PARTY CANNON IS READY TO LIGHT A FUSE!
The arts community is alive and well here in Sudbury and here to add to our ever changing landscape is Party Cannon, a new collaboration of music and art bringing all ages and licensed shows to Sudbury stages! Comprised of Shawn Kosmlery and Clayton Drake the duo insists there’s no age limit for good music. “There is no reason why adults and teens can’t enjoy the same concert”, says Drake who has been a major advocate for the cause over the years. Live shows aren’t all their about though, they’ll be launching their Weird Bands in Weird Places video series soon and have a few other tricks up their sleeve still to come. We got the chance to speak with Drake and get all the details on this exciting new initiative! Don’t miss out on their next show coming up March 9th presented by High Road Records featuring Century Palm, Strange Attractor and Telecolor!
Dirty Princes photo by Shawn Kosmerly
Tell us more about what Party Cannon is all about?
Party Cannon is at it’s heart an installation art and music collective. A big part of our mandate is to bridge the gap between the music and visual art worlds, and between other art forms. We want to create amazing parties that defy peoples’ expectations of what a concert can be.
We are also going to be adding other initiatives under the Party Cannon umbrella in the coming months, such as our Weird Bands in Weird Places video series, which will be presented in conjunction with Sudbury.com.
Mainly, we want people to cooperate and become enthused about new art and new music, and help grow our vibrant arts community into something even more collaborative and beautiful.
Party Cannon is reviving the all ages show scene from years ago. Tell us about your experience in your youth and what made you want to bring the scene back?
Way back in the day (around 2007), when I started my bands the Birthday Cakes and Meadowlark Lemon, I also started organizing all-ages shows. At the time, there was a large audience for all-ages hardcore and metal shows, but no one was really doing all-ages shows for more eclectic acts (bands that would fall under the rubric of “indie”, as much as I loathe that term). There has always been a home for this type of music at the Townehouse, but there was nowhere for underagers to enjoy this type of music, and, importantly, there was nowhere for underage bands to perform this type of music.
So, myself, Jon Danilyw (who currently plays in Murder Murder), and my brothers Cameron and Carter, started organizing shows at the Adanac ski lodge. The rental fee was affordable, and we were able to offer some amazing touring acts their first gigs in Sudbury (bands like Yukon Blonde and Rah Rah). We were also able to help foster a comfortable and safe performance space for local bands and concert-goers, which I firmly believe helped incubate many of the fantastic bands we currently have in this city.
Over the years, while I have organized many 19+ events, I always tried my best to continue to put on all-ages shows. And, recently, thanks to my persistence and the persistence of people like Jeff Houle, venues like the Townehouse and the Speakeasy have come around to allowing early licensed / all-ages shows. This is a huge thing. Many of the Asylum’s shows are 19+ and all-ages. All of the Party Cannon shows will be all-ages and licensed. There is no reason why adults and teens can’t enjoy the same concert.
I should also mentioned that Millards’ Garage, Myths and Mirrors, and Mitch and Jeff Houle have been instrumental in keeping the all-ages flame burning over the years. It has flickered, but it never burnt out, and now we can do all-ages shows in pretty much any venue in the city!
Chastity photo by Shawn Kosmerly
You may have read the recent article on Vice News in which the interviewer calls Sudbury the “armpit of Ontario”. Dirty Princes who played at your first show even have a new single called “Armpit” after the article. What are your thoughts on this rather disparaging view of our arts community?
Every article written by a major news publication about Sudbury’s music scene has the same theme: “You’d never believe what an amazing band came out of this shit hole slag heap.” I’ve been hearing it for years, and it just shows a complete lack of journalistic integrity. Five minutes on google would show that there is an overwhelming amount of amazing music being created in this city. It’s a lazy narrative, and I’m sick of it. That’s a big reason we wanted to start Party Cannon; to show to the world that Sudbury bands slay, and that we are legitimate bands that are actually better than most of the garbage these publications try to shove down our throats.
Music aside, installation art will be a huge part of your events. How do these two art forms work together in a concert setting?
They worked amazingly well together at our debut show. We had a giant version of Mount Rushmore with the faces of some local heroes on it (Momo, Alex Trebek, Stompin Tom), we re-lit the entire venue, we had stand-up comedy from Hot Mess in between bands, we had balloons that we dropped during the Dirty Princes’ set, and Sonia Ekiyor-Katimi’s installation in the entrance way was absolutely magical. Nico Glaude was responsible for coordinating the visuals, and he did a bang-up job. The next one will be even wilder.
Where can we find more information about Party Cannon and upcoming events?
Like our Facebook page!
Jessica Lovelace
Jessica Lovelace is a Public Relations and Communications grad, musical theatre enthusiast, lover of live music and part-time unicorn tamer. Some have said that the Big Dripper from Sub City is a regional delicacy and the perfect end to a Sudbury Saturday Night – Jessica is definitely one of those people. No, the hair is not a perm.
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