Torontonian musician and comedian Maylee Todd stands stately in the middle of Trinity Bellwoods Park, strumming an acoustic guitar. Around her, lackeys in skin-tight fluorescent and metallic spandex wave ribbons and dance in an interweaving circle. Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club delivers a couple of songs solo, and takes some time out to show off a ladybug that’s just landed on his guitar case. Ruby Coast perform an acoustic set with raw vocals and melancholic harmonies. In the short time since Live in Bellwoods launched last August, the music video series has featured Toronto favorites such as Born Ruffians, Dinosaur Bones, and The Balconies performing stripped-down acoustic sets in various spots across the sprawling West Queen West Park.
The series began as the brainchild of the boys of Humble Empire, a self-described media organization that dabbles in producing music videos and making t-shirts. They also host HumbleMania, an event at The Ossington every other Wednesday night that features the premiere of the video and a live performance. Mike Juneau and Kyle McCreight, the twenty-something cofounders and creative team behind Humble Empire, sit down shivering in the November air at a picnic table in the middle of the park to talk shop and the state of the Toronto music scene.
“It started out with me filming a friend of mine, Chris White, in the park with a guitar. I happened to have my camera on me,” McCreight says, his hooded sweatshirt shadowing his face. “We decided it was a lot of fun, so we just got some of our friends to get involved, and it took off pretty quickly.”
“It was lucky because our first [performers] were Dinosaur Bones, Born Ruffians, and Tokyo Police Club. For the Toronto scene, that’s a pretty good start, and got us some attention right away,” Juneau continues. “It started out for fun, and now that it’s become something, and people are watching it and enjoying it, we’re more aware of what it can be. It’s kind of about building a community of bands in the city.”
Though the initial performers were largely friends of friends, during this past summer, 19 bands — coming from places as varied as Texas and Iceland — have performed sets in the park. But at the end of the day, it’s all about Toronto.
“Every couple years there’s a new hash of great young bands who are starting to come up — like right now, Dilly Dally’s coming up, Nicholas Doubleyou’s coming up. All of these bands starting to play shows and get attention really quickly. […] Dinosaur Bones got big really quickly a couple of years ago and before them it was the Born Ruffians. […] It starts to be about more than just playing for your friends,” says Juneau.
“But the thing is that you can be relevant today and tomorrow you’re not,” says McCreight. “It’s definitely a tightrope walk.”
Juneau and McCreight recently filmed four bands in the park: Nicolas Doubleyou and the B-Squad, Catl, Inlet Sound, and Mothers of Brides. The videos’ releases will be staggered to correspond with HumbleMania, which features the premieres of the videos and an original acoustic set from a Toronto standard. Last week featured a solo performance from Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club.
“It’s really important to me that the bands who come out to play, play a different kind of set. So it’s not just the same thing you would see if you go to the Horseshoe [Tavern]. Maybe they play a stripped down set, maybe they play something that’s not in their set list — ideally, it’s another side to their music,” says McCreight. “I guess the next step is really beginning to take yourself seriously as an artist,” Juneau explains of the duo’s decision to take on more produced music videos. Earlier this summer they produced, editied, and directed Tokyo Police Club’s “Wait Up (Boots of Danger)” official video — in which a bunch of dogs break into a pool and having a pool party, while the band jams inside.
“That was a drunken brainchild coming from our talks of the summer and what we wanted to do this summer,” says Juneau. “I was just talking about how all I wanted to do was hang out at pools and play with dogs. I pitched it to Dave [Monks] and he was into it. And all of a sudden, we were shooting with 15 trained dogs, trying to get them to look like they were partying.”
“I mean, I guess it’s time to get legitimate. We’re even getting business cards now.”
HumbleMania at The Ossington starts at 10 p.m., Wednesday. $2.
