Toronto
Passenger
Monday, December 10, 2012 (7:00 PM - 2:00 AM) | 
Phoenix Concert Theatre 410 Sherbourne St Toronto ON
Passenger
with Josh Hyslop
with Josh Hyslop
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When you’re an independent artist you’re always having to work within a budget you can control. After all, there’s no record company picking up the bills – you’re paying for it all yourself.
For Brighton, UK born and bred yet very much the adopted Australian son singer songwriter Mike Rosenberg, being independent has proven to be the best road he could have taken. There was a time, back in the early 2000s, when things looked very different. There was a five-piece band called Passenger and the big money label behind it and there was a critically acclaimed debut album, Wicked Man’s Rest, but when the members of that band chose to go their own separate ways in 2007, Rosenberg opted to stick with the Passenger moniker and trust in his music, his voice and his guitar to take him where it would. He took to the streets and discovered not only that the experience enormous fun, but it also proved empowering for the likeable musical troubadour.
“The busking pays for everything really,” Mike admits. “It’s crazy. I’ve funded my last four records basically from busking, so it’s a godsend really. It’s an amazing thing to have stumbled upon because it is the dilemma for every musician how do I put a hundred per cent of myself into my music, whilst keeping myself together? It’s not a new problem it’s always been the case – but you find something like busking, which you can still do; while you’re making money you can play your songs and hopefully further your fan base it’s ideal really. You don’t have to put forty hours of your time into flipping burgers or making coffee or whatever it is. I’ll always feel very, very lucky about that.
“Honestly, the more I do it, the more I enjoy it. You know, it’s great that it’s getting bigger for me but busking actually turns into a real way of life. The structure of busking and just being on your own, enjoying the cities and travelling, I dunno, there’s such a lo-fi thing that goes along with it and such an honest and simple way of living for that period of time that I really, really miss actually when I’m not doing it, so I really look forward to getting back out on the street again.”
Having obviously got a real taste for the busking and the travelling, he thought he’d check out sunnier climes, which is how, in October 2009, Mike first took himself over to Australia where he managed to support Lior and Sydneysiders Elana Stone and Brian Campeau, and then played One Movement, a major music industry-focus festival in Perth. Back in Sydney, he met a neighbour who just happened to be ARIA Award-winning singer songwriter Josh Pyke, and the initial idea that would become Flight Of The Crow formed in his mind.
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Monday, December 10, 2012 (7:00 PM - 2:00 AM)
Phoenix Concert Theatre 410 Sherbourne St, TorontoON
Map of 410 Sherbourne St
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