Wavelength is a music series and annual festival held in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. The project was founded in 2000 by Jonny Dovercourt, Duncan MacDonell (Doc Pickles), and Derek Westerholm. It was founded on the basis that many others would share their enthusiasm for

independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

from Toronto. The concept evolved from an open-table meeting of musicians and enthusiasts on September 11, 1999, this then developed into a weekly Sunday showcase and annual festival. The first instalment of the music series took place February 13, 2000 at Ted's Wrecking Yard, featuring Toronto legends

Mean Red Spiders Mean Red Spiders are a Canadian alternative rock band from Toronto, Ontario. Their music is largely guitar-based indie rock influenced by psychedelic music. The band makes extensive use of distortion, digital keyboard loops, recorded voice sa ...

and Neck. Wavelength became well known as a hotbed for Toronto's creative music community and featured breakout shows by such notable Canadian bands

Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the oth ...

and

The Constantines Constantines is an indie rock band from Guelph, Ontario, Canada. History Constantines was formed in 1999 by vocalist and guitarist Bryan Webb, drummer Doug MacGregor and guitarist Paul Bright, all of whom had played together in the emo band Sho ...

. During Wavelength's second month Canadian artist

Michael Snow Michael Snow (born December 10, 1928) is a Canadian artist working in a range of media including film, installation, sculpture, photography, and music. His best-known films are '' Wavelength'' (1967) and '' La Région Centrale'' (1971), with the ...

personally screened his legendary 1967 piece "Wavelength" before his performance at Ted's Wrecking Yard. Wavelength moved to

Sneaky Dee's Sneaky Dee's is a concert venue and Tex-Mex restaurant in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally opened in 1987 on the north west corner of Bloor Street and Bathurst, it moved to its present location at College and Bathurst in 1990. History 562 B ...

in 2002, finally moving to the Garrison in 2009 to complete the run of the Sunday showcases at exactly 500, 10 years to the date of the series' launch. Wavelength currently organizes a series of special music events, including the yearly ALL CAPS! Island Festival. Artists representing a wide range of genres have performed at Wavelength ranging from Feist,

Peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

, Ghost Bees,

Exhaust Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to: Law *Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law ** Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law ** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, in ...

,http://www.wavelengthtoronto.com/wavelog/2005/05/listing-may-2005> Do Make Say Think,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n saxophonist

Getatchew Mekurya Getatchew Mekurya ( Amharic: ጌታቸው መኩሪያ ወልደ ተክሌ; 14 March 1935 – 4 April 2016) was an Ethiopian jazz saxophonist. Early career Mekurya was born on 14 March 1935, in Yifat, Ethiopia. His father was a honey merchant ...

Sook-Yin Lee Sook-Yin Lee is a Canadian broadcaster, musician, film director, and actress. She is a former MuchMusic VJ and a former radio host on CBC Radio. She has appeared in films, notably in the John Cameron Mitchell movie '' Shortbus''. Early and p ...

, and Canadian hip hop artist

Cadence Weapon Roland "Rollie" Pemberton, better known by his stage name Cadence Weapon, is a Canadian-American rapper based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Pemberton released his first album, '' Breaking Kayfabe'', in 2005 with posit ...

. During its first decade, more than 1100 bands have played Wavelength. Wavelength incorporated as a not-for-profit as Wavelength Music Arts Projects in 2007. Wavelength is currently programmed by Jonny Dovercourt and guest curator Ian Steaman, and it continues to present music events in and around Toronto.

References

;Citations

External links

Wavelength Music Arts Projects
Official homepage {{DEFAULTSORT:Wavelength (music series) Recurring events established in 2000 Rock festivals in Canada Music festivals in Toronto