WAVELENGTH 400 KICKS OFF Feb 14 WITH BRUCE PENINSULA, HUCKLEBERRY
FRIENDS, MORE AT THE MUSIC GALLERY (197 JOHN) AT 7PM; feb 15 WITH
BOCCE, DANIEL NEBIAT, MORE AT THE GLADSTONE (1214 QUEEN W) at 9pm; feb
16 WITH LULLABYE ARKESTRA, DD/MM/YYYY, MORE AT THE THEATRE CENTRE (1087
QUEEN W) at 8PM; feb 17 WITH NIFTY, DONNE ROBERTS, MORE AT SNEAKY DEE’S
(431 COLLEGE) at 8PM. ALL SHOWS PWYC. MORE INFO AT WWW.WAVELENGTH
TORONTO.COM.
This weekend marks the eighth anniversary of influential PWYC weekly Wavelength, which has played a fundamental role in shaping Toronto’s indie scene. In honour of Wavelength’s bronze b-day, series organizers Jonny Dovercourt, Ryan McLaren, Kevin Parnell and Duncan MacDonell (a co-founder who’s returned to the fold) have put together a full-on musical extravaganza and “Unconference” — the latter’s a discussion moderated by Misha Glouberman, on the topic of how to bring capital into the grassroots scene without selling your soul. In honour of the WL400 festivities, we’ve corralled co-programmer/overlord Parnell for a heart-to-heart.
You’ve been involved in Wavelength for five years. How has the local scene changed?
In previous years, it was much more obvious what to program for the anniversary festival, partly because the Torontopia feeling was still strong or, better said, still lingering. Torontopia started to die when the term was coined. By naming what was happening, it opened it up to analysis and critique, and then finally reactionary deconstruction with the Bad Band Revolution. I think the self-analysis got blown out of proportion because it was one of the first times Toronto’s indie music scene was put to such scrutiny, and was exacerbated by Toronto bands reaching global popularity. Torontopia came out of the ideals of people in their early- to mid-twenties, who are now focusing on their futures. The people who’d spend all week creating decorations for a Saturday show no longer have that time.
What are you most excited about in this year’s bash, and Wavelength in general?
One of the things I look forward to most in an anniversary festival is trying out new venues. Working with the Gladstone on Friday’s show has proved interesting. I’m really excited to see how the Theatre Centre show turns out. It was inspired in part by the Creeping Nobodies/Anagram show that happened there last summer. The physical space is really unique, and it allows the bands to play on the floor with the audience.
Outside of the regular weekly series, we’ve got other great events planned. About a year ago, we changed Wavelength’s title to Wavelength Music Arts Projects and I think we’re finally starting to do the music arts projects portion. We’re presenting Kalimba Summit at the Tranzac in late March. We’ve got another Images Festival collaboration in the works for April. We’re joining forces with Ryan’s ALL CAPS series to present his annual outdoor day festival at Dufferin Grove Park. Doing more one-offs is a big part of Wavelength’s future.
Is Wavelength as relevant/vital to Toronto indie music as it once was?
I definitely think so, probably even more so now but in a different context. Based on Wavelength’s original mandate, it’s fulfilled what it set out to do. About a year ago, we rethought it in a more professional sense. We’ve kept the original mandate intact, but are focusing on branching out in the community and building bridges among other cultural institutions.
It’s easier to book shows than it is to bring a community together. But that’s a lot of work to maintain, especially for a team of volunteers. It’s hard to balance with your regular lives and careers. It’s hard to imagine where we’ll be for Wavelength 500 in 2010; I just know we’ll be there.