Canadian Music Week (so far)
We have been in Toronto for 3 nights now. The plane ride got a little interesting when we were told we could bring our guitars on the plane if overhead storage allowed for it. A few of the plane's clientel got really heated when they saw us tucking our guitars in, and it got pretty heated. There was a lot of swearing and name calling.. towards us. I've never felt so ganged up on. It was an odd start to the trip but we ended up moving our guitars into the fragile storage, and they were still in one piece when we got to Toronto.
We did a little touring the first morning here.. you're never more than a stone's throw away from a pub, so.. we saw a lot of pubs. It really felt like the longest day ever, as our showcase was at 1am that night at Cherry Cola's. We were pumped to find out it's a common hang out for bands like Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, etc.. Them Crooked Vultures played the same stage. We were worried we'd have a dead bar with a 1am showcase in a city that's foreign to us, but to our surprise, it was pretty packed, with a really attentive music crowd. Our set felt good and we had a good reception.. it's really all we could ask for. Some old friends of ours sacrificed sleep that night to come support us, big thanks to them!
Wednesday day and night were awesome. We did a lot of downtown exploring, and ended up at the Horseshoe Tavern and saw some killer sets by NQ Arbuckle, Jim Cuddy/Danny Michel to name a few. I (Justin) was standing beside Luke Doucet and his wife, and as a fan I was really excited and bought them both a beer. Later that night, we met Dave Foley, Jim Cuddy, and Rachel McAdams was in the bar. Not used to seeing so many well known people in one place. There's so many bands playing at night, and we've been hitting as many venues as possible. So many awesome bands, I haven't seen a bad one yet.
We've been hitting the CMW conference all day for the last couple days, and soaking up all the knowledge we can. There's big names and important people everywhere, so there's great networking opportunities. Had a sit down with Alan Cross today and learned all I could in 15 minutes with him. The schedule is pretty gruelling, as the shows run until 4am, and the conference starts by 9am. And it's Effing COLD here.. that kind of cold that just soaks into your bones. That's my only complaint.
Tonight is the Alberta and Saskatchewan music showcase, which we're really looking forward to. Doors are in a few hours so we're going to take a nap and head out for the night!
