Canadian Music Week 2016
Canadian Music Week 2016 officially kicks into high gear today and for the 17th straight year, I’ll be out there in the clubs hoping to a) see something awesome, and b) not see something crap.
Over the years I’ve come to realize the best personal strategy for me to exact the greatest return on my wanderings is to focus on a) the acts I’ve never seen before, and b) the ones I’m not likely to bother seeing ever again. That means going heavy on the out-of-towners and foreigners and light on highly active and/or local CanCon.
This is reflected in this year’s CMW recommends list below.
If you want to see me there’s a chance I’ll be at one of these places:
Wednesday, May 4
8 pm Ella Fence @ The Cave
10 pm Adam Strangler @ Bovine Sex Club
10 pm The Shrine @ Hard Luck
10:30 pm Bob Mould @ Horseshoe Tavern
11 pm Heat @ Garrison
11 pm Madlick @ Nocturne
12 am Broken Hands @ Garrison
12 am Acid Priest @ Hard Luck
12 am Blocked Bones @ The Hideout
Thursday, May 5
8 pm The Fern Tips @ Silver Dollar
8 pm Vallens @ Velvet Underground
8 pm Basic Nature @ Smiling Buddha
8 pm Holly Macve @ Drake Underground
9 pm Ella Fence @ Painted Lady
9 pm Ora Corgan @ Cest What
10 pm Dark Bird @ Painted Lady
11 pm BR Mackie @ The Paddock
11 pm Broken Hands @ Drake Underground
11 pm Cat And The Queen @ The Hideout
12 am The Shrine @ Bovine Sex Club
1 am Annette Gil @ The Cave
1 am Walrus @ Silver Dollar
1 am BYSTS @ Nightowl
1:20 am Beat Market @ Nocturne
2 am Broken Hands @ Drake Underground
2 am Sturle Dagsland @ Smiling Buddha
Friday, May 6
8 pm Sturle Dagsland @ Central
8 pm Madlick @ Comfort Zone
9 pm Broken Hands @ Velvet Underground
9 pm Kane and Potvin @ Garrison
9 pm Dark Bird @ Hard Luck
9 pm Ho99o9 @ Comfort Zone
9 pm Holly Macve @ Cameron House
9:15 pm Ella Fence @ Supermarket
11 pm No Sinner @ Garrison
1 am Walrus @ Garrison
1:20 am Art Diktator @ Nocturne
1:30 am Beat Market @ Revival
12 am Dead Obies @ Great Hall
12 am Old James @ Cadillac Lounge
12 am Jeff the Brotherhood @ Horseshoe Tavern
12 am Fat White Family @ Lee’s Palace
12 am The Magnettes @ Nightowl
1 am Broken Hands @ Smiling Buddha
1 am RJ Cormier @ The Paddock
Saturday, May 7
4 pm Holly Macve @ Drake 150
5 pm Dark Bird @ The Garrison
7:30 pm AA Wallace @ Great Hall
10:45 pm Walrus @ Rivoli
11 pm Dead Obies @ Adelaide Hall
11 pm Acid Priest @ Smiling Buddha
11 pm Death Valley Girls @ Hard Luck
11 pm In Drift @ 300 Club – girl Smiths
11 am The Magnettes @ Handlebar
12 am Fat White Family @ Velvet Underground
1 am Above Top Secret @ Painted Lady
1 am Ho99o9 @ Adelaide Hall
2 am Onefilm @ The 300 Club
Sunday, May 8
9 pm No Sinner @ Garrison
10 pm Rolemodel @ Adelaide Hall
As an added bonus to reaffirm my music critic snob cred, below is a list of names that when I read them in the “Similar To” section of various CMW bands’ bios, I immediately skipped to the next act. There is no world in which any act who claims they sound like these bands would be entertaining for a 40 minute showcase.
All Time Low
Ani DiFranco
Bahamas
The Black Crowes
Blink 182
Brand New
Bright Eyes
Chvrches
Dan Mangan
Deadmau5
Deftones
Dillinger Escape Plan
Drake
Ellie Goulding
Elton John
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Eminem
Foo Fighters
Frank Zappa
Fuck Buttons
Good Charlotte
The Guess Who
Guns n’ Roses
Great Big Sea
Hedley
Hozier
Imagine Dragons
Incubus
Jackson Browne
Jason Mraz
Jet
John Mayer
Kid Cudi
The Killers
King Crimson
Kings of Leon
Led Zeppelin
The Lumineers
Maroon 5
Mars Volta
Matchbox Twenty
Matt Nathanson
Motley Crue
Mudvayne
Mumford & Sons
Muse
New Radicals
No Doubt
NOFX
One Republic
Paramore
The Proclaimers
Queen
The Ramones
Rascal Flatts
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rush
The Script
Sigur Ros
3 Doors Down
Sum 41
Taking Back Sunday
Train
Two Door Cinema Club
Ty Segall
Risky Fuel 