If you’ve spent any amount of time in downtown Peterborough, then you’ll know that the music scene is pretty fantastic.
Being only a mid-sized city, it’s always seemed like the proportion of musicians here is unusually high. There’s such a wide array of unique artists with their own definitive sounds, making it near impossible to not find something you like.
And because many of these musicians are Trent students, it’s all the more reason to make an effort in getting to know what’s out there, and possibly getting involved yourself. There’s usually something going on every day of the week, as long as you know where to find it.
One of the best ways to stumble across new musicians is to attend an open mic session, and lucky for you, us folks at the Trent University Music Society (TUMS) have got you covered.
If you stop by the Trend pub at Traill college on a Thursday evening, prepare your eardrums. We host weekly open mics there every Thursday starting at 8pm, and anyone is welcome to perform.
Regular performers from last year include Mason Milner and Television Rd, and we’re hoping to see lots of new faces show up throughout the school year (*cough* first-years *cough*). We’re a pretty nice bunch, so don’t be scared to come out and show everyone your chops!
If not knowing where the Trend is located keeps you from coming out, don’t worry, because it’s not super difficult to find. It’s on the Traill college campus, which is between Dublin and London streets, and there is a stop on the West Bank bus route that will take you right to it (just after Sadleir House).
The Trend is an awesome Gastro Pub that you should check out even if you can’t make it to the open mics. It serves fresh, local, food during the day and cold, reasonably-priced beer at night.
Head through the parking lot by Dublin Street and then take a right down some stairs, and you should find yourself at the Trend. If not, just pretend to look at your phone while you reorient yourself and try again (that’s what I always do, anyway).
On the other hand, if feeling a little hesitant to perform in front of a live audience is holding you back, TUMS has you covered there too.
We also hold a ‘jammer’s club’ on Wednesday nights from 7-9pm in the LEC Pit. The idea is to have a place for musicians to informally jam and practice with one another without the pressure of performing in front of anyone.
We’re hoping to appeal to a wide range of skill levels, with beginner musicians learning from more experienced ones. If you want to meet other Trent musicians, or improve your skills and learn something new, you should definitely stop by.
Since the sessions are on-campus in LEC, we’re hoping to see a lot of first-year students show up. We have tried to make the club as accessible as we can. That being said, all students are welcome to join.
If you’d like to get on the jammer’s mailing list, let us know at trentumusic@gmail.com.
So there you go. If you were wondering how best to get involved with Peterborough’s musical community, TUMS is a great place to start. Hopefully this encouraged you to check out some local tunes if you haven’t already, and maybe take up an instrument or two.
Who knows, maybe you’ll go from never having touched a guitar to performing at one of our open mics in a just few weeks! Just don’t play Wonderwall (kidding… mostly). Hope to see you out!
