F
rom Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like Rush, to indie staples like Broken Social Scene, and international superstars like Drake, Toronto has truly made a name for itself as one of the most distinguished music cities in the world. I was first introduced to this world as a young attendee of “North by Northeast” in the summer of 2014. The five-day festival took me on a wild-goose chase around the city to catch performances from big names and local acts in a variety of bars, clubs, and unconventional outdoor spaces -- and it was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I remember traveling across the city in a streetcar turned music venue soundtracked by Frankie Cosmos, stumbling across an elbow-to-elbow house party/backyard BBQ featuring surprise guest KC Accidental, and waking up bleary-eyed after a string of late night shows to make it to an early morning pizza party hosted by Macaulay Culkin’s band, The Pizza Underground. Toronto was bursting with creative energy, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it. Like many wannabe musicians, I taught myself to play guitar and started to write music, but quickly realized that I didn’t know how to actually get involved in Toronto’s DIY music scene. There are hundreds of emerging musicians in Toronto in the same position, who are passionate about their craft but are missing the knowledge they need to start booking local shows and building their fanbases. So I caught up with one of the local bands I look up to
the most: Glass Cactus. Formed in 2013, the indiealternative-punk band – comprised of Aidan Fine, Ezra Sherman, Dave Zimmer, Kai DeDonato, and Kabir Malik – has quickly become a fixture of the Toronto scene, performing in various classic DIY venues across the city including Lee’s Palace, Sneaky Dee’s, The Rivoli, The Hard Luck, and The Horseshoe. This is their inside perspective on how to take your music from the bedroom to your local scene.
Make Connections Kai: Once you’ve got a few tunes down, it’s a good idea to go out and see some shows in the scene that you’d like to get into. It’s a great way to make contacts and meet people with the same interests. Aidan: Find three or four people who are on the same page as you. Working with other people is a great way to get involved and get your creative juices flowing.
Play as much as Possible Kai: It can be hard to stay motivated when there are a lot of shows where people don’t show up. But no matter what your audience is like or how you feel on stage, you gotta give it your all. Even if nobody is there, that becomes a great opportunity to practice for when there will be. Ezra: It can be really hard to make people take your band seriously sometimes, but you have to remember that every band starts off with a fan base of zero.
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