Mikey Rishwain Bernard | M for Montreal profile
With another successful year of music festival M for Montreal behind us, and a new year coming up, now is a great time to reflect on what, or who rather, makes a festival like M for Montreal so unique, so memorable, and so quintessentially Montreal.
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That Who is one Mikey Rishwain Bernard, Montreal’s own mover, shaker, and musical taste-maker. What he contributes to M for Montreal is invaluable, as a Program Director, but more so as a presence, felt in not only an incredible curation of international acts but a cohesion of style and structure that makes M for Montreal stand out from the music-festival-cacophony of our fair city.
Mikey described M for Montreal to Joy of Violent Movement as being “created on a whim. It was set up as a showcase to introduce 6 Montreal bands to 12 festival buyers and media from the UK, who happened to be in Montreal, while on their way to NY for CMJ…M is a networking platform for Canadian artists and industry to mingle with international tastemakers.”
For those who have had the pleasure of seeing Mikey Rishwain Bernard in action at M for Montreal, they understand what he’s bringing to the table, but for those of you who don’t know, now you know:
Best Kept: Can you tell us a bit about your background, where you’re from and what stirred a musical interest in you?
Mikey Rishwain Bernard: I’m from Stockton California, a place with little support in the culture department. I started [out by] booking shows all over the Valley and Sacramento and had a band playing the west coast. I booked Papa Roach throughout my circuit when I was just a kid.
BK: And what were some of your formative musical influences out there in California?
MKB: I was raised by the Deftones. Chi [Chino Moreno] of the Deftones and his family had a huge impact on my every day youth. His older brother was my partner doing shows straight outta high school. The band Pavement was also from the same streets and high school [as me].
BK: Besides booking Papa Roach, how did you get into the music industry? What were some of those early experiences that brought you out east?
MKB: I moved to SoCal to work for a label called The Militia Group. I helped sign a [band from Montreal] to the label and that got me into Montreal.
I met the president of M, Sebastien Nasra, who had just founded the event with the legendary festival programmer, Martin Elbourne. Elbourne used to be the agent for The Smiths and New Order. He also booked the Glastonbury. I wanted to work with these guys because I believed in what was happening behind the scenes.
BK: And now you’re involved in M for Montreal. What does that look like for you, and what are you excited about most when it comes to M for Montreal?
MKB: We bring hundreds of international music hotshots to Montreal, to discover music and experience our culture. We also set up satellite events around the world in other festivals like SXSW, The Great Escape, Reeperbahn and more. I worked my heart out to help the scene in my hometown and love the support we were getting from government funding. Wish we had that in California.
I’m here to help the right artists and local industry thrive internationally.
The talent out there is in abundance, and that is what makes M for Montreal so interesting. The diversity of music is exceptional. Check out my week wrap up on M for Montreal in case you missed it.
