Underground music promotion for Windsor

Windsor music promotion is giving the opportunity for Windsor-Essex County alternative events to be heard all around the city.

The underground music scene in Windsor brings in crowds through successful promotion of events. It gives local artists the opportunity to showcase their music and it also gives promoters a task of making sure all events are successful. Promoters around Windsor work hard to make sure they bring local and bigger name bands so the culture of music is rich. They also make sure it goes through every social media, newspaper and radio outlet possible to bring the concerts and events to the community.

Andrew Bell, 26, is a managing editor for the Windsor Independent and a host for New Noise Radio on Cjam, where he has been promoting underground bands around Windsor.

“We don’t get the luxury of being 45 minutes from Toronto. We have to fight for what we get here but it’s hard to convince bands to come through,” said Bell. “Bands are starting to see that if [they] come to Windsor, [they’re] not going to be playing for the four people and the band’s grandparents. It’s actually going to be big and people are taking the time to show up.”

Bell said he is seeing a new generation of kids coming out to local events and he has seen Windsor change over the years for event promotion.

“There wasn’t a lot going on and people weren’t really optimistic about the state of music in Windsor and I think the local economy has been helping with that. There are things coming out like the Independent and all these new bars were starting and then the Beer Exchange showed up,” said Bell. “There’s a new generation, or a wave of kids that are just like, I’ll go to every show. It has come back-Windsor is the comeback town and the scene has really impressed me.”

David Tidwell, 20, has been promoting Windsor concerts for over a year through Border City Agency.

“The hardest part [about promoting] would definitely be reaching people outside of the demographic of show-goers. I’ve tried to mix it up as much as I could this last year and even other people that come to shows say ‘wow, I saw this nerdy looking guy, he’d never go here.’ It’s just reaching the people that don’t go to shows,” said Tidwell.

Underground music genres found around Windsor are pop-punk, punk, hardcore and metal. These genres and bands aren’t often seen through the local paper, because they don’t have much of a draw for the general public. The promoters trying to promote these shows have to face the ups and downs to get through to all the Windsorites, but people like Tidwell and Bell have been fighting to boost these underground bands and genres of music as much as possible.

“When more bands start to see people in Windsor are getting more involved, I think that’ll happen again (Windsor’s popularity for bigger concerts) and shows will grow and Windsor will get back on the map again,” said Tidwell.