Great or Greatest? That seems to be the grandiose question that dominates any discussion regarding Toronto’s music scene, including a much-discussed piece from The Grid last year. Thankfully, a new locally produced documentary wisely avoids trying to answer that question. Instead, The Scene: An Exploration of Music in Toronto attempts to weave an honest portrayal of Toronto’s music.

The production team behind the documentary released a trailer promoting the film today, which can be viewed above. There’s no mention of an official release date on the film’s website, but one imagines with a trailer released, the project is nearing completion.

The documentary follows three local indie bands as they try to navigate the challenges of playing music professionally, and draws upon the experiences of a local crop of musicians that have found a measure of success performing and crafting music in their chosen profession, including Bif Naked, Tokyo Police Club, and Sal Costa of My Darkest Days.

The Scene arrives at a potentially pivotal time for “the scene” as news broke yesterday that local scene fixture Dave “Bookie” Bookman is leaving 102.1 The Edge. Moreover, the Horseshoe Tavern, one of the city’s iconic music venues, turns 65 today. 

____

Igor Bonifacic is a writer working for the Toronto Standard. You can follow him on twitter @igorbonifacic.