Despite venue closures and competitive bookings, musicians keep rockin’ out
P.E.I. indie rock band The North Lakes was set to play a show at the Elephant & Castle bar on George St. last September when they received a phone call. “The venue had closed,” says drummer Mike Carver.
The band had to scramble to find another place to play. With the help of some friends, they moved the show to the Company House on Gottingen.
Last year was tough for the live music scene in Halifax. Elephant & Castle had to close. The Paragon Theatre (formally the Marquee Club) shut down in May. Coconut Grove Nightclub closed in June and is now a yoga studio. Tribeca closed Jan. 1.
This has made it difficult for bands trying to play shows in Halifax.
“You still have the same amount of bands, but … four or five less venues,” Carver said. “So everyone is competing for Friday or Saturday night. The bands have to be very competitive, have to play less, make it more of an event.”
People who book shows are under pressure too. Emails from new bands that aren’t established may get pushed aside in favour of established acts who can draw a bigger crowd. “We’ve been bumped a few times … because venue bookers will have the pick of the litter,” Carver said.
Michael’s Bar and Grill is breaking the trend of venue closures. Last November, on Young St. in the north end, four kilometres from downtown, Michael’s started featuring local music on Friday and Saturday nights.
Elephant & Castle had three nights of music booked for the Halifax Pop Explosion, an annual five-day fall music festival featuring 100 bands at various venues across the city. When the bar closed, festival organizers called places that could possibly work as music venues, including Michael’s.
“(The owners) saw how live music can be a success and there definitely is an audience for it,” says Ashley Moran, booker for shows at Michael’s. “Maybe it just wasn’t being nurtured in the right ways. It’s important for every neighbourhood to have something like this.”
Jill Grant, a professor at the school of planning at Dalhousie University, says a centrally located music scene is important for transportation and convenience. “It’s important for (musicians) to be able to walk to venues or take an inexpensive taxi ride or bus ride when they can’t get to venues.”
It’s also important for students, one of the main audiences of the Halifax music scene. “You don’t want your whole scene out far away from the concentration of producers and consumers of music are,” Grant said.
The Halifax music scene plays an important role in attracting people here to study, work and vacation. The city is known for having a lively bar scene that is connected with live music.
“It has become part of the culture that you can go out any night of the week and enjoy live music and it’s not expensive,” Grant said. “A lot of it is homegrown.”
Michael’s booker Moran thinks the Halifax music scene will be okay despite the difficulties of the past year. “I think Halifax is on the up for music. There will always be a place to play. We’ll make sure of that.”
This article originally appeared in the January 20th edition of the Halifax Commoner.
