Will M For Montreal Determine Canada's Next Big Thing?

10/15/07 6:00pm

by Erik Leijon (CHARTattack)

MONTREAL — With many Montrealers still resting their battered eardrums after another blistering Pop Montreal, many of the groups who rocked so thoroughly there will be trying to impress a crowd of foreign journalists at the second annual M For Montreal showcase at Cabaret Juste Pour Rire on Monday and Tuesday. Two hundred tickets will be available to the public each night.

The showcase was the brainchild of Martin Elbourne, a musical director and booker for the Glastonbury and Great Escape festivals in the U.K., who wanted to make a pit stop in Montreal before heading to New York City for the CMJ music festival. Instead of multiple days with dozens of venues and hundreds of bands, M For Montreal features two nights with 16 acts playing one after the other. It will be a chance for U.K. and European journalists to preview the latest batch of Montreal bands without having to move.

"The first conversations [about M For Montreal] took place in a bar on Trafalgar Square, but it became a joint effort over time," says Elbourne. "Montreal has such a cool reputation right now. It helps getting interest.

"A lot of festival organizers [in Europe] don't really like going to South By Southwest, Canadian Music Week or North By Northeast any more because there are too many bands, and most of them aren't ready to play in Europe."

Last year's M For Montreal was a coming-out party for Polaris Music Prize winner Patrick Watson, who blew Elbourne and many U.K. journalists away. Watson performed at Great Escape earlier this year.

"He's got a priority release now on his label," says Elbourne. "He's at the level where on his next tour he should be able to play to 2,000 capacity in London, and actually start making money touring in the U.K."

Elbourne thought that the best two acts at this year's Great Escape were Watson and The Besnard Lakes, who also showcased at M For Montreal last year.

"The bad thing about The Besnard Lakes was they couldn't afford to come back over [to the U.K.], but next time they do the NME and others will treat them like the next Patrick Watson," he says.

Elbourne also enjoyed DJ Champion last year and believes that he would be successful in the U.K. if he toured there.

"He's spent more time trying to crack the French market, which makes sense."

M For Montreal represents a chance for U.K. journalists to find the next Arcade Fire "and claim they were the first to discover them," jokes Elbourne."The NME reporter was really championing Patrick Watson. For three weeks after M For Montreal, there was a mention of Patrick Watson somewhere in the paper. And when he performed there, the reporter made everyone in the office check him out."

Elbourne is looking to start a Canadian/international showcase in Dublin, Ireland next year. As the music industry keeps shifting away from record sales, Elbourne and his ilk think that the showcase format will become a more essential way of discovering new groups.

"The reality in the new music industry is if you don't have a career in live music, you don't have a career."

Memo to the following artists: don't mess up.

Day one: Chocolat, Plants And Animals, We Are Wolves, Priestess, Torngat, Bloodshot Bill, Breastfeeders, Numero

Day two: Krief, Shapes And Sizes, Hot Springs, Karkwa, Elsiane, The Stills, Creature, Thunderheist