The Maple Leaf Lounge

Figures. A Canadian invents or creates something and the Americans get it first.

Kinda like showing the Handmaid's Tale on Hulu and the Canadians don't get it until days later (or in the case of the first season, we had to wait A WEEK AND A HALF).

For Canadian issues now, I'm too angry here in Alberta. The premier thinks he's Trump 2.0 and my own MLA is gleefully doing everything she can to dismantle the public school system. The formal vote on whether to push on with a bill that would allow doctors and pharmacists to refuse any service at all (including referrals) to patients wanting an abortion, birth control, MAiD, etc. for reasons of "conscience" was in full swing when it came to a halt... because somebody committed suicide on the steps of the provincial Legislature.

Of course the politicians are mouthing the correct phrases, but considering all the places a suicidal person could choose, the steps of the provincial government is obviously intended to tell them something.

(sorry if that seems a bit cold, but Alberta is an angry place these days while the UCP politicians whoop it up and congratulate themselves on the mayhem they're causing)

 

I can't believe I never noticed this thread before. Ah well, I'm late to the party but here's another hello from SW Ontario.

 

How's the weather down there?

 

Hovering around freezing. Grey and drizzly and dreary. I think I've seen blue skies and the sun once in the last two weeks.

 

*shoots a random Canadian in the knee with a crossbow bolt.* You pesky maple people, why didn't you ever tell me before about "Unleash The Archers" ?

 

Well I never heard of them because metal isn't something I listen to.

As for shooting a random Canadian in the knee with a crossbow bolt for not telling you... that's practically begging to lose your teeth to a hockey puck that's been chilling in a freezer. We all have them. It's our new weapon of choice.

 

I just thought you were holding out on me! They're seriously awesome.

 

I honestly often feel there are many Canadian bands that should be better known all over that somehow don't manage to break out even though they are insanely popular domestically.

 

Location, location, location.. Unleash The Archers have been picked up by Napalm a while ago so they've ventured into Europe, metal is really big over there so they're getting better known over here now too, I think that is a hard thing to do when you don't get picked up by a large label.

 

Well, true. I think some markets are better geared for certain bands of a certain type of music, and certainly a large label will make a difference. But in general, I think there's just so much competition out there, that certain bands even with a major label haven't managed to be more popular outside their domestic market. For instance, one popular Canadian band still very popular today appeared on Letterman in the 90's, a band that should in all respects be as good as anything out there on American airwaves, but that appearance ended up being barely a blip on their radar, and they said in a video several years later that after that they basically stopped chasing that dream.

 

There are really a lot of reasons why these things happen, Delain, which is a big act had a time that they barely were noticed, the singer back then did remark about the fact that just a few years before them another band in the same genre, think it was Within Temptation, did manage to get all attention so she speculated that they might have been just a tad too late.

 

I agree, but if a band is cranking out hit after hit domestically and is considered one of that country's best bands quite clearly they're doing something right and timing has nothing to do with it. Again, I think it has to do with competition. It's a very crowded industry, and entering a new market is always difficult. Could be their particular genre was already too crowded to have really made an impression.

 

The music industry is just really weird I guess.

 

yeah it's become much easier for Canadians to find themeslves being banned from entry from the U.S for five years.

the legalisation of marijuana here is making it even more complex.

Watching a few eps of border security and the conclusion that can be drawn is that some U.S border officials are absolutely nozzles over it.

Fair enough if you've got some fresh stuff on you, but a bit of residue in the pipe from smoke a few days earlier can be enough for them to take your car apart.

 

A: Christmas shopping..

 

Tell me about it. It's not like they're a small-time band either, even at the time they appeared on the show. This is a band that constantly sells out arena shows. Although I've heard it said that some bands that are successful like this domestically, selling out arena shows, hop across the border and do small bars and find it humbling.