Étienne Lavallée

An Interview with indie post-rock band QUOTAS: Outsider, Countercultural, and Loud  

Étienne Lavallée documents London’s current art scene with The Honey Dip Archives, a series of interviews with bands that performed at Honey Dip’s one year anniversary celebration. Here, he meets Amanda Mead, Mike Lurz, and Mark Ganassin of QUOTAS, a 1990’s inspired, indie post-rock band from South Ontario. Their music can be found on Bandcamp. *** QUOTAS audio interview: Étienne Lavallée: How long has your band been together, where are you from? Amanda: We’ve been together a year and a half, and two of us are from Brantford, one of us is from Stratford.  Étienne Lavallée: How would you describe…

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An Interview with indie-fuzz-garage rock band La Rent: “It wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did”

Étienne Lavallée documents London’s current art scene with The Honey Dip Archives, a series of interviews with bands that performed at Honey Dip’s one year anniversary celebration. Here, he meets Kade (vocals/ guitar/ drums), Jeff (vocals/ guitar/ drums), and Emma (bass/tambourine/backing vocals) of La Rent, a London Ontario-based indie-fuzz-garage rock band. They’re regular performers in the South Ontario region and can be found at Honey Dip and other local venues on a regular basis. Their most recent releases, STEEL DRAGON KARATE(2025) and a to zap!(2025) can be found on bandcamp.  *** La Rent audio interview: Étienne Lavallée: The two of…

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An Interview with grunge, Moccasingaze band Status/Non-Status: Big Changes on the Horizon

Étienne Lavallée documents London’s current art scene with The Honey Dip Archives, a series of interviews with bands that performed at Honey Dip’s one year anniversary celebration. Here, he meets Adam Sturgeon, Matt Wewell, and Derek Durant of Status/ Non-Status. *** Status/ Non-Status audio interview: Étienne Lavallée: How would you folks describe your sound? South Ontario Grunge? Deadly Grunge? Sludge? Sturge: I usually say we’re like a grunge band these days, but we dabble in Moccassingaze, some of the cultural work that lives in two worlds.  Étienne Lavallée: You’re all real fearless about wading into tough conversations about settler colonialism.…

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An interview with band Willow Switch: “Folklore is a living breathing thing”

Étienne Lavallée documents London’s current art scene with The Honey Dip Archives, a series of interviews with bands that performed at Honey Dip’s one year anniversary celebration. Here, he meets Andra Zlatescu and guest singer Tim of Willow Switch; Robin Henry, their third member, was unable to attend the interview. *** Willow Switch audio interview: Étienne Lavallée: Your music has been described as “the crossroads between Appalachian and Black Sabbath.” How do you balance the traditional roots of banjo and folk with heavy, atmospheric drone elements? Andra: I feel like it’s not very hard to balance because in traditional, old-time…

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An Interview with dreampop band Closeout: “To feel energized, to feel excited, to feel welcomed”

Étienne Lavallée documents London’s current art scene with The Honey Dip Archives, a series of interviews with bands that performed at Honey Dip’s one year anniversary celebration. Here, he meets Daryan (vocals), Andrew (guitar), Beck (bass guitar), and Oliver (drums) of “Closeout”, a London Ontario-based dreampop/ shoe gaze/ dreamo band.  *** Closeout audio interview: Étienne Lavallée: How does this thriving but localized Southern Ontario underground scene, especially between London Hamilton and the GTA, shape the grit and dreamo atmospheric tones in your music? Daryan: For me, when I first moved here because I’m from Saint Thomas originally, I started coming…

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An Interview with revolutionary hip hop collective RHYMETHiNK: Building Radical Communities

Étienne Lavallée documents London’s current art scene with The Honey Dip Archives, a series of interviews with bands that performed at Honey Dip’s one year anniversary celebration. Here, he meets Lee Reed (MC/ vocals/ lyrics), Tarek Funk (MC Multi-instrumentalist Hip Hop Funk Afrobeat artist), and C. Reality (MC/ Producer/ DJ), of “RHYMTHiNK” from Toronto, a collective that describes itself as anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, and anti-authoritarian.  *** RHYMETHiNK audio interview: Étienne Lavallée: You’re described as a revolutionary hip hop collective. Revolutionary art historically faces the threat of commodification, it often risks being watered down to a trend by corporations. How do…

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Photograph of three hand-painted posters. One shows the logo of TD bank placed on a green armchair and reads "Comfortable with Genocide." The others read "TD funds genocide" and "TD is art washing genocide."

Arms Embargo Forest City and Museum London clash over TD Funding

According to anti-war coalition group Just Peace Advocates, TD bank has invested ten billion dollars in war crimes and genocide through financial ties with weapons manufacturers and war profiteers like General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, RTX Corporation (also known as Raytheon) and Northrop Grumman. All of these manufacturers have provided weapons, vehicles, and weapons development to the Israeli military. The Israeli military has made use of them by filling the streets of Gaza with Palestinian blood.  Museum London, sponsored by TD bank, had its Summer Launch Party on June 11. The event featured the exhibition opening of Franco-Manitoban artist Dominique Rey,…

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