{"id":2753,"date":"2025-02-11T17:44:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T17:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/?p=2753"},"modified":"2025-06-09T23:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T23:16:19","slug":"performing-in-the-wasteland-of-whitby-ont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/2025\/02\/11\/performing-in-the-wasteland-of-whitby-ont\/","title":{"rendered":"Performing in the wasteland of Whitby, Ont."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like Mad Max, but there’s white women walking dogs instead of rabid raiders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Wardle, Static Point\u2019s drummer, was surrounded by a padded cell of heavy moving blankets from floor to ceiling. In front of him was his drum set completely covered in microphones; two small diaphragm condensers as overheads, a snare mic over top, SM 57s covering the toms, a Beta 52 kick-in mic, a condenser as a kick-out and one last Zoom H6 to cover the room.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even with the kit and its surroundings covered, \u201cIt was still a pretty ghetto setup. That\u2019s probably why it didn\u2019t sound amazing,\u201d says Noah Van Hezewyk, Static Point\u2019s lead guitarist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although they moved to Stockyard Studios in their hometown and current base of operations, Whitby, Ont., to record drums, the rest of their upcoming album was recorded in Van Hezewyk\u2019s basement via direct input to a computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band says they did this because it was cheaper, more flexible and less stressful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe studio was like a mad rush and it\u2019s every minute that passes by you\u2019re like, \u2018oh my God, I\u2019m paying for this minute.’ When you\u2019re recording drums and you mess up a fill, it\u2019s like oh shit, we just paid for that,\u201d says Van Hezewyk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Van Hezekwyk says home is better than the studio despite lacking that big studio professionalism<\/em> vibe, things at home tend to spiral into perfectionism because there is infinite time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything took way longer than it probably had to be. But that\u2019s maybe just the kind of people we are,\u201d says Van Hezewyk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Van Hezewyk performing with Static Point at The Drake on July 18 (Lucas Bustinski\/@LucasBustinski)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I asked the band if they liked being based in Whitby in our initial interview before their July 18 performance at Toronto\u2019s Drake Underground there was an exhale, then silence\u2026followed by the cons of being based in the GTA suburb. But even so, Static Point was still able to record at home, distribute music and grow without the costs of living downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give a go at being a successful band from a suburb like Whitby, Ont., these are the kinds of issues that must be overcome. Certain sacrifices and business decisions have to be made despite the costs to compete against other bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitby has no conventional venue in a downtown consisting of eight blocks surrounding the Dundas St. and Brock St. intersection. It might have one guy with an acoustic guitar at Pearson\u2019s Pub and for the musicians sake, hopefully never at the Tap and Tankard so they can avoid having to dodge a drunk hockey douche\u2019s beer bottles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Durham Region coordinates sparse \u201cMusic in the Park<\/a>,\u201d evenings during summer but bands mostly rely on neighbouring places like Oshawa or Toronto for real places to perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I met Static Point after they played Kops Records in Oshawa, an unconventional place for a show but only one of three in the city for a band the size of Static Point, the others being The Atria and Bond St. Event Centre\u2019s twotwotwo. Other Oshawa venues include The Biltmore Theatre and Bond St.\u2019s main stage but have capacities beyond what Static Point can pull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band says living in Toronto to avoid the expensive and slow two-hour commute while immersed in an actual scene would be nice, but Whitby comes with benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Static Point says Whitby made it easy for them to become a band because they all share the desire to do something in a town with nothing, already played instruments and have known each other since high school. Living in the same town also means they live close to each other, can coordinate their schedules easily and can use their homes as rehearsal spaces, avoiding paying to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of performance they say the limited selection of venues in Durham means they get them more walk-ins locally versus Toronto. The band also believes playing a lower volume of shows might mean a higher turnout for when they do finally play Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf your favourite band is playing your city every two months, you\u2019re not going to go see them every single time because you can always wait for the next one,\u201d says Adam Collings, Static Point\u2019s vocalist and rhythm guitarist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But no matter where you\u2019re playing you still need to make people aware of the show they\u2019ve done through social media and some old fashioned posters here and there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band says social media is great for bands, especially in smaller towns, as a tool to help growth but is a net loss because the \u2018fans,\u2019 become attracted to the personalities rather than the music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like you can\u2019t even just be an artist anymore that doesn\u2019t say anything, you have to be this relatable influencer person to draw people in to listen to the music\u2026It\u2019s the \u2018content-ification\u2019 of music,\u201d says Van Hezewyk. \u201cPeople see music as this quick media sort of thing, I feel like it’s a bad thing in that way\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Collings tuning his guitar mid-show (Lucas Bustinski\/@LucasBustinski)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Static Point says they hope to get to a point where they don\u2019t have to invite all their friends and family and can create buzz with their music and live show experience and avoid being internet personalities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very fulfilling seeing someone come to your show that you don\u2019t know and liking you as opposed to the algorithm [feeding] your song to someone you don\u2019t,\u201d says Van Hezewyk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve this state, Static Point says a big help for bands in their position are official streaming service playlists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These playlists and algorithms put the music directly in front of people while the band receives more royalties from playlist-based streams according to Indiy.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Static Point says they pay for a distribution service to put the song on Spotify, then write a pitch to be considered for a playlist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf an indie musician blows up, it\u2019s probably because one of their songs got in that playlist. That playlist has so many listeners already so you\u2019re just instantly thrown into the Spotify algorithm,\u201d says Van Hezewyk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Static Point currently stands at 74 monthly Spotify listeners and recently released \u201cMidnight Car Ride,\u201d on streaming services as a precursor to their full album release this October. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like Mad Max, but there’s white women walking dogs instead of rabid raiders Alex Wardle, Static Point\u2019s drummer, was surrounded by a padded cell of heavy moving blankets from floor to ceiling. In front of him was his drum set completely covered in microphones; two small diaphragm condensers as overheads,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[188,143,26,22],"ppma_author":[213],"class_list":["post-2753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist-features","category-interviews","tag-alternative","tag-indie-rock","tag-live-music","tag-toronto"],"authors":[{"term_id":213,"user_id":5,"is_guest":0,"slug":"lucasbustinski","display_name":"Lucas Bustinski","avatar_url":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/20240516_210845-96x96.jpg","author_category":"","first_name":"Lucas","last_name":"Bustinski","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2753"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2760,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions\/2760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2753"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agoria.ca\/thebsideblog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}