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| Canadian Music Fest as part of Canadian Music Week |
March 22 2012 – Canadian Music Fest (CMF) (as part of Canadian Music Week) kicked off in full force last night. Canadian Music Week features four things (Conferences, Film Festival, Comedy Festival, and Music Fest) and brings over 900 artists to Toronto for this their 30th year.
Our coverage of CMF began with Emerging Artist Spotlight articles on TimeGiant, Grain, Breaching Vista , Beta, In My Coma, One Bad Son, and Matt Groopie and The Bandits and we strongly endorse those bands. There are simply way too many other bands to see so a bit of research is needed to make sure you see the bands that suit your taste. We published a handy guide of our picks here in a nice pdf document that can be printed and carried along as you bar hop.
Our first stop last night was at The Phoenix where with a simple “So, we meet again”, Treble Charger kicked off a reunion set. The Canadian 90’s alt rock heavyweights are playing 2 shows as part of CMF and this was the first time the group played together since they disbanded 5 years ago. They are also being inducted into the Indies Hall of Fame this year! The Phoenix was full of anxious fans that really enjoyed the band that rocked the house. You can follow Treble Charger on Twitter or you can check out their website.
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| Treble Charger at The Phoenix |
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| Treble Charger |
The beauty of Canada Music Fest is the variety available to fans of all musical genres. We left the crowded Phoenix and its big rock production and found our way to the Free Times Cafe. The small venue was featuring Inch Chua who is from Singapore and is considered one of that country’s most prominent indie singer-songwriter. Tonight the 23 year old was playing an acoustic set in a very intimate setting and the beauty of her voice was very evident. Of interest is she was also named as one of FHM’s Most Sexiest Women in the World (#95 spot). You can keep up with Inch Chua on Twitter or on her website. She is playing again tonight March 22 at Tranzac at 8pm – catch her if you can while she is still in Toronto!
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| Inch Chua |
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| Inch Chua |
Continuing our epic journey of cross-genre rock we found ourselves at the Underground Garage next to see some Mexican grunge/metal driving rock. The band Beta took the stage and knocked us off our feet. They rocked some solid tunes (all in Spanish) and we really enjoyed their set. It was very evident that the band were having a good time being in Toronto and rocking out to Canada Music Fest. We saw a few bands tonight but Beta was our favorite of the night and the bar setting they were in was perfect for their raw high energy sound. You can check out the band on their website and on Twitter as well.
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| Mexico’s Beta |
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| Beta |
Our last stop for the night was at Revival to watch Winnipeg’s Floor Thirteen. This is another band we loved checking out. Their high energy rock sounded really good and this is a band that has solidly landed on our radar.We didn’t walking in that probably over 50 million people have heard this bands songs and the reason for that is explained on the band’s website:
Floor Thirteen’s song Blame It On Me was licensed to major video game company Electronic Arts near the end of 2008. Since then, EA has placed the song in top selling game franchises Need For Speed and The Sims. Both games are played by millions across 30 different countries.
We want to commend Floor Thirteen for rocking it out at 1 am on a Wednesday night and having a blast while up on stage. You can keep up with the band on their website or on Twitter.
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| Floor Thirteen |
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| Winnipeg’s Floor Thirteen |
Verdict: Do not miss Canada Music Fest over the next 3 nights – there is something here for everyone! Follow Canadian Music Week for updates on Twitter here.
