Music Waste Grabs Vancouver By The Ears

VANCOUVER — Toronto's North By Northeast isn't the only music festival happening in Canada this weekend.

Back in 1994, Music Waste started as a piss-take on the better-known Music West, which is also held yearly in Vancouver and is now known as New Music West. The roster of Waste bands was made up of acts who were declined entry to the larger corporate festival. Skip ahead 13 years and Music Waste, run by the good folks over at Only Magazine, has become the lightning rod for hot indie acts in Van City. It arguably overshadows the better-funded NMW in terms of roster quality and local music fan popularity.

From Thursday to Sunday, Vancouver offers an awful lot for fans of avant indie rock.

Thursday's offerings include Secret Mommy, Precious Fathers, Bible Belt (a.k.a. Chris-a-riffic) and Kellarissa at the Royal Unicorn Cabaret. Portico, Huge Manatease, Contraptioneers and Brother Brother are at the Lamplighter. Sex Negatives, Defektors, Aerosol Constellations and Iain Wyatt play The Balmoral. The Yesterdais, Yukon, The Bloggers and SSRi's perform at Pat's Pub. Eryn Holbrook, Adriane Lake and the Creaking Planks will take the stage at The Annex. And that's just night one.

For the full festival schedule and details, check out the Music Waste website. Festival passes can be purchased from the city's finer record shops or you can pay (typically low) cover charges for individual shows.

You can read a review of the fest here on Monday.