Storming The Base Blog The Artoffact Records Showcase: Why We're Doing It

Near the end of the month on June 27th, we're hosting the first ever Artoffact Showcase in Toronto, and we'd like you to come. The idea for doing a showcase came about rather accidentally one night over a couple beers with some band friends, and before we knew what we were into, it was happening. The super cool folks at Darker Side of Light Productions were instantly on board, and the more we thought "we can do this" the more it became a reality.And why not? Several of the label artists are in Ontario, Legend from Reykjavik was going to be in town, and the people at the venue couldn't stop saying DO IT DO IT DO IT.But here's the real reason we wanted to do it:Lots of labels do showcases, but few of the scene labels do. There's the Out of Line Festival in Germany each year, and once in a while there're other similar events, but those are based around ticket sales. Well-known bands headline, and hundreds of people show up. But a showcase in the indie world is something different. 60 people show up (when the label blows up those people talk about "that magic first night"). A few small bands play a few songs, mostly for press people (note to self: invite the press), a few drinks are had, and the night comes and goes.It's really no big deal in a way, but in another way, it is. The label gets to open its hands to whomever wants to come by, and everyone gets to spend one evening in the company of some really good people. The thing is, a lot of people talk about how the "real" music world ignores us (who is "us" and what is the "real" world?). We're doing the Artoffact Showcase because we've started to get the feeling that maybe it's the other way around: maybe we need to embrace the rest of the music world ourselves.Legend, Encephalon, Prospero, and Volt 9000 play the Artoffact Records Showcase on June 27th. INDUSTRIAL MUSIC VOLUME 2, available FREE here: amzn.com/B00BO2WC72