After creating the Durham College (DC) Musicians Club – and then being hit by the pandemic – J. Atlas was looking for a way to get his members to perform virtually for an audience.
He reached out to Durham College Students Inc. (DCSI) in the early summer and collaborated with them to create a unique show called the Locals Only Showcase.
Turns out it proved to be popular.
After all the hard work put in by Atlas and other students, Locals Only ran Sept. 16 as the highest-viewed broadcast on the Riot Radio stage during the DCSIFEST 2020 with more than 250 viewers and is in the top live streams on the RiotRadio.ca platform ever.
“We put together a lineup of local musicians, a local showcase,” said Atlas, who is also a second-year Music Business Management (MBM) student.
For fellow MBM students, the opportunity represented a chance at redemption after the annual Oshawa Music Week was scrapped during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It all got cancelled due to COVID, unfortunately,” said Atlas. “So when DCSI reached out, I reached out to a few MBM students and everyone was very happy to push this one out together because we didn’t get that opportunity last year.”
The DC Musicians Club encountered some pandemic-related problems of its own.
“It was going well, right before COVID started and we had one jam session with about seven or eight musicians and then nothing happened,” said Atlas, leader of the DC Musicians Club.
Atlas took the lead on finding and coordinating the artists, social media, and spreading the word about the show. Performances were recorded, sent to Riot Radio where Evan Halbert edited them together, and Eldin Atkin hosted the event.
Getting musicians to be part of the show was fairly painless as they were all eager to be in the showcase. Atlas says putting the show together was not an easy process.
“I think the proudest moment was when we had the poster with all the artists put together and it was all finalized,” said Atlas. “To see everything come together.”
This likely won’t be the last you see of the MBM students on Riot Radio, either.
“We’re working on a few things,” says Atlas. “Nothing’s finalized but a virtual talent show for Durham College.”