How the trials of a Local DIY promotor reflect the
larger issues facing Vancouver’s all-ages music scene

By , Distribution Manager

“Sure, it was awesome for a lot of people—because it was a shitshow. It was a wild fucking
party, and that’s really cool, but it’s not what I want to do with the rest of my life.”
These are the words of Mati Cormier, founder, promotor, manager, and
sole proprietor behind the now-deceased Trash City Productions.

“Ending Trash City was really just me deciding that I needed a fresh start, in order
to make it something that I could be proud of and be confident in. Because Trash City

became something that I couldn't be. I realized how shit it was in the beginning.”

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

From 2015 to 2017, Trash City Productions organized some of the wildest all-
ages concerts around Vancouver, from grungy concrete-laden venues to

studio spaces where the floor collapsed from too many people moshing.
Cormier was I5-years-old when she started Trash City, initially as a
way to organize all-ages shows with some of her favourite bands. Cormier
had experience volunteering and coordinating shows through The
Cultch’s IGNITE! Youth Festival and the organization Safe Amp,

so she branched out and began booking shows on her own.
“I wanted to get involved, curate these bands, take over all the
shows,” said Cormier in an interview
with the Other Press. “I was hosting
events, and live music, and projects,
and doing little mini-festivals.

It got pretty big for a while.”
There are a lot of positive
experiences associated with Trash
City. Cormier recalls crowd-
surfing for the first time to one
of her favourite bands at Trash
City’s one-year anniversary party.
She also enjoyed a brief stint as sole
booker for the jam space-sometimes-
venue Fingers Crossed Studio—a
tenure cut short, following the

 

aforementioned floor collapsing.
“It was just me and this
room, this horrible,
crammed room,”
said