By: Kayla Wright
When they aren’t on tour, in the studio or performing at the Junos, the guys from Down With Webster enjoy playing for smaller venues like Algonquin.
“College shows are amazing,” said Cameron ‘Cam’ Hunter, who raps in the six-member rap/rock band.
On Oct. 11, the day before the start of their three-week long tour of Canada, DWW performed for students in the Student Commons Theatre. This was their third time visiting the college.
“The students have enjoyed the shows and asked to see them again,” said the Students’ Association’s event programmer, Bill Kitchen. “We think that they put on a great live show and offer a unique college experience for our students.”
DWW have made a habit out of performing for colleges because college students are “lively” and “awesome,” said Hunter. They usually play college shows in the fall, when students are either coming back to school or just starting. “We do a lot of frosh week stuff,” said Martin ‘Bucky’ Seja, who also raps.
Their performance on Oct. 11 was what Hunter called their “dress rehearsal” for the rest of the tour.
“We just spent the whole summer in LA working on a new album and it’s coming along amazing,” Hunter said before the show.
“We’re actually playing songs that we wrote over the summer for tonight and then for the rest of the tour.”
They also held a meet and greet with eight lucky fans, who were chosen via Twitter, before the show.
DWW was created back in 1998 for a talent show by lead singer Patrick ‘Pat’ Gillet and Tyler Armes.
It was for a project in music class where students had to make their own bands – real or fake. They had five minutes to come up with a name, which is how Down With Webster came to be. Gillet’s and Armes’ band was the only band to play real instruments – and won.
The band started out as rock/jam band, with funk and jazzy kind of music until 2002 when Seja joined with the idea to incorporate rap. “There were a couple songs that they would do that lent themselves to rap,” said Seja.
“It was cool to rap with a band as opposed to just a beat in the background,” said Hunter.
DWW’s success carried through high school before later signing with Universal Motown Records in 2009.
“We were playing big shows in Toronto and we built up this big fan base of all our friends and our peers,” said Hunter. “That’s what got their attention.”
After that, their success grew. More people started to listen to them – not just in Toronto or Ontario, but all over the country as well. Their songs were being played on the radio and they started seeing themselves on TV.