Andy Nichols

Friendo’s Nicole Brunel and Mike Wallace are opening Comrad Sound.

Following the 2002 closure of the beloved Calgary Multicultural Centre in East Village, Calgary’s all-ages musical and artistic community has existed in a continual state of flux, struggling to maintain consistent venues for any lasting duration. Several small and passionate groups have put forth valiant efforts to preserve a limited number of temporary spaces, but the perpetual problems of neighbourhood noise complaints, disrespectful show-goers and stringent regulations from the City of Calgary persist.

Fortunately, recent years have seen the Summerwood Warren pick up where past DIY promotion groups such as J.B.K. (JustaBuncho’Kids) and the Red Mitten Collective left off, transforming the Emmedia Gallery and Production Society into an ideal on-again, off-again host-space, while also curating the Choose Your Own Festival for the past two summers. Topping this off, the latest and greatest potential for prolonged growth can be found in five budding all-ages developments: Pint-Sized, Comrad Sound, The New Black Centre, Local Library and the Market Collective.

NEW VENUES

In the last 12 months, Vanessa Fever (Gloux to her folks) has booked, promoted and found a home for close to 50 all-ages events, hosting local and out-of-town musicians at a rate of nearly one gig per week under the guise of Pint-Sized. Before founding Calgary’s most active all-ages enterprise, Fever started out like so many other DIY enthusiasts: attending shows, playing in bands (her latest is Brain Fever) and distributing hard-to-find records, finally deciding to take the reins herself when no one else seemed motivated or able.

“For the past few years, almost every venue has been shut down, or else people gave up on them,” Fever says. “There’s just not enough motivation or money, and the city doesn’t want to support all-ages venues because they also present a liability. It seems you need a liquor licence to let bands play, and that’s very frustrating. Prior to spaces like The New Black Centre and Comrad Sound, you had to call community centres to book a show, and as soon as they found out about live music, they would turn you down.”

Meanwhile, Angel Guerra and Angela Dione first launched the Market Collective in June 2008 as a modest but plucky bazaar for artists and crafters to showcase and sell their wares. They’ve since seen attendance on both sides of their tables grow in leaps and bounds, moving from Carpenters’ Union Hall to a massive home in the former Ant Hill Fabrics building.

“The Market Collective contributes to Calgary’s cultural landscape by giving pre-professionals a place to sell art, play music and meet other like-minded individuals,” Guerra says. “We’ve always felt it was an amazing place for all-ages to come because it’s inviting and friendly, and it doesn’t intimidate the larger audience.”

Adds Dione: “It’s a great feeling to look back on a project that was started by two women and one idea, and see what it’s become. This market now has its own heart, has helped many artists launch their independent careers and has engaged not only the art community, but the community of our city.”

As a founding member of local off-kilter rock band Friendo — recently signed to Indiana’s St. Ives Records — along with drumming for the band Women, Mike Wallace brings a wizened perspective to his all-ages initiative. Alongside Fever, Friendo bandmate Nicole Brunel and a score of other cohorts, Wallace recently opened Comrad Sound, an all-ages-friendly venue located at 1511 14th St. S.W. and inspired by The Smell, a veritable Mecca for the 21-and-under crowd in Los Angeles.

“After travelling around the world [with Women], I’d been home for a few months and was blown away by the lack of all-ages venues,” Wallace explains. “While most of our shows were in bars, some of them took place in neat little all-ages spaces which were really inspiring. They reminded me of my childhood playing music, and when everything was centred on the Multicultural Centre.”

Brunel adds: “Our main focus is giving independent artists and would-be artists a chance for exposure. Culturally, I think Comrad Sound will provide a different view, because these are people who didn’t go to ACAD [the Academy of Art and Design] or have the opportunities that a regular artist would. I don’t know what to call that demographic, other than up-and-coming and DIY-minded.”

Comrad Sound and the Market Collective have now teamed to co-curate the kick-off event for Musical Chairs, an ambitious concert series bringing musicians and audiences to historic Calgary locations. On Sunday, March 7 at the Plaza Theatre, Friendo will be joined by Manchild, Hunter-Gatherer and Chad VanGaalen, who will also showcase his animations on the big screen.

Adding even more fuel to the fire, Jacqueline Bell, Eric Moschopedis, ACAD professor Justin Waddell, the Summerwood Warren’s Laura Leif and a team of other musicians and artists from Calgary’s all-ages community are opening their new spac,e Local Library, to the all-ages scene.

“It’s a pretty unique set-up,” says Bell. “Inside Central United [Church], we have two rooms on the second floor to operate out of. The first is a drop-in open studio space, and we’ve had lots of donations of furnishings and craft supplies, that will be open a few days a week and staffed by volunteers. Then there’s another room across the hall that we’ll be using as a gallery space for one-night openings.”

“The gymnasiums downstairs will also be used for music shows, and it’s an ad hoc space that we can use twice a month,” Bell continues. The venue will open with a concert on Saturday, March 20, featuring The Throwaways, Gods and Monsters, Foonyap and the Roar, Deformer and Extra Happy Ghost, and will also include a game of dodge ball. As Bell explains, “You totally have to take advantage of being in a gym.”

STRUGGLING TO EXIST

It hasn’t all been wine and roses for the current all-ages crew. The New Black Centre, the Inglewood home of the local punk label that originally served as a rehearsal space, recording studio and venue, has recently been met with a zoning complaint and cease-and-desist orders filed by the city. The centre was initially threatened with a $1,000 fine for each gig, leaving it potentially shut out of as much as 70 per cent of its projected revenue.

“The original complaint came from a neighbour in our building, and it turned out we weren’t zoned properly,” explains New Black founder Darren Ollinger, also the creative director of radio station X92.9 FM and frontman of the Colin Decker Free Fall. “Now, we have to operate purely as a studio with a few provisions in place, such as recording every performance. The next hearing I have for us to become a regular venue again is in April. I’d love to say I was confident, but with everything I’ve been through, I’ll just be happy when it happens.”

While Comrad Sound’s founders are staying active, hosting events such as silk-screening workshops, film screenings curated by independent video store Bird Dog, and all-ages gigs at other locations around town, they’ve yet to host a musical performance within their own four walls, harbouring similar fears of city-implemented regulations.

“If we were to put on a show, we just know we would be shut down immediately,” Wallace says bluntly. “Basically, there’s only one kind of licensing available in Calgary’s performing arts category. It’s incredibly rigid and intense because the city thinks of it on such a huge scale; something like the Epcor Centre.”

Even with the obstacles, the Market Collective’s founders view these latest developments as an endless field of possibilities, and are excited to see what can grow from here.

“The local all-ages scene has so much potential,” Dione says. “Calgary is still a blank canvas, and it’s important for us to realize we can contribute to its positive growth. Too many people doing great things in our city end up moving to Montreal or Vancouver. There has always been a reason for them to leave, so now let’s give them a reason to stay. If only one thing came from this movement, I would want it to be that.”