Music of Vancouver
Encyclopedia
Vancouver
, a city in British Columbia
, is one of the major cultural centres of Canada. The music of Vancouver is diverse, representing the many peoples that live in the city, ranging from classical and modern avant-garde orchestras and composers through a wide range of pop, rock, rap, jazz, world and country, and also including performers of classical and popular Chinese
, Hong Kong
and Indian music
.
, which one of the biggest folk festivals in North America, the Vancouver Children's Festival
, the International Summer Music Festival MusicFest Vancouver which occurs in August of every year featuring world, classical and jazz music, and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival
, which features a diverse line-up of international performers.
Music institutions include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
, Vancouver Opera Association, City Opera of Vancouver
, Vancouver New Music Society, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, Vancouver World Music Collective, Music in the Morning, and the Caravan World Rhythms Society, which promote world music
, and the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, which mixes the musical traditions of Vancouver's population. The Vancouver Community College
hosts a locally important School of Music. New Music West, along with staging upcoming talent also host workshops for those in the music industry, or those trying to make it in the music industry. A protest to that festival's entry fee, Music waste
, has now become an important alternative music festival in its own right. UBC's radio station CiTR
hosts an annual battle of the bands called Shindig, along with a monthly arts and culture magazine called Discorder.
The Rogue Folk Club is a part of the Vancouver scene, and puts on shows at the St. James Community Centre and the Capilano University Theatre for the Performing Arts. Other music venues in the city include the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
, the Vogue Theatre
, the Croatian Cultural Centre, Italian Cultural Centre
, The Kay Meek Centre for the Performing Arts theatre at West Vancouver Secondary School
, the auditorium of the Vancouver School of Music, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, and many others.
The Railway Club, The Lamplighter, The Media Club, The Red Room, the Bourbon, Anza Club, The Waldorf Hotel
, The Astoria, The Biltmore, Pub 340, Venue (formerly the Plaza), the Rickshaw Theatre and Pat's Pub, all host live music. Many venues have been closed due to Vancouver's notoriously strict licensing policies, such as The Cobalt, The Sugar Refinery and the Mesa Luna
. The Starfish Room and Richard's on Richards have both been demolished to make way for condos.
The tough licensing and high priced real estate climate in Vancouver has caused the city to have an illegal underground venue scene, which is regularly at odds with City Hall and the police.
The city has had a sometimes-vibrant musical culture since the days it was on the worldwide circuit known as "Grand Tour", which included clubs in centres such as New York, London, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Cairo, Sydney, San Francisco and even Dawson City. Artists such as Caruso and Pavlova trod the boards in Vancouver and the city regularly feted musical dignitaries of similar calibre, as the CPR terminus was on the main route from London to the Orient. Attached to the Canadian Pacific's Hotel Vancouver (Demolished) second Hotel Vancouver (now the location of the Toronto-Dominion Tower on Georgia Street) was an opera house in neo-Egyptian art deco styling fronting on Granville Street. When this theatre closed and was demolished to make way for the new Pacific Centre in the early 1970s its name was the Lyric Theatre, but it was the original bearer of the name Orpheum Theatre, now worn by the restored vaudeville house a block farther down Granville. The newer Orpheum
was home to one of the last full-scale Wurlitzer
organs, installed in the theatre in the age of silent cinema.
The Lyric (the original Orpheum) was home to the city's first resident orchestra, until the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
(VSO) was founded (its home was in the Capitol Theatre). The city also had several professional and amateur musical theatre companies, and a lavish original musical styled on British auteurs Gilbert and Sullivan
, Atlantis, was premiered at the "Lyric" in the 1920s (anticipating a world tour, but getting mixed reviews). Other theatres with stages for live theatre, opera and music were in the Vogue (still standing), the Strand, the Coronet (all movie theatres in their last days, the Strand opposite the Bay
across Georgia, the Coronet opposite the Bay
across Granville) and at two vanished opera houses on Pender Street, one near Howe Street, the other at what is now Carrall and Pender (then named Dupont Street). The now-derelict stretch of Hastings Street between Main and Cambie was known as "the Great White Way" because of its many theatres, restaurants and bright neon decor, and was home to the Beacon and Lux theatres and the original cinema of the continent-wide Pantages chain (the Pantages family are also the founders of the city's annual Polar Bear Swim on English Bay). The original movie theatre was the tiny Savoy (1902) on Cordova Street (approximately where the Telecom building meets the newly rebuilt Woodwards garage), which in the 1890s and early '00s was the main social and shopping promenade in the city. The Lyric and the greatly expanded Hotel Vancouver, the second by that name, were intended by the CPR's property division to attract commercial life up out of the older part of the city, and as a result restaurants, stores and other theatres quickly opened in the same area, giving birth to the strip once known as Theatre Row and now prosaically retitled the Granville Entertainment District, aka Granville Mall (its southern three blocks anyway - Theatre Row extended to Dunsmuir Street because of the Lyric, Strand and Coronet). Other stages and movie theatres typically were found in each of the city's local commercial areas - the Park
, Stanley
, Hollywood, Rio, York, Dunbar and others. An important stage for musical theatre, the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park
, was built by the Malkin family, who made their fortune made in wholesale groceries. Malkin Bowl's resident company, Theatre Under the Stars (often just referred to as TUTS) was a popular and critical success for many years (rain and fog permitting). Its successor in the 1970s was less-successful Theatre in the Park, although a revamped and improved company in recent years has re-taken the name Theatre Under The Stars.
The city is home to two professional opera companies, the Vancouver Opera
and the City Opera of Vancouver
, the latter committed to chamber opera. There is a plethora of small specialized classical and early music ensembles and individual performers. The city is home to several full-size pipe organs, the more well-known ones being at the UBC
School of Music and St Andrews-Wesley United Church on Burrard (there is another of the same vintage at Christ Church Cathedral in New Westminster). Most universities and colleges in the region have music and theatre programs, the most notable being at UBC (the Freddy Wood Theatre and UBC music's opera program) and Langara College
's Studio 58 theatre intensive study/performance program. SFU
's music and theatre programs are known for being more radical and experimental in nature, while Capilano College
and other colleges are known for their jazz and popular music formats.
Complementing mainstream entertainment and high art, it follows naturally that a city that began life as a nearly all-male seaport, fishing and lumbering town would have a tradition of burlesque, and also of popular music. No doubt musical entertainments were to be had in the old bordellos of the pre-railway days, as also in private gentlemen's clubs, but these artists are unrecorded, other than the erstwhile singer-actress Lulu Sweet, the namesake of Lulu Island
(the City of Richmond) and purported mistress of the Mayor of Vancouver. Indeed, folk music in general went unrecorded in western Canada until the work of Vancouver folklorist Philip J. Thomas
, who first published Songs of the Pacific Northwest in 1979.http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/7/v7art5.html
Throughout Vancouver's history, Chinese opera and other Chinese musical performances were organized in Chinatown, and several Chinese Benevolent Organizations had their own private orchestras. Similarly in "Little Yokohama", aka Japantown
, Japanese musical and theatrical arts were practised and performed. Other ethnic groups also formed their own musical groups, such as the Sons of Norway organization's choirs, the one-time Vancouver Welsh Choir, and folk dance troupes of all backgrounds (but notably Ukrainian). In some areas such as in West Broadway's Greektown
or on Commercial Drive's old Italian-Portuguese days, ethnic dinner restaurants often had orchestras, and likewise all ethnic groups in Vancouver important popular and classical entertainers from their home countries. Cantopop and Bhangra are particularly well-represented. Scottish bagpipe bands are so much a part of local culture that over time many participants are from non-Scots backgrounds, ranging from Ukrainians to Chinese. In later years, the Irish folk-pop band The Irish Rovers established the first in their onetime worldwide chain of Irish pubs in Vancouver, partly because of the popularity of that style of music in the city (still to be found today at the Gastown pubs the Irish Heather, the Blarney Stone and elsewhere). World musics are popular in Vancouver today, and are part of the big success of the annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival
at Jericho Beach, as well as part of the general musical milieu of the city, particularly along Commercial Drive's countercultural/alternative district.
Jazz music came to Vancouver relatively early, in part because of the role of the city as a residence or turnaround for the typically African American/Canadian customer service employees of the railways (porters, stewards, waiters, cooks, trainmen) but also because of the "Grand Tour" which brought Jazz celebres through Vancouver to perform, if only because they were en route elsewhere. A shantytown on Union and Prior Streets east of Main, known as Hogan's Alley after one its first black residents, became home to illicit music clubs, often harassed and shut down by the police. Despite its slum reputation, the neighbourhood was home to good "session players", but it was not until later years that black musicians were allowed to play in the house bands of the city's mainstream dinner clubs. Over the years the city became home to a strong community of blues, funk and soul performers, and is known for being home to blues singer the late Long John Baldry
. The city's blues scene also is home for other blues notables such as Koko Taylor
, Jim Byrnes
, Jerry Doucette
, and Randy Bachman
and funk/soul singers Lovena Fox, Theda Marie and others.
and Robert Goulet
appearing regularly at the Cave among many great names who played the stalactite-decorated dinner club.
Also important to performing acts was the Commodore Ballroom
on Granville Street, which remains in operation for all kinds of modern popular music but was constructed in the 1920s for the great age of ballroom dancing. The original floor, now ripped out and "hardened", was a classic hardwood ballroom floor, built over tires stuffed with horsehair and known for its "bounce". The Commodore, along with some of the hotel ballrooms and other venues, played host to the great touring swing bands as well as the home-grown variety - most prominently band leaders Mart Kenney
and Dal Richards
.
Dozens of other ballrooms and small halls are scattered throughout the city, many built by ethnic groups as community halls, and all have played a role in the city's musical life, some of them such as the Viking Hall on East Hastings operated successfully as non-ethnic commercial venues for many years. Others have been converted to studio or warehouse space, or have been forgotten because of their small scale. The woodframe building on the southeast corner of Hastings and Columbia was built to be the finest ballroom in the city, and it was also the first. It survived other venues built later on even though it was built only a few years after the Great Fire (1886).
Until the implementation of prohibition the lower Hastings area and the old city core at Carrall and Water was choked with licensed establishments, many offering live entertainment. Opera houses of a sort were built at Gore & Pender (the Princess, under the floorboards of which was found a silver powder puff engraved "Pavlova"), Abbott and Pender, Pender and Howe, and also by the CPR adjacent to the newly rebuilt Hotel Vancouver (the second), which came to be known first as the Egyptian, also as the Orpheum and, in its final days as a movie theatre, the Lyric (where the Sears department store is now on Granville). The hotel itself had several ballrooms, each on the order of the one in today's Hotel Vancouver a block away, as well as the Panorama Roof and other drinking establishments
The famous and glitzy Orpheum near Smithe and Granville, now a civic institution and home to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
was built as a house of vaudeville, then quickly adapted to the age of silent film. Within its stage was housed one of the largest and last of the huge theatre Wurlitzer
s, which was raised and lowered from within the stage by hydraulics. Its heady and gaudy design, relative to more classically toned rooms, was viewed as somewhat lower class in the age it was built. At that time, the symphony and what operas and musicals there were would be found in the old Orpheum (the Lyric) or on the large and comfortable stage (with no pillars as at the Lyric) at the old Capitol. The Vogue was deliberately built for touring acts (comedy, big bands, theatre), hence the shorter sightlines compared to the Orpheum or the old Capitol. The best acoustics were reckoned to be in the Capitol; prior to its renovation those in the Orpheum some of the worst (as it was designed for its hidden speaker system).
Prohibition
came about as a result of women's suffrage
(women were the core of the anti-temperance movement and took advantage of the men being away at war to vote in prohibition by referendum; it was softened).
Because restrictive liquor laws forbade live music in ordinary bars, there was no long-standing popular music tradition of the kind associated with places with more liberal entertainment laws. During the 1960s when popular youth culture flourished (in spite of all restrictive laws), clubs such as the Retinal Circus on Davie Street in the West End
and Rohans Rockpile in Kitsilano were the hubs of the hippie scene.
who had a major hit - Crazy Talk. High Flying Bird, United Empire Loyalists, My Indole Ring, Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck, Painted Ship, Mock Duck and Hydro Electric Steetcar were the center of Vancouver's psychedelic movement. There was also a Rhythm and Blues scene in the '60s. with acts like The Nighttrain Review, Jason Hoover and the Epics, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers
featuring Tommy Chong
on guitar. The Vancouvers were signed to Motown by Barry Gordy who became aware of them through Michael Jackson
of the Jackson 5. They had a #5 hit on the U.S. R&B charts with "Does Your Mama Know About Me?", written by Chong. Bobby Taylor's "King of Clubs" was home to "The Coasters" and other great R&B bands. Vancouver had it all, The Doors and several other southern bands came to play in the very creative milieu created by the Vancouver Rockers of the '60s and early '70s. Several recording studios like Mushroom Records and Little Mountain Sound Studios
recorded and produced many great record albums (vinyl)such as Heart in the mid 70's who went on to international stardom with hits such as Crazy On you, Dreamboat Annie & Baraccuda.
performed at the outdoor Empire Stadium, partly to keep the "undesirable element" associated with rock'n'roll out of the city core but also because of the expected numbers. Canadian rock band Bachman–Turner Overdrive made Vancouver their second home (lead singer/guitarist Randy Bachman
still lives on nearby Saltspring Island
). Certain touring British and American bands (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Yes, Alice Cooper) have avid local followings. Some non-Vancouver bands such as Heart
, Van Halen, Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi, resided and recorded in Vancouver regularly. Singer-poet Joni Mitchell
continues to maintain a residence in West Vancouver. One-time Georgia Straight music critic Bob Geldof
went on to form the new-wave
band The Boomtown Rats
.
The 1970s brought bands such as Sweeney Todd
, Loverboy
, Trooper
and Prism
to the scene. Many of these acts began their lives as cover bands and played high school dances, before hitting the big time. Folk music also began to develop and performers such as Terry Jacks
, Valdy
and Pied Pumkin were regulars at folk festivals and coffee houses.
Later in the 1970s, at the dawn of the punk era, Vancouver played a central role in the development punk music as many of the local musicians had exposure to the London scene. Vancouver punk bands had (as usual with Vancouver performers) wider followings and more fame in the UK, Europe and the United States than at home. These included D.O.A. and lead singer Joey Shithead, the K-Tels (who were forced by the TV-marketing company to change their name, which became the Young Canadians), I, Braineater, Active Dog, the Modernettes, the Pointed Sticks, Secret V's, Subhumans and U-J3RK5
(pron. "You-Jerk", as the five is silent).
started his solo career in the 80s. He would go on to become an international recording artist. His albums Cuts Like a Knife
and Reckless
sold millions of copies worldwide. He has won 18 Juno Awards and 1 Grammy Award. Adams also was hugely successful as part of a songwriting duo with fellow Vancouver musician Jim Vallance
. Together they wrote songs for some the music industries biggest names: Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Carly Simon.
Jim Vallance would continue on as a music industry "Song Doctor". He would assist artists in cowriting songs. His list of clients include: Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Rick Springfield, Anne Murray. Vallance has the Juno Award for Composer of the Year 4 times.
Producer Bruce Fairbairn
would also become prominent during the 80s. He was initially a member turned producer for Vancouver rock band Prism
. After producing their first 4 albums in the 70s to moderate success, Fairbairn then worked with another Vancouver band, Loverboy. His biggest success came when he produced Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet. Fairbairn would continue to produce top artists such as Aerosmith, AC/DC, Van Halen, INXS, Yes.
Local bands Spirit of the West
, The Nervous Fellas
, 54-40
, Slow
, Images in Vogue
and Skinny Puppy
were prominent in the 80s also. Skinny Puppy and, later, Front Line Assembly
would become hugely influential on the industrial dance and goth scenes, both within and outside Vancouver.
Influential extreme metal band Blasphemy
formed in Vancouver in 1984.
In the 1980s progressive rock bands made a mark on the Vancouver scene. First Aid, formed in early 1982, was inspired by prominent British bands of this genre such as Gentle Giant, Yes and Brand X. By 1985, the First Aid band lineup of Derek Mason (Guitars and sequencing), Scott Jacks (Keyboards, vocals and acoustic guitar), Dave Coupland (Percussion) was playing various Vancouver and BC clubs as a trio, and in 1989 recorded their final Prog-rock album Stumbling Boldly Forward.
On the alternative side, Nomeansno
, Animal Slaves, Art Bergman and many others... very well documented on Last Call - Vancouver Independent Music (Zulu Records), a compilation of 48 bands active at that time.
Since the 1980s, when large wave of Chinese immigration swept the region, Vancouver has since been known as a generator of canto-pop stars and other Cantonese actors. Nicholas Tse
, Edison Chen
, Jade Kwan
, Sally Yeh
, Joyce Cheng
, were all just a few of the current canto-pop stars that were raised there.
, Gob
, The Smugglers
, Nardwuar the Human Serviette
and his band The Evaporators
, the New town Animals, and Thee Goblins which all happen to be on the same label, Mint Records
. Moderate commercial success came to power-pop bands such as Age of Electric
, Superconductor, Limblifter
, Econoline Crush
and Matthew Good
. Other notable Vancouver residents (and sometimes Vancouver residents) include Grapes of Wrath, Odds
, Art Bergmann, Spirit of The West, Moist, Sarah McLachlan
, and Rose Chronicles
.
As grunge faded back into obscurity, Vancouver held on to a vibrant scene of its own. d.b.s, MCRACKINS, Utopia, Seamen, SNFU
, D.O.A., BNU, Wisecrack, Kid Icarus, Another Joe, Superchief, Submission Hold, etc.
Despite the commercialization of grunge, Vancouver maintained a quality hardcore scene. Strain, Reserve34,Shift, Burden, Self-Esteem Project, By a Thread, Red Light Sting, Sparkmarker, Target, All State Champion, Black Rice, Operation Makeout, Dissent, Witness Protection Program, the Attack, End This Week With Knives, A Javelin Reign, Goat's Blood, Blue Monday, The Black Halos
and most recently the success of metal band 3 Inches of Blood
.
One notable heavy musician from Vancouver is Devin Townsend
, who has gained international recognition and critical success with his band Strapping Young Lad
and self-titled progressive side projects, primarily The Devin Townsend Band. Townsend, of New Westminster, is a central figure in the Vancouver heavy music scene, and has worked with influential Vancouver acts such as Front Line Assembly
, in addition to producing the albums of numerous local bands though HevyDevy Studios.
Vancouver has always offered acts that don't fit any one particular musical slot. The 1990s were no different. Such as: Daytona, Bob's Your Uncle
, Big Tall Garden, Coal, 2 Left Feet, Shine, Rymes With Orange
, Circle C, Sarcastic Mannequins, Custard's Last Bandstand, Catherine Wheel, The Wingnuts, Dear God, and Pull offered an eclectic element to the local scene. Many of which received airplay on COAST 800 / 1040 AM from 1990-93.
The 1990s also sparked a Vancouver electronic dance music scene with the creation of a radio station called Z95.3 FM
. The station heavily promoted Vancouver's dance/pop music, discovering various artists and bands such as Thomas Donovan
, Soul Decision, Red Sector One, and The West End Girls
.
, The New Pornographers
, Vancouver transplants Hot Hot Heat
, Fake Shark - Real Zombie!
, Big John Bates
, the Organ, Destroyer
, Black Mountain
, Mother Mother
and Dan Mangan
. Other known indie bands/artists of note are: The Pack AD, You Say Party, Japandroids
, White Lung, Veda Hille
, S.T.R.E.E.T.S, Ladyhawk
, Blood Meridian
, Bend Sinister
, Fond of Tigers, Parlour Steps, Lightning Dust, Cinderpop, The Orchid Highway, CR Avery, Neins Circa, Book of Lists, Ford Pier, Mass Undergoe, Petroleum By-Product, The Doers, Run Chico Run, Young Liars, Hey Ocean!, Said the Whale
, Secret Mommy, Twin Crystals, The Greenbelt Collective, Apollo Ghosts, Capitol 6, B-Lines, Culture Def, and The Zolas among others.
A small hip-hop scene has garnered both critical and commercial success including Kid Koala
, Threat From Outer Space, Swollen Members
, Rascalz
, Josh Martinez
, Extra Terrestrial, Sweatshop Union
, Social Deviantz
, Moves, No Luck Club, BZ Jam and Moka Only
.
Continuing the Vancouver industrial and electronic dance music tradition to this day are bands such as Delerium
, Decree, Noize Tribe Zero, Left Spine Down
, Go Ghetto Tiger, Sex With Strangers, Combine The Victorious, Noise Unit
, Stiff Valentine
and Landscape Body Machine.
In the world music arena, some of the bands that made a name for themselves are Ivan Tucakov and Tambura Rasa, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Delhi To Dublin and others.
Vancouver's independent music scene can be heard on selected programs on its four campus/community radio stations: CJSF (SFU) 90.1 FM, CFRO (Co-op Radio) 102.7 FM, CiTR (UBC)101.9 FM and Evolution 107.9 (BCIT). These stations also,(to a greater or lesser extent), offer such diverse musical genres as: reggae, electronica, hip hop, first nations, classical, jazz, blues, Celtic, bluegrass, country, Latin, klesmer, folk, gospel, and world music in its many forms.
Selected programs on CBC Radio 1 and 2, and CBC Radio 3 online, also offer independent talent a place to be heard.
There are also 2 commercial stations 100.5 The PEAK and SHORE 104, who monitor potential buzz bands in the Vancouver music scene.
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, a city in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, is one of the major cultural centres of Canada. The music of Vancouver is diverse, representing the many peoples that live in the city, ranging from classical and modern avant-garde orchestras and composers through a wide range of pop, rock, rap, jazz, world and country, and also including performers of classical and popular Chinese
Music of China
Chinese Music has been made since the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty...
, Hong Kong
Music of Hong Kong
The Music of Hong Kong is an eclectic mixture of traditional and popular genres. Cantopop is one of the more prominent genres of music produced in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta regularly perform western classical music in the city...
and Indian music
Music of India
The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, classical music and R&B. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several eras. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as...
.
Music institutions and festivals
Vancouver is home to a number of music festivals, including the Vancouver Folk Music FestivalVancouver Folk Music Festival
The Vancouver Folk Music Festival is an outdoor multistage music festival. It takes place annually, on the third weekend of July. Founded in 1978, this annual festival uses eight outdoor stages, located at Jericho Beach Park on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia.In the past it has...
, which one of the biggest folk festivals in North America, the Vancouver Children's Festival
Children's Festival
The Vancouver International Children's Festival is an annual event that is a major tourist attraction in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2008, the Festival ran May 12-19 at Vancouver's Vanier Park...
, the International Summer Music Festival MusicFest Vancouver which occurs in August of every year featuring world, classical and jazz music, and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival
Vancouver International Jazz Festival
The Vancouver International Jazz Festival is an annual summer event in Vancouver, Canada.The festival grew out of a local jazz scene that centred around Vancouver Co-op Radio , a community radio station, in the early 1980s...
, which features a diverse line-up of international performers.
Music institutions include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra performing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 240,000 people attend its live performances each year. It was founded in 1930 and plays in 12 venues. Its home is the Orpheum theatre. With an annual operating budget of $9.5 million, it is the...
, Vancouver Opera Association, City Opera of Vancouver
City Opera of Vancouver
City Opera of Vancouver is a professional chamber opera company founded in 2005. It was the lead company in efforts to restore Vancouver's Pantages Theatre, built by Alexander Pantages in 1907. The 650 seat building was considered to be the oldest remaining vaudeville theatre in Canada...
, Vancouver New Music Society, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, Vancouver World Music Collective, Music in the Morning, and the Caravan World Rhythms Society, which promote world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
, and the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, which mixes the musical traditions of Vancouver's population. The Vancouver Community College
Vancouver Community College
Vancouver Community College is a public post-secondary institution in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1965, it is the largest and oldest community college in British Columbia, with over 140 certificate and diploma programs...
hosts a locally important School of Music. New Music West, along with staging upcoming talent also host workshops for those in the music industry, or those trying to make it in the music industry. A protest to that festival's entry fee, Music waste
Music Waste
Music Waste is an annual music, art, and comedy festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia. It began in 1994 as a protest against the entry fees of the corporate-sponsored New Music West festival...
, has now become an important alternative music festival in its own right. UBC's radio station CiTR
CITR-FM
CITR-FM, normally branded CiTR , is a Canadian FM radio station based out of the University of British Columbia's Student Union Building in the University Endowment Lands, just west of the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia.CiTR is operated by UBC students and community volunteers under the...
hosts an annual battle of the bands called Shindig, along with a monthly arts and culture magazine called Discorder.
The Rogue Folk Club is a part of the Vancouver scene, and puts on shows at the St. James Community Centre and the Capilano University Theatre for the Performing Arts. Other music venues in the city include the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts is located on the campus of the University of British Columbia near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is situated within the natural landscape of the campus and is surrounded by evergreens and rhododendrons...
, the Vogue Theatre
Vogue Theatre
Located in the heart of downtown Vancouver on 918 Granville Street, the Vogue Theatre has been one of the defining architectural achievements in Vancouver since its opening in 1941...
, the Croatian Cultural Centre, Italian Cultural Centre
Italian Cultural Centre Vancouver
The Italian Cultural Centre is located at 3075 Slocan Street, in East Vancouver on Slocan Street at Grandview Highway.- History :The Italian Cultural Centre's beginnings are in 1974 when the Consul General of Italy, Giovanni Germano, met with the Premier of British Columbia, Dave Barret...
, The Kay Meek Centre for the Performing Arts theatre at West Vancouver Secondary School
West Vancouver Secondary School
West Vancouver Secondary School is a five-year secondary school located in the middle of West Vancouver, British Columbia which educates grades 8 through 12. It is one of the three public high schools in West Vancouver. WVSS is noted for being a very diverse school offering many opportunities for...
, the auditorium of the Vancouver School of Music, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, and many others.
The Railway Club, The Lamplighter, The Media Club, The Red Room, the Bourbon, Anza Club, The Waldorf Hotel
The Waldorf Hotel
The Waldorf Hotel is a boutique hotel in Vancouver. The hotel was established in 1947 and was one of the most renowned tiki-themed hotels in North America. In 2010, Thomas Anselmi and Ernesto Gomez took over operations and the hotel was renovated into a boutique hotel.- External links :*...
, The Astoria, The Biltmore, Pub 340, Venue (formerly the Plaza), the Rickshaw Theatre and Pat's Pub, all host live music. Many venues have been closed due to Vancouver's notoriously strict licensing policies, such as The Cobalt, The Sugar Refinery and the Mesa Luna
Mesa Luna
The Mesa Luna was a Salsa club and restaurant located on West Broadway in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Mesa Luna is notable for being "Western Canada's only All Age/licensed concert venue." Utilizing a wristband ID system, the club was able to host minors as well as serve...
. The Starfish Room and Richard's on Richards have both been demolished to make way for condos.
The tough licensing and high priced real estate climate in Vancouver has caused the city to have an illegal underground venue scene, which is regularly at odds with City Hall and the police.
Music history
The first known musical entertainments (other than those provided by First Nations residents, and informally by millworkers, sailors, loggers and tavern keepers) in what would later become Vancouver were Methodist church services led by a Mrs. Sullivan in Gastown, who was of West Indian origin. Her son Arthur became popular with Vancouver impresarios as a Master of Ceremonies and his career as a singer, actor and host bridged the pre-railway Gastown era with the glitter of Vancouver's nightlife in the '20s and '30s.The city has had a sometimes-vibrant musical culture since the days it was on the worldwide circuit known as "Grand Tour", which included clubs in centres such as New York, London, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Cairo, Sydney, San Francisco and even Dawson City. Artists such as Caruso and Pavlova trod the boards in Vancouver and the city regularly feted musical dignitaries of similar calibre, as the CPR terminus was on the main route from London to the Orient. Attached to the Canadian Pacific's Hotel Vancouver (Demolished) second Hotel Vancouver (now the location of the Toronto-Dominion Tower on Georgia Street) was an opera house in neo-Egyptian art deco styling fronting on Granville Street. When this theatre closed and was demolished to make way for the new Pacific Centre in the early 1970s its name was the Lyric Theatre, but it was the original bearer of the name Orpheum Theatre, now worn by the restored vaudeville house a block farther down Granville. The newer Orpheum
Orpheum, Vancouver
The Orpheum is a theatre and music venue in Vancouver, British Columbia. Along with the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and the Vancouver Playhouse, it is part of the Vancouver Civic Theatres group of live performance venues...
was home to one of the last full-scale Wurlitzer
Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
organs, installed in the theatre in the age of silent cinema.
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra performing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 240,000 people attend its live performances each year. It was founded in 1930 and plays in 12 venues. Its home is the Orpheum theatre. With an annual operating budget of $9.5 million, it is the...
(VSO) was founded (its home was in the Capitol Theatre). The city also had several professional and amateur musical theatre companies, and a lavish original musical styled on British auteurs Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
, Atlantis, was premiered at the "Lyric" in the 1920s (anticipating a world tour, but getting mixed reviews). Other theatres with stages for live theatre, opera and music were in the Vogue (still standing), the Strand, the Coronet (all movie theatres in their last days, the Strand opposite the Bay
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
across Georgia, the Coronet opposite the Bay
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
across Granville) and at two vanished opera houses on Pender Street, one near Howe Street, the other at what is now Carrall and Pender (then named Dupont Street). The now-derelict stretch of Hastings Street between Main and Cambie was known as "the Great White Way" because of its many theatres, restaurants and bright neon decor, and was home to the Beacon and Lux theatres and the original cinema of the continent-wide Pantages chain (the Pantages family are also the founders of the city's annual Polar Bear Swim on English Bay). The original movie theatre was the tiny Savoy (1902) on Cordova Street (approximately where the Telecom building meets the newly rebuilt Woodwards garage), which in the 1890s and early '00s was the main social and shopping promenade in the city. The Lyric and the greatly expanded Hotel Vancouver, the second by that name, were intended by the CPR's property division to attract commercial life up out of the older part of the city, and as a result restaurants, stores and other theatres quickly opened in the same area, giving birth to the strip once known as Theatre Row and now prosaically retitled the Granville Entertainment District, aka Granville Mall (its southern three blocks anyway - Theatre Row extended to Dunsmuir Street because of the Lyric, Strand and Coronet). Other stages and movie theatres typically were found in each of the city's local commercial areas - the Park
Park Theatre (Vancouver)
The Park Theatre is a neighbourhood movie house on Cambie Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. Opened in 1941, it has passed through several owners, including Odeon Theatres, Famous Players and Alliance Atlantis Cinemas, and in 2005 was renovated and became part of the Festival Cinemas...
, Stanley
Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
The Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage is a landmark theatre at 12th and Granville Street in Vancouver, British Columbia which serves as the main stage for the Arts Club Theatre Company. The Stanley first opened as a movie theatre in December 1930, and showed movies for over sixty years before...
, Hollywood, Rio, York, Dunbar and others. An important stage for musical theatre, the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park
Stanley Park
Stanley Park is a 404.9 hectare urban park bordering downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was opened in 1888 by David Oppenheimer in the name of Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor-General of Canada....
, was built by the Malkin family, who made their fortune made in wholesale groceries. Malkin Bowl's resident company, Theatre Under the Stars (often just referred to as TUTS) was a popular and critical success for many years (rain and fog permitting). Its successor in the 1970s was less-successful Theatre in the Park, although a revamped and improved company in recent years has re-taken the name Theatre Under The Stars.
The city is home to two professional opera companies, the Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera is the second largest performing arts organization in British Columbia and the largest opera company in western Canada.It performs in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre accompanied currently by the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, one of two specialized opera orchestras in Canada...
and the City Opera of Vancouver
City Opera of Vancouver
City Opera of Vancouver is a professional chamber opera company founded in 2005. It was the lead company in efforts to restore Vancouver's Pantages Theatre, built by Alexander Pantages in 1907. The 650 seat building was considered to be the oldest remaining vaudeville theatre in Canada...
, the latter committed to chamber opera. There is a plethora of small specialized classical and early music ensembles and individual performers. The city is home to several full-size pipe organs, the more well-known ones being at the UBC
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
School of Music and St Andrews-Wesley United Church on Burrard (there is another of the same vintage at Christ Church Cathedral in New Westminster). Most universities and colleges in the region have music and theatre programs, the most notable being at UBC (the Freddy Wood Theatre and UBC music's opera program) and Langara College
Langara College
Langara College is a public degree-granting college in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which serves approximately 20,000 students annually through its university, career, and continuing studies programs...
's Studio 58 theatre intensive study/performance program. SFU
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
's music and theatre programs are known for being more radical and experimental in nature, while Capilano College
Capilano College
Capilano University is an undergraduate-focused, public, coeducational, teaching-intensive university located in the District of North Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. It is enabled by the University Act...
and other colleges are known for their jazz and popular music formats.
Complementing mainstream entertainment and high art, it follows naturally that a city that began life as a nearly all-male seaport, fishing and lumbering town would have a tradition of burlesque, and also of popular music. No doubt musical entertainments were to be had in the old bordellos of the pre-railway days, as also in private gentlemen's clubs, but these artists are unrecorded, other than the erstwhile singer-actress Lulu Sweet, the namesake of Lulu Island
Lulu Island
Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River. The island makes up most of the City of Richmond, a major suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia...
(the City of Richmond) and purported mistress of the Mayor of Vancouver. Indeed, folk music in general went unrecorded in western Canada until the work of Vancouver folklorist Philip J. Thomas
Philip J. Thomas
Philip James Thomas was a Canadian teacher, musician and folklorist.-Military:Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Thomas entered the RCAF near the outbreak of World War II. With the Air Force, he was engaged in development of Canada’s radar technology...
, who first published Songs of the Pacific Northwest in 1979.http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/7/v7art5.html
Throughout Vancouver's history, Chinese opera and other Chinese musical performances were organized in Chinatown, and several Chinese Benevolent Organizations had their own private orchestras. Similarly in "Little Yokohama", aka Japantown
Japantown
is a common name for official Japanese communities in big cities outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo, or Nihonmachi , the first two being common names for the Japanese communities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.-North America:Japantowns were...
, Japanese musical and theatrical arts were practised and performed. Other ethnic groups also formed their own musical groups, such as the Sons of Norway organization's choirs, the one-time Vancouver Welsh Choir, and folk dance troupes of all backgrounds (but notably Ukrainian). In some areas such as in West Broadway's Greektown
Greektown
Greektown is a colloquial English language term used to describe neighborhoods that consist primarily of Greek residents and Greek-themed organizations and businesses.- History :...
or on Commercial Drive's old Italian-Portuguese days, ethnic dinner restaurants often had orchestras, and likewise all ethnic groups in Vancouver important popular and classical entertainers from their home countries. Cantopop and Bhangra are particularly well-represented. Scottish bagpipe bands are so much a part of local culture that over time many participants are from non-Scots backgrounds, ranging from Ukrainians to Chinese. In later years, the Irish folk-pop band The Irish Rovers established the first in their onetime worldwide chain of Irish pubs in Vancouver, partly because of the popularity of that style of music in the city (still to be found today at the Gastown pubs the Irish Heather, the Blarney Stone and elsewhere). World musics are popular in Vancouver today, and are part of the big success of the annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival
Vancouver Folk Music Festival
The Vancouver Folk Music Festival is an outdoor multistage music festival. It takes place annually, on the third weekend of July. Founded in 1978, this annual festival uses eight outdoor stages, located at Jericho Beach Park on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia.In the past it has...
at Jericho Beach, as well as part of the general musical milieu of the city, particularly along Commercial Drive's countercultural/alternative district.
Jazz music came to Vancouver relatively early, in part because of the role of the city as a residence or turnaround for the typically African American/Canadian customer service employees of the railways (porters, stewards, waiters, cooks, trainmen) but also because of the "Grand Tour" which brought Jazz celebres through Vancouver to perform, if only because they were en route elsewhere. A shantytown on Union and Prior Streets east of Main, known as Hogan's Alley after one its first black residents, became home to illicit music clubs, often harassed and shut down by the police. Despite its slum reputation, the neighbourhood was home to good "session players", but it was not until later years that black musicians were allowed to play in the house bands of the city's mainstream dinner clubs. Over the years the city became home to a strong community of blues, funk and soul performers, and is known for being home to blues singer the late Long John Baldry
Long John Baldry
John William "Long John" Baldry was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s. He enjoyed pop success in the UK where Let the Heartaches Begin reached No...
. The city's blues scene also is home for other blues notables such as Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor sometimes spelled KoKo Taylor was an American Chicago blues musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She was known primarily for her rough, powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings....
, Jim Byrnes
Jim Byrnes (actor)
James Thomas Kevin "Jim" Byrnes is a blues musician, guitarist, and actor.-Life and career:Byrnes was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a homemaker mother and a municipal accountant father. He has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, since the mid-1970s...
, Jerry Doucette
Jerry Doucette
Jerry Doucette is a Canadian guitarist and singer-songwriter.Doucette joined numerous bands prior to his solo career, starting with The Reefers during his childhood. He eventually moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and subsequently signed a solo recording deal with Mushroom Records...
, and Randy Bachman
Randy Bachman
Randolph Charles "Randy" Bachman, OC, OM is a Canadian musician best known as lead guitarist, songwriter and a founding member for both the 1960s–70s rock band The Guess Who, and the 1970s rock band Bachman–Turner Overdrive...
and funk/soul singers Lovena Fox, Theda Marie and others.
Venues
During the 1920s, when Vancouver prospered as a "free port" supplying illicit whiskey to the US Pacific Northwest (either Canadian-made or shipped in by sea from Mexico), the city's night life boomed and several swank dinner clubs opened, despite restrictive liquor and entertainment laws. The best-known of Vancouver's dinner clubs, The Cave, was on Hornby Street a block north of the (third and current) Hotel Vancouver, which has its own show room on one of its uppermost floors, the Panorama Roof (the Panorama Roof on the second hotel was a trellised terrace with a dance floor; the new one is a ballroom with view windows). Another important dinner club was Isy's, near Bute and Georgia, although Hornby Street was the hub of the fancier end of city night life for many decades, from the 1920s to the early 1970s. Certain celebrities are associated with Vancouver's nightclub history — Mitzi GaynorMitzi Gaynor
-Life and career:Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California.She trained as a ballerina...
and Robert Goulet
Robert Goulet
Robert Gerard Goulet was a Canadian American entertainer as a singer and actor. He played the role of Lancelot in the Broadway musical Camelot of 1960.-Early life:...
appearing regularly at the Cave among many great names who played the stalactite-decorated dinner club.
Also important to performing acts was the Commodore Ballroom
Commodore Ballroom
The Commodore Ballroom is a renowned music venue, dance floor, and nightclub located on 800 block of Granville Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. The building was built in the Art Deco style of the late 1920s by George Conrad Reifel and designed by architect H.H. Gillingham. Best known for...
on Granville Street, which remains in operation for all kinds of modern popular music but was constructed in the 1920s for the great age of ballroom dancing. The original floor, now ripped out and "hardened", was a classic hardwood ballroom floor, built over tires stuffed with horsehair and known for its "bounce". The Commodore, along with some of the hotel ballrooms and other venues, played host to the great touring swing bands as well as the home-grown variety - most prominently band leaders Mart Kenney
Mart Kenney
Herbert Martin "Mart" Kenney was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader whose big band Mart Kenney and His Western Gentlemen was Canada's premier dance band during the 1930s and 1940s.-Musical career:...
and Dal Richards
Dal Richards
Dal Murray Richards, CM, OBC is a Canadian big band leader known as the King of Swing.His saxophone and clarinet were first heard in the Sandy DeSantis and Stan Paton bands...
.
Dozens of other ballrooms and small halls are scattered throughout the city, many built by ethnic groups as community halls, and all have played a role in the city's musical life, some of them such as the Viking Hall on East Hastings operated successfully as non-ethnic commercial venues for many years. Others have been converted to studio or warehouse space, or have been forgotten because of their small scale. The woodframe building on the southeast corner of Hastings and Columbia was built to be the finest ballroom in the city, and it was also the first. It survived other venues built later on even though it was built only a few years after the Great Fire (1886).
Until the implementation of prohibition the lower Hastings area and the old city core at Carrall and Water was choked with licensed establishments, many offering live entertainment. Opera houses of a sort were built at Gore & Pender (the Princess, under the floorboards of which was found a silver powder puff engraved "Pavlova"), Abbott and Pender, Pender and Howe, and also by the CPR adjacent to the newly rebuilt Hotel Vancouver (the second), which came to be known first as the Egyptian, also as the Orpheum and, in its final days as a movie theatre, the Lyric (where the Sears department store is now on Granville). The hotel itself had several ballrooms, each on the order of the one in today's Hotel Vancouver a block away, as well as the Panorama Roof and other drinking establishments
The famous and glitzy Orpheum near Smithe and Granville, now a civic institution and home to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra performing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 240,000 people attend its live performances each year. It was founded in 1930 and plays in 12 venues. Its home is the Orpheum theatre. With an annual operating budget of $9.5 million, it is the...
was built as a house of vaudeville, then quickly adapted to the age of silent film. Within its stage was housed one of the largest and last of the huge theatre Wurlitzer
Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
s, which was raised and lowered from within the stage by hydraulics. Its heady and gaudy design, relative to more classically toned rooms, was viewed as somewhat lower class in the age it was built. At that time, the symphony and what operas and musicals there were would be found in the old Orpheum (the Lyric) or on the large and comfortable stage (with no pillars as at the Lyric) at the old Capitol. The Vogue was deliberately built for touring acts (comedy, big bands, theatre), hence the shorter sightlines compared to the Orpheum or the old Capitol. The best acoustics were reckoned to be in the Capitol; prior to its renovation those in the Orpheum some of the worst (as it was designed for its hidden speaker system).
Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
came about as a result of women's suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
(women were the core of the anti-temperance movement and took advantage of the men being away at war to vote in prohibition by referendum; it was softened).
Because restrictive liquor laws forbade live music in ordinary bars, there was no long-standing popular music tradition of the kind associated with places with more liberal entertainment laws. During the 1960s when popular youth culture flourished (in spite of all restrictive laws), clubs such as the Retinal Circus on Davie Street in the West End
West End, Vancouver
The West End of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is on the downtown peninsula neighbouring Stanley Park and the areas of Yaletown, Coal Harbour and the downtown financial and central business districts....
and Rohans Rockpile in Kitsilano were the hubs of the hippie scene.
1960s
Vancouver developed its own sound in the late 1960s. From Folk Music playing in the coffee houses on Kitsilano's 4th Avenue, where people would come to see Hippies wandering the streets and hear acoustic music filling the street. Another major venue was "The Retinal Circus" on Davie St. where famous and infamous Psychedelic Rock Bands played regularly. The "West Coast Sound" grew from a fusion of hard rocking music mixed with wailing guitars and visual light shows. Vancouver was a place to be 'in the music' which shaped the youth of the day. Bands like The Collectors later ChilliwackChilliwack (band)
Chilliwack are a Canadian rock band that had their heyday during the 1970s and 1980s. Although they are a Canadian band, the members were all born in, as well as reside in, the United States of America. They are perhaps best remembered for their five biggest songs "My Girl ", "I Believe", "Whatcha...
who had a major hit - Crazy Talk. High Flying Bird, United Empire Loyalists, My Indole Ring, Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck, Painted Ship, Mock Duck and Hydro Electric Steetcar were the center of Vancouver's psychedelic movement. There was also a Rhythm and Blues scene in the '60s. with acts like The Nighttrain Review, Jason Hoover and the Epics, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers
Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers
Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers were a soul band from Vancouver, British Columbia. Briefly signed to Motown Records in the late 1960s, they had one top 30 hit single, "Does Your Mama Know About Me". As a producer and solo artist, Bobby Taylor contributed to several other soul recordings, both inside...
featuring Tommy Chong
Tommy Chong
Tommy Chong is a Canadian-American comedian, actor, writer, director, activist, and musician who is well known for his stereotypical portrayals of hippie-era stoners...
on guitar. The Vancouvers were signed to Motown by Barry Gordy who became aware of them through Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
of the Jackson 5. They had a #5 hit on the U.S. R&B charts with "Does Your Mama Know About Me?", written by Chong. Bobby Taylor's "King of Clubs" was home to "The Coasters" and other great R&B bands. Vancouver had it all, The Doors and several other southern bands came to play in the very creative milieu created by the Vancouver Rockers of the '60s and early '70s. Several recording studios like Mushroom Records and Little Mountain Sound Studios
Little Mountain Sound Studios
Little Mountain Sound Studios was a music recording facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia. In its day, it was the most successful recording studio in Western Canada and was the home for many years to producers Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock...
recorded and produced many great record albums (vinyl)such as Heart in the mid 70's who went on to international stardom with hits such as Crazy On you, Dreamboat Annie & Baraccuda.
1970s
Superstars such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones (who opened their infamous 1972 tour at the then-brand new Pacific Coliseum) and Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
performed at the outdoor Empire Stadium, partly to keep the "undesirable element" associated with rock'n'roll out of the city core but also because of the expected numbers. Canadian rock band Bachman–Turner Overdrive made Vancouver their second home (lead singer/guitarist Randy Bachman
Randy Bachman
Randolph Charles "Randy" Bachman, OC, OM is a Canadian musician best known as lead guitarist, songwriter and a founding member for both the 1960s–70s rock band The Guess Who, and the 1970s rock band Bachman–Turner Overdrive...
still lives on nearby Saltspring Island
Saltspring Island
Saltspring Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver Island. It is the largest, the most populous, and the most frequently visited of the Gulf Islands...
). Certain touring British and American bands (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Yes, Alice Cooper) have avid local followings. Some non-Vancouver bands such as Heart
Heart (band)
Heart is an American rock band who first found success in Canada. Throughout several lineup changes, the only two members remaining constant are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music...
, Van Halen, Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi, resided and recorded in Vancouver regularly. Singer-poet Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
continues to maintain a residence in West Vancouver. One-time Georgia Straight music critic Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
went on to form the new-wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band The Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...
.
The 1970s brought bands such as Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd (band)
Sweeney Todd is a Canadian glam rock band that formed in 1975.The band, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, originally consisted of vocalist Nick Gilder, guitarist Jim McCulloch, bassist Budd Marr, keyboardist Dan Gaudin and drummer John Booth...
, Loverboy
Loverboy
Loverboy is a Canadian rock group formed in 1980 in Calgary, Alberta. Throughout the 1980s, the band accumulated numerous hit songs in Canada and the United States, earning four multi-platinum albums and selling millions of records...
, Trooper
Trooper (band)
Trooper is a Juno Award winning Canadian rock band that developed from a group formed by vocalist Ramon McGuire and guitarist Brian Smith in 1975...
and Prism
Prism (band)
Prism is a Canadian rock band originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They were active from 1977 to 1984 and are active again from 1988 to present. The band's sound is a mix of Album-Oriented Rock and pop rock. They have released a total of 13 albums to date...
to the scene. Many of these acts began their lives as cover bands and played high school dances, before hitting the big time. Folk music also began to develop and performers such as Terry Jacks
Terry Jacks
Terrence Ross "Terry" Jacks is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist.-Early life:...
, Valdy
Valdy
Paul Valdemar Horsdal, CM , commonly known as Valdy, is a Canadian folk musician whose solo career began in the early 1970s. He is known for "Rock and Roll Song", his first mainstream single released in mid-1972 on Haida/A&M.He was a member of the London Town Criers during the 1960s and...
and Pied Pumkin were regulars at folk festivals and coffee houses.
Later in the 1970s, at the dawn of the punk era, Vancouver played a central role in the development punk music as many of the local musicians had exposure to the London scene. Vancouver punk bands had (as usual with Vancouver performers) wider followings and more fame in the UK, Europe and the United States than at home. These included D.O.A. and lead singer Joey Shithead, the K-Tels (who were forced by the TV-marketing company to change their name, which became the Young Canadians), I, Braineater, Active Dog, the Modernettes, the Pointed Sticks, Secret V's, Subhumans and U-J3RK5
UJ3RK5
U-J3RK5 was a Vancouver based band from the late 1970s. Their style was post punk/new wave, but was more art rock than synth pop. U-J3RK5's short lived local success was influenced by the music industry's infatuation with Martha and the Muffins styled male-female bands...
(pron. "You-Jerk", as the five is silent).
1980s
Vancouver musician Bryan AdamsBryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
started his solo career in the 80s. He would go on to become an international recording artist. His albums Cuts Like a Knife
Cuts Like a Knife
Cuts Like a Knife is the third studio album by the Canadian rock artist Bryan Adams. Released on 18 January 1983 through A&M Records, the album became a huge commercial success in Canada and the United States whereas outside North America, the album did poorly...
and Reckless
Reckless
-In film, television and stage:* Reckless , directed by Victor Fleming* Reckless , a 1951 Spanish film* Reckless , starring Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah* Reckless , featuring Mia Farrow...
sold millions of copies worldwide. He has won 18 Juno Awards and 1 Grammy Award. Adams also was hugely successful as part of a songwriting duo with fellow Vancouver musician Jim Vallance
Jim Vallance
James Douglas "Jim" Vallance, OC is a retired Canadian musician, songwriter, arranger and producer based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. He is best known as the former songwriting partner of Canadian international recording artist Bryan Adams...
. Together they wrote songs for some the music industries biggest names: Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Carly Simon.
Jim Vallance would continue on as a music industry "Song Doctor". He would assist artists in cowriting songs. His list of clients include: Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Rick Springfield, Anne Murray. Vallance has the Juno Award for Composer of the Year 4 times.
Producer Bruce Fairbairn
Bruce Fairbairn
Bruce Earl Fairbairn was a Canadian musician and international record producer from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was active as a producer from 1976 to 1999 and is considered one of the best of his era...
would also become prominent during the 80s. He was initially a member turned producer for Vancouver rock band Prism
Prism (band)
Prism is a Canadian rock band originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They were active from 1977 to 1984 and are active again from 1988 to present. The band's sound is a mix of Album-Oriented Rock and pop rock. They have released a total of 13 albums to date...
. After producing their first 4 albums in the 70s to moderate success, Fairbairn then worked with another Vancouver band, Loverboy. His biggest success came when he produced Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet. Fairbairn would continue to produce top artists such as Aerosmith, AC/DC, Van Halen, INXS, Yes.
Local bands Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West are a Canadian folk rock band, who were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which made them one of Canada's most successful alternative rock acts in the 1990s.-Early years:The band began...
, The Nervous Fellas
The Nervous Fellas
One of Canada's premier Rockabilly bands, The Nervous Fellas began in Vancouver around the winter of 1986.The band took its name from the lyrics of a Smiley Lewis song titled "Real Gone Lover"....
, 54-40
54-40
54•40 is a Canadian alternative rock group from Tsawwassen, British Columbia.The band takes their name from the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!", coined to express the expansionist agenda of James K...
, Slow
Slow (band)
Slow is a Canadian punk rock band that started in the mid-1980's. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the band consisted of vocalist Thomas Anselmi, guitarist Christian Thorvaldson, bassist Stephen Hamm and drummer Terry Russell...
, Images in Vogue
Images in Vogue
Images in Vogue was a Canadian New Wave group in the 1980s.The band was formed in 1981 in Vancouver, and originally consisted of vocalist Dale Martindale, guitarist Don Gordon , synth players Joe Vizvary and Glen Nelson, bassist Gary Smith and percussionist Kevin Crompton...
and Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....
were prominent in the 80s also. Skinny Puppy and, later, Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. Influenced by early Industrial acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control, D.A.F., Test Dept, SPK, and Severed Heads, FLA has developed its own unique sound while combining...
would become hugely influential on the industrial dance and goth scenes, both within and outside Vancouver.
Influential extreme metal band Blasphemy
Blasphemy (band)
Blasphemy are a black/death metal band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1984. The band released a demo titled Blood Upon the Altar in 1989 and their debut album, Fallen Angel of Doom, the following year through Wild Rags, a record label they had signed to while touring the United...
formed in Vancouver in 1984.
In the 1980s progressive rock bands made a mark on the Vancouver scene. First Aid, formed in early 1982, was inspired by prominent British bands of this genre such as Gentle Giant, Yes and Brand X. By 1985, the First Aid band lineup of Derek Mason (Guitars and sequencing), Scott Jacks (Keyboards, vocals and acoustic guitar), Dave Coupland (Percussion) was playing various Vancouver and BC clubs as a trio, and in 1989 recorded their final Prog-rock album Stumbling Boldly Forward.
On the alternative side, Nomeansno
Nomeansno
NoMeansNo is a Canadian progressive punk rock music group originally from Victoria, British Columbia and now located in Vancouver.The band has never had, nor have they seemed to pursue, strong mainstream success, but they do have a devoted underground following in North America and Europe...
, Animal Slaves, Art Bergman and many others... very well documented on Last Call - Vancouver Independent Music (Zulu Records), a compilation of 48 bands active at that time.
Since the 1980s, when large wave of Chinese immigration swept the region, Vancouver has since been known as a generator of canto-pop stars and other Cantonese actors. Nicholas Tse
Nicholas Tse
Nicholas Tse is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter, actor and musician, and son of actor Patrick Tse. He is a member of the Emperor Entertainment Group...
, Edison Chen
Edison Chen
Edison Koon-Hei Chen is a Hong Kong film actor, Cantopop singer, Hong Kong hip hop rapper, model, record producer, fashion designer, and a pop icon. Chen is also the founder of CLOT Inc., and the CEO of Clot Media Division Limited...
, Jade Kwan
Jade Kwan
- About Jade :Kwan entered the New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition 1999 with the song "Face" and was awarded first runner-up. As such, she represented Vancouver in the New Talent Singing Awards Canada Finals 1999 and won...
, Sally Yeh
Sally Yeh
Sally Yeh , sometimes written as Sally Yip or Yip Sin-Man, is a Cantopop singer in the Hong Kong music industry and an actress in the Hong Kong film industry.-Overview:...
, Joyce Cheng
Joyce Cheng
Joyce Cheng Yan-yee with family root in Taishan is a Hong Kong singer, writer, actress and performer. She is the daughter of Hong Kong comedian Lydia Shum and actor Adam Cheng....
, were all just a few of the current canto-pop stars that were raised there.
1990s
In the 90s, the proximity to Seattle's grunge scene spurred the popularity of bands like Maow, the Riff Randells, CubCub (band)
Cub was an indie rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia that formed in 1992 and disbanded in 1997. They played a melodic, jangly form of pop punk that was dubbed "cuddlecore" by some music critics...
, Gob
Gob (band)
Gob is a Canadian punk band from Langley, British Columbia formed in 1993, The Band consists of Tom Thacker, Theo Goutzinakis, Gabe Mantle and Steven Fairweather. Gob's most successful album is World According to Gob and their most successful song to date is I Hear You Calling...
, The Smugglers
The Smugglers (band)
The Smugglers are a Canadian indie rock band. The band consists of vocalist Grant Lawrence, guitarists Nick Thomas and David Carswell, bassist Beez and drummers Graham Watson and Bryce Dunn.-Discography:* 1990: Up and Down...
, Nardwuar the Human Serviette
Nardwuar the Human Serviette
Nardwuar the Human Serviette is a Canadian celebrity interviewer and musician from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is the lead singer and keyboardist for The Evaporators and plays in Thee Goblins....
and his band The Evaporators
The Evaporators
The Evaporators is a Canadian punk rock band formed in 1986 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Nardwuar, its founding member, is known for interviewing politicians and celebrities.-History:...
, the New town Animals, and Thee Goblins which all happen to be on the same label, Mint Records
Mint Records
Mint Records is a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based independent record label founded in January 1991, by friends and campus radio enthusiasts Randy Iwata and Bill Baker....
. Moderate commercial success came to power-pop bands such as Age of Electric
Age of Electric
Age of Electric was a Canadian alternative rock band in the 1990s.The band, consisting of two pairs of brothers, formed in Lanigan, Saskatchewan in 1989. The members were guitarists Ryan Dahle and Todd Kerns, bassist John Kerns and drummer Kurt Dahle. Ryan, Todd and Kurt all contributed vocals as...
, Superconductor, Limblifter
Limblifter
Limblifter is a Canadian alternative rock group from Vancouver, formed in 1996.-History:The group was originally formed by brothers Ryan Dahle and Kurt Dahle, as a side project from their main band, Age of Electric, along with a third member, Ian Somers...
, Econoline Crush
Econoline Crush
Econoline Crush is a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada formed in 1992. Originally formed in Seattle, they eventually moved back to Vancouver...
and Matthew Good
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...
. Other notable Vancouver residents (and sometimes Vancouver residents) include Grapes of Wrath, Odds
Odds
The odds in favor of an event or a proposition are expressed as the ratio of a pair of integers, which is the ratio of the probability that an event will happen to the probability that it will not happen...
, Art Bergmann, Spirit of The West, Moist, Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan
Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...
, and Rose Chronicles
Rose Chronicles
Rose Chronicles was a Canadian alternative rock band in the 1990s. The band, from Vancouver, consisted of vocalist Kristy Thirsk, guitarist Richard Maranda, bassist Judd Cochrane and drummer Steve van der Woerd.-Career:...
.
As grunge faded back into obscurity, Vancouver held on to a vibrant scene of its own. d.b.s, MCRACKINS, Utopia, Seamen, SNFU
SNFU
SNFU is a Canadian punk rock band formed in 1981 in Edmonton, Alberta and later relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. They have released nine full-length albums and are cited as a formative influence on the skate punk sub-genre....
, D.O.A., BNU, Wisecrack, Kid Icarus, Another Joe, Superchief, Submission Hold, etc.
Despite the commercialization of grunge, Vancouver maintained a quality hardcore scene. Strain, Reserve34,Shift, Burden, Self-Esteem Project, By a Thread, Red Light Sting, Sparkmarker, Target, All State Champion, Black Rice, Operation Makeout, Dissent, Witness Protection Program, the Attack, End This Week With Knives, A Javelin Reign, Goat's Blood, Blue Monday, The Black Halos
The Black Halos
The Black Halos are a Vancouver, BC based punk rock band founded in 1993 by lead singer Billy Hopeless and guitarist Rich Jones as The Black Market Babies. The band was briefly on Sub Pop Records, and later signed with History Music...
and most recently the success of metal band 3 Inches of Blood
3 Inches of Blood
3 Inches of Blood is a Canadian heavy metal band formed in 2000 in Vancouver, British Columbia, currently consisting of Cam Pipes, Justin Hagberg, Shane Clark, and Ash Pearson...
.
One notable heavy musician from Vancouver is Devin Townsend
Devin Townsend
Devin Garret Townsend is a Canadian musician and record producer. He was the founder, songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist in extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad from 1994 to 2007 and has had an extensive career as a solo artist....
, who has gained international recognition and critical success with his band Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad
Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing...
and self-titled progressive side projects, primarily The Devin Townsend Band. Townsend, of New Westminster, is a central figure in the Vancouver heavy music scene, and has worked with influential Vancouver acts such as Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. Influenced by early Industrial acts such as Cabaret Voltaire, Portion Control, D.A.F., Test Dept, SPK, and Severed Heads, FLA has developed its own unique sound while combining...
, in addition to producing the albums of numerous local bands though HevyDevy Studios.
Vancouver has always offered acts that don't fit any one particular musical slot. The 1990s were no different. Such as: Daytona, Bob's Your Uncle
Bob's Your Uncle (band)
Bob's Your Uncle was a Canadian alternative rock band in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Based in Vancouver, the band consisted of band founder guitarist Jamie Junger, vocalist and guitarist Sook-Yin Lee, bassist Bernie Radelfinger, harmonica player Peter Lizotte and drummer John Rule...
, Big Tall Garden, Coal, 2 Left Feet, Shine, Rymes With Orange
Rymes With Orange
Rymes with Orange is a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.-History:RWO formed in Vancouver in the early 1990s. Rob Lulic and Alexander Julien were looking for a fresh new singer to assist them in the upcoming Battle of the bands. After a chance meeting with Manchester born singer Lyndon...
, Circle C, Sarcastic Mannequins, Custard's Last Bandstand, Catherine Wheel, The Wingnuts, Dear God, and Pull offered an eclectic element to the local scene. Many of which received airplay on COAST 800 / 1040 AM from 1990-93.
The 1990s also sparked a Vancouver electronic dance music scene with the creation of a radio station called Z95.3 FM
CKZZ-FM
CKZZ-FM is a Canadian radio station in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia. It broadcasts at 95.3 MHz on the FM band with an effective radiated power of 71,300 watts from a transmitter on Mount Seymour, and its studios are located in Richmond. The station has had a hot adult...
. The station heavily promoted Vancouver's dance/pop music, discovering various artists and bands such as Thomas Donovan
Thomas Donovan (Canadian singer/songwriter)
Thomas Donovan is a Canadian dance/pop singer/songwriter and recording artist best known in the 1990s for his string of radio and club hits...
, Soul Decision, Red Sector One, and The West End Girls
West End Girls (Canadian band)
West End Girls were a Canadian pop band and girl group in the early 1990s.-History:The band was formed in Vancouver by producers John Dexter and John Livingston, and consisted of three teenaged girls, Camille Henderson, Aimee MacKenzie and Silvana Petrozzi...
.
2000s
Vancouver indie music has also maintained a strong international presence, most notably with the success of such bands as Tegan and SaraTegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie band composed of identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin . Both Tegan and Sara play guitar and keyboard and write songs.-History:...
, The New Pornographers
The New Pornographers
The New Pornographers is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia.-History:The band's first four albums each ranked in the top 40 on The Village Voices Pazz & Jop year-end poll of hundreds of music reviewers. From 2000 to 2006, either a New Pornographers' album or a...
, Vancouver transplants Hot Hot Heat
Hot Hot Heat
Hot Hot Heat is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 1999 from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.-Career:Dustin Hawthorne and Steve Bays had been in many different bands together since 1995 and met Hawley in 1998. In 1999, Hawley bought a Juno 6 keyboard and asked Bays to try playing it, as no one...
, Fake Shark - Real Zombie!
Fake Shark - Real Zombie!
Fake Shark – Real Zombie! is a Canadian dance punk band. Formed in 2005, their musical style combines elements of IDM and post-hardcore. The name is a reference to Lucio Fulci's film Zombi 2, where a real shark and a zombie engage in combat.-History:...
, Big John Bates
Big John Bates
Big John Bates began recording for Germany's Rookie Records and Glitterhouse Records in 2010 with upright bassist Brandy Bones. They moved away from their original punkabilly style to follow their rustic, southern influences with dark, rural lyrics & melodies...
, the Organ, Destroyer
Destroyer (band)
Destroyer is a Canadian indie pop band fronted by singer-songwriter Dan Bejar.- Overview :Daniel Bejar is an independent pop singer-songwriter from Vancouver who formed Destroyer in 1995. He self-produced his first album, the lo-fi We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge, which was recorded at his in...
, Black Mountain
Black Mountain (band)
Black Mountain is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia. The band is composed of Stephen McBean, Amber Webber, Matt Camirand, Jeremy Schmidt and Joshua Wells.-Overview:...
, Mother Mother
Mother Mother
Mother Mother is a five-piece Canadian indie rock band originally from Quadra Island, now based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mother Mother consists of Ryan Guldemond on guitar and vocals, Molly Guldemond on vocals and keyboard, Jasmin Parkin on keyboard and vocals, Ali Siadat on drums, and...
and Dan Mangan
Dan Mangan
Daniel Mangan is a Canadian indie folk-rock singer-songwriter.-Early life:Mangan was born in Smithers, British Columbia. His family moved a fair amount, residing in both the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia - and primarily in his current home town of Vancouver...
. Other known indie bands/artists of note are: The Pack AD, You Say Party, Japandroids
Japandroids
Japandroids is a Canadian rock duo from Vancouver, British Columbia. The group consists of Brian King and David Prowse . Formed in 2006, Japandroids rose to prominence in 2009 following the release of their debut album Post-Nothing...
, White Lung, Veda Hille
Veda Hille
Veda Hille is a Canadian singer-songwriter.- Biography :Veda Hille was born in 1968 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She started playing piano when she was 6 at her own insistence. Her family moved around a lot, from the city to the country and back again...
, S.T.R.E.E.T.S, Ladyhawk
Ladyhawk (band)
Ladyhawk is a Canadian indie rock band formed on February 27, 2004 from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Their debut album, Ladyhawk was released on June 6, 2006 on Jagjaguwar Records. The lead single on the album was "Dugout", followed by "My Old Jacknife". They are signed to play at the 2008...
, Blood Meridian
Blood Meridian (band)
Blood Meridian is a Canadian alternative country band from Vancouver, British Columbia. The band consists of singer and songwriter Matt Camirand, guitarist Jeff Lee, keyboardist Shira Blustein, bassist Kevin Grant and drummer Joshua Wells...
, Bend Sinister
Bend Sinister (band)
Bend Sinister is a progressive-indie band formed in 2001 now based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The band takes its name from a novel by Vladimir Nabokov.-History:...
, Fond of Tigers, Parlour Steps, Lightning Dust, Cinderpop, The Orchid Highway, CR Avery, Neins Circa, Book of Lists, Ford Pier, Mass Undergoe, Petroleum By-Product, The Doers, Run Chico Run, Young Liars, Hey Ocean!, Said the Whale
Said The Whale
Said the Whale is a Vancouver-based indie rock band started by Ben Worcester and Tyler Bancroft.Their debut EP Taking Abalonia was released in 2007. It was re-released with seven new songs on June 3, 2008 in Canada as a full-length LP under the name Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia...
, Secret Mommy, Twin Crystals, The Greenbelt Collective, Apollo Ghosts, Capitol 6, B-Lines, Culture Def, and The Zolas among others.
A small hip-hop scene has garnered both critical and commercial success including Kid Koala
Kid Koala
Eric San , who records under the name Kid Koala, is a Canadian DJ, turntablist, musician and an author of graphic novels. He is signed to the British record label Ninja Tune, is a member of alternative hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030, and The Slew with Dynamite D and former members of the...
, Threat From Outer Space, Swollen Members
Swollen Members
Swollen Members is a Canadian hip hop group from Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada consisting mainly of the duo Mad Child, and Prevail. Frequent collaborators include vocalist Moka Only and producer Rob the Viking, an official group member since 2002...
, Rascalz
Rascalz
The Rascalz are a Canadian hip-hop group from Vancouver, British Columbia, who played a crucial role in the artistic and commercial development of Canadian hip hop. The group consists of MCs Red1 and Misfit, and DJ Kemo. Breakdancers, Zebroc and Dedos were also part of the group.Formed in 1991, the...
, Josh Martinez
Josh Martinez
Josh Martinez , is a Canadian rapper, record producer and record label executive. In the early 2000s, Martinez started his own label, Camobear Records, to which fellow rap artist Moka Only is signed...
, Extra Terrestrial, Sweatshop Union
Sweatshop Union
Sweatshop Union is a Canadian hip hop collective formed in 2000 when four politically minded rap acts—Dirty Circus, Pigeon Hole, Kyprios and Innocent Bystander —came together "to create a powerful, distinctive voice", and to produce their first album, which was published in 2001.Known for an...
, Social Deviantz
Social Deviantz
Social Deviantz are a Canadian rap trio based in Vancouver, British Columbia.First formed in early 1992, the group consists of lyricists A-Train and Fatbone, and DJ/producer Junya...
, Moves, No Luck Club, BZ Jam and Moka Only
Moka Only
Daniel Denton , known professionally as Moka Only, is a Canadian hip hop artist. Originally from Langford, British Columbia, near Victoria, he is now based in Vancouver. He was previously part of the hip hop group Swollen Members, and briefly a part of Len. His albums are released by Legendary...
.
Continuing the Vancouver industrial and electronic dance music tradition to this day are bands such as Delerium
Delerium
Delerium is a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, formed in 1987, originally as a side project of the influential industrial music act, Front Line Assembly...
, Decree, Noize Tribe Zero, Left Spine Down
Left Spine Down
Based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Left Spine Down is a band that plays what they call "cyberpunk," a mixture of electronica, metal, punk, and drum & bass....
, Go Ghetto Tiger, Sex With Strangers, Combine The Victorious, Noise Unit
Noise Unit
Noise Unit is a musical band, a side-project of the prolific Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber, of Front Line Assembly. Its members have included Marc Verhaeghen and Chris Peterson...
, Stiff Valentine
Stiff Valentine
Based in Vancouver, BC, Canada; Stiff Valentine is a Canadian rock band. They play a unique style of hard rock mixed with industrial, techno, metal and punk elements....
and Landscape Body Machine.
In the world music arena, some of the bands that made a name for themselves are Ivan Tucakov and Tambura Rasa, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Delhi To Dublin and others.
Vancouver's independent music scene can be heard on selected programs on its four campus/community radio stations: CJSF (SFU) 90.1 FM, CFRO (Co-op Radio) 102.7 FM, CiTR (UBC)101.9 FM and Evolution 107.9 (BCIT). These stations also,(to a greater or lesser extent), offer such diverse musical genres as: reggae, electronica, hip hop, first nations, classical, jazz, blues, Celtic, bluegrass, country, Latin, klesmer, folk, gospel, and world music in its many forms.
Selected programs on CBC Radio 1 and 2, and CBC Radio 3 online, also offer independent talent a place to be heard.
There are also 2 commercial stations 100.5 The PEAK and SHORE 104, who monitor potential buzz bands in the Vancouver music scene.