Meet Dollarama and DJ Wes Allen

Dollarama

Can you describe Dollarama?

Dollarama could be the end result of a children's birthday party getting creative or going terribly awry. Either way, it's pretty subjective to ones' taste and ability to digest.

Who are the members of Dollarama?

It's pretty open-ended, in the sense that we've taken a collective approach to the project. Core members who play almost every show are Aaron Bronsteter, who came up with the idea, Eric Warner who thought the idea was amusing and initiated it with Aaron and Matthew King. Other members in the rotating cast have been Lee Weisblatt, Sonny T-Light, Christina Miller, the choir and many others. Technically anyone can be in the band as long as they give us advance warning.

How did you guys start up?

Aaron got an e-mail for an open mic night looking for artists to fill 15 minute slots. He decided it was then, and only then that he put his idea into motion and Dollarama was born. The initial idea was to play one show and see if we could get kicked off-stage, but clearly that has backfired. This show on the 21st to the best of our knowledge and ability to keep track of things is our 20th, a landmark.

Did you have any particular places where you buy your instruments? Any particular dollar store that has better instruments?

I think the Dollarama chain has a pretty good selection, but when it comes down to it, anywhere that can provide us with materials we can turn into instruments is good enough for us.

What's the audience reaction usually like?

It's pretty mixed, some are amused, some are intrigued and some are visibly upset, really runs the gauntlet of emotions. Initially, our shows were pretty destructive instrument wise, but we've taken time to learn from our past ways and now are trying to focus more on creating than going through items at record speed. We just recently completed an album that we're really
proud of, which was recorded in a basement in Thornhill by Mike "Acid Test" Harland. He is into what we're working on and where it's going, so it was a good pairing, and best of all, sticking to ideology, cost $1. It's going to be mixed/mastered soon and then will be available for purchase cross-Canada on my new imprint, TV Dinners For The Modern Sinner. The url for the label
is www.tvdinners.ca, but nothing is up yet, soon however.

So how did you start becoming a DJ? What was your first gig?

I got into DJing through a love of music I suppose. I had always enjoyed buying records and making mix CDs for people and stuff so I guess it was a natural transition. My family is very musical so maybe one could say its in my blood. My first DJ gig was the very night that I bought my first mixer and turntables actually. It was 5 years ago, was when I was in first year university, living in residence. I DJed in our residence building for a house party. I think I rushed the purchase of the gear so that I could DJ that night. It was like 'we need someone to DJ this party' and I had been thinking about getting gear for a while and had some money saved up. I bought it off a friend of a friend who was upgrading to better stuff the day of the party. The party
went pretty well I recall. My first actual gig in a club would have been the innagural Doing it to Death party in January of 2003 at the old Club 56 in Kensington.

Tell us more about your regular DJ night "James Brown is Dead."

James Brown is Dead is a night which is focused on dance music of the 1980s under the general guise of disco. Not disco in the Saturday Night Fever sense but more of the obscure, underground New York City stuff. Also stuff like west-coast electro funk, classic r&b, Latino freestyle and dance-pop. I guess a lot of the stuff I play isn't really that obscure if you know the music of the 80s though. Its pretty much all vintage stuff, I might slip in a few modern tracks
that are done in that style, but I'm not really looking to play popular songs of today just to please the crowd. The night is more focused on appreciating classics and uncovering new ones as opposed to playing all the new hits or whatever. Oh, and the name? I guess its just meant as a non-sequitur. It is the name of that LA Style song, but its not really a reference to that. I just liked the name.

We ran into a "five records" column you did for indiepolitik.... we didn't know you had a political side...

Well, my DJing doesn't really have a political side. My goal when DJing is to expose people to music they might like and to get them to dance, not to educate them on social issues. I don't think there are many instances of great dance songs with poignant social/political issues. Sure there's a few, but not enough for a whole night. I think that might make for kind of an awkward party as the dancefloor isn't really the best place to get people to think in such a way
anyways. My interest in music in general definitely has a political side though. So the "five records" thing, was more Wes the music enjoyer as opposed to Wes the DJ.

What records/albums/artists have been catching your attention?

The new Bush League 10" EP is really good. They did a great job at capturing the literal eardrum assault which is their live show on record. Apparently when listening to the mix in the studio they decided it wasn't heavy enough so the whole album was re-run through distortion. I think they are one of Toronto's best bands of the last 5 years. This summer I was also listening to a lot of the Soul Jazz Records 'Studio One' series. Soul Jazz has been compiling tons of sides originally put out by the legendary Jamaican reggae label Studio One over the last few years. The history of Jamacian music is a rather untold story compared to most other genres so these comps were an excellent introduction. It's amazing how much fantastic music was (and still is) made in Jamaica. It's an island of only 3 million people - the ratio of great music per-capita has to be some kind of record I think.

What can we expect to hear at the back to school night?

I think I'll be bringing a mixed bag and try to keep things fairly eclectic. Definitely some fun party tunes but also some quirky stuff to keep people on their toes.

Dollarama and DJ Wes Allen will be at Torontoist's Back To School Party next Thursday (Sept. 21) at the Tranzac, doors 9pm, $5. Interviews with Idiots! and The Ghost is Dancing, the other acts playing next week, will be up shortly.