Music
Godspeed You! Black Emperor declined a Polaris 2015 nomination
by Jeremy Mersereau
June 23, 2015
After winning in 2013 "the band does not want to be considered for the prize."
Godspeed You! Black Emperor once again won’t be participating in the Polaris Music Prize, only this time, they decided to nip things in the bud and make their decision known a bit earlier.
You might recall that after winning the award for their 2013 LP Allejulah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, the Montreal group made a point not to show up to the awards gala. They left it to Constellation Records founder Ian Ilavsky to let everyone know they’d be using their $30,000 winnings to fund music programs for prisoners in Quebec (at last report, the band was having difficulty dealing with the province’s prison bureaucracy to make it happen). An online statement from singer Efrim Menuck followed, expressing the band’s shock at winning and appreciation for the support they’d received, but mainly chastising the entire event for being “tone-deaf” and “lazy money patting itself on the back.”
This year, when the Polaris braintrust reached out and asked the band if they wished to be considered for the award for their latest album Asunder, Sweet and other Distress, they received this terse reply: “The band does not want to be considered for the prize.”
Check out the long list of nominees for Polaris 2015 here. The official shortlist will be unveiled July 16, with the Gala happening September 21st in Toronto, which will be livestreamed once again here on AUX.TV.
