Hard at work on their follow-up to last year's stunning David Comes to Life, Toronto punk visionaries Fucked Up have taken a break from songwriting to announce the "Long Winter Program," a concert series that will take over Toronto this freezing season.
The first volume of the "Long Winter" series will be presented by Exclaim! as one of our 20th Anniversary shows and will take place on November 9 at Toronto's Great Hall. That initial "Long Winter" concert will be followed up by Toronto shows in December, January and February in the same venue.
While the artists involved have yet to be revealed, Fucked Up's own Mike Haliechuk explained to Exclaim! just what the concert series entails.
"What we're planning is a kind of event we've never really been a part of, where lots of people from different communities all come together under one roof -- different artists, lecturers, videographers, dancers, comedians, performers from a whole spectrum," he says. "The idea is to try and match up people who go to disparate events in Toronto but don't really have the chance to meet up and be part of the same thing."
The idea for the event came from another Toronto-based event, as Haliechuk was inspired while attending a recent SummerWorks show at the Great Hall.
"There were bands in the main room, a play in the downstairs and weird interactive things in the upstairs," he recalls. "It's jumping off from that but anchored in music since thats where we come from."
While the idea of an experimental hardcore band playing alongside lecturers, artists, dancers, comedians and others might come across as lofty, Haliechuk explains that it's really nothing new for Fucked Up.
"Mostly the idea is like anything else we do here -- to bring our friends together and try and present something to a bunch of other friends," he explains. "We just think Toronto is a special place and obviously since we're from here we have a lot of friends that do amazing things."
Stay tuned for more information on "Long Winter Vol. 1," as well as future editions of the series, as it becomes available.
The first volume of the "Long Winter" series will be presented by Exclaim! as one of our 20th Anniversary shows and will take place on November 9 at Toronto's Great Hall. That initial "Long Winter" concert will be followed up by Toronto shows in December, January and February in the same venue.
While the artists involved have yet to be revealed, Fucked Up's own Mike Haliechuk explained to Exclaim! just what the concert series entails.
"What we're planning is a kind of event we've never really been a part of, where lots of people from different communities all come together under one roof -- different artists, lecturers, videographers, dancers, comedians, performers from a whole spectrum," he says. "The idea is to try and match up people who go to disparate events in Toronto but don't really have the chance to meet up and be part of the same thing."
The idea for the event came from another Toronto-based event, as Haliechuk was inspired while attending a recent SummerWorks show at the Great Hall.
"There were bands in the main room, a play in the downstairs and weird interactive things in the upstairs," he recalls. "It's jumping off from that but anchored in music since thats where we come from."
While the idea of an experimental hardcore band playing alongside lecturers, artists, dancers, comedians and others might come across as lofty, Haliechuk explains that it's really nothing new for Fucked Up.
"Mostly the idea is like anything else we do here -- to bring our friends together and try and present something to a bunch of other friends," he explains. "We just think Toronto is a special place and obviously since we're from here we have a lot of friends that do amazing things."
Stay tuned for more information on "Long Winter Vol. 1," as well as future editions of the series, as it becomes available.
