When I decided to do a themed series of mixtapes to post in this space I knew there was one natural place to start - at the beginning.

Broken Arts began on July 16, 2009. Initially a trio of myself, Mike Rosenplot, and Natalie Garcia we started with an art jam series every Sunday at a coffee shop called The Black Cup (38 King St. E. where Mad Cafe now stands). We ran Art School Sundays for a month and a half but the highest turnout we ever got was five people. I was ready to give up on Broken Arts altogether but they wanted to persevere. A friend of Mike’s had just opened a new bar called The Green Bottle so we talked to him about putting on a concert there. He said yes and that changed the entire future of Broken Arts.

In the year between our initial formation and Broken Arts’ one-year anniversary Mike left to pursue other work, Stef Walker and Amanda Westenberg joined, we ran five concerts, the first Broken Arts Fair, a 24-hour comic jam, a fundraiser for the Cat Town animal shelter, Oshawa’s first buskerfest, and participated in activities at The Oshawa Generals’ first fanfest and Get Bent’s Summer Solstice festival. Natalie, Stef, and Amanda would also leave the team. Looking back it’s very much the picture of a rookie group, starting out with no concrete plan and making it up as we went. Any success was part luck and part perseverance.

Broken Arts: Year One
1. Jenny Omnichord - Mending Nibbled Wires
2. Andrew Vincent & Company - Ambassador Bridge
3. The Elwins - Stuck In The Middle
4. Tonkapuma - Throwdown
5. Big Crimes - Gnome Song
6. Avery Island - If You Want Me
7. Pink Moth - Forest Fires
8. Stereo Moon - I Would Dream For You
9. The Strumbellas - Carry My Body

Download now.

Jenny Omnichord headlined Soundtracked 4, our first all-ages show held on a Saturday afternoon in May at the old Isabella’s. She traveled out from London with her omnichord and her 3 year-old son Otis. It remains in the top three of our worst attended shows and the first time Broken Arts went into debt.

I discovered Ottawa’s Andrew Vincent when CBC Radio-3 began playing his song “Going Out Tonight” fairly regularly. I loved it and wrote to his label on a whim asking if he’d play Soundtracked 1. To my surprise he said yes. I had had no idea that it was that simple and found it so frustrating that I could have been putting on concerts for years if I had only known how easy it was.

Newmarket’s The Elwins, along with Broken Arts founder Natalie, opened for Jenny at Soundtracked 4. They played Guess Who before their set. They finally released their debut album a few weeks ago and it’s been getting glowing acclaim.

The biggest influences on me as a show promoter and on the Broken Arts: Soundtracked series in general are Toronto’s Daps crew. It was their all-ages car garage shows that made me first decide that our shows needed to be more than just a couple of local bands in a bar. They inspired the mix of local and non-local and music and art and food and decorations. As soon as we decided to do Soundtracked 1 I went to Dan and April and asked them if one of their bands would play. The other members of Hooded Fang were busy at the time so they played as their surf duo Tonkapuma.

Pickering’s Big Crimes were in attendance at the first Soundtracked and wound up recommended to us by the members of Avery Island. We brought them on to play Soundtracked 2, our first Christmas show. Big Crimes just broke up this past November but Tom is still going strong as The Undrummer.

We had locked in Andrew Vincent and Tonkapuma for Soundtracked 1 and taken on the band Cedar at the suggestion of Green Bottle owner Craig. (They would later cancel and be replaced at the last minute by The Oldest Child, who contacted us out of the blue and hitchhiked out to the show from Peteborough.) Mike and I were hanging out at The Shwaltz and trying to decide who to get to round out the lineup when Avery Island took the stage. We had never heard of the Port Perry foursome before but, after one song, I turned to Mike and said, “I want them.”

I discovered Toronto’s Pink Moth in a roundabout manner. I first came across the comics of Willow Dawson at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival. When I found out later that her husband had a band that she occasionally contributed to I asked them to play our Christmas show with Big Crimes and Mellowkotzen.

On June 7, 2010 we ran our Julie Doiron Day tribute show at Isabella’s. To date it’s the only concert we’ve put on that didn’t fall under the Soundtracked banner. For the event Jade Alexis, HeSaid SheSaid, Holy Mount, and Stereo Moon came out and played covers of Julie and Eric’s Trip songs. This was the first time we met Stereo Moon and he won us over instantly.

With our Christmas lineup nearly confirmed Isabella’s owner Giacomo suggested that we should get a band from Toronto called The Strumbellas to play. I was hesitant after taking a suggestion for our first show and then having that band cancel but we agreed. Luckily Giacomo knew what he was talking about because The Strumbellas were fantastic. Last July we were able to bring them back to headline Broken Arts Fest and, with their debut album finally released last month, we might have to see about getting them back again sometime in the near future.

-Harley

If you haven’t been reading OshaWhat you’re missing out. There’s some stellar folks over there talking film, nature, sports, fashion, and all sorts of other things from an Oshawa point of view. There’s also photos, comics, event listings, and a local directory and something new is posted nearly everyday.

This Friday happens to be the official launch party for the magazine and it’s going down at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s series-formerly-known-as-First-Fridays. You can meet the OshaWhat crew and give suggestions for future pieces in person. Oh, and some rad dudes known as 1977 and Stereo Moon are playing music.

On February 17 we’ll be celebrating our 25th Soundtracked concert at Mad Cafe with a co-presentation by SlowCity Magazine.

The night will be headlined by Canadian indie legend Julie Doiron and also feature performances from Stereo Moon, Heather Luckhart, and Darling Meadow.

Photographer Marina Osmond will be exhibiting her work.

Cover is $10 and doors are at 8 p.m. There are no advance tickets. As always, this show is all-ages.


We should also note that Ms. Doiron will be teaching a yoga class at Bola! immediately prior to our show. Tickets are $30 and a few spots remain. Anyone who attends the yoga session will receive free admission to the concert. Details here.

We first off have to once again give huge thanks to Watershed Hour, Stereo Moon, The Undrummer, The Gumdrop Buckshot, and The Garden Grove for the success of Soundtracked 18. We then have to thank every person who came out. We wound up with a total of 39 people paid at the door which is the highest turnout we’ve had at a Soundtracked show since Soundtracked 3 back in March 2010. It was amazing and it meant so much to us to see all of you out and a ton of new faces.

We gave away a total of 60 copies of Now Or Never #1, the complete first print run. If you weren’t at the show but were hoping to get a copy, we will be getting a second batch printed this week and will have copies for sale for $4 each at Soundtracked 19 next Friday.

Indications are that it will rain all day tomorrow so we are forced to make the call to cancel the planned outdoor pre-party and BBQ scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. However the rest of the evening will go as planned…

Join us as The Garden Grove (11 Taunton Rd. W., Simcoe & Taunton, in north Oshawa). Doors are at 8 p.m. and we are of course always all-ages. $7 gets you admission which includes live music from The Undrummer, Stereo Moon, and Watershed Hour as well as a copy of Now Or Never #1, which itself comes with an EP of music from Strange Peaks. As if that weren’t enough, The Gumdrop Buckshot will be on hand selling upcycled crafts and accessories and doing henna tattoos.

Despite these last minute alterations it should still be a fantastic evening. We hope to see you all soon.

With the launch of Now Or Never just over a week away, we are pleased to reveal today the full content listing for the debut issue of our new zine about the Oshawa art scene.


cover by Amanda Sampson

Five Thumbs Up:

     Band Of The Issue: The Harvest Conspiracy

     Venue Of The Issue: The Garden Grove

     Babe Of The Issue: Jacquie Severs

     Hunk Of The Issue: Lee Howard (interviewed by Ashley Perry)

     Event Of The Issue: Broken Arts Fest (coverage by Mariah Bradley)

Cat Planet interview (by Defne Inceoglu)

How We Book: Broken Arts

The Harvest Conspiracy - Fireside Stories album breakdown

The Brief Existence Of Strange Peaks (by Harley R. Pageot)

Top 5 Bands Under 19 (by Zafer Izer)

A New Era Begins Here (by Erin Pazaratz)

ALL CAPS! Island Festival coverage (by Pageot, Pazaratz, & Terry Price)

Guest List: Bruce McKenna, “My Favorite Songs To Cover”

Reviews:

     Hooded Fang - Tosta Mista (by Pageot)

     Stereo Moon - ‘In Effigy To Scenic Happenings…’ (by Lori-Anne Clark)

     Pulco - Small Thoughts (by Pageot)

     Katrina James - Everything Is Relative EP (by Clark)

+ an exclusive CD from Strange Peaks


You can be the first to pick up a copy of Now Or Never #1 on September 23rd at Soundtracked 18. Following that, the zine will be available for purchase online and at future Broken Arts shows for $4.

Harley from Broken Arts in conversation with Emm from Stereo Moon

Who are Stereo Moon?
Emm Smith - writer/director
Bruce MacKinnon - conductor
+ more friends in the future.

I seem to recall conversing with you at a show last spring where you said that Stereo Moon was on a bit of a hiatus. Since then you’ve played Broken Arts Fest, First Fridays, a couple other shows, and released a digital single. What changed?
I found another member for the band. Stereo Moon was never supposed to be a solo thing. Unless someone asked me to play, I wasn’t aggressively looking for shows. Stereo Moon has been a 24/7, 365 days thing since 1999 so it depends what day you’re talking to me. It can change by the hour.

Your single, ‘In Effigy To Scenic Happenings, We Applaud,’ released this summer is the first thing you’ve put out since 2005, other than contributions to a 2007 Inbreds tribute album and a 2009 Eric’s Trip tribute disc. What happened? Are we going to have to wait until 2017 for your next release?
I have five albums written and ready to be recorded (of which consists a trilogy finished in 2004). They will all contain elaborate arrangements, instrumentation and production. If you can’t find enough musicians or money to record, you keep writing and refining. I don’t want to be Bob Dylan; I want to be Brian Wilson.

What have you been listening to lately?
Mostly underground American music of all types and scouring the internet for rare or forgotten psych albums. Recently I’ve gone back to an old staple, a band called The Velvet Underground.

And what can people expect from Stereo Moon at Broken Arts: Soundtracked 18?
Ironically a nice mellow or electric solo set. I may pull out some old songs that I don’t play live much.

Stereo Moon plays Broken Arts: Soundtracked 18 on September 23. Visit http://StereoMoon.com/ to download the new single.

Stereo Moon play Soundtracked 18 on September 23

photo courtesy of Mariah Bradley

The next era of Broken Arts begins here.

Friday, September 23, 2011. The Garden Grove, 11 Taunton Rd. W. in north Oshawa. Broken Arts: Soundtracked 18.


4 - 8 p.m. - outdoor party

We’ll be hanging out on the front lawn and driveway of The Garden Grove. BBQ veggie burgers, fresh juice and smoothies, games, buskers, pay what you can henna tattos from Casey Anne, and assorted curios & ornaments for sale from The Gumdrop Buckshot. Free admission.

If you want to busk or run something or get involved in another way, drop us a line.


8 - 11 p.m. - Soundtracked 18

Head inside the yoga studio, slip your shoes off, and enjoy some live music from Nicholas Doubleyou & The B-Squad, Stereo Moon, and Watershed Hour. $7 gets you admission + a copy of our new zine Now Or Never.


Now Or Never: Fall 2011

Now Or Never is a new zine by Broken Arts about the Oshawa-area arts scene. Published quarterly, each issue will feature interviews, articles, profiles, lists, event coverage, reviews, comics, art, photos, and more.

Our debut issue, Fall 2011, features a cover story on the late, great Strange Peaks and every zine comes with an exclusive CD collecting their entire recorded output.


Check back here daily over the next three weeks as we unveil more details about Now Or Never, announce more outdoor party activities, and interview Watershed Hour, Stereo Moon, and Nicholas Doubleyou.

Everything is, of course, all-ages.