Meet Exclaim!'s Class of 2025: World News, Amelia Maxwell, OOZ, Kingdom of Birds

It's another double helping of genre-bending shows this weekend at the Monarch Tavern and the Baby G

Photos (clockwise from top left): World News by @apileofconcerttickets, Amelia Maxwell by Felice Trinidad, Leona Hell and Scooter Jay courtesy of the artists

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Jan 14, 2025

Have you recovered from last weekend's awe-inspiring display of live offerings from the likes of Tara Kannangara, Your Grandad, Shunk and Blush? No? Honestly, neither have we, but we're shifting that excitement on over to this week's instalments of our Class of 2025 concert series, proudly supported by Mary Brown's Chicken.

We have two more stacked bills on deck when we return to the Monarch Tavern this Friday (January 17) and the Baby G on Saturday (January 18), where you'll find unruly experimentalism and tried-and-true indie rock songcraft in equal measure. Learn more about this week's performers below.

January 17: Monarch Tavern

World News


Breaking: in a concert series predominantly dwelling in indie rock-adjacent shades, as described here in editorial pieces published to the internet, World News are here to elevate us with their news-worthy worldliness in the form of "euphoric and rebellious" improvisation-heavy — and computer-free — hardware electronic hymns. The duo of Bill Cutbill and Qu Mi have completed their debut full-length, the follow-up to 2024's A. A. A. F. vol. i EP, and will unleash it later this year, hoping to leave a mark on the culture comparable to that of the Halluci Nation (f.k.a. A Tribe Called Red) or Mac DeMarco.

OOZ


Something of a local scene supergroup, noise rock experimentalists OOZ are absolutely oozing with members of Hot Garbage, Possum and Kali Horse. They released their self-titled debut EP last fall and will undoubtedly continue to rip with improvisational immediacy through 2025, letting the distortion-drenched feedback guide them while they reflect this contorted world back to its seedy underbelly.

Leona Hell


If you've never met Leona, you should know that she'll give you absolute hell. This buzzy quartet led by Molly Lisbeth released their most recent album 'SIR' almost a year ago, but its kicking-against-the-pricks spirit has only been emboldened in the time that's passed. Whether railing against "too many rich fucks" or the frustration of feeling invisible and othered, Leon Hell channel their sludgy doom metal influences into a caterwauling brand of noise that's equally devastating and life-affirming.

Lavoro


Are you too young to have experienced the heyday of a certain iconic Pacific Northwest post-hardcore band? Billing themselves as "Unwound for babies," Lavoro merge those reverent sensibilities with a krautrock cadence and industrial shapes into a post-punk package. "We will be working through our traumas by drinking more beer than ever and getting our first LP recorded and released," Patrick Marshall says of the band's 2025 plans. Despite it being Lavoro's first full-length, all four members have been playing in various bands for 20 years — and are enjoying the recent "increased hostility toward the worst aspects of the so-called music industry."

January 18: Baby G

Amelia Maxwell


Harnessing a jolt of intimacy as fervent yet delicate as the acoustic version of Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away," Amelia Maxwell is a force to be reckoned with. The singer-songwriter is set to release her debut EP in early 2025, which will see her navigate themes of nostalgia, queerness and grief with driving indie rock rhythms in a collection of well-conceived material that has continued to pile up more and more over the last few years. Raised on CBC Radio, she's a major proponent of Q with Tom Power: "I would like to talk to him one day," Maxwell tells Exclaim! Universe, do your thing!

Kingdom of Birds


Because of how seriously we take education, the Class of 2025 cohort includes at least one real-life student and a professor of theirs. Kingdom of Birds bassist Annabel has a prof in the band of scene faithfuls, Lavoro; only time will tell if this will result in a student-becoming-the-master scenario, but the shared post-punk lineage with an academic forebear feels primed for prolific prodigiousness. Toronto's best "sassy and not-so-classy" boy band are likewise excited to continue recording their debut LP and rock the Big Apple (not the one in Colborne) for New Colossus 2025.

Scooter Jay


While we have previously explicitly asked our Class Of grads to humour us with their hottest takes, this is somehow the first time an email has included the assertion that "the Beatles would have murdered for GarageBand." It's probably true! Scooter Jay are truth-to-power speakers who ambitiously "do blues for the earth and to end all war," according to the band's Silver Guthrie, who says she's already writing a follow-up to last year's Punk Floyd and the Moral Faggots — which will be for sale on vinyl at Class of 2025 — that's inspired by climate grief.

Taylor Holden


First and foremost, Taylor Holden is a rock chick. A studied devotee in the great tradition of Avril Lavigne's era-defining — yet timeless — debut album Let Go, she's throwing shit around for the modern medicated girl, as evidenced by her punchy new single "Vyvanse." It leads the singer-songwriter's upcoming album, which she calls "a love letter to women moving through their 20s." Holden is looking forward to going nuts on stage at Class of 2025 and discovering new music through the series, as well as checking out the "absolute dream" that the SHEBAD show will be.

Find out all of the necessary details about this week's shows and the rest of this year's Class Of concert series — presented in partnership with the City of Toronto's music office — via the Facebook event links. Advance tickets are now available on Showclix.

Next up:

01/24 9Million / Clothesline from Hell / Mishi / Pillea - The Garrison

@exclaimdotca World News took the Exclaim! Questionnaire and talked about a secret Amy Winehouse set, English cuisine and living life on infinite loop (@Safe Sounds) 🌀 Get your tickets you know where 🎟️ Proudly supported by @Mary Brown's Chicken. Exclaim! Class of 2025 is backed by Ontario Creates and City of Toronto Culture #torontoconcerts #torontomusic #canadianmusic #safesounds ♬ original sound - Exclaim!

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