Gig/Concert: Canadian Music Week 2010 (Canadian Music Fest)
Venue: Various venues across Toronto, ON, Canada
Date: 10-14 March 2010
Headliners: Our Lady Peace, Bedouin Soundclash
In one word: Hectic

My experience at Canadian Music Week 2010 started a day earlier than most peoples, having met Sixteen Layers in afternoon and saw Jamie Cullum on the eve of the Wednesday festival kick-off.

With the banner for this year’s Canadian Music Fest* proudly claiming “700 bands, 45 venues”, it was a bit of a head-scratcher deciding where to go, so I settled into my usual game plan that I adopt for these kind of multi-venue festivals which is pretty much to hop around between as many venues as I can, stopping only when I find something I like. Unfortunately, this game plan became rather defunct when I soon found myself being turned away at venues by being told, “tickets only, no more passes or badges.” That experience of getting denied access to gigs due to venues being at their ‘limit’ for CMW wristband or media badge holders was an all too frequent and frustrating occurrence, though from the organisers perspective it showed that Canadian Music Week is seemingly more popular than ever. Particularly frustrating was being denied access to Vivian Girls gig at Wrongbar – I understand that the discretion lies with each individual venue in terms of deciding how many punters with wristbands and media with badges to allow in, but it did really seem to me like some venues were being a bit too tight or ‘restrictive’ with allowing access to pass holders.

Rants aside, (at least for a moment), a surprise consolation prize came as an upshot from that Wrongbar denial when I walked down the road to the Cadillac Lounge to catch a fun set from local folk band Tin Star Orphans. Lead singer and guitarist Zachary Bennett was particularly entertaining, frequently gurning with what was a serious case of guitar face – and the face was fitting because Tin Star Orphans did have a few meaty chops going on here, but I was less taken by the singing style of Bennett, which is rather odd and strained.

Earlier on Wednesday evening I’d missed out on seeing Kate Miller-Heidke at the Mod Club, a lady whom we’ve previously given glowing reviews of from performances in her native Australia. That was disappointing but I stuck around for a while and somehow kept patience long enough to endure the entire set of the effervescent and effeminate electro rock stylings of Montreal’s The Mission District – what a load of bollocks that was. The band had commented that it was a “bit different” for them to be playing to an audience largely made up of adults, because it turns out they don’t normally play +19 shows (the common age limit in Canada) and on the evidence of this I think they might be better off sticking to playing gigs to more easily convinced/fooled young teenyboppers, particularly female or effeminate ones. Too many haircuts and not enough substance – the synth player’s Morrisey-esque quiff was more memorable than any of the beats.

A whole lot more enjoyable were Columbia who I caught for the first half of their set, after catching a street car over to Neutral in Kensington Market – in hindsight I would have stuck around longer for this band from Vancouver, BC who are a bit like a Canadian rootsy version of Oasis. Well, just a wee bit…

If Wednesday had been frustrating then Thursday was exasperating (pardon the melodrama), starting with being denied access to Sally Seltmann’s Arts & Crafts showcase at The Great Hall, in a similar way that I’d been denied access to a couple of CMW conferences earlier that day at the Royal York. Being denied access to shows was a minor annoyance compared to an incident leading to my camera being damaged, causing me to abandon Forest City Lovers gig at the Drake Hotel – they were good for what I saw, and their set included a new song from their forthcoming album. I exited to make my way to a nearby corner store to purchase some duct tape to re-affix the control button to my camera, and that DIY repair job may not have been the perfect fix but it was good enough for me to be able to at least get some photos during the rest of the week.

I was ready to give up on CMW for Thursday, but fate had twisted my arm behind my back and led me to Clinton’s on Bloor Street where I witnessed a seven-piece orchestral folk pop band from Seattle called Hey Marseilles. Hey Marseilles were excellent and a real surprise package. Playing to a crowd that numbered roughly the same as the band, it was a really exclusive performance which was wholly enjoyed by the few smiling faces who saw it. Hey Marseilles combine the traditional rock instruments with a cello, an accordion, and a violin to create some stompin’ good folk rock. The musicianship of the band was impressive, as was their unity and synergy, with the attentiveness of the group clear to see in the way they seemed to hang in waiting for singer Matt Bishop to move to the next part of a song, with Bishop being both the lead singer and orchestrator. The lyrics were impressive too with some nice poetry and wordplay, and often impacting enough that I found myself jotting down some of the more vivid lines in my notepad. Hey Marseilles were a real breathe of fresh air and my highlight of Canadian Music Week.

And so to Friday night where I made sure that I turned up early enough at the Mod Club to be certain I got inside for Bedouin Soundclash. I caught most of the set of opening act Charlie Winston who is an entertaining oddball, the highlight being when he moved around the Mod Club, leaping up on the bar as the crowd sung along to the ridiculous sing-a-long that is “My Life as a Duck”. The English singer-songwriter enjoyed number one chart success in France last year with his second album Hobo, and on the evidence of this performance he might have what it takes to gain a following in Canada – especially Quebec, seeing as French people seem to hold a special affection for Winston’s quirkiness.

Bedouin Soundclash served up a set of reggae, dub and soul that went down a storm, and the gig wrapped up in time for me to head over to Comfort Zone to catch the tail-end of Huron’s set, with psychedelic rock delivered by some spacey effects-pedal powered trippy guitar and a bit of lap steel, before musician and producer Ian Blurton joined Huron on stage for what was a seamless transition for Ian Blurton’s Happy Endings to take over. My only previous run-in with Ian Blurton was in 2007 in Montreal when I’d met him backstage with his main band C’mon – Blurton is a lot slimmer now, but still has his signature full beard. Blurton and co. laid down a few nice grooves, replete with much string bending but my interest waned after a while and this lacked the intensity of a C’mon concert, and to me Blurton is very much at his best when with C’mon, especially given the fiery on-stage chemistry he shares with his girlfriend who is the bassist in that band.

Saturday was the final day of Canadian Music Week for me and most others, and it was much a case of unwinding after four hectic days of running around Toronto.

A special mention to The Rural Alberta Advantage (their album Hometowns was my favourite of 2009) who I was pleased to see pick up the Galaxie Rising Star award; very much deserved.

© Brian Banks, Music Vice

Photos from Canadian Music Week

Review by Music Vice editor Brian Banks – 1 January, 2010

Title: Hometowns
Artist: The Rural Alberta Advantage
Label: Saddle Creek
Released: July 2009
In one word: Fervent

I rank music a close second to oxygen in terms of its importance to my day-to-day living, and one of the best moments in the life of a music fanatic is when you come across an album that makes such an impact on you that you’ll know it will live with you forever. The kind of album that sets a marker at a specific point along the timeline of your life: so much so that you could place it at the correct spot without hesitation if you were to mimic Ben in a scene from the movie High Fidelity and sort your record collection in chronological order. Whatever the scenario, musical discoveries of this kind of personal significance only come along so often – to me Hometowns is one such treasure, and an album that became the most essential part to my soundtrack to 2009.

There is music for every occasion but perhaps the rarest yet most important type is music that simply just reaches you, like nothing else. Oft times this is the music that you can find solace in in times of trauma. The music can become a crutch to lift you off the floor and get you out the door and back into the daylight, or at the very least remind you that your not alone to feel pain. Feeder epitomized this and put a name on it with their album Comfort In Sound. It is a rare feat to be able to capture the sadness and pain of bereavement and expel it as enjoyable, positive-minded music that reaches out to so many people – Feeder’s triumph was borne from the tragedy of a loss of band mate, but with Hometowns there is a different source of deprivation used for inspiration.

Throughout the Albertan-themed songs are the most touching and personal tales of heartache. Themes of love, especially the unrequited kind, are so common in music but its rare that an artist can touch this subject without sounding mawkish or just plain sappy, but the Toronto based three-piece The Rural Alberta Advantage pull it off with music rich with raw emotion.

Hometowns is replete with fervent energy from start to finish – the pulse is sometimes slow (“Sleep All Day”, “The Air”), sometimes racing (“The Dethbridge In Lethbridge”), but always with an absorbing intensity. The main accomplishment of Hometowns is how its earnest lyrics are carried by music which is creative, accessible and upbeat. A prime example of this is the outstanding “Don’t Haunt This Place” which combines uptempo percussion with deep slow strings, while the RAA’s passionately expressive lead singer and songwriter Nils Edenloff is backed with warmth by Amy Cole.

Ultimately, Hometowns is a recovery record. The music is inspired by the most personal pain and sadness, but instead of sounding bitter or angry the most positive triumph is pulled off, with music that is honest, compelling and beautiful. A fantastic album.

© Brian Banks

Related Links:
Interview: The Rural Alberta Advantage

Interview by Music Vice editor Brian Banks – November 3, 2009

Earlier this year at Virgin Festival Toronto ’09 I caught up with The Rural Alberta Advantage. I was extremely enthused to meet the RAA, who are one of my favourite bands of 2009. I had also downed a few beers earlier in the day which only added to my exuberance but thankfully Nils, Amy and Paul were in an equally chatty mood.

We all sat down around in the boardwalk area around the back of the Molson Ampitheatre, where we talked for almost half an hour straight. I had intended to publish this interview as an mp3 podcast for your listening pleasure, but unfortunately it was so windy where we spoke that the recording of this interview turned out rather muffled and actually took quite a while to transcribe. It was a pleasure to meet with The Rural Alberta Advance, who were friendly, engaging, and open and enthusiast with their answers.

So I’m here In Toronto with the quite fantastically named – and it’s a bit of a tongue-twister! – The Rural Alberta Advantage. So you guys come from Alberta…

Nils - Actually, I am the lone Albertan in the band.

Oh, false advertising!

Nils - Well initially there were more Albertans in the band but now we’ve paired it down to just the three of us, we’ve found that the three of us is what makes it work I guess… without trying to insult the other two!

Does that mean that you are the main songwriter then Nils?

Nils - Yeah a lot of the lyrical content is from Alberta, so that’s stuff that I handle.

So you two guys are just locals or…?

Amy - I guess, yeah!

Paul - Yeah yeah, plain old Toronto…

Laughter

Yeah yeah, who cares right!? So, Nils, how long have you been in Toronto yourself?

Nils - I moved here in January of 2002, so seven and a half years now… it’s been a while.

I bought your album only yesterday in HMV and it was an awesome experience. It’s the kind of album that you want to buy in HMV, it’s a conversation starter, firstly because the girl had to type it in the computer five times before she gets it correct – “the rural who?” But there is a little bit of buzz about you guys, the people who know about you are excited about your music. I’ve had time to listen to your record twice, and aside from all the Alberta themed songs there’s also a lot of love and anti-love songs. I want to start by talking about Don’t Haunt This Place – I found that song particularly striking… for me it was the stand-out track…

Nils - Thank you.

It seems to be a song about heartbreak, right?

Nils - Yeah. I was living with a girl, we had an apartment… Dealing with the break-up, maybe at the time it was hard – “this is all wrong!” – but later on down the road it kind of makes sense of itself for the better. In a way a lot of the songs on the album embrace that break-up, you know, leaving one home for another, in a way is a little bit of a break-up with that hometown. I think those sorts of themes are really prominent through-out the album.

Definitely. I was on the train to Toronto this morning from Hamilton, and I was writing down names of songs on my arms as I listened to your album… “In The Summer Time”, “Frank, AB”…

Nils - Oh those aren’t tattoos on your arm?

Laughter.

Nils - I thought they were crazy-amazing tattoos towards us – that would be flattering!!

Indeed! Those two songs are brilliant, and again I want to mention Don’t Haunt This Place – it really hit home for me personally. I had been sharing a place with the most amazing girl, a girl who I’d been with for three years and someone who has made a huge impact in my life. Then suddenly one day she was gone and out of my life. It’s weird how a song can sometimes feel so personal and I fully understand the heartbreak of that song, and what you mentioned earlier about dealing with a break-up… I can’t remember a song hitting home with me so personally.

Nils - Actually I meant to say, the song was about you!

Amy – Yeah we did it about you!

Nils - It’s kind of weird how this worked out this way!!

Laughter.

Nils - Yeah but I totally identify with that, when your listening to a song and it really hits home, on such a personal level. Those sort of moments I live for when I’m listening to new music, there’s certain times when your just wrapped up listening to music because it speaks to you so much. Hopefully some of our songs are reaching other people in the same way too – I think that’s what we are striving for.

I’ve wrote some more words here on my arm – the word “raw” the word “pure” and I think that says “ity”….rawity, purity. And it’s that kind of raw and pure soul and emotion is being demonstrated through so many of Canadian bands coming through right now, particularly in the indie scene. How are you guys channeling that emotion?… I mean where does this come from…what is your songwriting process?

Nils - It’s a collaborative process. I might bring some ideas to the table but its really a team effort.

Paul - It starts with a sketch of a song – usually some words or a melody. So we just start to jam it out and break it out, and not just what the chords should be but how they should sound. It’s sometimes a really long and arduous process…

Amy – Definitely…

Paul – … Yeah a lot of songs take months and a lot of frustration. To me usually it’s all around the focal melody like we’ll know we have an amazing vocal melody but we’re not making a song around it which is as good as that vocal melody. Sometimes we’ll just agree that something’s not hot enough and reject that.

Nils - But at the same time we’ve gone back and re-evaluated certain songs. Like “yeah that’s not working, it’s gonna be a throwaway” – but it’s also in the vault so we might come back to it later and make a new take on it. Sometimes it just backfires, if we try to play an old song in a new way – we just look at each other and laugh at how terrible it is, “Wow we don’t sound anything like Paul Simon.”

Talking about looking at old songs in a new way, Hometowns started out originally as a five-song EP, but you went back and reworked some of your songs?

Amy - I think Frank, AB was one song in particular that we never really felt right about. We had to break the song, it was originally a keyboard song and now it’s guitar driven and it was completely not like that to begin with. We are sort of perfectionists in that way, we don’t like playing a song that we’re not really into, so sometimes we’ll play with it until it gets to a point where we all love the song. That makes a big difference when your playing a song live.

Well, I mentioned I’ve only had a chance to listen to the album twice so far, but the quality control does seem top notch and there certainly doesn’t seem to be anything in the way of filler. So top marks on that!

I’d like to go back again and talk more about your band name and that whole Alberta theme. I’m here at V Fest Toronto with Liz, part of the Music Vice team, and she’s an Albertan – she explained to me a bit about “The Alberta Advantage”, which is some kind of government thing?

Nils - Yeah, its great that some other Albertans pick up on that. The Alberta Advantage was sort of like a government slogan to mostly promote oil, gas and industry in general. Alberta is a very industry rich province and growing up there and constantly hearing about the Alberta Advantage, I just had this idea about all that oil and industrial stuff.

It wasn’t until I was chatting with my brother through email when he said, “yeah, we’re just going to our farm, hanging out with some friends and exploring the Rural alberta advantage….”. I just like how placing that one word in front of that slogan changed ever idea i had about the alberta advantage.

Yeah, as a newcomer to Canada when I hear the Alberta Advantage it does give connotations of all that oil and sludge and big dirty machines. The industry and all it’s dirty oil money. But of course that’s very different to what your music is about…

Nils - Yeah, The Rural Alberta Advantage is completely embracing not that oil, gas and sludge but more about the beautiful experiences and places that I have of growing up there.

So this is your first time at V Fest. What did you thing about the last-minute decision to move the festival – originally it was going to be in a field up north about 100km, up near Barrie, but now instead we’re in downtown Toronto.

Paul – Well this is more convenient!

Amy - Well we just came home from our tour in the States yesterday, so this is a much easier commute. We’re happy to be here in Toronto. It would have been fun to be up there at a camping festival but this is awesome too. This is a venue, the Molson Ampitheatre, I’ve seen so many concerts here that have shaped what I’ve thought about music so to be playing here is amazing. It’s really ridiculous, it’s really awesome…

So who have you seen here Amy?

Amy - Oh man… Well actually the headliner today is Ben Harper and I’ve actually seen him here before a couple of years ago. It was super good. I don’t know if I’ll get to see him again because we’re playing after the Pixies over on the second stage, so we might miss some of Harper. But this is just a big venue – Pearl Jam has played here before and I’ve loved Pearl for most of my life, so the fact that we’re here is really cool.

Totally. But as you mentioned, Ben Harper is the headliner… do you agree with that? In my opinion and from what I’ve been hearing from everyone else, it should be the Pixies on top of the bill for tonight…

Nils - Oh totally, yeah.

Amy - I’ve seen the Pixies too live, and they’re incredible…

Nils - We don’t understand the economics of a festival and what goes into that, so I don’t really think we’re qualified to say who should be headlining but it’s probably got a lot to do with ticket sales and that kind of thing. But we’re really excited to see the Pixies.

Amy - Really excited…

Nils - In terms of an act that influenced a lot of the bands that are playing today I’m sure if you asked a lot of the bands they’d say they’re really excited to see the Pixies because we’ve all just been influenced by them.

Regarding the turnout, as I’m speaking to you right now at around 6.30pm I’m still seeing a lot of empty seats. Perhaps two-thirds capacity at most…

Nils - I think as we get closer to the Pixies more people will turn up.

Amy – I will say the weather forecast all night had been it was going to be pouring rain all day, so I think that might have driven some people away but the weather is fantastic. So that’s unfortunate if the forecast had deterred people.

Paul - And again we don’t really understand how festivals work. There’s a lot more people here than we could ever drag to a show.

Nils - Yeah, we’re just happy for the experience to be playing in front of these people.

So you guys are admittedly newbies to the whole deal of touring and the industry in general, so what have you learnt so far – what’s perhaps been the most surprising thing?

Paul - It’s amazing that you can get paid to do this.

Nils - Yeah we’re still happy that we can get paid to do this. I mean the thing we all really love, you know, what we’re doing and having the chance to do it in front of people.. it’s pretty rewarding. The fact that we get paid to actually play in front of people and do what we love is pretty amazing and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon.

Paul - It’s always shocking. The reception is amazing.. everywhere we go there’s people that have heard our record. Even it’s just one or two people it’s like “wow, your far away but you’re listening to our music.”

That’s the great thing about the live music scene – there’s still a real culture, and good news spreads fast. It used to be all about zines, radio and college radio, but now of course the internet has only made communication easier. For sure there is definitely a real buzz about you guys – has their been a best moment so far?

Nils - SXSW was really amazing. That whole week was incredible. It’d take an hour to explain to you everything that happened but the main thing was opening for Grizzly Bear in a church…

In a church? Hope you didn’t swear!

Nils - No… It was just unbelievable altogether. Everyday it seems like something exciting is coming up.

So, just to round things up here, the token Music Vice question we ask every band: what vices do you guys have?

Nils - I have an addiction to new music!

Boo’s from Paul and Amy.

That’s a cop out!

Nils - I don’t know, you’re putting me on the spot, I don’t know what my vice is… I have a new puppy.

Amy - What about that spray you use?

Nils - That’s so I can play shows.

Paul - Amy, what’s your vice? You quit smoking?

Amy - I know. Diet Coke! I’m addicted.

And yourself Paul?

Paul - I don’t know, I’m a pretty good guy… I would say I spend too much time on my computer…

Amy - haha, Rock ‘n roll…..!

Paul – …yeah, and possibly downloading illegal things… I feel really bad about that because I feel as a musician that is something that impacts us very directly.

What kind of stuff do you pirate?

Paul – Oh god… I don’t pirate music, I would say that at least.

So will you guys be coming back Sunday at V-Fest, Nine Inch Nails last ever show in Canada?

Nils – Well these guys are…

Paul - Nine Inch Nails man!

Nils – I’m tired, I need some downtime…

Amy - Rock ‘n roll!! (laughs)

Nils – Yeah yeah, rock ‘n roll… I’m gonna take a day to myself. A personal day, get some downtime.

So you put a personal day over seeing Trent Reznor?

Nils – Yeah pretty much. And when you guys had a personal day last night, I played a show, so I’m gonna take a personal day tomorrow.

You played solo?

Amy - Yeah Nils why don’t you brag about playing solo… (laughs)

Nils - I didn’t play solo. It was a show that was part of a compilation benefit… and that’s why I’m tired now.

Paul - Thanks Brian, you just broke up our band!

Amy and Paul throw daggers at Nils as I step away from the table.