So it begins, tonight marks the start of the virtual Jim Beam National Talent Search. Where the best of the best in up and coming Indie music have been selected to compete for a chance to perform at the Canadian Music Week Indie Awards next year. Canadian Music Week (CMW) has been discovering and showcasing new talent in Indie music for almost 40 years and although this year might be different it is definitely more accessible for us at home!

As audience members we get to decide the fate of the acts performing by voting every night who our favourite act from each city was. (I’m having flashback’s to Canadian Idol days). As a self proclaimed couch potatoes and fan of all things singing competition related I’m excited to watch (and vote) every evening.

Here is how the process works, everyday for the next eight days a new episode will be live (at indies.ca). Each episode will highlight the five selected bands from eight cities across Canada including, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary and of course our beautiful city of Vancouver.

Canada Music Week/ Facebook

So who spearheads this competition? Well, Vancouver is first to set the stage tonight at 7 pm local time with the first bunch of five. The musical acts competing are, Small Town Artillery,

Raincity, Gnarfunkel, Redwoods and singer Maddie King. Of course I will be back tomorrow with all the highlights from this exciting evening.

This event is a response to the shutting down of music venues everywhere and almost the complete dismantle of live music all over Canada due to the ongoing pandemic. But this event is making sure to keep it safe and cleanly, with sanitation stations everywhere, the masking of musicians when not performing and making sure social distancing procedures are being followed by spacing out the acts.

The event is free so get those keyboards out and ready to vote tonight and lets hear some good music!