Day 3 - Commotion House, Waterloo Ontario

I realize that there are some awful spelling and grammar errors in some of my posts. Please forgive this, as I usually am writing these either very late or very early. I'll correct all the blogs towards the end.

After a VERY late night from the Bro Haus after party, I decided to sleep in until 2PM to recoup some strength and vigor. After a shower and a coffee, I meandered over to the Bro Haus to have some always fun hung over conversation with my old roomies/good buds. We all just talked about how awesome the show was and how more like them need to happen. Eventually the boys from Edmonton strolled over having been out for dim sum in China town, and we preceded to head to the van, which had spent the last few nights conveniently around the corner from the Haus in a well protected (and easy going) parking lot.
We reached Commotion house at about 8PM, which at first I thought was a problem, but as it turned out, we were the first band there. Being more used to Bro Haus shows following a strict curfew, I was surprised, but stoked at the difference in neighbourly tolerance to punk haha. Jesse threw the show, and was a very nice guy. He and some friends also made a vegan/vegetarian pot-luck for the bands and friends, which was very gracious and awesome.
The show space at Commotion house is an awesome small basement, with a low ceiling, and a very awesome old as hell looking PA. I love basement shows, as the energy just seems to rise, which seemed like the case again tonight. Even if there was only 30 or so people at the show, it felt packed, and people seemed to be having a good time.
Sleep For the Nightlife were the first band and I was pleasantly surprised. Very catchy and dynamic indie/post-rock stuff, all very nice dudes too. RHD was plagued by a few technical problem, including a breaker needing to be fixed (again, love house shows), but otherwise were their usual wild selves. It's been a lot of fun watching these guys play the last few days. Their drummer Taylor also wore a dinosaur mask and a red soccer uniform. Again, rad dudes haha.
Gift Eaters were even more intense than usual, and it was awesome to have a screamo rendition of Happy Birthday sung to me post midnight, as I had officially turned 23.
This was also the 2nd show of the 3 I had gotten set up with the Edmonton guys and Tonnn, who are honestly getting better every time I see them. Thanks for playing "I Work All Day..." for me guys!
Okay, it's my bday, and I have to miss the show tonight to see family. I am bummed. But Bracebridge on Tuesday, and then the looong drive.
-Matt

Day 2 - Siesta Nouveaux, Toronto Ontario

Day 2 was obviously cozier for me than the GE/RHD guys since I got to go home and pass out in my own bed after getting them settled at the Bro Haus. For this I only feel mildly guilty.
Day 2 involved a lot of wandering around the city with the guys and introducing themselves to some cool areas. After getting all you can eat Indian buffet with Graham and Cecil from Gift Eaters (highly recommended by the way), we wandered back in the direction of the house to meet up with the other guys. On the way we passed through the U of T campus, which was fun because I got to show some of the dudes the institute that's been crushing my soul for so many years first hand.
After some solid relaxing and hang out at the house, we hit the van and drove over to Siesta Nouveaux, an awesome artist co-op holding all ages BYOB shows and a very reasonable price. Honestly, this place is one of the only things keeping grass roots aggressive music going in Toronto, so people should really be appreciative of it.
We loaded in, met up with the Creeper and Tonnn guys, and then I got the odious task of running the door/show and making sure everything was alright (this generally includes anxiety pangs in my gut, this show was no different). Once Creeper had started playing and I saw that we had a good solid group of friends/a few new faces at the show, I was breathed a little easier.
Creeper played as their usual ferocious selves, loud and killer. I'm pushing these guys on friends who say they love thrashy down-tuned hardcore, because they should know about them.
Again the Edmonton guys showed me what a lot of Toronto and I suppose Ontario has been missing. Intense, wild and interactive. It blows my mind that I was in the dark about these guys for almost their whole existence up until a few months ago. I think the whole crowd was very stoked on both bands, and a lot of my drunken friends couldn't help but gush at me at how amazing they thought they were. This I was stoked on.
Tonnn. Honestly, no words can truly explain how much hope and optimism I have for these guys. They played like it was their tour kick-off, which amazingly, it was. I'm bummed I won't get to see these dudes faces for almost 2 months, both personally and as a band. But man, it's amazing how it brought us all together that night. I'm still quite touched by the whole evening.
The DIY scene I once felt alienated by is honestly now feeling very homey...I'm finding this experience very transformative, and can't wait to see both GE/RHD on their home turf in one week.

Tour Blog!

So the dates got pretty re-arranged, but day 1 is officially in the books. The Gift Eaters and Red Hot Daggers guys drove like 3 days to be here, so I'm stoked to have them.

DAY 1 - Marcello's Bar and Grill, Mississauga Ontario

Since the guys had stayed at a friends house in Parkdale, we didn't have far to go for Day 1 which was only a little west in Mississauga. I grabbed my distro and hopped into the van, and to my pleasant surprise we went and hit up a public pool in charming 'Saug. I haven't been swimming in years, so other than feeling a bit awkward at the 6 of us being the only ones above the age of like 15 (who didn't have kids), it was actually a huge amount of fun. The Edmonton guys are all pretty hilarious, and so far we seem to be meshing well. We eventually dried off and head out to the infamous Marcello's Bar and Grill.
I absolutely love the space that Marcello let's the bands use, and I plan on writing a blog dedicated to the importance of a place like his to the local music scene. I was running the show technically as well, which was a bit nerve wracking as it was my first at Marcello's, and I've never really dealt with him in that light before. Luckily there were people drinking and eating, so he seemed appeased. No Alarms and Whiskey Priest also played the show, both of which were rad.
Since Marcello's is technically a bar, we had some concerns about our friend Dan (who is 15) who had made the trek up from Georgetown to see the bands. Luckily, with a little tweak to his age and geneology (we said he was 17 and Graham from GE's cousin), Marcello seemed only slightly miffed.
Since this was my first time actually seeing the Edmonton bands play, I was pretty excited, and suffice to say I wasn't dissapointed. Incredibly raw and full of energy, both bands played like they were just begging to after so many days of sleeping in a van.
Toronto tonight, another show I'm running (also my bday show). Pretty stoked. Hope everyone is well.

thoughts

I've been thoroughly enjoying working within the DIY scene in Toronto these days...It seems like slowly but surely people are beginning to come together. I'm also making an open invitation to like minded Canadian/American/Whomever bands wanting to come through the GTA, if I can help you, I will.

I will be hitting the road with Gift Eaters and Red Hot Daggers for a portion of July, and am very excited for it. I'll be dragging my distro and bad sense of humour along, so come out and say hi on any of these dates.

July 1st, St. Catherines, ON or Toronto, ON @ TBA
July 2nd, Missisauga, ON @ Marcello's
July 3rd, Toronto, ON @ Siesta Nouveaux
July 4th, Montreal, QC @ TBA
July 5th, Quebec City, QC @ TBA
July 6th, Ottawa, ON @ House TBA
July 7th, Bracebridge, ON @ One of a Kind Ceramics

http://www.myspace.com/gifteaters

http://www.myspace.com/redhotdaggers

hopefully the first post of many to come

Figured I'd give this a go.

I'm Matt Cuthbert, and I've decided to become more involved in the local music scene (mostly of the DIY hardcore/screamo/whatever variety. As things pick up I hope to keep people updated as well as hopefully receive some feedback on how things are going.

See you all soon.
-Matt
A Mountain Far