In the last year alone, corporate mergers have forced the Canadian consumer to pay a little extra for quality of life—that is, if you call shelling out ten bucks for the latest Jackie Collins paperback quality of life. Now, with the El Mo’s change in management and Ted’s Wrecking Yard behind chain and padlock, injecting freshness into the mainstream of the Canadian music industry may soon follow suit.
Like the increase in book prices due to the Indigo-Chapters franchise and the subsequent decrease of independent bookstores, the inaccessibility of these two indie venues means fledgling artists will have to work that much harder in this cut-throat industry to get their voices heard. Just think of the numerous bands who were scheduled to play at the El Mo and Ted’s during Canadian Music Week 2002—a handful were lucky enough to be relocated, but most of the gigs were cancelled.
Toronto’s urban landscape may see a few more small venues closing down due to a rise in the yuppie demographic, as those who once supported the grunge movement in the early 90s are settling into their white picket fences.
Zoning laws dictated that Ted’s College street location was no place for a live music venue, so El Mo booker Dan Burke settled for the Tequila Lounge, a smaller space but situated in a neighbourhood populated by “bohemians,” the Annex.
What we may eventually be left with is bigger venues like the Air Canada Centre, which embraces international money-makers like Britney Spears. To their credit, they have hosted homegrown talents, but only those who have made good with a solid record deal—”solid” being the operative word.
This becomes the chicken-and-egg scenario: artists can’t find backing if they don’t have proper exposure, and proper exposure seems to entail booking a venue that only a band with a label can afford. The simple perplexity of it all may leave you with the urge to make scrambled eggs instead. Space aside, places like the El Mo and Ted’s are also rites of passage—it’s where the initial affinity for a music genre makes an impression on our angsty teenage souls. There’s just no denying the appeal of a dirty stage where one discovers a particular sound or lyric that makes us feel less alone in a crowd of strangers. Music halls will come and go, but one never forgets one’s first club—particularly if it catered to a 19-and-over crowd.
Now there will be one less place for future generations to grow up with. Another may sink or swim in the coming months. It would be easy enough if this were only about new music spaces, but it’s looking more and more to be about the politics that take place behind stage doors.
Historically speaking, the spirit of rock n’ roll keeps the fire alive by pushing the boundaries of musical form and adamantly rejecting categorization by fighting “the man.” It would seem that it’s being snuffed out in certain parts of Toronto.
