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Music

Unwrapping local talent

How do you get people out to see up-and-coming local bands? Think outside the box.

That’s been Toronto promoter Randal Ball’s strategy in devising the new Out Of The Box Music and Arts Festival. Taking place day and night this weekend (Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31) at the Great Hall and Toronto Underground Cinema, the event aims to present potentially familiar local musical acts in a creative, unfamiliar context.

The list of performers practically reads like a who’s who of up-and-coming Toronto musicians – Olenka & The Autumn Lovers, The Hoa Hoa’s, Entire Cities and Rival Boys, just to name a few – none quite broken on the big stage yet, but all worth watching.

Each of the seven shows (five over the three nights, plus two daytime matinees) is organized around an artistic theme – 3 Dimensions of Rock and Roll, Origami of the Giants, Space Prom and Planet Earth. Bands will essentially be a living component in an all-encompassing art installation.

With the festival, Ball joins a wave of local promoters looking to shake up the format. Events like the Four Corners concert series and Whippersnapper Gallery’s upcoming R.R.R.R.R. Trash Art Festival experiment with new ways of presenting lesser-known acts. Even Wavelength, an institution that for a decade was celebrated for its consistent formula, has recently broken out of the mould with events like the All Caps! Island Festival and the recent Band On The Run experiment.

“I really love the Toronto music scene, but I find it a little bit boring that shows so often use the same format: bands going on stage and playing,” explains Ball, who operates under the WreckingBall Entertainment banner. “The bands are always great, so that’s not a problem. But I feel like it’s worth the effort to give them the opportunity to do something a bit more exciting.”

You can see most of the bands on the Out Of The Box bill gigging around the city on a pretty regular basis, but this gives them something bigger to work toward and a hook to draw unfamiliar people to see them play. Many of the musicians, like Heartbeat Hotel and Foxes In Fiction, have been constantly tipped as “breakout” acts but are still accustomed to playing the same handful of small to mid-range venues. And seldom do they get the chance to play in 3D or alongside giant origami.

“The shows will be bigger for them because the concepts are bigger and more ambitious,” says Ball. “Even if the bands are indie, it’s easier for them to promote their show when they have something special that comes with it.”

All shows are $10 or you can buy a full weekend pass for $15. Available at Soundscapes and Rotate This.

Daytime schedule (all ages)

Nighttime schedule

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