Mike Edel with Eric Brandon

Schedule

Fri Feb 03 2023 at 07:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Location

The Dakota Tavern | Toronto, ON

Mike Edel with Eric Brandon (DOORS 7PM)
About this Event

*PLEASE READ GUIDELINES BEFORE PURCHASING YOUR TICKETS*

- Masks recommended.

- This event is General Admission.

- Social distancing is no longer in effect.

- This event is 19+

- No refunds.

MIKE EDEL:

‘Tears and laughter have a way of getting along,’ sings Canadian singer-songwriter Mike Edel on the title track from his upcoming 5th full-length-album and accompanying documentary ‘casseroles & flowers’ out July 22nd, 2022.

Not only has Edel crafted a series of optimistic melodies that perfectly hold the tension between hardship and heart, but he did it while recovering from a stroke he suffered in April 2021. The sudden event occurred as Edel and his wife — pregnant with their firstborn — were on tour playing outdoor shows and living in a converted van in an effort to keep performing in a covid-compromised live event landscape. These experiences unravel before us in the extremely personal ‘casseroles & flowers;’ Edel reveals that it was “the time of our lives, perfect and bittersweet,” on the uptempo rock-leaning ‘illusions by the sea.’ A literal recount of his stroke is captured with “next thing I know, falling like a domino,” on the emotional folk ballad ‘domino.’ The album’s title, ‘casseroles & flowers,’ aptly presents two icons of love and sympathy (both of which repeatedly appeared on their doorsteps) that demarcate the ineffability of both grief and joy.

After confidently walking again and rehabbing 5 hours per day, Edel turned his attention to what he found most difficult: playing guitar. Still unable to hold a pick and play many of his own songs, Edel and Alexandra Niedzialkowski (Cumulus) co-wrote most of the album and explored themes of death, renewal, grace, physical deficiencies and fatherhood as Edel experienced them in hospitals, vans, basement suites and new towns.

With ‘casseroles & flowers’ Edel not only makes his self-production debut, but also his filmmaking debut.

‘For 4 months I was very motivated to diligently play with rubber bands, rice, puddy, and put baseball men stamps on my chart, but I knew in order to keep progressing I needed to channel my energies into what I loved most.’ Over the span of a year, Edel portrays his and his wife’s journey. The project documents their move into the van, the stroke, recovery, pregnancy, the welcoming of their first child, and Edel’s journey to play his ‘Can I Still Do This?’ first post-stroke concert and tour.

Edel approaches his limitations and unusual challenges with an unvarnished truthfulness, and paradoxical burst of vibrancy. Through it he is relatable and charming, often speaking and singing to listeners like they’re old friends. Fueled by the support of his community, ‘casseroles & flowers’ is Edel’s best yet.

Edel has over 6 million cross-platform streams and has been featured on ABC’s American Idol, extensively on CBC and CBC q, on Sirius XM’s The Verge, The Loft, North Americana and CBC Radio 3 and played hundreds of shows and festivals across North America and in Europe.

Sound like: Donovan Woods, Jon Bryant, Dan Mangan, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Old Sea Brigade, Matt Maeson, Jaymes Young, David Ramierez, Aidan Knight, Chris Staples, Reuben and The Dark, The Weather Station, Close Talker, Jordan Klassen, Noah Gundersen, Tow’rs, Tyson Motsenbocker, Scenic Route To Alaska, Death Cab For Cutie, Cage The Elephant, The War On Drugs.


ERIC BRANDON:

Eric Brandon is a singer/songwriter from Hamilton Ontario, Canada who took to writing stories at a young age. His father was an avid reader, and it became a tradition that Eric would write stories for his father to read. Before long, he inherited his first guitar from a family friend, and the stories he would write would take on new life in music.

Like many, Eric started his musical career in local rock bands, but his passion for stories drove a growing fascination with folk music and singer-songwriters. From giants like Bob Dylan and John Mayer to Ben Howard, Ryan Adams, Northcote, Scott Orr, Donovan Woods, - it was the capturing of heart-felt and personal moments that drew him in. At only 17, Brandon released his first EP titled “Stories,” under a Hamilton record label known for local folk music called “Other Songs Music." Shortly after this debut release, Eric found himself on the road at the age of 19 as a hired musician, traveling all across playing North America backing and eventually opening for the Juno-Award winning band The City Harmonic.

Writing and performing in that season gave him a clarity of perspective. Life is challenging no matter where you find yourself, and it was the challenges of real life on the road--loneliness while being surrounded, meeting and losing a girl far from home, and the struggles of growing up amidst wanderlust--that would ultimately become the songs and stories that make up 2017's “Old Love.”

2018 saw Eric placing as a finalist in the Canada Walk of Fames Emerging Artist program, working with VIA rail, touring the east coast of Canada, working along-side FACTOR- and beginning the recording stages of a 2020 full length release. Today, Eric Brandon is traveling the country with a guitar on his back, friends at his side, and a troubadour’s charm singing the timeless stories wrapped in penetrating and unforgettable melodies of Old Love.


Event Photos

Where is it happening?

The Dakota Tavern, 249 Ossington Avenue, Toronto, Canada
Tickets

CAD 10.00

The Dakota Tavern

Host or Publisher The Dakota Tavern

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