked the alpha female in the audience to dance with for a song about “other peoples girlfriends” – he grabbed a girl in a blue dress, spun her round once with an awkward pirouette, then she turned walked away giving with a dirty look, very clearly unimpressed.

Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah were awesome, but they’d turn out to be the lengthy side-note to the Cancer Bats, whose show over on the main stage eclipsed every other performance at the festival. The Cancer Bats were on amazing form. The skies opened just as their set began at 8:00 p.m. and the rain bucketed down, quickly creating puddles on the stage, and ultimately meaning that the Cancer Bats would close the main stage and not the festival headliners Every Time I Die, who got rained off to an alternative venue. This was some kind of divine justice, because Cancer Bats gave the kind of performance that deserved to close the main stage at any festival – a well-timed downpour seems to bring the best out of bands and festival crowds, but this was something really special.

The Cancer Bats were sublime. This was kind of show I’ve been waiting to see from the band, and their performance at Scene ’09 will be etched in my mind for many years. Liam Cornier was totally ballistic – his energy levels were off the chart, and the connection with the crowd was ultimate, with the singer and his crowd feeding off of each other and becoming more and more intense. Particularly brilliant moments included Lucifers Rocking Chair, during which the moshing was perhaps at its most delightfully violent, while a cover of Beastie Boy’s Sabotage was a surprise treat to a deserving SCENE crowd who have turned up to support the Cancers Bats at the festival for a few years in a row.

“This was some kind of divine justice, because Cancer Bats gave the kind of performance that deserved to close the main stage at any festival…Liam Cormier was totally ballistic – his energy levels were off the chart, and the connection with the crowd was ultimate.“

As the Cancer Bats set came to an end, the lights went out on the main stage, creating pandemonium as hundreds of fans ran to L3 to catch Every Time I Die there. I decided against being a sardine inside that venue to see ETID, and instead ended up seeing some other bands, of which I will give an honourable mention to Distance Between Stars. DBS’s music stopped me in my tracks as I walked by Mansion House and I listened to them for ten minutes or so, while a kind girl also very generously gestured to me to take her spot near the window to let me take a few photos. I then walked away as DBS’s set came to an end, but as I heard an encore kicking off I found myself jogging back to hear some more of their sprightly female-led rock. I’m sure I’ll check them out properly at some point in the future.

Later I had a rather scary moment as I witnessed a hundred or so teenage girls freak out for Marianas Trench who are seemingly the latest pin-up boys of pop-punk. Seriously, it was like Beatle mania, and the band had to make a Hollywood exit from Big Bucks which involved them sleeking off from the stage and then a garage door being pulled down by security guards to separate the band members from the screaming girls – a very bizarre (read: lame) incident. So that was quite disturbing, but lets forget about that – the story of Scene ’09 was the barnstorming show put on by the Cancer Bats.

We can only hope that the Cancer Bats are back at Scene once again in 2010, because without them things just wouldn’t be the same. The rain would be welcome back too.

© Brian Banks

Extra photos from S.C.E.N.E. 2009

I am rather fond of shooting ‘Bats in black and white… – Brian

Gig/Concert: S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival
Venue: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Date: June 28, 2008
Headliners: Cancer Bats, Ill Scarlett, Teenage Head
In one word: Stormy

A flying visit to SCENE 2008  by Music Vice Editor Brian Banks

St. Catharines is a town tucked down in southern Ontario, near Niagra Falls and the Canada-USA border. I’d never been here before, but if asked to describe it I’d be prone to spurt out rather cliched descriptors like ‘quiet’, ‘quaint’ … or, on a bad day, ‘dead’. Thankfully for me though, the day that I was in town was the day of Scene Festival 2008. SCENE is very much a ‘local’ event with most the bands coming from the Niagara and Toronto regions.

My time in St. Catharines on Sunday was very limited. My only way to get in and out of the town on the same day by public transport was to catch the a train which arrived there just before noon, and then left later by catching the 6.11pm back, which was the last train out of town. Scene Fest was scheduled to kick off just after 2.00pm, but before that a heavy storm had rolled through the town, lashing the streets with rain and bending trees sideways… thunder and lightning too, very frightening, you know. So, just like at Wimbledon every year, rain affected play, and Scene Fest’s 2 outdoor stages at Market Square and Mansion House both seemed to be at least an hour behind schedule. Actually all the times at the indoor venues were running late too.

Time was against me, but thankfully the 13 venues at Scene Fest were all concentrated in a small area. I decided it was best to just go from venue to venue and follow my ears till I found a band playing that I liked. My rock radar kicked in and guided me to the inside stage of the pub venue Mansion House. The window was open to the street outside, and I stood there for a moment listening to this band, Frankie Whyte And The Dead Idols. The drummer looked behind and then the singer too, both beckoning me to come inside. I didn’t exactly need an invitation, but it was cool to have one.

“The first and lasting impression I have of Frankie Whyte & The Dead Idols is that they are a band that seem to have their heads in the right places, and any ill-fitting attitudes or ego’s appear set-aside.“

I stood inside the venue taking some shots, and listening to this band until their set ended. The vibe through-out for FW & DI was just really cool. I’m not about to spew some pretentious metaphor to exaggerate how good they were. They were just cool. Some good tunes, particularly “Shout It Out”, which I noticed had stopped me in my tracks from taking photos, to just leaning against the wall and tapping my foot. The first and lasting impression I have of Frankie Whyte & The Dead Idols is that they are a band that seem to have their heads in the right places, and any ill-fitting attitudes or ego’s appear set-aside. They have fun playing their songs while also acting as their own public relations masters by beckoning passer-bys to come inside, and by encouraging people at the back of the room to get a little closer to the noise. A good attitude goes a long way to helping make or break a band.

It was getting near 4pm when I headed back over towards the main stage at Market Square, dropping in to some venues on the way but not finding anything that made me stay for more that a couple of minutes. I caught The Creepshow’s set at the main stage, and if you’re not familiar with this band then you might guess from their name that they fit into the whole horror-rock/punk/pyschobilly/rockabilly type of genre. The Creepshow’s gig started brightly and the crowd were buzzed about it at first, but gradually their interest wained and so did mine. I’ve always find it to be something of a conscience effort to listen to this kind of music, which is why I was always kind of relieved that the average Misfits album was under 30 minutes in length. If the Creepshow had been playing a smaller and more intimate venue and to fans of their style of music, as opposed to an outside venue in front of a largely disentinterested crowd, then it would have surely been a different story. But alas these if’s and but’s are pointless, and things fizzled out rather fast.

It was 5pm before I knew it, and I didn’t have much time left before I’d need to walk back to the train station to catch a ride home. I tried to see and hear as many bands as I could as I made my exit from St. Catharines. I followed by ears around from venue to venue as I reluctantly made my exit, but nothing stopped me in my tracks. That was until I found myself back at Mansion House, which was pretty much the last stop on my route back down and around St. Paul Street. There was a big line-up at the front of Mansion House, so I dashed around to the back street via a parking garage, then past the security dude at the back gate to catch Hunter Valentine who had just began a set on the outside second stage at Mansion House.

Hunter Valentine surprised me. I didn’t have time to stay for their full set, but I witness this all-girl trio deliver a performance which smacked of confidence and a very genuinely real attitude. There is a bit of grit about Hunter Valentine that comes from the lead guitarist and singer Kiyomi McCloskey who rasped out songs with a spiky self-assuredness, a confidence that over-shadowed the drummer and shy-and-retiring looking bassist. But it’s not a negative thing that McCloskey stood-out; this is very much the makings of an archetypal female lead singer, and she’s got the style and pipes to pull it off. And she’s got balls!

Hunter Valentine play songs that ring-out the voice of disaffected youth, the young and the heartbroken. Their tunes are clean, without screams. It’s been noted and reported elsewhere that this band built themselves up by playing to audiences at Pride concerts, finding fans in the gay & lesbian community. However, their music is by no means restricted to nor targeted towards lesbians. I can easily picture this band building a massive female following, especially teenagers, and I’m sure many guys might take a shine to them too; be they straight, gay, bi, tri, or whatever. The band are radio-friendly and ready made to target mainstream success.

HV’s sparse audience included a few young and a few randoms like a mother with a pushchair and a mini video crew. So, as with the Creepshow, the crowd was less than ideal. But then again that is to be expected at festivals, especially one’s set in towns which are more open to the average local who might not normally attend a rock festival. There was not enough people watching the band for them to kick up any kind of atmosphere, but HV held their own and did not falter. All-girl bands are still a pretty rare thing and this one deliver some very decent alt rock, with plenty of scope to grow.

© Brian Banks