I thought a friend was joking when he urged me to check out yesterday’s Review section of The Globe, featuring a front page article on Edmonton and how musically it could be the next big Seattle, Halifax, Montreal, Omaha, Chapel Hill, insert indie music hipster hotspot name here….
I grew up in Edmonton and while I fondly remember all-ages shows at the Polish Hall featuring The Smalls and SNFU, I would never think the place has the potential to be the next big indie music hot spot. Maybe the fact that I’ve spent so much time there has clouded my vision (that and many a cold winter).
Anyways, a friend and I were talking last night about whether Toronto has ever been the next big thing musically and received such hype. Folks in Toronto (and some outside of it) talk a lot about the city’s indie music scene and the success of some of the bands in it (Broken Social Scene I’m looking at you), but have we ever had tonnes of column inches written about how we’re on the brink of musical greatness. By journalists outside of Toronto? Maybe we have?
I also remembered this morning that West Edmonton Mall used to have a store where for like $10 you could venture into a little makeshift recording studio, pick a song from their menu of hits and record it (one take only). You got to take the cassette home (yes, I said cassette). If Edmonton really is the next Seattle, hopefully some of these future musical geniuses have really bad recordings of let’s say that Kenny Loggins song from the movie Top Gun kicking around (I know I do) that we can sell on ebay for cash when they become the next Kurt Cobain.
It’s CMW in Toronto, so go out and see some live music. The band that is poised to take Edmonton to the next level, Shout Out Out Out Out, is playing tonight at Lee’s Palace. Check them out out out out.