Music

5 Mint Records poster sightings in teen dramas and blockbuster movies

by Josiah Hughes

There’s no question that Mint Records is coming off a huge year, boasting a brand new roster of up-and-coming Canadian artists. Decades deep into their existence, however, the label has worked with a vast, diverse stable of performers, and they’ve got a huge discography to prove it.

They’ve also got an office packed to the brim with old gig posters, apparently. And whenever a film or television crew is attempting to add some music cred to their set decoration, they know where to go. As the label’s Shena Yoshida explains, “So many things are filmed in Vancouver, so whenever the set designers are building a teenager’s bedroom, a bar, or an alley, they call us up and ask for posters.”

The added bonus to this, of course, is that there are countless visual cameos from some great Canadian artists spread across most things shot in Hollywood North. We couldn’t find them all — Mint posters have also popped up in episodes of Fringe, The Killing, Motive, Arrow, and Dawson’s Creek (not being able to find that one made us feel like this), along with cameos in upcoming movies like Horns, Tomorrowland, and, according to Yoshida, a new Seth Rogen film.

In other words, you’re not off the hook — whenever you’re watching something, be sure you’ve got your Mint goggles so you can grab a screenshot. We got the project started, however, with five notable Mint Records appearances.

 

Twilight: New Moon

Twilight‘s Bella, performed by the expertly absent Kristen Stewart, is one person who’s got weirdly happy music represented in her bedroom. Despite hanging out with vampires and werewolves all day, the brooding character apparently loves her some quirky, experimental country. That could only explain why she has a poster from one of the Buttless Chaps’ performances at Vancouver’s WISE Hall up in her bedroom. It’s a little hard to spot, so we’ve included the original as well:

The show also featured an appearance from indie-pop outfit The Awkward Stage, who’re represented on the poster as well. If only the tweens had gotten into this stuff instead of Muse.

 

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

A Moscow-set scene in Tom Cruise’s Vancouver-shot Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was literally covered in Mint promotional materials. When Ethan Hunt is checking his high-tech messages in a phone booth, he’s apparently standing outside Moscow’s premier Cancon hangout spot, as he’s surrounded by Mint paraphernalia. There’s a poster for Winnipeg indie act Novillero (the same image also pops up in the film’s opening credits) along with the defunct Victoria outfit Immaculate Machine and fabled Vancouver synth-pop crooners The Organ. We were half expecting an A.C. Newman cameo, perhaps as a double-crossing villain, but it didn’t quite pan out.

 

Supernatural

It’s almost at the point where we could make a whole list just about how many times the paranormal thriller Supernatural has shouted out Mint Records. Dudes are completely obsessed with the label, apparently. Or they just really like being able to get music posters from the same spot. The internet tells us pre-Tranzmitors power-pop icons New Town Animals were already shouted out in a season two episode of the show, but they were given another nod later on. A young woman named Delta who happens to practice some serious witchcraft is also, apparently, a Mint mega-fan, appearing on a video chat surrounded by posters for the New Town Animals and P:ano along with a Nardwuar/Bev Davies punk rock calendar. When this girl hears Jay Arner she’s gonna flip.

That’s not all, however. Outside of a nightclub in a different episode, there’s a poster for a show by Mint signees The Evaporators alongside Vancouver punkers B-Lines, and it was drawn by mighty punk cartoonist Mitch Clem.

 

Alcatraz

Mitch Clem’s collaborative art with Nardwuar and Mint Records has gotten around quite a bit, actually. Alcatraz is a new show from J.J. Abrams starring his lost buddy Jorge Garcia (Hurley) as a comic artist who’s obsessed with Alcatraz. He’s also, apparently, obsessed with Mint Records — beside an ominous computer on his desk, he’s stuck up a poster advertising The Evaporators’ split seven-inch with party rock legend Andrew W.K.

 

Spooksville

Vancouver-shot television shows with a spooky bent seem to love posting Mint clips, as if the label’s penchant for positive pop will somehow add a creepy edge. Spooksville, a new children’s creeper that gives off a serious Goosebumps vibe, loves Mint’s poster designs so much that one has made it into the show’s opening credits. While a terrifying masked man kicks down the door of a boy’s bedroom, we’re reminded of the plucky instrumental guitar rock of Calgary outfit the Ramblin’ Ambassadors. Not exactly spooky, but that one shot just might make it worthwhile to tune in every week.

 
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