So long Sneaky Dee's; enter The Garrison

by: Kate Carraway

September 10, 2009 3:00 PM

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Yesterday, weekly indie-music series Wavelength announced that they’re changing venues, from their seven-year Sunday night home at Sneaky Dee’s to The Garrison, a new venue set to open next month on Dundas Street, west of Ossington.

The move is semi-surprising, but also sort of not, considering that the Wavelength music series has undergone several changes in recent years (like no longer creating a printed zine, and then discontinuing the band interviews that ran online) and in more recent months. Co-founder Jonathan Bunce, a.k.a. Jonny Dovercourt, told EYE WEEKLY earlier this year that Wavelength's 10th anniversary, coming up next February, would “mark the end of the Sunday series,” but that it wouldn’t be the end of the considerable Wavelength institution, which has been an integral and much-discussed part of Toronto’s independent music scene since its 2001 inception.

“It's important to remember that the Wavelength series is NOT ending, just changing its format,” writes Bunce in a recent email to EYE WEEKLY. What will happen remains undecided. “We're not sure exactly what form Wavelength is going to take after WL 500 in Feb. 2010, all we know is it's going to be more than just 'Sunday nights at ________.' And that's part of the fun.

“We've been presenting bigger and more challenging shows outside our Sunday series — like The Ex and Getatchew Mekuria this weekend, a show that at first blush might appear to be well outside Wavelength's locally oriented mandate, yet in fact is perfectly in line with it, due to the focus on community and collaboration and going DIY on a huge, international scale — not to mention the involvement of local folks like Brodie West, who played Wavelength in our first year with Zebradonk, as well as the vital Ethiopian & Eritrean scenes in Toronto.”

While Wavelength continues to stretch its programming mandate, the move away from Sneak’s does suggest the more inclusive side of its “community and collaboration.” In June, long-time booker Shaun Bowring left Sneak’s, and Travis Porter, who has a decidedly different booking ethos, replaced him. Wavelength's new venue, The Garrison, will be booked and managed by Bowring.

In an email to EYE WEEKLY, Bowring says, “We are excited and honored to have Wavelength music series call The Garrison home for its last five months of weekly shows, and looking forward to supporting Wavelength in its new ventures beyond.”

Bunce adds, “We've had a good relationship with Shaun the last five years and we feel really confident that that will continue. We feel that this move will only impact Wavelength positively, and generate some new excitement around the series. Artistic activity in the city has been moving further west, and we're curious to see what happens when we move Wavelength to this new 'hood.”

Still, leaving Sneaky Dee’s after so many years of a weekly event feels like a significant change. Bunce summarizes his feelings about the move: “I can't really comment on the changes at Sneaky Dee's, other than to say that they are in the bar business, and we have an artistic mandate. And that's totally fine.”

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So long Sneaky Dee's; enter The Garrison

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