Canadian Music Week does an amazing job of showcasing emerging and established talent from coast to coast – but that’s not all. International artists also make a big splash every year, and 2016 was no different.

On Saturday afternoon we started CMW day 6 at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern and the Aussie BBQ. While we were there we had a Queen Street West patio sit-down with 4 piece rock band Mabel, in town from Sydney for a week of shows, networking, and parties. Then, as the clock hit 1am early Sunday morning we watched the boys jump up on stage at Nightowl on College St. to close the night with their last set of the week.

Mabel hit that stage with more enthusiasm than you might expect from a band playing their 4th show in the same city in the same week. And with a crowd that was 100% ready to party (seriously, there were dudes high fiving member of the band and lip syncing with empty mic stands) they pumped out a set that made us forget what time it was, and made us wish we could keep going.

When we were sitting with the boys Saturday they told us that the Toronto crowds had been great all week, but at Nightowl, lead singer Mikey Votano made a point of telling the crowd that they were the best… and we believe it.

We also asked Mikey, Daniel, Alvin, and Jeff for the 3 things that they loved about Toronto on their first trip. Their list…

1) Food
2) The love of live music & the number of live music venues at CMW
3) Us (really, that’s what they said)

After some laughing and hugs, Mikey made a more serious point about Toronto and Canada, applauding our LGBT equality rights and laws that Australia is still fighting for. In fact, the band is so into the cause that they used a between songs pause during their late night set to bring it up. It was a cool moment that reminded us that rock and rollers can me more than just party boys, and gave the Toronto audience a moment of unified pride at the same time.

After that brief serious note, it was back to rocking with Daniel and Alvin trading solos on the guitar and bass – and Jeff making sure to show off his skills on the drums as well as Mabel fired through Spaceman, I Wanna Love You, and My Way from their 2015 EP, Rachel.

As we sat and laughed and etc. on Saturday afternoon we asked the boys about being grouped as similar to acts like The Strokes and The Black Keys, and they really didn’t want to get into it, but we saw The Strokes similarities on stage within the first 2 songs of the set.

Note: We also ended up making jokes about The Beatles early in the afternoon and then laughed to ourselves when Mabel played I Want To Hold Your Hand as their quick soundcheck about 7 minutes before the set.

Maybe our favourite song of the night was Rachel (Easy To Love was probably a close 2nd) so we grabbed a video of the performance that you can watch now…

The boys have also started the process of following Rachel, and hit the studio in April to record the first track. They tell us they’re happy with it, and if it’s as good as what we heard at CMW 2016, we’re sure we’ll be happy with it too.

Mikey took a second to offer a toast to the Nightowl crowd as they started their set… “Happy Fucking Saturday!” – Happy indeed.

More photos & video of Mabel at CMW 2016!

Mabel Live at Nightowl via Facebook

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Joshua Murray

creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.