POP Montreal fest stands by metropolis's struggling small music venues

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Dan Seligman was saddened however not stunned to listen to of one other of Montreal’s small efficiency venues closing down.

The Diving Bell Social Membership, an indie, queer-positive present bar on St-Laurent Blvd., just under Duluth Ave., has introduced it’s going to shutter in December, following repeated noise complaints. It’s one more gash in what typically seems like demise by a thousand cuts for town’s cultural scene, as talked about final week by Montreal Gazette columnist Yara El-Soueidi.

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However with the twenty second version of POP Montreal working Wednesday to Sunday, competition director Dan Seligman was philosophical in regards to the loss.

“It’s form of par for the course,” he mentioned. “For those who’ve been round for 20-plus years, you’ve seen venues come and go. Most small venues exist in a precarious place.”

He mentions the much-mourned departures of beloved indie-rock venue Le Divan Orange because of noise complaints in 2018; Mile Finish queer café-resto-bar Le Cagibi, which needed to transfer in 2018 because of a hefty lease hike, then closed for good after being evicted from its Little Italy location final 12 months; and La Vitrola, sister venue of indie music hubs Casa del Popolo and La Sala Rossa, in 2020.

“It’s positively unlucky, however not unpredictable or stunning, given the general circumstances — economics, the recession, the upper value of dwelling,” Seligman mentioned. “All these items add up.”

POP Montreal is a competition constructed on small venues. In contrast to main occasions just like the Montreal Worldwide Jazz Pageant or Osheaga, which draw lots to a single space or web site, POP Montreal hosts lots of of wildly eclectic exhibits, movies, talks and occasions in small and medium-size bars, church buildings, group centres and different uncommon locales throughout city.

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“We took our method mainly from South by Southwest-style festivals,” Seligman famous. “It’s a club-crawl, venue-based competition. From the start, POP Montreal was at all times in regards to the metropolis itself. A part of it’s we actually love Montreal and the humanities scene right here. It was at all times about discovering town, whether or not you’re from out of city or not. It’s about having town as a canvas for the competition.”

Small venues are integral to Montreal’s musical DNA, Seligman argues. They assist forge the following technology of indie expertise, whereas preserving our metropolis’s artistic group on the leading edge by permitting artists the chance to experiment and develop outdoors the confines of the mainstream music business. As such, these venues should be supported.

“For those who don’t domesticate and nourish the underground scene, the remainder doesn’t actually matter,” Seligman mentioned. “You flip right into a Las Vegas, the place it’s Cirque du Soleil-style worldwide touring exhibits.”

Montreal is healthier than most cities in its assist of unbiased venues, artists and tradition, in keeping with Seligman. But it surely’s not solely as much as town or different cultural organizations. He factors to singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright, who in 2019 opened her personal small venue, Ursa, within the basement of the constructing that’s dwelling to POP Montreal’s places of work; and Hotel2tango, the indie recording studio co-owned and operated by members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor for over 25 years.

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“Having artists like Martha make investments again within the metropolis is unbelievable,” Seligman mentioned, “and having Godspeed and (their label) Constellation make investments on this superb recording facility in Mile Finish is a large a part of what retains this metropolis going.”

One other huge a part of what retains this metropolis going are community-minded occasions like POP Montreal, which continues to offer a world-class mixture of homegrown and worldwide indie music fare.

Among the many local-flavoured highlights of this 12 months’s competition are former Montrealer Nick Thorburn’s pop-rock venture Islands, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at La Sotterenea, a typically venue within the basement of La Sala Rossa; Arcade Fireplace offshoot Bell Orchestre, on the tailored outside area close to the Van Horne overpass often called L’Entrepôt77, Thursday at 7 p.m.; dream-pop act Males I Belief, Thursday and Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Metropolis; and Haitian-Québécoise jazz-house DJ-producer Gayance, enjoying along with her stay band, Sunday at 4 p.m. at L’Entrepôt77.

Worldwide friends embody the Afro-Belgian electro duo of Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul on the Rialto Theatre, Wednesday at 9 p.m.; the ‘90s rap double invoice of legendary feminine MC Bahamadia and Shabazz Palaces (that includes Digable Planets rapper Ishmael Butler), Friday at 6 p.m. at L’Entrepôt77; ‘70s soul-disco queen Candi Staton, Friday at 8 p.m. on the Rialto Theatre; tuneful Chicago indie-rock band Ratboys, Friday at 8:30 p.m. on the Diving Bell Social Membership; L.A. alt-R&B singer-songwriter Annahstasia, who carried out on the jazz fest in July and is again Friday at 10 p.m. on the Rialto Corridor; famend Black educational and activist Dr. Cornel West, in a dialog about voice, funk, spirit and democracy, Saturday at 8 p.m. on the Rialto Theatre; roots/rock/free-jazz artist Mali Obomsawin, from the Abenaki First Nation at Odanak, performing along with her sextet Saturday at 8 p.m. at La Sala Rossa; and Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter Lila Iké, Saturday at 11 p.m. at Piccolo Rialto.

AT A GLANCE

POP Montreal runs Wednesday, Sept. 27 by Sunday, Oct. 1 at varied small to mid-size venues. For tickets and extra info, go to popmontreal.com.

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