Soundtracked 33: Girls Rock Camp Toronto Fundraiser
The first Girls Rock Camp opened over a decade ago in Portland, Oregon. The Toronto chapter soon followed and we had been fans for years. Obviously we believe strongly in youth engagement of the arts but we're often particularly distressed by the rampant sexism and gender biases in the music industry, even at the independent level. Every year Girls Rock Camp Toronto needs to rely on fundraising to be able to continue to do what they do so we decided to hold a fundraiser show on their behalf. We contacted them by e-mail and they gave us their blessing. Stuttering John's was booked and we began asking around and putting out an open call for local female-fronted bands.
Soundtracked 33: Girls Rock Camp Toronto Fundraiser July 28, 2012 @ Stutering John's live: Watershed Hour The Blatant Ripoffs Schoolcraft The Penny Loafers Elephant Shoes Black Cat Attack Broken Arts lineup: Harley, Defne, Erin, Ashley, Cassy
Elephant Shoes were the first to sign up. We knew Cat also believed strongly in everything Girls Rock Camp stood for so their involvement was obvious. Cat also recommended some friends of hers from out of town called Tenement Steps. Watershed Hour signed up next as did The Blatant Ripoffs. We had been looking to work with our friend Kristy's punk trio for a while but they hadn't fit well on any lineup until now. Kristy recommended a goth pianist named Schoolcraft who wound up debuting her new harp live at the show as well. Good friends with Schoolcraft were another punk band we desperately wanted to play but they were getting to be a big deal around town so we expected they wouldn't want to play a show for free. Luckily we were wrong and Black Cat Attack became the final band. That is, until the morning of the show when Tenement Steps broke up. With an empty slot on the lineup we scrambled around and managed to fill it in with a band called The Penny Loafers. The new folk trio were comprised of long-time Broken Arts patron John France and his friends Mariah and Emily. Mariah and John were actually one half of Lemon Kicks, Defne's band that had been supposed to play Soundtracked 12 over a year earlier.
Despite our summer shows generally having terrible attendance 44 people wound up paying at the door, well above average, and we raised $262.45 for Girls Rock Camp Toronto. Months later Black Cat Attack would set out on a North American tour and Schoolcraft would join the famous metal band Cradle Of Filth. Things were happening for the bands and, unbeknownst to us at the time, pieces were being set up that would greatly affect the future of Broken Arts as well. For at one point that night John France had been on stage performing while Soundtracked 33 poster artist Kat Gravel sat in the crowd and Mariah's sister Kathleen worked the front door. The fourth year of Broken Arts had begun.
Watch videos of: Watershed Hour - "Knock Knock, Who's There? Doctor! Doctor Who" Schoolcraft - "Your Mind" The Penny Loafers - "Mourning Dove" Black Cat Attack - "UR2DED4ME"