06
ARTS & CULTURE THE ONTARION
0 8 | W E E ZE R ’S NE W S OUND
1 1 | MAINSTAGE MILL ENNIAL S
@Ont ar i on _ A r t s
Place for Bands makes a place for bands DIY SPACES ALLOW LOCAL PROMOTERS TO SHOWCASE OUT-THERE TALENTS M A R S C H E S T E R C H OW & W I L L W E L L I N G TO N
Place for Bands flourishes in DIY venues, like local vintage stores. |
TWO YEARS AGO, Ian Bain, Jake Cadieux, and Dan Loughrin started Place for Bands to bring Canadian DIY musicians to Guelph. Cadieux and Loughrin were already meeting lots of Canadian musicians while playing out of town gigs with their band Baby Labour, and Loughrin had been running shows for about two years under the name Big Rig Productions at the Jimmy Jazz. Bain was great friends with them, but didn’t play with them. “I thought it would be good to work with him in an administrative capacity,” said Loughrin. Two years later, a lot has changed with Place for Bands. Loughrin left the group due to issues in his personal life. Thomas Campbell, who has been helping out with the group since the start, officially joined about six months ago. However, the core of their mission remains the same: “We are an organization that brings music to town. We are promoters. We put on events,” said Bain. This Thursday, Place for Bands is hosting a two year anniversary
show featuring Blessed, Whimm, and Iris, post-punk and shoegaze bands from Toronto and Vancouver. If Place for Bands is still going after two years, it’s because of its focus on the needs of artists and the community. “We’re doing it purely for the scene, to create a space for music to thrive,” said Cadieux. Often that means running shows out of their own pockets. “We are a not-for-profit organization,” said Cadieux. Bain, Cadieux, and Campbell emphasized that paying and treating artists well is important. “Jake, Dan, and I all played music from the get-go. We know what it’s like trying to play in town and having to go through a bunch of people, not necessarily finding anything, to end up playing a shitty show where two people show up,” said Bain. “I think it’s very important that [we are] an artist-run organization,” said Campbell. Cadieux added that the community suffers from promoters “not knowing what it’s like to schlep your own gear. You can’t possibly understand how frustrating it is to deal with promoters who are
We’re doing it purely for the scene, to create a space for music to thrive. ILLUSTRATION BY CORBEN GRANT
lazy, [and] don’t put in the time and effort for the work, or pay you. We strive at all times to not be that.” It hasn’t always been smooth sailing though. “We are doing a lot more [work] since it all depends on the spaces available to us. We try to do things in DIY spaces or unconventional space, similar to a pop-up,” said Bain. “There [are] difficulties with that though, because
JAKE CADIEUX
we have to rent all the equipment, provide everything ourselves.” They’ve become aware of how much work it takes, and a recent Facebook post stressed “finding balance in [their] own personal and professional lives.” But in those DIY spaces, Place for Bands have a lot more flexibility. “It’s easy when you do something at a bar where basically everything
SEE YOUR NAME ontarion@uoguelph.ca WWW.THEONTARION.CA/volunteer
PHOTO COURTESY OF PLACE FOR BANDS
IN PRINT
is provided, but we have a better time when we have our own space,” said Bain. “We can get a special operations permit, which affords us the ability to sell beer, and that is crucial to larger payouts,” said Campbell. Other parts of the process have gotten easier as they’ve gotten more credibility. “Part of the reason why we grew so quickly, and the reason why these amazing bands have come to work with us, was because Kazoo! [a major promoter in Guelph] was busy, and they would throw us a bone,” said Bain. “They did that a few times and all of a sudden people were contacting us.” Their plan for the future is to give every event “the attention and promotion it deserves,” as they said on Facebook, because for Place for Bands, it’s all about the music. “You go to the show, you’re there for the show and the music. Everything else falls second,” said Cadieux. Place for Bands anniversary show is on Thursday, Nov. 9 at DSTRCT
VOLUNTEER
MEETINGS WEDNESDAYS
5:30 UC264