Supercrawl Reveals 2025 Festival Lineup
Supercrawl organizers have unveiled the festival lineup for the 2025 free festival weekend, taking place September 12-14, 2025 along James Street North in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, made possible by presenting sponsor TD Bank Group (TD).
Supercrawl’s schedule and festival map will be released in the last week of August.
Headliners and direct support at Supercrawl 2025 will be Born Ruffians, Basia Bulat, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Steve Strongman, TOBi, and Donovan Woods. Other musical artists announced include (in alphabetical order) AOIFE, The Beans, Sean Bienhaus, Rachel Bobbitt, Born In The Eighties, Buddah Abusah, Cadence Weapon, Jean Caffeine, Classified, Sarah Church, The Commune, Council House, Criminal Inhibition, cute, Da Bomb, Dammit Goldie, The Darcys, Don’t Hit Your Head, Eyes Like Opals, James Favron, Foxwarren, Delyn Grey, Hamilton Children’s Choir, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Neil Haverty, Jambassadors, Ro Joaquim, Jocelyn June and the Bugs, KTxKP, Rob Lamothe, Hua Li 化力, Linebeck, Loaded Dice, Lonely Little Kitsch, Los Chukos, Lost Faculty, Loversteeth, Lucky Honey, Mayor McCA, DJ Danny Miles, Minuscule, Neon Dreams, Nezqwik, NOVIÆ, PYPY, Rapid Transit, Rexford Drive, Shealagh Rose, Evan Rotella, Rocket and the Renegades, $EAMS, ShaaMaa, shishi, Spookyguava, Thunder Queens, Trout Lily, Menno Versteeg, Alex Whorms, and CJ Wiley. As well, The Wild High will play a Saturday night afterparty at Bridgeworks (200 Caroline St. N., Hamilton).
In addition, the festival will feature:
• visual art installations from Arts For All, Art Gallery of Hamilton featuring Douglas Tewksbury, Beaten Path Vintage x Vilegloom Vintage, Nancy Benoy, DopeChief, Dawn Grant, Koe.Design, Studio Sunday, Tom Wilson Tehohàhake, and the Work In Progress Festival featuring Burnt Toast, The Half Decent, Clear Eyes Collective, Bruno Smoky, Bribe, Bacon, Hiero, and Squid Licker;
• fashion showcases from Amici, Baumbchell, The Better Days Club, Certitude By K, Created By Chimaera, Cosmic Couture, Cosplay Showcase, DopeChief, EXCLSV, Garba Groovers, HeyHey & Co., House Of Hendo, I Love Kandy, Lady Gray Burlesque, Modern Artchitect Supply, Mooncraft Market, The Muses, Pink Powder Puff Co., RoyalTEEP33, Shedo, Sockiety, Steel City Slither, StereoRuss, True Hamiltonian, Vilegloom Vintage, and Zetenio;
• dance from Battle by the Centre presented by Art & Water and Defining Movement Dance, plus Ensemble Topaz, Garba Groovers, Omega Dance, SBJ Studio Dancers, Schiehallion Dancers, and Steel City Slither;
• theatre and performance from Big Nazo, Emerson Arts, Mikey Gough, Hamilton Aerial Group, Hamilton Pro Wrestling, James North Yoga, Kate Mior, Lishai Peel, and Sapphyre Poison Drag Xtravaganza;
• author talks and spoken word from Gary Barwin, Martha Bátiz, Matt Bobkin, Steacy Easton, Adam Feibel, Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez, Matthew Green, Jess Hannigan, Andrew Kaufman, Saad Omar Khan, Amanda Leduc, David Neil Lee, Lynn Hutchinson Lee, Jarrett Mazza, Joe Ollmann, Jessica Rose, Sunny Singh, Michelle Stark, Jamie Tennant, John Terpstra, Anuja Varghese, and Liz Worth;
• plus family activities from Bruce Trail Conservancy, City of Hamilton Youth Team, Cycle Hamilton, Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre, Hamilton Cardinals Baseball Club, Hamilton Fire Department, Hamilton Music Collective, Hamilton Public Library, Hamilton/Burlington SPCA, Navy League of Canada, Play Project Parkour, Premium Health and Safety, Reptilia, SCORE! Active Research Team, Telling Tales Festival, The Hamilton Face Painter, and Toronto Rock Lacrosse. The Family Zone will also host the return of the Chess Simultaneous Exhibitions that made a splash with festival audiences last year.
Supercrawl will also offer dozens of food trucks and scores of craft vendors. Announcements on those lineups will follow soon, along with festival schedule and map.
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Supercrawl is Hamilton’s premier multi-arts festival, fusing new and independent music with art installations, fashion, performance, literature, theatre, and artisanal craft. Supercrawl’s diverse multidisciplinary program of sound, performance, visual and media arts is staged along a pedestrian-only creative corridor in the heart of downtown.
A not-for-profit arts organization, Supercrawl is committed to honouring, showcasing and celebrating all varieties of creative work, positioning local and emerging artists alongside significant provincial, national and international peers. The festival fosters and promotes arts and culture as well as the myriad benefits they provide.
Founded in 2009, Supercrawl has successfully evolved from a modest arts-based single-day occurrence to a multi-day event with national/international profile and attendance. The festival has gone from a one-day celebration on a single block to a weekend-long experience encompassing over two kilometres of downtown streets, with attendance growing steadily from 3,000 to over 275,000 in that time. In addition to its namesake free festival weekend, Supercrawl Productions also produces ticketed concerts and events throughout the year.
Supercrawl was shortlisted for a 2019 Ontario Tourism Award of Excellence for Tourism Event of the Year and 2017 Canadian Tourism Award for Event of the Year. The festival received the 2015 Ontario Tourism Award of Excellence for Tourism Event of the Year and has been repeatedly recognized as one of Festival and Events Ontario’s Top 100 Festivals/Events (2015-2020, 2023-2024). In 2019, Supercrawl’s Family Zone programming earned a Festivals & Events Ontario Achievement Award for Best Youth Initiative.
Supercrawl Presents Mad Professsor Oct 9 at Bridgeworks
Supercrawl Presents
MAD PROFESSOR
No Protection 30th Anniversary Tour
Equally renowned for producing deep roots reggae, trance-inducing dub and bittersweet lover’s rock, the Mad Professor’s Ariwa Sound stable is a veritable institution of British Reggae. Prof was ridiculed when he first set up a studio in the front room of his south London home in the late 1970s, but plenty of hits soon followed thanks to his creative drive, perceptive production skills and technical expertise behind the mixing desk; in the best reggae tradition, Ariwa drew from diverse influences to create a unique sound, making use of unbridled artistic ambition to fill any gaps that may have appeared due to a lack of finance. Since those humble beginnings, Mad Professor’s music has seen him circumnavigate the globe countless times and his skills as a dub remixer have drawn requests for collaboration from numerous stars working in different popular genres all over the world, all of which is testament to the pervasive and broadly appealing nature of his creations. We are now celebrating over 40 years of Ariwa ingenuity and those who have had the pleasure of spending time in Professor’s company know that he is a man of high intelligence and easy wit, committed to progressive social change as well as evolutionary music; he is also a gentleman in every sense of the word. Ariwa Sounds studio was officially inaugurated in 1979, its name drawn from ariwo, a Yoruba word meaning “communication”; it was then located in the front room of the Fraser household at 19 Bruce Road in the south London suburb of Thornton Heath, not far from Ariwa’s present HQ. Somewhere along the way, Fraser’s alter ego appeared as the Mad Professor, his backing band initially known as The Sane Inmates; minimally equipped with a Teac 3440 tape machine and discarded gear picked up from Soundcraft and other sources, Ariwa’s early days were certainly inauspicious. Noteworthy moments from the original studio at Bruce Road include the landmark dub piece “Kunte Kinte” by Brixton based band Aquizim and “Pleasures of the Dance” by reggae-inspired punk group, Ruts DC. The move to a basement studio at 42 Gautrey Road in Peckham, instigated in May 1982, brought Ariwa to a next level.
Mad Professor issued the first of his Dub Me Crazy series in 1982; by 1993, he was up to Chapter 12 and quickly followed such releases with the Black Liberation Dub series and further dub excursions with Scientist, Mafia & Fluxy and Sly & Robbie. He also strengthened ties with Lee Perry, cutting a series of albums with Scratch at the mic and Prof behind the mixing console; their bond was so strong that they have toured the world together for the better part of fifteen years, evidencing the longest musical partnership Perry has fostered during his entire career. Other great Ariwa records surfaced with U Roy, Horace Andy, Yabby You, Michael Prophet and Earl 16, while Prof continued his habit of nurturing new talent through works with rising hopefuls such as Chukki Star, Starkey Banton, Queen Omega and steel-pan player Pan Africanist, better known Patrick Augustus, author of the popular Babyfather. In 1996, Prof opened the now dormant Are We Mad studio around the corner from Ariwa; the smaller facility was kitted out with 1970s equipment, giving it a different sound, so Prof made specific use of it on particular projects for a number of years before ultimately shutting it down. Meanwhile, his mixing skills grew ever higher in demand. Ever since the days of his collaboration with Ruts DC, Professor has always been willing to lend a dubwise hand to a multitude of international musicians; he mixed material for The Beastie Boys in the 1980s, which sadly has not yet surfaced, before altering the manic creations of radical duo KLF and spaced-out ambient house pioneers, The Orb. Definite high points in the 1990s came with an exceptionally sensual dub mix of Sade’s ‘Love Is Stronger Than Pride’ and a dubwise deconstruction of Massive Attack’s Protection; further collaboration was achieved with bull-horned pop-star Jamiroquai, edgy Swiss techno-rockers The Young Gods and Boston neo-ska group Bim Skala Bim, while in the new millennium Prof has used his dub skills on material by former Jane’s Addiction front man Perry Farrell, New Zealand’s Salmonella Dub and experimental duo Jack Adaptor, as well as myriad others in Japan, Brazil, Argentina and other territories on five continents.
In the new millennium, Mad Professor continued the aural onslaught with all manner of enthralling Ariwa discs. Max Romeo’s Pocomania Songs showed the reggae bard on top form, his politically-relevant and spiritually-minded lyrics riding tough Ariwa rhythms built with drum-and-bass heroes Sly and Robbie, saxophonist Dean Fraser and percussionist Sky Juice, alongside Ariwa stalwarts like Black Steel, with Leroy Mafia on keyboards; U Roy’s Old School, New Rules revisited some old hits and had plenty of new material. Trinidad’s Queen Omega Servant Of Jah Army brought a different take to the Rastafari perspective, while Joe Ariwa went head-to-head with Jah Shaka’s son, Young Warrior, revived jungle with General Levy and went the dubstep way with brother Karmelody in their Tricksters side project. Then, in the ‘teen’ years of the new millennium, Prof cut dub showcase LPs with Cedric Myton of the Congos and Luciano, before versatile veteran Nadine Sutherland shook things up with the deep roots blast of “In A Me Blood,” while Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry revisited some greats of the past on Black Ark Classic Songs. More recently, lover’s rock queen Carroll Thompson tackled the epidemic of knife crime blighting Britain’s black communities on the 12-inch “S.O.S. (Save Our Sons),” a dynamic slice of exceptional roots reggae, while Horace Andy lamented the difficulties of “Life In The Ghetto”; U Roy’s Talking Roots was the best album from the pioneering toaster for ages, while Prof continued his excursions into unknown dub territory on releases such as Electro Dubclubbing.
Over 40 years ago, Ariwa started out as a family affair and it certainly remains one today: Neil’s wife Holly has been involved in the administration right from the beginning and sons Joe and Karmelody are increasingly part of the picture, the younger generation helping to move things perpetually forward. In fact, it’s all part of the gradual evolution at Ariwa, which has taken British reggae towards all kinds of areas it might otherwise have never ventured into. So what’s next for the Mad Professor and the Ariwa posse? Having just completed a string of productive new sessions with known and unknown talent alike, the future still looks bright for the Mad Professor; watch this space because whatever emanates from his creative mind is bound to be nutritious to the ears.
Polaris Music Prize x Supercrawl Present Sister Ray + Eliza Niemi Sept 12
Polaris Music Prize x Supercrawl Present
SISTER RAY + ELIZA NIEMI
Friday September 12, 2025
7pm Doors, 8pm Show
Mills Hardware (95 King St. E., Hamilton, ON)
GA Standing | 19+ | $20 (+SC/HST) Advance<
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A special side-quest to both Supercrawl and the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony, this intimate show featuring past nominees Sister Ray and Eliza Niemi will also feature a Polaris Poster Exhibition. This pop-up Polaris Poster show features posters from the prize’s poster archive, each one a unique visual tribute to Canada’s most creative albums. Part music history, part art show, and on display for one night only.
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Sister Ray is the project of Edmonton-born songwriter Ella Coyes. Armed with a voice that soars and scrapes in equal measure, Coyes converts first-person recollections of big, complicated love into universally potent allegories., Raised on the expansive prairies of Sturgeon County, their music is steeped in a wide range of cultural influences. With gospel bluegrass and ’90s country playing in the background of their youth, it was the traditional Métis music played at home that not only brought them closer to their heritage, but taught them a form of storytelling rooted in collective value, resilience, and safety. Their debut album, Communion, was longlisted for the 2022 Polaris Prize, and Pitchfork deemed it “a complex study of webs of interpersonal hurt, and a celebration of emotional survival.” They have been featured in Clash Magazine, NME, DIY Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, Audiotree, NPR, Paste, and many more tastemaker outlets. Their EP Teeth came from a need for space and the repercussions conditional to this desire. Its songs were written quickly and vigorously, mimicked through the recording process, crafted by Coyes over five days, recruiting Ginla (the Brooklyn-based duo behind Communion and early Adrianne Lenker) as collaborators and producers. Their yearning tone and staggering honesty trickles throughout and the erosion leads to an opening—vacant, unfamiliar, and with room to breathe. On Believer, Sister Ray’s sophomore album, they evaluate what it means to hold your center while continually reappraising how to make sense of the world. Conjuring the barbed alternative folk and sweeping Americana of Tom Waits, Smog, and Lucinda Williams, the album unfurls and claws towards a greater emotional precision. If the tracks on Communion were fueled with an intentional sense of urgency, for their songwriting to serve as a vehicle for excavating revelations in motion, Believer yearns in a different direction. It rings with the certainty that self-assurance is cultivated through the cracks of discomfort.
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Kneading dough is tricky. You should know how it’s supposed to feel, and if you try too hard, you could make it worse. It’s a beautiful practice–creation with a gentle touch. This is the same instinctual skill Toronto-based artist Eliza Niemi has cultivated in her songwriting over decades. Before she became a cellist and vocalist, her father taught her the basics of bass and guitar at home. They would play together by ear, which fostered her deep musicality and a creative ethic that prioritizes joyful collaboration. Collaboration has always been at the centre of her practice — whether it be in improvising, playing in bands, or running her label Vain Mina Records. Her critically acclaimed debut LP Staying Mellow Blows (2022) was long listed for the Polaris Prize and her scores and compositions have appeared on CBC, BBC, Radiotopia, No Budge, and the Tribeca and FIN Atlantic Film Festivals.
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Supercrawl Presents Aysanabee Dec 7 at Bridgeworks
Supercrawl Presents
AYSANABEE
The Way We’re Born Tour
Join two-time JUNO Award-winning Oji-Cree artist Aysanabee (pronounced ACE-in-abbey) on his first-ever headlining tour,The Way We’re Born Tour, supporting the upcoming June 20, 2025 release of his sophomore album Edge Of The Earth. Following two incredible Canadian support tours with Allison Russell and Dan Mangan, this spring’s Eastern Canadian tour, as well as countless global festival appearances, it is now time for Aysanabee to take center stage and share his powerful music — including the radio hit singles “Nomads,” “We Were Here,” “Somebody Else,” and his newest radiocharting single “Edge Of The Earth” — along with his engaging storytelling. The alternative indie artist, of Sucker Clan from the Sandy Lake First Nation, a remote fly-in community in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, now calls Toronto home. He began making music under his mother’s maiden name when moments of stillness allowed him to slow down and create music that truly represented him as an artist. He’s been compared to Hozier and Kings of Leon, among others. In March 2024, Aysanabee made history as the first Indigenous artist to win theJUNO Awards for Alternative Album of the Year and the coveted Songwriter of the Year for his EP Here and Now. His debut album, Watin (Nov 2022), named after his grandfather, combined music and journalism with artistry and expression and was shortlisted for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize. Since 2021, he has performed over 300 shows across Canada and globally, including tours abroad with Kim Churchill (AU) and Skye Wallace (IT), and international festivals Reeperbahn (DE), The Great Escape (UK), SXSW Sydney (AU), Tallinn Music Week (ES), and AmericanaFestUK (GB).
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“Aysanabee is a big presence even alone on stage…and the adoring crowd makes it clear it will follow him back after he departs to thunderous cheers.”— NEXT Magazine
“Aysanabee offered stories behind the selections of his heartfelt tales to the point where the audience didn’t want him to leave the stage.”—Toronto Star
“His guitarwork was ridiculously brilliant. If you ever get a chance to see him, please do.”-Montreal Rocks
Supercrawl Reveals 2025 Music Lineup
Born Ruffians, Basia Bulat, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Steve Strongman, TOBi, and Donovan Woods Will Headline Award-Winning Multi-Arts Fest September 12-14, Presented by TD Bank Group
(Hamilton, ON) Supercrawl organizers today unveiled the epic musical lineup for the free festival component of Supercrawl 2025. The award-winning multi-arts event, presented by TD Bank Group, will take place September 12-14, 2025 along James Street North in downtown Hamilton, Ontario.
Supercrawl’s Festival Director Tim Potocic previewed the coming festival season for those in attendance at a launch event held at multi-arts event space Mills Hardware. This year’s edition of Supercrawl features the most expansive roster of musical talent the festival has ever showcased, including local, regional, national and international talents — 65 acts in all, on three stages along a kilometre of James North.
“Collaboration with great artists and musicians has been central to Supercrawl since we started,” Potocic said. “When we did, the idea that we would one day be producing our 17th annual festival season seemed like a distant dream. Community support and creative collaboration has made that dream real, and in our 17th year it’s a pleasure to present our biggest musical lineup yet. We hope that the community and folks from across Canada join us as we celebrate the arts this September.”
Headliners and direct support at Supercrawl 2025 will be Born Ruffians, Basia Bulat, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Steve Strongman, TOBi, and Donovan Woods.
Other musical artists announced today include (in alphabetical order) AOIFE, The Beans, Sean Bienhaus, Rachel Bobbitt, Born In The Eighties, Buddah Abusah, Cadence Weapon, Jean Caffeine, Classified, Sarah Church, The Commune, Council House, Criminal Inhibition, cute, Da Bomb, Dammit Goldie, The Darcys, Don’t Hit Your Head, Eyes Like Opals, James Favron, Foxwarren, Delyn Grey, Hamilton Children’s Choir, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Neil Haverty, Jambassadors, Ro Joaquim, Jocelyn June and the Bugs, KTxKP, Rob Lamothe, Hua Li 化力, Linebeck, Loaded Dice, Lonely Little Kitsch, Los Chukos, Lost Faculty, Loversteeth, Lucky Honey, Mayor McCA, DJ Danny Miles, Minuscule, Neon Dreams, Nezqwik, NOVIÆ, PYPY, Rapid Transit, Rexford Drive, Shealagh Rose, Evan Rotella, Rocket and the Renegades, $EAMS, ShaaMaa, Spookyguava, Thunder Queens, Trout Lily, Menno Versteeg, Alex Whorms, and CJ Wiley.
Further lineup reveals (such as art, fashion, dance, theatre, vendors, food trucks, family, sports, spectacle, and talks) as well as event map and schedule will follow in the weeks leading up to the festival. Stay tuned!
Supercrawl Presents PUP with Snotty Nose Rez Kids Dec 13 at Bridgeworks
Supercrawl Presents
PUP
with special guests Snotty Nose Rez Kids
Over the past decade, PUP have thrived on volatility. It’s not really a joke when the Toronto punks release songs like “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will” or put out albums called The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND. Though its four members are all best friends, creative dysfunction and interpersonal friction make their snarling and self-deprecating songs thrilling. To their shock and occasional dismay, it’s why their four albums are critically acclaimed and the crowds at their galvanizing live shows have only grown. It hasn’t gone off the rails yet but it definitely could. The possibility it could all blow up at any second is the band’s magic. Who Will Look After The Dogs?, PUP’s pummeling and cathartic fifth LP, is their most immediate, no-frills, and hard-hitting full-length yet. Out May 5 via Little Dipper / Rise Records, it’s the culmination of their past decade of constant touring and their palpable, livewire chemistry. While it deals with dark thoughts, it’s not whiny. It’s actually the most hopeful of their catalog, finding frontman Stefan Babcock at his most reflective and vulnerable. Over 12 tracks, he excavates his life’s relationships—romantic, with his bandmates, and most ruthlessly, his relationship to himself. Even if PUP weren’t entirely immune from jam-space spats and band-induced aggravations making this album, they scrapped their tedious perfectionism and rediscovered the joy of making loud music together. They truly had fun this time, we promise! Following the release of 2022’s The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND, their most adventurous and maximalist full-length, the band’s lives changed significantly. Guitarist Steve Sladkowski got married, bassist Nestor Chumak settled into being a dad, and drummer Zack Mykula moved to a new place in Toronto that allowed him to expand his home studio. As the others were making big decisions and getting their acts together, Babcock felt isolated. He had just ended a decade-long relationship and cut himself off from his bandmates. “We don’t get along when we’re making records, so I tend to retreat,” says Babcock. “In the past, I’d find comfort in another person, but this time I was at it alone. Being bored and lonely I just started writing music nonstop.” Where the older records took Babcock two to three years to get through 12 tracks, he wrote over 30 songs in a year. While writing, Babcock had time to reflect and maybe even grow up. “So many early songs were about how I’m a complete fuck up,” he says. “While that remains true, I stopped hating myself as much as I did when I was younger and the people around me accepted me for who I am.” Where PUP’s previous LPs served as a window into six months of Babcock’s life, the songs here take a holistic view of his romantic partnerships, his friendships, and how he treated himself from his youth to now. In a way, writing this album served as a mirror to his emotional growth. It was hard, occasionally sucked, but was ultimately worth it. Babcock began to view these songs as a chronology: the opening tunes like the blistering “No Hope” and the caustic “Olive Garden” were written from the perspective of his past youthful naïveté, the middle third from frequent bouts of self-loathing, and the final few cuts from the acceptance that comes with finally getting your shit together. While “Hallways” was the first song he wrote for the album, immediately following his breakup, it’s tucked towards the end of the tracklist. Despite its raw feelings, there’s levity and heart in its chorus and the lines, “Cause when one door closes, it might never open / There might be no other doors.” It’s bracing and raw, but its lightness keeps it together. “There’s a lot of sadness in the back half of the record, but there’s a lot more hope here too,” says Babcock. “I’m just coming to peace with who I am.” When Babcock brought what he wrote to the rest of the band, they all agreed to let the songs develop as organically as possible. “We realized it should be four people in a room playing,” says Chumak. “The most important thing was trying to do the most with just us.” Historically, the band’s jam sessions are contentious affairs but here, everything fell into place for once. Take the lead single “Paranoid,” which bursts with apocalyptic energy. The song careens from bombastic riffs and Babcock’s ferocious screams, to unrelenting clangs from the rhythm section. It’s the entire band at its heaviest but the chorus is as anthemic and infectious as anything they’ve ever done. It’s quintessential PUP. “We straddle the line between it falling off the rails and then being totally in the pocket,” says Sladkowski. “But our four disparate personalities are what make it interesting.” They decamped to Los Angeles to work with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Death Cab For Cutie, Mannequin Pussy). In the studio, he helped the band work through their nagging tendency to overthink things. When they’d like how a take sounded, he’d remind them that they didn’t have to try it again. He’d tell them when songs felt overwritten and to trust each other in the moment. “If we can’t solve an arrangement or songwriting problem in the room between the four of us in a few minutes, then it’s not really worth solving because we’d just get into a hole and lose perspective,” says Mykula. “Thanks to John, getting out of our heads made it fun.” Congleton also gave the band the space to, in their words, “completely annihilate” the track “Hunger For Death” and rewrite it in the studio. On “Get Dumber,” which features backing vocals from Jeff Rosenstock, there’s a flubbed line (instead of “It’s pretty fucking obnoxious,” Rosenstock yelps, “ah, lyrics…”). On playback, the mistake made the song even more special. They recorded the entire album in three weeks—less than half the time it took to make The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND. “When I first started writing the lyrics for this record, everything felt really heavy,” says Babcock. “By the time we recorded it, even those dark songs felt light and fun. We didn’t even really fight while making this record. It all just felt fucking awesome.” Compared to the rest of their catalog, Who Will Look After The Dogs? evokes the lightning-in-a-bottle intensity of their self-titled debut (except they are much better at their instruments now). Though they’re all well out of their reckless twenties and have played nearly a thousand shows since then, there’s still unpredictable mayhem in the arrangements and an acerbic bite in the writing. “Because we were less precious with everything this time, it felt like we were capturing the feeling of being in a band for the first time when you finally hear everything clicking,” says Babcock. There’s even a newfound optimism and hope here, especially on the surprisingly graceful closer “Shut Up.” During the penultimate track “Best Revenge,” Babcock sings, “The best revenge is living well / Didn’t even know what was right in front of me.” Even when things seem irrevocably fraught and you slip back into stupid old habits, being around your closest friends can get you through. Or, at the very least, they can tell you to get over yourself. “With the band, I have such an intense, personal connection with those three guys that I don’t have with anybody else in my life,” says Babcock. “Sometimes you have to really go through the shit to have that big high of creating something with your best friends that you could never do alone.”
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Snotty Nose Rez Kids tore into the music scene with unmistakeable talent and an unforgettable name. Showing off their lyrical prowess and natural storytelling ability, Yung Trybez and Young D jumpstarted the band with two back-to-back albums in 2017. Their follow up album, 2019’s Trapline, really launched their career with hit “Boujee Natives,” and multiple awards including their first JUNO nomination. The band took their high voltage live show on the road and clocked 100 shows in 6 different countries. Their pandemic album, Life After, saw greater industry recognition with multiple music magazine cover stories, and strong streaming platform support including Billboard advertisements in Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square, playlist cover images, and an Amazon Twitch Channel Takeover. Taking the album on the road, the band toured 80 shows in support of the album across North America. They received their second JUNO nomination and performed during the live broadcast. They were invited by The Toronto Raptors to play a half time show, and to the Vancouver Canucks to play in-between periods. Their 2022 project, I’m Good, HBU? elevated their career to new heights, and saw them receive their fourth Polaris Prize Shortlist, a win for top music video of the year at the Prism Prize Awards for their Beatles-inspired Damn Right, and landed them three Western Canadian Music Awards, bringing their tally to 13 wins so far. SNRK have gone on to dominate in Hip-Hop music, most recently achieving their biggest milestone, signing to Sony Music. SNRK are blazing their own path, weaving together a musical fabric of hard-hitting lyricism, revealing stories about the struggles they and their people have encountered, empowering protest songs for the front lines, and a humour that keeps even the heaviest of topics something you can vibe to.
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Supercrawl Presents Martha Wainwright at Bridgeworks Mar 21, 2025
Supercrawl Presents
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT
20th Anniversary Tour
with special guest Haley Blais
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Haley Blais is a Vancouver-based singer-songwriter who has turned out defiant scream-into-your-pillow pop songs since 2014. Blais developed a community and fanbase as a teenager almost a decade ago with her diaristic YouTube videos and tender ukulele covers. Since then, Blais has traded the solo ukulele for a guitar and a five-piece band. In 2020, Blais released a debut full-length album of jangly pop anthems, Below the Salt, produced with indie staples Tennis and Louise Burns. The debut amassed millions of streams and avid support from publications like NPR, NYLON, and i-D, leading to sell-out shows in the UK, Europe and USA. Now signed to iconic indie label Arts & Crafts, Haley’s signature sound has matured into a distinct new voice. Her lyrics riff on the joys and banalities of the everyday, the need to break apart and away from an uninspiring life, radical acceptance, and manifesting a world where you feel proud of yourself and who you’re surrounded by. Wisecrack (released September 15, 2023), her sophomore album, was conceived as a conceptual record about the formation of new families amidst the dissolution of her parent’s relationship; Wisecrack is textured and wryly poetic, oscillating somewhere between cherished childhood memories and the creation of a new self. The existential, everyday worries we all contain but rarely share are laid bare across 11 songs exquisitely performed with profundity, grace, and humour. Tongue-in-cheek lines like “I want my therapist to think I’m cool” give the melancholic mood a biting edge. “Can I be responsible for things that I did years ago? / I guess it could be good for just a laugh,” Blais sings — that’s Wisecrack in a nutshell. Funny and raw at the same time.
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Supercrawl Lineups: 16 Years of Dazzling Music
ONE FESTIVAL. SIXTEEN SEASONS. HUNDREDS OF PERFORMERS
Since 2009, Supercrawl has hosted a vibrant range of compelling and contemporary musical talent. Whether through the signature on-street festival weekend, partnered presentations, club series, or ticketed events, Supercrawl consistently showcases the best of local live music alongside national and international artists.
The kaleidoscopic roster of Supercrawl alumni runs into the high hundreds and includes A Tribe Called Red, The Acorn, Jeremie Albino, Allegories, Altameda, The Altobeelays, Alvvays, Matt Andersen, Antibalas, The Anti-Queens, Arkells, Art Pop Ensemble, A Side B Side, Ascot Royals, Astral Witch, Athanase, Rich Aucoin, Averages, Kee Avil, Avrha, Aysanabee, Backbiters, BADBADNOTGOOD, Bad Dates, Bad Waitress, Bahamas, Tim Baker, Adam Baldwin, The Bandicoots, Tynomi Banks, The Barettas, James Barker Band, Basement Revolver, Bathing, BB Guns, The Beaches, Sarah Beatty, The Be Sharps, Beef Boys, Beelays, Begonia, Beliefs, Belle Game, Bend It Like Beck, Ridley Bent, The Beverleys, Big Fir, Big Wreck, Bile Sister, Bill and the Art Crawlers, Billy Moon, Billy Talent, Everett Bird, Rae Billing & Crybaby, Black Baron, Black Collar Union, Black Rhino Riot, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Blandlord, Blind Mule, Blunt Chunks, Bocce, Bombino,
Bonjay, Boo Seeka, Kate Boothman, Born in the Eighties, Born Ruffians, Jessie Bower, Bowjia, Boy & Bear, Boy Golden, Boyhood, Boys and Girls Club, Charles Bradley, Bravestation, Breeze, Broken Social Scene, Bros, The Bros. Landreth, Brott Opera, Bruce Peninsula, Brusque Twins, Jennifer Budd, Buddah Abusah, Basia Bulat, Katie Bulley, Thomas Cade, Cadence Weapon, Ben Caplan, Caribou, Carmen on Tap, Carpenteers, Casper Skulls, Jennifer Castle, Catl, Caveboy, Century Palm, Change of Heart, Nuela Charles, Tanika Charles & the Wonderfuls, Evelyn Charlotte-Joe, Chastity, Chelsea Light Moving, Rita Chiarelli, Paul Chin, Choir! Choir! Choir!, Choose Up, Chore, Nicole Christian, City and the Sea, Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs, Laura Cole, Colour Film, Comet Control, Command Sisters, The Commissionaires, Cootes Paradise,
Charlotte Cornfield, Coszmos Quartette, Cowlick, Coy Haste, William Crighton, Cross Dog, The Crowleys, Crrotting, Crystal Journey, Customaries, Aron D’Alesio, Danko Jones, The Danks, Dead Tired, Dear Rouge, Dearly Beloved, The Dears, Death From Above 1979, Matthew de Zoete, Diamond Rings, Digging Roots, The Dill, Dilly Dally. Dinner Belles, Dinosaur Bones, The Diodes, Dirty Frigs, The Dirty Nil, Discography DJs, Dizzy, Dizzy Spells, DJ Basco, DJ Ollie, DJ Spinn, Doldrums, Doobie Freaks, Don Vail, Doomsquad, Dr. Draw, Kevin Drew, Ducats, Dwayne Gretzky, Earth Wind and Choir, The East Pointers, Eccodek, Dan Edmonds, Egyptrixx, Eight and a Half, Electroluminescent, Elk, Ellevator, Elliott Brood, Joel Elliot and Thin Lines, Ellis, John Ellison, The Elwins, Emay, Engine Empire, Eschaton, Espanola, Essen, Etiquette, Explosions In The Sky, Julie Fader, Fake Palms, Fame Cartel,
Family of Things, Fast Romantics, Fateh, Michael Feuerstack, Fionn, Jeremy Fisher, Jeremy Fisher Junior, Five Alarm Funk, The Flatliners, Flesh Rag, Fontine, Norman Foote, Four Tet, Pete Fowler, The Franklin Electric, Fresh Snow, Danielle Fricke, Friendly Rich, Frog Eyes, Fruiti, Fry Truck, F—-d Up, The Fuddles, Evangeline Gentle, Hannah Georgas, The Gertrudes, Get Off the Cop, Tim Gibbons,The Goddamn Goddamns, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Golden Feather, Good Luck Shop, Sarah Good, Goodnight Sunrise, Great Lake Swimmers, The Great Machine, Jacques Greene, Jeremy Greenspan, JG Ballad, Grey Lands, Greys, Grey\\Water, Groove Machine, GUH, Guilty Pleasure, Hachey the Mouthpeace, Jordan Haller, The Halluci Nation, Hamilton Children Choir, Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra,
Hamilton Suzuki School of Music, Hamilton Youth Steel Orchestra, Handsome Sultan, Haolin Munk, Harlan Pepper, Sarah Harmer, The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer, Harrison, Harrow Fair, Haters, Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins, Hayden, Piper Hayes, HEALTH, The Heartbroken, Hello Harvard, Matt Henderson, The Darcy Hepner Jazz Orchestra, The HiCats, Tim Hicks, Rebekah Higgs, High Kites, High Note Ramblers, Lacey Hill, Hollerado, Matt Holubowski, Holy Data, Hotel Mira, How to Dress Well, HSY, Humans, Huren, Ikonica, Illitry, Iskwé, Island People, Jambassadors, Jamie xx, Jaunt, Jess and Tay, BA Johnston, Jon and Roy, Julianna Jones, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Julie & the Wrong Guys, Junior Boys, K’naan, Kaïa Kater, Mia Kelly, Harrison Kennedy, The Kents, Shawn Kerr, Kestrels, kid YEARS, Kiesza, The Killjoys,
King Park, Kingdom Shore, Shawnee Kish, Taylor Knox, Kode9, Komodo, Kotek, Chantal Kreviazuk, KROY, Pierre Kwenders, L-Spex, Joey Landreth, Ryan Langdon, Language Arts, Daniel Lanois, Jessy Lanza, Lava Dolls, Bettye LaVette, Mikhail Laxton, Ada Lea, Alyssa LeClair, Lee Harvey Osmond, The Legendary Turnstylez, Hamilton Leithauser, Hubert Lenoir, Mattie Leon, Le Ren, Les Trois Accords, Letters to Lions, Terra Lightfoot, Lightmares, Lights, Lindy, Little Junior, Live How You Live, Kellie Loder, Lone Rhu, Lonely Parade, LOONY, Lost In The Trees, Loviet, DJ Donna Lovejoy, Lowell, Sarah Lowes, LTtheMonk, Luckystickz, Luella, Luna Li, Corb Lund, Olivia Lunny, Catherine MacLellan, Raine Maida, Dan Mangan, Shanika Maria, J Mascis, Mayor McCA, Eamon McGrath, McMaster Cybernetic Orchestra, Ryan McNally, The Marble Index, Melissa Marchese,
Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar, Matt Mays, Matthew Runaway, Mean Old Hammer,The Medicine Hat, Megative, Melted Faces, METZ, Mexican Slang, Haviah Mighty, Mississippi Bends, Modern Space, Ariane Moffatt, Mokomakai, MonkeyJunk, Monowhales, Monster Truck, Jacob Moon, Moon King, MOONRIIVR, Motel Raphaël, Motëm, Mother Leads, Mother Tareka & the Rebel Funktion, Mount Farewell, Mountain of Wolves, Muffled Suitcase, Benjamin Muñoz, MVLL CRIMES, My Brightest Diamond, My Son The Hurricane, Mystery Machine, Nailbiter, The National, The National Academy Orchestra of Canada, Nautiluss, nêhiyawak, Angela Nethersole, Sarah Neufeld, New Friends, New Hands, Nezqwik, Willie Nile, Not Of, Nyssa, Mimi O’Bonsawin, Jesse O’Brien, Chris Oday, Odonis Odonis, Of Gentlemen & Cowards, Oh Susanna, Ohbijou, Ohmme,
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, OMBIIGIZI, Opera Hamilton, Operators, Lindi Ortega, Osito, The Pack AD, Paley & Francis, Owen Pallett, Pandaléon, Peter Pankhurst, Gabrielle Papillon, Brant Parker, Partner, Passion Pit, Fred Penner, Paula Perri, Sandro Perri, Persons, Pet Sun, Peter Dreams, Petra Glynt, Pick A Piper, Lido Pimienta, Pineapple Girls, The Pistolettes, Plants and Animals, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Pleasure Craft, Poesy, Poor Nameless Boy, Postdata, Keegan Powell, Neeraj Prem, Kelly Prescott, PS I Love You, Pucumber Sasssquatch Family Band, Pumps, Queen Cee, Rah Rah, Rarity, Reader, The Reason, The Recklaws, The Redhill Valleys, Lee Reed, Repartee, The Rest, Revive The Rose, Rexford Drive, Amanda Rheaume, Rhythm Express, Rise Carmine, River Tiber, Sam Roberts Band, Ben Rogers, Neena Rose, Shealagh Rose,
Sean Rowe, Royal Canoe, Royal Castles, Royal Seas, Rules,Run Maggie Run, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Serena Ryder, The Sadies, Said the Whale, Buffy Sainte-Marie, John K. Samson, Sandman Viper Command, Scattered Clouds, Scratcha DVA,Sensei, Several Futures, Sha Bang Bang, Shad, Shade, Sharon and Bram, Andy Shauf, Annie Shaw, Jamie Shea & The Gentle Reminders, The Sheepdogs, Naomi Shelton and The Gospel Queens, Shout Out Out Out Out, SIANspheric, Simon and The Alexanders, Mike Simonetti, Simply Saucer, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Single Mothers, SINS, Skiffs, Skirt Check, Alfie Smith, C.A Smith, Smoothie Lou, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Snowblink, So Young, Ben Somer, The Sorority, John Southworth, Speedy Ortiz, Spoon, Spruce Invaders, Ginger St. James, Alex St. Kitts, Stars, Status/Non-Status,
The Strangers, The Stinkbugs, Steve Strongman, The Strumbellas, The Sugarman 3, Sun K,Sunshine Makers, Suuns,Superstar Crush, Adrian Sutherland, Tomi Swick, Tallies, Tanya Tagaq, Rory Taillon, Theo Tams, Tarantula X, Julian Taylor,Teenage Head, Texas King, Ian Thomas, Thought Beneath Film, 3:1, Timber Timbre, Michelle Titian, To Our Divide,Tongue Fu, Too Many Zooz, The Trews, Trickbag, TRP.P, ttwwrrss, TUNS, Turkey Rhubarb, Turnstylez, TV Freaks, Jeff Tweedy, Twin Within, Uncle Harry & The Kickstands, Vallens, Heather Valley, The Vanishers, The Vaudevillian, Menno Versteeg, Vierance, Viet Cong, Vilivant, Suzie Vinnick, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Walrus, Ruby Waters, Willie Watson, Wax Mannequin, Weaves, Bry Webb, Sam Weber, Weekend Riot Club, White Cowbell Oklahoma, White Crowleys, Whitehorse, Wild Domestic, JJ Wilde,
Charlotte Day Wilson, Roslyn Witter, Steven Wilson, Thompson Wilson, Wintersleep, Wish, Witherow & Wynands, Womb, Wooly Mantis, Donovan Woods, Hawksley Workman, Max Wray, WTCHS, X Ambassadors, Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, Yassin + Sean Terrio, Lori Yates & the Drugstore Cowboys, Yo La Tengo, Young Galaxy, Young Rival, Yukon Blonde, Zeus, The Zilis, The Zolas, ZONES and Zoon. That expansive talent roll will grow longer still with the release of details around the 17th annual edition of Supercrawl in June 2025.
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TOP TO BOTTOM: Antibalas at Supercrawl 2014; Arkells at Supercrawl 2014; Broken Social Scene at Supercrawl 2018; Fateh at Supercrawl 2019; iskwē at Supercrawl 2018; Sharon Jones at Supercrawl 2015; Lido Pimienta at Supercrawl 2022; The Sorority at Supercrawl 2019; Spoon at Supercrawl 2014; Tanya Tagaq at Supercrawl 2017; Yo La Tengo at Supercrawl 2013