Get Paranoid
If you’ve ever seen hard rockers Diemonds play, you know they’ve got more style than any other band in town. Now lead guitarist C.C. is using his eye for aesthetics and his background in photography and running band merch tables behind new screen printing venture Paranoid Print Company.
He and business partner/Bleedingheart music video maker Matthew Chrones Scott are just getting their independent Chinatown print shop off the ground, but they’ve already churned out beauty Ts for Public Animal, the Dying Arts, Midnight Malice and, of course, Diemonds, along with patches for Wildheart and Gypsyhawk. (They make posters, too.)
C.C. trained under Stacey Case of Merch Guy/Trash Palace, one of Toronto’s best underground printers, and Scott worked at a large commercial printer, so the shirts are not only fetching but also high-quality.
“Everyone’s got a favourite T-shirt,” C.C. tells NOW. “Let us make yours.”
Visit paranoidprintco.com for more info, and follow them on Instagram at paranoid_print_co.
R.I.P. Raffa Dean
Heavy hearts. Drummer Tony “Raffa Dean” White, best known as the drummer for Big Sugar in the mid-90s, as well as for his work with the Resinators and Freedubstar, passed away at home from stomach cancer last week. Read Jay Cleary’s obituary at nowtoronto.com.
Psst…
As if NXNE doesn’t have enough shows on offer all week long, a number of secret ones are also helping build the music buzz. Something is for sure going down at Smiling Buddha at 7 pm Sunday (June 22). It’s all-ages, but who’s playing is still a mystery. Less secret but equally under the radar is Sunday’s Artscape Gibraltar Point event featuring Petra Glynt, Zacht Automaat, Special Costello, Baby Cages, Man Made Hill and Old & Weird. 2 to 11 pm. $10.
SOCAN’s silver jubilee
Big winners at Monday night’s 25th annual SOCAN Awards, held at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle, included T-dot’s own global inspiration award winner, Drake Orillia’s lifetime achievement award winner, Gordon Lightfoot and national achievement award winner Ian Thomas, from Hamilton. The show celebrates songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers. Kudos to the champs from our neck of the woods!
MMVAs come of age
The MMVAs also turned 25 this year, and marked the occasion with their first CTV simulcast. There were plenty of Torontonians representing, too. Maple Leaf Nazem Kadri and Raptor Greivis Vásquez turned up, hometown boy the Weeknd presented, and Drake, Biebs (does he count? do we want him to?) and City and Colour took home some hardware.
On the road again
Fresh off their exciting reunion show at Field Trip, the Constantines announce a mini-tour in the coming months. The Guelph indie rockers play the Molson Amphitheatre with Arcade Fire on August 29, and the Danforth Music Hall on October 2.
