DOMINIONATED on the GO: Peterborough feat. Michael Cloud Duguay and more

In this new series, contributor Matt Hertendy will (attempt to) visit (almost) every city and town along the GO Transit System, and highlight people, places and things that make each stop and their music community unique.

Preamble

As I sit down for a three-hour commute to Peterborough, I think, “Why am I doing this again?” I think about what I, a Torontonian, hope to achieve and avoid in a series like this.

I want to highlight smaller music scenes that typically live in the shadow of or are looked over in favour of Toronto. Hogtown likes to think of itself as the centre of the world, and DOMINIONATED has been accused of Toronto bias in the past (hi, Sandy!). So, at the very least, this is a great way to highlight some folks you may not have heard of before. 

I DO NOT want this to read like “Toronto Guy Patronizes Small Town: 10 Quaint Yokels You Should Know”. That’s what BlogTO is for. 

And with that, this is the most you will hear from me in one shot. From here on out, I turn it over to musicians and community members I meet during my travels.

Peterborough, with Michael Cloud Duguay

Michael Cloud Duguay lived in Peterborough, left Peterborough, and swore never to return to Peterborough. That was until a coming together of personal and professional circumstances led him back to the place he was looking for all along.

When I visit Duguay in Peterborough, he is a few months away from releasing his new album Succeeder with his new record label Watch That Ends the Night, which he co-founded with collaborator Andrew MacKelvie. Succeeder is Duguay’s “Peterborough” album, stemming from a pandemic exercise in which he set out to write one song about each place he has lived for more than 90 nights in his life. 

Tracks on Succeeder cover everything from his experiences in his chaotic first dwelling after moving out on his own (“Emancipation!”) to his incarceration and subsequent decision to return to Peterborough (“Crabtree”). 

The album is not only lyrically tied to The Electric City, but is also a community effort; recorded mostly in All Saints Anglican Church, where featured vocalist Cormac Culkeen is a member of the ministry team, and features a cast of local musicians. The arrangements evoking memories of Duguay’s nostalgic soundscape of Peterborough’s 2000s music scene, are created by the hiring of musicians who would have been around in that time, such as members of The Silver Hearts and more. Hiring musicians he trusts, plus a “Totalism” approach in which every idea is tried and kept, playing instruments reminiscent of “that North of [Highway] 7 sounds” results in what Duguay calls a “Heartland” album; with Peterborough situated in the heartland of Ontario, but also Peterborough being where his heart lives. 

Duguay’s enthusiasm for Peterborough is palpable from the way he talks about everything from his foundational musical experience of sneaking into Montréal House to catch The Silver Hearts, to his favourite place to go for walks, The World’s Largest Hydraulic Lift Lock – an immense cast concrete structure that can lift and lower boats twenty meters (!!!) as they travel along the Trent-Severn Waterway. 

Though Duguay is constantly negotiating his new place in his old city, he shows me around Peterborough with a fondness as sweet as the smell of cereal wafting out of the Quaker Oats factory. 

Miracle Territory

Duguay, being a man of many projects, also has a promotion outfit called Miracle Territory, which aims to program all-ages shows featuring local musicians. It’s Duguay’s memories of all-ages shows at venues such as The Spill and The Gordon Best, which he cites as formative experiences, that kickstarted the direction of his musical life. 

This also gave me an opportunity to talk to people about their connection to Peterborough’s music community.

While I am in town, Miracle Territory is hosting a show at the revered Sadlier House with Otonabeats, the Trent Arthur newspaper, and the Trent University Alternative Arts Collective (TUAAC). The lineup features Montreal-based Eve Parker Finley and local younglings Stillie.

Cuts from Finley’s latest album, In the End, are a massive hit among the predominantly TUAAC-populated crowd. This is exactly the sort of programming and audience alchemy that Miracle Territory is hoping to achieve, in hopes that Peterborough can be seen as a viable tour stop for artists traveling around Eastern Ontario. 

Finley grew up in Peterborough, and felt a strange feeling at the Sadlier House, sitting in the exact same place she took music lessons decades ago.

Young psychedelic bedroom-pop outfit Stillie kick off the night. Their youthfulness is apparent in their performance, but they bring big sounds, big hooks, and are not afraid for their music to take unexpected turns. Watch out for these kids, as they will only get better with experience.

The Trent University Alternative Arts Collective brought the energy all night. TUAAC aims to create a community of arts and culture lovers, and connect students and artists to various forms of art that they may not be exposed to otherwise. Their passion for these connections are apparent in their enthusiasm for each act in the lineup.

They also make a killer photo booth:

In the basement of the Sadlier House is the office of the award-winning school newspaper Trent Arthur. In chatting with their editorial team, they wish to see a more concerted effort to connect the Trent University arts scene with that of downtown Peterborough, citing the closure of Peterborough Collegiate as a fracture in the community that the community is yet to recover from.

Otonabeats are a staple of Peterborough’s dance community. They hold events of their own and have a radio show, but also are called upon to collaborate and bring local DJs to events around town. On this night, they brought along DJ Noah Williams and DJ Bizzy. Otanabeats is such a presence in the dance scene that some attendees arrived at the end of the night just to dance along.

Elsewhere in Peterborough, there are folks making things happen. 

Luke Best is a Peterborough based photographer who is one of the go-to eyes for documenting the musical happenings in town. He is also looking to start an arts publication, to fill a much needed gap in local coverage.

After years of seeing many venues come and go, and tired of establishments where his friends don’t feel safe, Conner Clarkin decided to open Bar 379. This new establishment adds to a growing music venue ecosystem which also includes Jethro’s and The Pig’s Ear.

By chance I ran into Shan Culkeen who writes and performs dreamlike apocalyptic songs on the autoharp as Fittonia. When asked about what she wishes for the Peterborough music scene, she wants to see more care for one another.

At the end of the night, the Peterborough locals bring Eve Parker Finley and I to have our first taste of a Peterborough delicacy; a Pizza Roll from Yee’s. The history of Yee’s and the Pizza Roll was well chronicled by Cormac Culkeen for the Peterborough Current. 

In short, the Pizza Roll is an egg roll filled with pizza. It is scalding. It is greasy. It comes with multiple warnings, once when ordered and once when it arrives, that it will be hot. I fear the pizza roll for its temperature, and I fear how much I enjoyed the pizza roll. 

In my short stay in Peterborough there is no doubt I missed connecting with crucial people with encyclopedic knowledge of the past, present, and future of the town’s music scene. However, what I did get to experience were a number of people who are very passionate about their town, and hungry for great music to come through.

For artists traveling between Toronto and Montreal: consider adding Peterborough to your tour itinerary. After your show, when you’re cautiously eating your first Pizza Roll, you will be glad you did.