The Edmonton music scene needs your help.

First off, don’t judge the title to harshly. I don’t think the Edmonton music scene is that bad. In fact, it feels better than ever. Back when I first started playing clubs (anyone remember People’s Pub?) there was not a single Edmonton band on the radio, except for Sunday nights on The Bear (which was better than nothing, but made very little impact).

Now there are several bands, mainly Ten Second Epic and Social Code. You hear the odd Tupelo Honey on The Bear and don’t forget the Sonic Band of the Month slot.

CJSR and CKUA are doing their part for sure, but I’ve always found them to cater to the Folk Festival crowd, and they definitely (and unfortunately) don’t have the impact commercial radio does.

Hearing these bands on the radio is giving life and hope to many of the young bands around town, hell, around the country. It’s a great time for Edmonton and I’ve been hearing for years this little whisper about Edmonton having such a great scene and one day the world will notice.

I feel like we’re this close to getting the spotlight shone on the whole city and I think the timing couldn’t be better. 10 years ago everyone wanted to be Soundgarden and the Smashing Pumpkins. For the last few years I think a lot of bands can admit to being wannabe Coldplay, Nickelback, or Radiohead clones. We’re all guilty of having influences and borrowing ideas, but I’ve heard way too many wannabes over the years and I’m proud to say that in the last 2-3 years, I’ve been a genuine fan of a lot of the bands emerging from this city. There is finally some originality, energy, and swagger coming from my peers in this city.

Don’t get me wrong, over the years there have been some great bands, but they usually break up before too long due to lack of interest. Which brings me to my main point and title of this little ditty.

What can you, the average Edmontonian, do to help the music scene thrive?

In my opinion, the single biggest thing that helps any band is word of mouth. So all you really need to do is tell your friends about bands you like. Make it a priority to bring 2-3 people with you when you go to a show. If everyone did that, we’d see a lot more attendance at the club shows in town.

What I’ve found over the years is that the winter shows in particular need better attendance. Summer shows can be tricky too with all the festivals out of town and weddings, etc, so what it comes down to is people need to spread the word, even if they aren’t going to a show. Awareness is the whole thing. Example: this Friday a friend of mine is playing downtown. I likely won’t be able to make it, but I’ve made the effort to email 3 friends about it that I know like the style of music. Will they go? I don’t know, but I definitely wouldn’t go if no one told them!
I had a conversation with Jay Sparrow (Murder City Sparrows) a few years back about how to improve the scene. We spoke about how we had heard about the Seattle music scene taking off because the bands in that city all went to each other’s shows. What a great idea. Ever since I’ve heard that, I’ve made an effort to go to shows whenever I can. I admit, I go less than I used to now that I’m a father, but I still believe this scene would become electric almost overnight if any given night you could bank on having a few hundred people at a club show.

And I also think that the pressure would be there on the bands to improve and make their shows as good as possible if they knew a couple hundred eyes would be on them. I also think a non-responsive large crowd would be a great kick in the ass for the bands who need to improve. I’ve been to dozens of Wednesday night shows in town at the old Urban Lounge. And any given Wednesday, you were lucky to see 50 people.

Now that I’ve been playing in this city for so long, I feel like I can say without hesitation that the key to having a better scene really comes down to all of us doing our part to make sure our friends and family know about the upcoming shows and to let bands know when they’re doing well or even when they’re not. After all, the scene isn’t going to improve if everyone thinks they’re awesome. Not every band is great, but every show could have the potential to be great if people actually showed up.

I think the promoters and clubs are doing what they can with the talent they’re given. And when bands don’t get the word out there, they really shouldn’t complain when no one shows up. That said, it would be great if people inherently just told other people about the shows, so the news could get to 2000 people, instead of stopping with the band’s close friends.

Ask any of my friends, and they’ll tell you that I love being a fan of local music. Check my CD collection and you’ll find lots of local bands. But I won’t lie and say the Edmonton scene is perfect and can’t improve. We’re reaching a point where there are so many great bands, I have to choose which show I’m going to on some weekends, which definitely was not the case 5-10 years ago.

I’m excited about the current music scene and I’m proud to have been a small part of it on a professional level since my first paying gig at the Sidetrack Café in 1996. Oh wait, actually my first Edmonton gig was at El Zorro Loco’s (opening for the band that would eventually become Choke [we went to highschool together]), then People’s Pub (opening for the Fishmongers), and then the Sidetrack Café (where a young band named Fifth Season played right before us – they’re now known as Social Code).

I’ll do my part to make it out to as many shows as possible, and if you’re a friend of mine, I hope you’ll join me in spreading the word.

For all the people that have been keeping the scene alive, I say thank you and keep it up. It’s appreciated and I think it’s only going to get better! That goes to the clubs, talent buyers, bar staff, bands, friends, and fans alike.

Music is a strange and wonderful art form. And thankfully cover charges haven’t increased by the same rate as real estate or gas in this city, so it’s getting more affordable all the time to see a live show!

No one invited me onto this soapbox by the way. It was just sitting there. I decided to stand on it and talk for a while. This soapbox is not unidirectional. If you have any further ideas on how to improve the music scene, let us know.

Holden – July 18, 2007