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Music

Hollerado

HOLLERADO with THE PACK A.D. and WILDLIFE at the Opera House (735 Queen East), Saturday (October 15). $15 advance. HS, RT, SS, TM. See listing.


For a band best known for its goofy, fun-loving antics, Hollerado’s latest stunt is surprisingly high-minded.

The Manotick, Ontario, party rockers are attempting to meet the mayor of every city and town on their current Canadian tour as a way of discussing issues affecting each municipality and exposing politics’ lighter side.

It’s a far cry from their previous gimmicks: releasing their debut record, 2009’s Record In A Bag, as an actual record in a bag driving over 11,000 kilometres to play a residency in a different city on every night of the week manufacturing and selling their own brand of hot sauce.

The “Meet The Mayor” idea started, as many of their ideas have, as a joke.

“A couple of us just moved to Toronto in the spring. It’s an amazing city, and we’re absolutely loving it, but we quickly realized how disappointed we were in Mayor Rob Ford,” says lead singer/guitarist Menno Versteeg over the phone from Chicago. “This was right around the time he’d skipped out on all the gay pride celebrations.

“I believe that once you’re elected mayor, it’s your job to represent all the people in your city and not just those who voted for you.

“We got to talking, and somebody said sarcastically, ‘I wonder if we could meet him and ask him about this stuff.’ Everyone thought that was ludicrous – that there was no way any mayor would want to meet us. I did, too, at first, but then I thought, ‘Isn’t that ridiculous?’ Our generation feels so disempowered politically that we think it’s ridiculous to actually want to talk to the person representing you.”

The band mentioned their discussion on Twitter, joking that they should rectify that attitude by meeting every mayor on their next tour. Almost immediately they had responses from a number of them, including Calgary’s Naheed Nenshi.

The concept spiralled from there. The on-tour band has now convened with more than 10 mayors, including Nenshi, who honoured them with a white hat ceremony, and Lethbridge, Alberta, mayor Rajko Dodic, who joined them onstage to jam on a Neil Young cover. They even caused a bit of a stir when Thunder Bay’s conservative mayor, Keith Hobbs, argued in favour of the legalization of marijuana during their chat, and it was picked up by the CBC.

Versteeg considers the experience inspiring and eye-opening but feels it may end in disappointment. The impetus behind the tour, after all, was a desire to meet and question our own mayor. As of press time, Ford still hasn’t responded to their requests.

“When you email him you get an automated response that says, ‘As I promised during my election campaign, I will get back to you within a week. I’m very busy,’ blah blah blah,” says Versteeg. “It’s been a month now since our first email, and we’ve sent him a few more since then, but so far we haven’t heard back.”

Versteeg admits it’s frustrating, especially since the band’s intention is not to embarrass Ford but to prove his accessibility.

“If he’s read any of the press about this tour, he probably knows that we don’t agree with him on a lot of issues. But that’s why he should meet with us. That’s what politics is about – disagreeing in an intelligent, transparent way. We’re not trying to shame him. We just want to start a dialogue.”

Interview Clips

Versteeg explains how meeting Mayor Keith Hobbs of Thunder Bay positively altered his view on conservative politics (or at least the politicians behind them).

Download associated audio clip.

Why letting their guard down and letting loose would do a lot of good for some politicians.

Download associated audio clip.

Hollerado are occasionally accused of being a bit too heavy-handed in their self-promotion. Here Versteeg argues that marketing and promotion is all part and parcel of music as an art form.

Download associated audio clip.

music@nowtoronto.com

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