Gregory Tascona (left) and housemate Calum Marsh have put their home shows on hold and moved their instruments to the basement as they await a Jan. 28 court appearance.
Two Centretown residents who show live music in their Kent Street home are facing two noise violation fines totaling $760 for “disturbing [the] peace and comfort of [a] person in a dwelling house,” according to charges laid by the city’s bylaw services.
Local music promoter Calum Marsh and housemate Gregory Tascona have had small-scale, independent musicians play in their living room since last May. They say it’s a more affordable alternative to club shows for local or niche acts that aren’t very well known.
While they have presented 18 bands at eight separate events, complaints about a nighttime practice session were what brought bylaw officers to their Kent Street home last November.
“I think at that point the bylaw officers were familiar with our house and had already granted us so many breaks that it was sort of the end of the line,” says Marsh. “We had run the gamut of excuses.”
This time, officers presented them with the fines.
“It’s really frustrating and really aggravating that the particular noise fine we’re paying is for something so minor as jamming,” says Marsh, “and not something that we’re really passionate about, which is putting on shows in our house.”
But some neighbours say the regular rush-hour traffic along Kent Street is more bothersome than the music they sometimes hear.
“The worst noise I find is the snow removal,” says Chris Verzyden, who lives two doors down from Marsh and Tascona’s house.
Aidan O’Brien, who lives across the street, says he hears bands playing and practicing from more than one house in the area. “There’s a group that plays near the parking lot around Gladstone and the white house but I’ve never complained.”
Mario Morneau, who lives in another house across the street, says bylaw officers have visited his home as well to warn against loud music.
“We have parties, play music, our neighbours play a lot of music too,” he says, pointing to a drum set in the next room.
This is why Tascona wants to continue having shows at his house. He says it’s the perfect neighbourhood for it because there are lots of bands in the area.
“We have the space, we have the equipment,” he says. “This is a student neighbourhood on a major street, so there’s lots of noise.”
But Marsh admits that having shows on weekday nights “is obviously not acceptable when people work and people have school the next day.”
On a Sunday night last October, a bylaw officer walked into the house while a Vancouver rock band called The Mohawk Lodge was playing its last song. Jonathan Pearce, guitarist for the local band Poorfolk, was filling in for a missing member of The Mohawk Lodge that night. He recalls looking out the living room window to see the officer step out of his car.
“It was probably one of the best show moments in my life,” says Pearce. “We were kind of expecting them to show up but it was pretty amazing to be playing guitar while he walked in.” He says the band stopped playing soon after.
Tascona, whose name appears on the tickets, is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 28. The anonymous complainant or complainants must also appear on this date.