From April 18th to the 23rd, bands, industry reps and concert goers flooded the Toronto core for Canadian Music Week. Although we didn’t receive accreditation for CMW this year I still managed to find myself at three shows on Thursday, April 20th. One, a Strut Entertainment Social Event introducing the wonderfully talented Command Sisters from Alberta. They recently moved to Toronto and as intro to the media performed an acoustic set in a hotel suite in the Sheraton in Toronto.
I then rushed to catch a Women’s Showcase at the new Ildsjel Collective, a studio space on Carlaw in Toronto. It’s a neat open space with tall ceilings and even a garage door that lets in lots of daylight. There’s a bar at the front which is convenient for events and overall a really cool space! There were a total of 6 performances including Jacelyn Holmes, Caren, Gillian Nicola, Gray, Altered by Mom and The Commoners! (It was a treat running into these guys two weeks in a row, they put on a killer performance, their tunes are catchy and I have a feeling they’re going to go far.) While shooting this show I received approval for the evenings events which was an extra bonus for the day!
It was a pleasure to catch all of these performances, everyone was also really awesome about let me shoot during their whole set but I always try to ensure I’m not disturbing everyone else’s experience. I hate when I’m trying to enjoy a show and there’s a guy or gal with a camera front and centre stage the whole time. (But I digress) Timing couldn’t have been better, The Commoners set finished and I had just enough time to head to The Velvet Underground to catch The New Electric and Courage My Love.
Oddly enough I had seen the guys from The New Electric earlier in the day during The Command Sisters’ performance, they’re part of the Strut Entertainment Family so I wasn’t surprised but it’s always nice to see a familiar face. The show was amazing, I always love seeing bands in smaller venues, their performances are more intimate and I usually get more expressive shots.
Lighting however proved to be VERY challenging on both the dummerss but especially for Phoenix Arn-Horne, the drummer of Courage My Love. I ALWAYS try and take shots of the drummer, why? Because they’re often forgotten. I can’t even count the number of times I have been thanked by a drummer for taking photographs of them! And to be honest it’s not their fault, I find lighting guys either forget the drummers completely or light them like their gods, I’ve never really seen a middle ground (you’ll see what I mean in a later post). If anyone is interested I can get into the difficulty of concert lighting and how to prepare yourself for various types of lighting.
That’s all for now!
Thanks for checking this blog out and please follow for more.
xo
jo
vengenza 
Niice post