The JUNO Awards are taking over Winnipeg until March 30, and to see whether that’s good or bad The Uniter decided to get some firsthand perspectives. We reached out to Andy Rudolph, drummer/electronics for local instrumental prog rockers Mahogany Frog - a band which is headlining a JUNOfest show on March 29 at the Pyramid Cabaret and nominated this year for Instrumental Album for 2012’s Senna. Joining him is Rock Trembath, head of local indie label DEAFWISH and organizer of the O(H) NO FESTIVAL, a four day response to JUNOfest.

The Uniter: So where did the idea for the O(H) NO FESTIVAL come from?

Trembath: I DJ for a couple rappers that applied and got rejected from the official JUNOfest and that was a big part of it. When I posted about it on the Internet, quite a few people in the community felt the same way and didn’t feel like the official bill fully represented what all is going on in Winnipeg, so we all decided to band together.

Rudolph: The last time the JUNO Awards were here, when was that?

The Uniter: I think 2005.

Rudolph: I remember there was a similar fest running in opposition, I don’t remember exactly what it was called, but I remember playing it because we totally didn’t get in last time. 

Trembath: So this time you got in?

Rudolph: Yeah, we’re playing an official JUNO sanctioned event on the Saturday at the Pyramid. We’ve been a consistently underground band for the last 15 years, we’re still new to this game. We just did the BreakOut West festival in October, which is part of the Western Canadian Music Awards. We were nominated and ultimately won, which is weird and kind of I guess awesome. It was our first time doing this sort of thing.

Trembath: Was there just a bunch of industry people in suits standing around?

Rudolph: That’s what I thought it would be, I expected it would be a bunch of people in suits there to assess what’s going on and make some contacts. But ultimately the impression I was left with was that it was a good excuse for industry people to go to a party in Calgary and get wasted. People would come in look at your band for 20 seconds, slam back a Caesar, then go see another band for 20 seconds. 

Trembath: I know whenever I’ve gone to Canadian Music Week, there’s like the “real fans” and then the industry people, kind of like you’re describing.

Rudolph: Maybe the JUNOs isn’t like that, but I do wonder. There’s a lot of stuff going on.

Trembath: Yeah and lots of shows are going on here all the time without the JUNOs already. If the JUNOs weren’t here we could still put on a 30 band festival over three days.

Rudolph: And you’d still get a different crowd of people.

Trembath: Yeah, our friends would come, their friends would come, a lot of our shows were already confirmed so it was a thing we were going to do anyway. I’m not trying to be super anti-JUNO, I think it’s a great thing to recognize music, but I think it’s a little unfortunate that they focus on things like Robin Thicke. Is that his name?

Rudolph: Yeah, I didn’t know who Robin Thicke was until I watched his video the other day and was like “Wow, that’s offensive as hell.”

Trembath: Plus there’s the thing where he’s raised in L.A., lives in L.A. and he just has dual citizenship because his dad is Canadian. Remember Growing Pains? His dad is Alan Thicke. That brutal grasp for relevance is where I get a little bit lost.

Rudolph: Yeah, I just realized there’s an International Album of the Year category and it’s mostly just a bunch of American artists. I was expecting some actual world music, but turns out it’s just Eminem.

Trembath: Is Instrumental Album of the Year going to be televised?

Rudolph: Oh God no, I doubt it.* It’s sort of a catch-all right? It’s like us against Colin Stetson who is on Constellation and associated with Arcade Fire, there’s another artist on Constellation and then some free jazz stuff that I think was just too weird for the other jazz categories.

Trembath: It’s weird when it’s that diverse genre-wise.

Rudolph: Yeah it’s a weird category, but it’s also good because there’s no way in hell we’d get into the JUNOs, or even BreakOut West for that matter. The fact that we’re able to fit ourselves into that obscure category because we just don’t sing, that’s what’s been helpful to us so far.

Trembath: Yeah. I guess the JUNO Awards are supposed to bring a bunch of money into the city too. I know someone who’s going to stay with me because they can’t find a hotel. I’m sure Ramada is happy about that.

Rudolph: Yeah, overall the JUNOs are a good excuse to acknowledge musicians in Canada, but at the end of the day it seems to be an industry event like any other industry event. There’s great bands in Winnipeg, but most of them are underground from that sort of stuff anyway.

Trembath: There’s also the belief that music isn’t something that you take seriously enough to make money off of here. People are like “I still do the band, but I just bought a house man.”

Rudolph: I think the only reason Mahogany Frog is involved with any of this is due to straight up persistence. I remember first starting out moving to the city from the countryside and thinking I was going to be famous. Then I spent a crushing five to seven years realizing it was brutal and there were 100,000 other young musicians in Canada wanting the same thing. Then we waited another five years and 75% of those people gave up because they realized it was pointless. We’re still around, partly because we’re stupid, but mostly because we didn’t have a choice and didn’t know what else to do.

The JUNO Awards take place March 30 at MTS Centre. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

O(h) NO Fest takes place March 26-29 at various venues throughout Winnipeg. Visit deafwish.com for ticket information, show times and more.

*The televised awards consist of JUNO Fan Choice (presented by TD), Single of the Year, Album of the Year (sponsored by Music Canada), Group of the Year, Breakthrough Group of the Year (sponsored by FACTOR and Radio Starmaker Fund) and Songwriter of the Year (sponsored by SiriusXM Canada).

Part of the series: The Urban Issue 2014

Published in Volume 68, Number 25 of The Uniter (March 27, 2014)