Music

CMW Interview: The Artist Select Series features Shad, Jeremy Greenspan, and Brendan Canning hosting and programming their own showcases

by Nicole Villeneuve

As CMW rolls into its third night, one of the fest’s more intriguing live music options will run through its second. The Artist Select Series showcases are hosted by some little known Canadian artists such as Shad, Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan, and Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning, with each night featuring acts of the respective artists’ choosing.

The Series is the work of local music lover/marketer Bobby Kimberley and his new(ish; it was officially founded in June of last year) company Young Lions Music Club, an agency that tries to put different spins on typical music events; they’ve organized popular intimate daytime shows during festivals such as CMW and NXNE, and their Songs: A Dance Party nights, where bands DJ a dance night, have already been running for over a year. This year, CMW reached out to YLMC for exactly this kind of approach for a handful of shows.

“We partnered with CMW to bring creative event concepts to life,” says Kimberley via an email exchange earlier in the week. “Before the concept was solidified, I’d spoken to Brendan [Canning] about the concept to gauge interest. He dug the idea, so I went to [other event partner] Red Bull and CMW to see who else might make sense as curators. Between the two of them, they pulled in Junior Boys and Shad, and everyone rejoiced collectively. We really did get our first choices for each night, so there was cause to get excited.”

The Series kicked off on Wednesday night with a stellar Shad-selected roster, including AUX pick The Slakadeliqs, will continue tonight with Greenspan’s picks, and close out tomorrow with the acts chosen by Canning.

“The process was mostly a fun thing at the end of the day, curating and all. A lot of group emails going back and forth, [as] you can imagine,” Canning explained to AUX, who, along with the other artists provided a few words about each of his chosen acts over here. “Of course if the night turns into a real success, which I suspect it will, then you can sit back and say, ‘yeah-great. I’m glad all these people had a good time and I was the one handing out the drink tickets and rocking the reggae jams in between sets.'”

Kimberley has a similar outlook, and is more than happy to change the festival grind up a bit. “We’re just hoping that, at the very least, when there’s a question as to what to go see in the scheduling, people will be like ‘Shad (or whoever) says these guys rule, and I love Shad, so I’m going to check it out.'”

“These sorts of showcase festivals can get a bit tired if it’s just a bunch of random bands playing in random clubs. This has more a sense of community, and the stamp of approval from successful, respected artists is a huge help to the acts obviously. It didn’t take much convincing for the curators to jump on board either. [It’s] been great.”

The full Artist Select Series schedule and line-ups can be found on the CMW Schedule.