Wavelength has been a staple of Toronto’s independent music scene for over 10 years now. This weekend they are celebrating their 500th event with a five-night anniversary extravaganza, bringing together some of Toronto’s best bands for what will, no doubt, be an unwieldy amount of merrymaking.

Founder, Jonny Dovercourt, expressed his pleasure and surprise at Wavelength’s ability to stand the test of time, remarking that when they first started out, nobody was thinking more than a couple of months ahead. "If you told me in '99 when we started this thing, that we would still be going in 2010, I would have asked if we were booking cyborg musicians or something.”

Dovercourt discussed the origins of Wavelength at Sedated Sundays, a weekly event held at El Mocambo. He and other future Wavelength organizers would attend weekly, to support local talent and heckle the inevitable bunch of rubbish bands that inevitably come with weekly music nights.

When Sedated Sundays ended, Dovercourt and company missed the weekly hangout and began to conceive of something to fill the void.

Dovercourt explained the premise: “When we got together to discuss what [later] became Wavelength, we said 'Why don't we make it like Sedated Sundays, but without all the terrible bands? We'll just book the good bands.'"

Wavelength evolved as a part of the history of weekly nights, like Elvis Mondays and Sedated Sundays, but sought to perfect it into a tight formula that stuck to a clear artistic mandate. 10 years and over 1100 bands later, the boys at Wavelength have maintained this mandate and created a formula that may not have been perfect, but came pretty damn close.

The upcoming mini-fest will feature a number of prominent bands from Wavelength’s past, like the Constantines and Holy Fuck, but will also include special reunions from the likes of Rockets Red Glare, From Fiction, the Bicylcles, Neck, and the Barcelona Pavilion. Dovercourt emphasized that these reunions required little pressure on the part of the promoters; the bands were more than happy to reciprocate support for the Toronto institution.

The anniversary is not only a celebration of Wavelength’s past, but also a springboard for its future; it will mark the end of Wavelength’s weekly format and the move to a more special events-based arrangement.

Dovercourt explained the initiative as a way of “freeing up our time and minds to create Wavelength events outside of the this rigid weekly formula.”

Under the new format, we can expect special shows, like last years legendary performance by the Ex and Getatchew Mekuria at the Music Gallery, another All Caps show on Toronto Island, as well as themed events and workshops, like the Theremin summit planned for later this year.

And, of course, in Wavelength’s continued effort to support local music in Toronto, we can expect to see them continue an independent music revue on a monthly basis at their new home, the Garrison.