Wavelength is taking the music to the streets.
When we spoke to the organizers of the long-running music series back in February, they told us they were looking to find new ways expand Wavelength beyond its usual haunts in order to challenge themselves and their audiences.
This Saturday (July 23), they’ll be leaving bars and venues behind and leading a musical scavenger hunt called Band On The Run. Inspired by similar Toronto happenings like Poor Pilgrim and Extermination Music Nights, the event will combine the elements of discovery with a reclamation of underused public space.
The event will see a full throng of bands playing guerilla-style in public spaces around Toronto’s west end. The typically eclectic list of acts has been announced – Lullabye Arkestra, Digits, Youth Crime, Eons, Pale Mornings, Gushee, Rambunctious and John Milner You’re So Boss – but the orders and locations won’t be revealed until 45 minutes before each performance.
The first one will take place at noon on the Train station platform in the Junction on Dundas Street West, east of Pacific Avenue. After that, the Wavelength crew will be revealing hints and clues on its Twitter page throughout the day, before officially announcing the details across its platforms (on Twitter, Facebook, its website and in person). If you want to make a day of it and, you can also travel around with the crowds and catch them all.
“For us Band On The Run isn’t about disruption of public space but rather integration of arts in underused public spaces,” says co-organizer Kevin Parnell. “That’s why we’re attempting many of the performances in publicly accessible spots. You don’t have to climb through abandoned buildings or over fences. They’re not hidden.”
But they’re also not quite legal.
“We contacted the city councillors of each area we’ll be in to see if we could work them on getting permits or other permission but none of them ever returned our calls or emails,” says Parnell. “There’s the chance that every performance could be shut down, but that’s just an aspect of the event. We definitely understand that in these situations someone always finds it disrupting/annoying/offensive, but it’s not our intention.”
Where most events like this typically adapt musicians to the space, Band On The Run will employ a portable generator and backline to ensure that each act can represent its individual style to the fullest.
“We don’t just want to do acoustic music,” says Parnell. “I’d rather see Lullabye Arkestra as Lullabye Arkestra than some other version of Lullabye Arkestra just because it’s outside acoustic version just because it’s outside and public.”
“Hopefully we can get an audience of general public that aren’t familiar with Wavelength or the bands to join in and have an unexpected kind of fun.”
