Outside the garish cartoon façade of famed Toronto rock club Lee’s Palace, the sidewalk is littered with scalpers. They’re not selling tickets-they’re trying to buy any extras from the young hipsters piling into the club. But there will be no extras tonight. The show is beyond sold out, and both ticket-seeker and scalper alike are out of luck.
That was the scene for two nights this past June-a long line forming outside the club right down Bloor Street even before the doors opened for the evening. So, what big international touring act were the throngs waiting to see? Turns out that the hottest ticket in town was a bunch of homegrown acts-Broken Social Scene and Stars have quietly become two of Canada’s best, and most beloved indie-rock bands, and the shows at Lee’s served as their big coming-out party.
Behind both bands (not to mention several others you’ve probably heard of by now) is a local independent label that’s been around for only a year. Paper Bag Records is the brainchild of Toronto whizkids Amanda Newman, 24 (publicity), Enrique Soissa, 28 (marketing and radio), and Trevor Larocque, 29 (sales), and they’ll be celebrating their first anniversary this weekend with a pair of shows at the Horseshoe Tavern. Holding court at their weekly Monday evening meeting at their “office”, a pub on College Street, they explain how three friends with no experience running a record label have managed to catapult their bands into the spotlight and make a name for themselves at the same time.
Paper Bag Records started with a silly name (“It’s because Trevor and Enrique buy a lot of records which upon purchase are put in a paper bag,” Newman quips) and a love of music. All three partners had worked in the music industry (Soissa continues to work at major label Universal, and Larocque holds down his day job in sales at distributor Outside Music) and had long considered launching their own label, but they all agree it seemed like a pipe dream-at first.
Then Larocque ran into Broken Social Scene founder Kevin Drew, who was finishing the group’s second record, an expansive art-pop opus featuring over a dozen of the best musicians on the local indie scene. Drew was looking for a way to release the album, and approached Larocque about distribution. Larocque told Drew about Paper Bag Records, and in short order, Broken Social Scene’s You Forgot It In People became the fledgling label’s first release.
“The morning I saw the very first review we got was in (local weekly) eye Magazine-Thursday morning I looked it up, and my roommate was beside me,” Larocque says. “I pointed to the five-star review, and I was like, ‘That’s only the beginning, my friend. We might have something here.”
No kidding. Since You Forgot It In People was released last fall, it has turned Broken Social Scene into unlikely superstars. The upstart Paper Bag was able to take an unwieldy band with an ever-shifting lineup (the Scene has a core of six players but can expand to more than a dozen people live) and parlay explosive reviews into serious media exposure, campus radio play, and sold-out shows. The Lee’s concert capped a roller-coaster period for Broken Social Scene that shows no sign of abating- they recently signed a major-label deal in the U.K., were featured in Rolling Stone mag, and are currently on a seemingly never-ending tour that won’t see them at home until December.
But the Paper Bag Records story doesn’t end there-the little label that could has become known for the rest of its roster as well, a tasteful mix of indie rock and pop all with a bedrock of strong songwriting. Topping the bill at Friday night’s anniversary gig will be Stars, an electro-pop quartet that splits their time between the burgeoning Montreal and Toronto indie scenes. Stars came on board soon after seeing how well their pals in the Scene were doing, says frontman Torquil Campbell.
“Aren’t they clever kids? It’s amazing,” the effervescent singer says on the line from Vancouver. “We didn’t hesitate to be with them because they seemed incredibly idealistic and honest about what their aims were and what they could and couldn’t accomplish. You hear so much bullshit from people in this business, and so much talk and so little action. I think that one of the things that helped them succeed is that they do it-they just get on with it. They put records out, and they work them.”
Stars’ Heart is arguably more immediately mainstream than the intense, quirky You Forgot It In People. The record’s combination of dreamy vocals and soft beats has propelled it up campus radio charts and made Stars a live favourite across Canada.
“We were totally and completely unknown in Canada before this record,” declares Campbell. “We put a record out in the States that had done well, but we were a cult band with the odd fan in Canada. But on Paper Bag we sold in half a week twice as many copies of our new record in Canada than we had the entire two years previously.”
The success of Broken Social Scene and Stars has allowed Paper Bag to open up a little wider-they re-released singer/songwriter Matthew Barber’s gentle folk-pop album Means and Ends earlier this year, and dropped psychedelic-folk duo Hawaii’s debut album to extensive critical acclaim in the summer. They further widened their scope by signing quirky local art-popsters the Fembots, and dropped a minor bombshell by recently announcing that they will be releasing revered Canadian techno-god Plastikman’s long-awaited new album later this month. It’s a small yet stellar roster that’s been carefully cultivated by the trio-clearly, Paper Bag isn’t interested in being pigeonholed into one particular sound.
“I think it’s good that they want to put out albums that they really believe in, regardless of whether they fit into a specific genre or whatever,” Barber offers. “A lot of record labels have a sound, and every band on that label kind of fits that sound. But Paper Bag seems to be going for a different approach where they want to put out good albums. And good albums don’t all necessarily sound alike. I appreciate that, I think it’s pretty cool.”
Back at the bar, the television blaring in the background, Newman, Soissa, and Larocque mull over the rapid success their pet project has had in just a year of existence. So far, they’ve funded the label out of their own pockets-the rest of the industry is watching them carefully and they’ve had some offers, but remain uncomfortable of letting go of any autonomy. Just this week, they took what they call ‘the next step’ by signing a distribution deal with Universal Music that will see all their records in stores coast-to-coast.
What’s the secret to their success? How is it that three friends operating out of a basement apartment off College St. have managed to thrive at a time when the rest of the music industry is struggling?
“It might not be the best time for the music industry, but it’s a great time for Toronto, as far as artists go,” says Newman. “There’s so many amazing artists coming out of the woodwork, and it just amazes me every time, and it makes me love the fact that we have this label.”
But in case you’re inspired by this fresh-faced trio and thinking of dropping out of school and using your tuition to fund your own little boutique label, keep in mind that the three aren’t much better off than your average struggling student-Soissa and Larocque are still at their day jobs in the industry, while you can catch Newman behind the bar at the Rivoli on any given night of the week.
“Financially it might not be the best time, but musically it’s an amazing time,” Newman declares. “Every day I’m hearing new stuff all the time, and they’re all from Toronto. There’s a huge resurgence with all these wicked Toronto bands finally getting what they deserve.”
“I think we have a lot to prove to ourselves to honestly say we’re a genuine success,” adds Soissa. “We’ve been able to succeed in Toronto, Montreal, but we want to be strong coast-to-coast, because that way we’re getting the best for our artists. We’d be doing them a disservice if we only thought about Toronto and that’s it.”
Both Broken Social Scene and Stars will release their albums in the U.S. in coming months-but it won’t be on Paper Bag Records. Watching Paper Bag do so well inspired the Scene’s Kevin Drew and some of his friends to create their own label/production company, Arts& Crafts. But lest observers grumble that Drew is biting the hand that fed him, he explains that all of Paper Bag’s achievements have paved the way for new artist-driven indie labels.
“We were very happy to be with Paper Bag Records because we were helping them establish themselves as well. We still have close ties with them and everybody is helping each other,” Drew explains. “I didn’t sleep that well for a few nights (when deciding to move Broken Social Scene onto Arts&Crafts), but we had to do it because we had everything ready to roll. I think Paper Bag is going to continue to do well because they have good albums. And I mean this not in a Toronto sense, but generally.”
In the meantime, there’s a birthday bash to be thrown-actually, two. What Newman quips was supposed to be “a barbeque in our backyard or something” ballooned into a double-header at the ‘Shoe. Tonight, you can catch most of the Paper Bag roster, including Barber, Hawaii, the Fembots and the Uncut (local post-punk duo that were on the verge of signing to the label until a recent move by one of the members prompted a necessary split), while tomorrow night features Lady Luster (songbird Amy Milan of Stars), Bodega (who are managed by Newman’s brother Trevor, who happens to have his own indie label as well), and Stars. And if that’s not enough Paper Bag goodness for you, you can catch a free in-store set by Hawaii at Soundscapes at 7 pm prior to the ‘Shoe shindig tonight.
“I still wake up every morning and think, ‘Oh, my god, what am I doing?'” laughs Newman. “I never thought in a million years this would happen. I think we’re doing well because we’re putting out good music. It’s amazing, talented, creative, intelligent artists putting out really good music. And that’s all it takes.”
Go say Happy Birthday to Paper Bag Records tonight (Oct. 2) and tomorrow (Oct. 3) at the Horseshoe (000 Queen W.) Tonight’s show features folk-pop cutie Matthew Barber, psychedelic-folk lovebirds Hawaii, atmospheric pop from the Fembots, and a rare appearance from local post-punkers the Uncut. Tomorrow night, Lady Luster (Stars’ Amy Milan) kicks things off with countrified ballads, followed by Bodega’s power-pop punch, and local faves Stars send everyone home with a smile. Tickets ($8 Thursday, $10 Friday, available at the door).
