Ohbijou says bye bye Bellwoods

Ohbijou

With the Dojo Workhorse
Thursday, November 19 at 9 p.m.
Pawn Shop (10549-82 Ave.)
$10 at www.ticketmaster.ca

The romantic notion of the “starving artist” is one often applied to musicians, particularly during the inevitable start-up phase every band must endure on their way to fame. But for Casey Mecija, one of six current members of orchestral indie-pop outfit Ohbijou, an important part of being an artist has been using her music to fight others’ hunger. Working collectively with a few dozen other bands from Toronto, Mecija and bandmate James Bunton decided in the summer of 2007 to put together a compilation album called Friends in Bellwoods, named after Mecija’s home on Bellwoods Avenue.

“The basement [of Bellwoods] was a really amazing place to have shows and the place that Ohbijou had its practices. It became this place where lots of musicians played and hung out. James and I thought this was a really important thing to capsule that summer, and we tried to put out a compilation of artists that are our friends, or are people that have inspired us in some way,” explains Mecija.

All of the proceeds from Friends in Bellwoods were donated to Toronto’s Daily Bread Foundation, and because of the project’s success, Mecija and friends decided that 2009 was a great time for a follow-up: Friends in Bellwoods 2. To date the project has raised nearly 18,000 dollars in the fight against inner-city hunger.

“We were thinking about something that affects our city [when we chose a charity], that we see everyday just walking down our city streets. [There’s] homelessness and with that comes hunger and poverty. They are always in need of donations and support. We thought that that would be a good organization to donate the profits to,” she says.

Ironically, Mecija herself became homeless during the process of putting this project together. At the end of this past summer Mecija discovered that Bellwoods was infested with mold, and after broaching the issue with her landlord, she was evicted.

“It was sort of bittersweet after living there for like four or five years,” Mecija reminices. “It was really sad, but it was also exciting because a couple days before we moved out we had all of the Bellwoods compilation CD releases in the city. It was a very happy time, but sad because the house was no longer a part of it.”

Conveniently, Mecija was able to stay with friends in the city before taking off with Ohbijou in September to tour in Europe and the UK, and promote the band’s new album Beacons. As we talk on the phone she’s at her parents’ house, dropping off boxes and her dog Appleby, preparing for the Western Canadian part of the band’s tour, and while she admits she hasn’t lined up a place to live for when she returns, she doesn’t sound too concerned about it.

“I’m sort of in transit right now. I’m on tour so much that it doesn’t make sense for me to rent a place,” she says.

Although she knows for certain she won’t be returning to the Bellwoods house, Mecija says that she hasn’t ruled out future Friends in Bellwoods projects.

“I think with Friends in Bellwoods, the name may just become an umbrella for organizing other projects. Maybe in the future we’ll have a show that contributes to other projects. I’m not sure if we’ll have another compilation, but we’ll see [...] Maybe in two years we’ll do a third,” she laughs.