It's almost 3 weeks now since I returned from my first trip to Canada. It coincided neatly with North By North East (NXNE) - the little sister to SXSW. Many people have asked me how Toronto compares to the States, including my mother, who happens to be half American. It is all very different: NXNE, the people and I am more of the opinion that the music is very different too. It has it's own identity.
The population of Canada is 31 million. It is the second largest country in the world (after Russia). Toronto is the largest city in Canada (population 4 million) and this is where I spent my first ever week in Canada.
I had no expectations other than that I knew the people I would meet would be laid back and that I would have a good time.
I stayed at Alex and Susan de Cartier's house off Queen Street East. Alex manages, amongst others, Oh Susanna and Susan manages Blue Rodeo. Having booked and successfully completed their retrospective debut UK and Irish tours it was good timing to be there. They have just had their first child 5 months ago - Jack. He's going to be a Rock'n'Roll star. I can't wait until he can sing!
Within hours of arriving I found myself in The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern to see another of my turns Blue Mountain. I saw them twice in Austin this year and I was so blown away by their live set I had to work with them. The Horseshoe Tavern is like a King Tuts of Toronto. Very cool and credible and a great venue to see a rock band. Blue Mountain were supporting huge Canadian rock band Big Wreck (I'd never heard of them before now). I don't really think the Mountains knew how rocky Big Wreck were otherwise I am sure we would've seen a meatier set. That was to come later in the week.
http://www.bluemountainmusic.com.
The plan was to stay awake as long as possible and by doing so got very friendly with Slemans beer and Blue Mountain. The trip got off to a grand start. I couldn't have been in a better place with better people.
It all caught up with me over the next 36 hours and my next excitement was seeing for the first time the Oh Susanna band. Leading up to this though I sampled the wonderful hospitality of the Canadians. A full barbecue, a party thrown by EMI Publishing and gallons of charm from everyone I met.
Oh Susanna solo is incredible. Oh Susanna band is just as incredible but for different reasons. I like both just as much as each other and having toured the UK and Ireland with her solo, I was glad to finally get the opportunity to see her with her band: Joel Anderson on drums, Bob Packwood on keyboards and Blue Rodeo's Bazil Donovan on bass. To top it all off, they played in a seated club in this place an hours' drive west of Toronto called Guelph. It was almost dark driving there - so couldn't make much of the area, but the gig was packed and Suzie rocked. You will have the pleasure of witnessing this night when she returns with her band in the UK in September.
http://www.ohsusannamusic.com.
The drive back was spectacular - with Alejandro Escovedo's new CD "A Man Under The Influence" in the car with Alex and his lovely assistant Jane. Things couldn't get much better. In fact Escovedo's album was the soundtrack to the trip and when people say they immediately go back to a place when they hear music they heard in that place…. The opening bars to "Rhapsody" will take me back to that drive back from Guelph.
http://www.alejandroescovedo.com.
The Manitoba Barbecue was an invite only party in a yard between two buildings. It was kind of packed and I bumped into a whole bunch of people I had met at the EMI bash yesterday. Music managers everywhere! Considering both my hosts are music managers I'd guess they would've been a bit of competition at these music business bashes, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much mutual respect, friendship and general camaraderie there seemed to be between them all. A Canadianism I guess. I was very chuffed to meet Oh Susanna's father - Charles Ungerleider - who immediately invited me to Vancouver. I might have to take him up on the offer.
Friday was the night the whole trip fell into place.
The Minneapolis band that I heard various friends raving about for ages - Bellwether - were on at the same time as Blue Mountain. This kind of thing is very common place in Austin (SXSW), where at any one stage there are 6 bands you want to see live at 6 different venues scattered across Austin City. Tonight in Toronto these two venues were in the same building; so I was able to witness for the fourth time the southern Country-tinged Blues-Rock phenomena that are Blue Mountain at Barcode and above it to hear a modern-day Jayhawks at Ted's Wrecking Yard. Bellwether are tight and they truly rock. They are fronted by Eric Luoma whose good looks should make this band very desirable with cross over audiences, and you'd expect a more female audience to appreciate the live show than normal…. If you catch my drift.
http://www.bellwethertheband.com.
I had heard so much about Ted's from Oh Susanna, it was good to see it in the flesh. A good-sized room with a bar at the back. A bit similar to Upstairs at The Garage, but the sound was better. It was good to meet the lass that books it, a refugee from South Wales - Yvonne Matsell. A true lover of music like most people I met on this trip. I hope to exchange tips with her via e-mail in months to come.
Jane then dragged me off to Black Bull where a band from Calgary, National Dust, were playing. Fronted by a guy who reminds me of a cross between Ben from Big Sur/High Class Family Butchers and Tris from The Spitz - the national health glasses hid a songwriting genius in Lorrie Matheson. A band who played music like The Byrds with a tinge of Britain that you hear these days in bands like Teenage Fanclub, Grand Drive and Cosmic Rough Riders. Short snappy songs with buckets of hook choruses. A band truly worth checking out.
It was only 5 days ago I saw the next and live, thousands of miles away in a pub behind Kings Cross Station in London. Tandy followed National Dust. They crop up everywhere and it was great to see them round off a fabulous evening with their unique style of hypnotic folk-rock with infectious melodies. I was amazed to last it this long and the band was amazed to see me there!
By Saturday it was time to buy CDs, write postcards and discover Toronto in the daytime. CDs are extremely cheap here. "Sandinista!" by The Clash in any UK shops (if available) would cost in excess of £20. Here the double CD cost $Cdn 21.99. With an exchange rate $Cdn2.2:£UK1 it became very clear that CDs were exactly half the price here. "Ouch!" said my credit card.
Toronto has many qualities of many wonderful cities around the world. The street cars very reminiscent of Amsterdam and San Francisco; architecturally like Boston; very bohemian parts - such as Queen Street W - that reminded me of being back in Portobello, or the further west you went - Camden Town. The road layout was very American - grid like. Once you knew where certain key places were - Holiday Inn, Ted's, Horseshoe Tavern, the beautiful Old City Hall, and Queen Street in its entirety - it became very easy to find your own way around without a map.
It was certainly warmer than it was in the UK before I left and because less people drive here, the air was a lot cleaner. Life here is good. Live music good, CDs half the price, women beautiful, people generally more friendly than anywhere else I had been in the world, climate good. The beer was fine. I quickly developed a penchant for Slemans. The food was pretty diverse too. A bit like England really in that you be assured of getting any type of food you like. I was glad not to repeat endless salsa dishes breakfast lunch and supper as at SXSW. My stomach was pleased.
Saturday night was a wild night. Having partially recovered from the Friday night, Alex and I went to this funky downstairs wine bar called C'est What. It's quite far from anywhere else (Teds or Horsehoe) but once there I saw a toned-down Lambchop-type Radiogram and then Australian Folk-Pop sensation The Waifs. They are the biggest selling independent Australian band - reminiscent of vocal-harmonising Indigo Girls. Here we have two sassy sisters full of Australianisms and laughter. They are a wild bunch.
One thing I was particularly glad of this trip was how few English people I bumped into. I could count them on one hand. I flew on the same plane as music manager Pete Jenner. City Slang's Wyndham Wallace was also in town. Singer-songwriter - originally from Hastings, East Sussex but now (quite literally just now) in New York - John Wesley "Wes" Harding was in town and we enjoyed seeing The Waifs over a pint of bitter. Just like being at home heh Wes!
A quick reprise at Ted's to see Jim Bryson resulted in me meeting Tracy Rowan (AKA The Whirling Dervish). She knows every music businessperson in Toronto and through her work at an airline - she gets to see most live bands (mainly after show or backstage) all around the world and her web of contacts extend further out of Canada. Bellwether were still kicking around and she managed to blagg a posse of 7 of us into The Matador Ballroom; a 1950s style dancehall with no liquor license. Tracy, The Waif sisters, Bellwether, Alex and myself proceeded to drink Vodka (bought surreptitiously at the rear of the venue) and dance to this covers band that played classic American Rock songs by Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Doors, The Eagles, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp…. It was endless and it was a riot. It was like a scene out of "Back To The Future" and for a while there - time did stand still. An experience to remember and maybe one day repeat....
The rest of my time in Toronto was hanging out and chilling out with my hosts and on Sunday myself, Alex, Sue, Jack and Jack's surrogate Uncle Neville went to The Beaches. There is only freshwater in Ontario so it was bizarre to go to a beach on a side of a lake - not just any lake - but Lake Ontario. On a sunny Sunday afternoon this place is as popular as Brighton. The water was freezing (I could guess purely because only dogs dared venture into it).
My last two nights in Toronto saw my third attendance of a Blue Mountain show in a week at Barcode and on the Monday night an album release party of "Open" the new album from Cowboy Junkies. I had never seen them before and was very pleased to see them play live in a relatively small venue for them (Horseshoe) in their home town. I had got very tired from endless partying by this stage and I probably would've appreciated the full impact of this experience earlier on in the week. It was mellow, but so was the whole trip.
Big hugs and thanks to my new Canadian family; Alex, Sue and Jack de Cartier, their cats Isabelle, Lucy and Chester and to Jane for being a great person to hang out with, go to gigs, go shopping and eating with. And - in no particular order: Chris and Julien (fellow agents who work for Paquin Entertainment); Neville (Canada's answer to Fraser Crane); Tracy Bolan (for the freebies into Matador Ballroom and Cowboy Junkies); Blue Mountain (Cary, Laurie, Ted and Justin) for being great people and musicians; Venue bookers and promoters: Yvonne (Ted's), JC (Horseshoe) and Lil (Guelph); The Horseshoe Tavern, Ted's Wrecking Yard/Bar Code and where ever else I went; Jim, Bazil, James and Bob from Blue Rodeo; Lloyd and Peter from Outside; Yvette for your smile; Brits Wes and PJ; Vikki and Donna from The Waifs; Bob Egan; Dwayne and Pat from Fusion III; John Tayman for introducing me to a men's drinking club in Toronto that devised Mother's Day!; Music managers Steve Garvan (Bellwether), Bernie Breen (Big Wreck), Chris Moon, Paul Dickman (Alejandro Escovedo), Melissa Greiner (By Divine Right), Shauna de Cartier (Luke Doucet); Oh Susanna, Blue Mountain (again), Bellwether, The Waifs, National Dust, Luke Doucet and Tandy for playing great music; EMI Publishing and Manitoba Barbecue for the parties; Tania and finally Alejandro Escovedo for providing the soundtrack to the whole trip.
A Postscript from Oh Susanna:
Bob,
What a lovely description of our town. It actually made me a bit misty. The only tip I would add is that Lake Ontario does not contain any bathers because it is too polluted - not because it is cold (which it probably was too). Also it is ironic that you say the air is cleaner because we have had smog warnings of late which warn the elderly and the young to stay indoors because of risk of death from the dirty air!
Suzie