Watch: Brendan Canning talks Drake Hotel on City Sonic Films

In the latest City Sonic Films short from storied video director and longtime Arts&Crafts cohort George Vale, Brendan Canning (of Broken Social Scene) waxes nostalgic on the somewhat newly renovated Drake Hotel, a Toronto SRO/dive bar/live music venue turned Ikea-furnished cultural hotbed in the early ’00s.

The Drake (a.k.a. 1150 Queen, a.k.a. Under the Drake Hotel), was imperative in the nineties’ Canadian indie music scene as home to William New’s Elvis Mondays, a no cover new music series that continues to give upstarts a friendly place to play.

Canning played his first gig at the Drake with hHead in 1991, opening for local indie legends, Phleg Camp. “Elvis Mondays just sorta seemed like a hip institution. A good starting spot if you were a new band,” Canning says in the short, sitting atop a King-sized bed in a white Drake Hotel robe.

A Queen Street landmark and neighborhood hub for locals and tourists alike, the Drake sits only a few blocks from fellow BSSer Kevin Drew’s former home, where Broken Social Scene’s debut, Feel Good Lost, was recorded.

“This two block… three block radius, not only does it represent 1991 and ’92, but ‘99 to 2005,” he recalls over live clips of “Stars and Sons” from the early days.

Elvis Mondays is still going strong (26-years strong), and according to Canning, the Drake still, “carries on the tradition of young bands rockin’ out in the basement,” all while being ranked as one of Travel + Leisure’s top 500 hotels in the world.

Check out the video here.