The Ottawa Citizen - Monday, March 03, 2003
Wes Smiderle - The Ottawa Citizen
It's Monday night in downtown Ottawa and there are far more snow plows on the streets than people.
The city blocks echo with the electronic chirping and flashing blue lights of municipal plows clearing the streets and sidewalks. A thin stream of buses and cars fishtails its way up the icy corner of Rideau Street at Sussex, veering towards suburbia. The capital's core grows increasingly silent with every passing hour.
Over at Zaphod Beeblebrox, however, the mayhem is just getting started.
The venerable Byward Market club is presenting another free Monday night concert - its 51st. The lineup consists of Ring Zero, the excellent Andrew Vincent & The Pirates and headline act Hot Carl.
The stylishly dank bar is lively and enthusiastic when Hot Carl (aka Brian Borcherdt of the band By Divine Right) strolls onto the stage looking like a stunt double from some 1970s-era Burt Reynolds movie. He's wearing a tight red T-shirt, mirror shades and sporting a furry black mustache that any porn star would envy. The crowd cheers with approval when the music - loud, ribald rock - finally starts.
This kind of raucous atmosphere on what is traditionally a very slow night would be a rare gift for most Ottawa bars. At Zaphod's it's become a weekly occurrence.
The club is celebrating one year of Showcase Mondays, a night dedicated to featuring lesser-known acts and up-and-coming indie bands. For free.
Others have tried to foster weekly theme nights at Zaphod's and elsewhere. The efforts generally wane after a few weeks, but Showcase Mondays seems to have acquired a self-sustaining momentum.
Zaphod's owner Eugene Haslam attributes the success to the free admission and the high calibre of featured performers, such as One 976, Priya Thomas, Clem Snide and Hot Hot Heat.
"A lot of times you try stuff and all the best intentions just don't work," says Haslam. "But if the quality level is there, people will come."
Cultivating credibility among bands was a key step. No cover charge means the performers make no money. When it came time to fill the schedule, Haslam made his pitch to agents and managers of "the next wave" -- up-and-coming bands looking for a little extra exposure to help them break through.
The free evening also allows Haslam to take a chance on less experienced acts.
Ottawa electro-thrash band Throatmotor played its first gig at Showcase Mondays last April. Frontman Trev Brown says the show was a huge break for the quartet. Playing Zaphod's established the band's reputation and helped acquire further gigs, while Haslam provided the musicians with tips on what club-owners expect when booking a band.
"It helped in our development and our self-confidence," says Brown. "When any establishment is willing to take on local acts and prop them up on their shoulders, it's a good thing."
According to CKCU-radio music director Jennifer Tattersall, Showcase Mondays is good for both indie music and music in Ottawa. "It's a great thing that they're free shows," Tattersall says, "and the bands that are coming through not only need the help of having zero cover charge, but there have been some pretty good acts, like Hot Hot Heat, just before they exploded.
Besides boosting the capital's nightlife and serving as a gateway for new talent, Showcase Mondays has also played host to some memorable concert moments, particularly the unabashedly bright-eyed, 1960s pop-rock optimism of Israeli band Rockfour, the skillful (and sometimes manic) instrumental juggling of west coast duo Run Chico Run and the first appearance outside of Quebec for raucous francophone rockers Les Marmottes Aplaties.
The crowds at Showcase Mondays are a mix of regulars, friends of the performers and people who are simply lured inside by the prospect of free music.
(Devon) Porter, a Torontonian who has been living in Ottawa for about three months, says he isn't impressed by the capital's music scene overall, but thinks Showcase Mondays is "a great idea."
Twenty-two-year-old Carleton University student Ryan Matusch agrees, noting it's the only place in Ottawa where cash-strapped music fans can take a chance on seeing new bands.
Showcase Mondays started with a bang last March. Haslam says the night tapered off somewhat before being rejuvenated by some hot summer shows followed by the influx of university and college students in September.
"The key was whether it could maintain throughout the dead of winter and Christmas," says Haslam. "Well, it has."