Open Scene Archive Studio

10/15/2026

To close the night, Reuben And The Dark turned off the sound system and invited the Daniels Taphouse audience to gather round as they performed with just an unplugged guitar and their signature vocal harmonies. Some nights, we make magic happen by being together. Sydney Downtown Development Association

10/13/2026

After sold out shows this weekend in Montreal and Quebec City, Reuben and the Dark's next stop is TOMORROW in Cape Breton! Come check out the live show Billboard described as "spirited melodies (unifying) the band and its audience."

Here is a song from the brand new album, If You Know Me You Know My Brother, released last Friday, October 9, from a hotel room on the tour. Join us in Downtown Sydney at Daniel's Taphouse to see the full band create the lush anthemic arrangement of this and their expansive songlist tomorrow night alongside rising local favourites Lookout Tower!

Tickets for Reuben and the Dark with Lookout Tower @ Daniels Taphouse are available for $20 + tax and fees at http://theopenscene.ca/tickets or at the door starting at 7PM. Admission is restricted to 19+, IDs are required if requested.

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Music Industry Cooperative. Music Cape Breton The Coast 89.7 Caper Radio CJBU 107.3FM Cape Breton: Word Gets Around

Honeymoon from Reuben And The Darks new album, “If You Know Me You ...

10/07/2026

One week! Reuben and the Dark hits Cape Breton for the first time at Daniel's with Lookout Tower. Tix at http://theopenscene.ca

10/07/2026

ONE WEEK! We're counting down the minutes to Reuben and the Dark with Lookout Tower @ Daniels Taphouse on Wednesday, October 14, and thinking about things we're most stoked for!

What's been your fav Lookout Tower tune this Summer? I've been watching back some of their stripped down videos over on YouTube, but they really get it going when the volume gets turned up! They kick it off at 7:30PM, so the party starts early!

Tickets for the show are still available at http://theopenscene.ca/tickets for $20 plus tax and fees. Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, 'cause Open Scene and are bringing the heat once more before the Fall sets in!

10/04/2026

Like so many of us here in Cape Breton, Gobblefest is where our roots lay. Before I presented shows, I was seeing Dark Waters and Room 217 at Gobblefest at Centre 200. All of. the folks who paved the way so I could help clear a path for others to make their own way were integral pieces of Gobblefest, from Darryl and Rod who organized the first Gobblefest and were integral in my education in the scene, to Sunfish and Booming Airplanes who played early editions and were my heroes, then my peers, and now my friends, to Valerie MacMillan and Kyle MacPhee who organized the festival alongside me and have gone on to be relentless community advocates.

Open Scene takes on the Gobblefest Sunday tradition of the all ages show this year with Young Hearts Be Free Tonight, showcasing five middle and high school bands at St Patrick's Church Museum on Sunday October 11th. Alongside special guests , you'll get to hear young artists .punchcb, .cb, .band, Ellie Durdle, and .cb making music on their own terms.

We couldn't be more stoked with how many young people are making music right now, and it is so important we create the conditions for them to thrive. Doors for the show open at 4PM with music beginning shortly after. Adult admission is $10, while youth are PWYW (pay what you will) with a suggestion of $5. The show is all ages, with encouragement to wear hearing protection and to stay and support all of the performing artists.

Check out the Gobblefest festivities over at and make sure this holiday weekend you celebrate the real spirit of the holiday: local indie music!!

09/30/2026

Have you caught Lookout Tower yet? Blueberry Jam, Canada Day with Tenille Townes, Cavendish Beach Music Festival... it seems like everywhere you look they've been stealing a stage or inciting a party somewhere along the East Coast as Cape Breton's newest bright lights.

Well, you have your chance again on Wednesday, October 14, when Lookout Tower brings their bluesy folked out jams alongside Calgary's Reuben and the Dark at Daniel's Taphouse for a one-night-only-midweek-can't-miss-show. It's an early one with a 7:30PM start, so we can all have a great time and still get up for work the next morning! Tickets are on sale now for $20 plus fees at http://theopenscene.ca/tickets.

https://youtu.be/tFGiva600kk?si=FPVPYzbFJZj73K4h

Live from the Jungle RoomFeat. Peter MacInnis on banjo

09/28/2026

This past weekend, Percy and Clary Ager invited artists, artisans, food vendors, and music to .lane for an end of season Harvest Market. No community facade whitewashing corporate greed, but real folks trading their truth. Somehow the act of sharing of words and songs, smiles and laughs, and embracing the same space in the same moment has become a radical act. This is community; healing. breathing.

Song: Braiding Sweetgrass by .costello, live from Ager Lane

09/25/2026

On the heels of Natalie Costello announcing the release of her debut single "Nineteen" on October 16th, I so proud to share the little part I got to play in making her vision come to life.

Natalie's song was written in the aftermath of the Robb Elementary tragedy in 2022 in which the lives of 19 children and two teachers were taken from their community. The song is moving, as such has received accolades as the winner of the Battle of the Sads in both 2023 and 2026 and led to its recording with Jamie Foulds at Soundpark Studios .

Natalie wanted to pay tribute to those that lost their lives and the community that stood up in their grief to fight for the change needed so things like this would not happen. As we explored themes and ideas, we did not want the imagery to be oppositional to the listener; we wanted it to feel intriguing and filled with depth while being able to almost overlooked by the casual browser.

Natalie is a big Joni Mitchell fan and takes much inspiration both in her music and her convictions as a person and artist. I pitched the idea of paying homage to Joni through the interpolation of her album artwork, combining a variety of motifs to create something that will be familiar to Joni fans but an entirely new creation.

We then utilized imagery from the overwhelming vigils, demonstrations, and tributes shared from Uvalde in the aftermath of the tragedy. The font is taken from the Robb Elementary School sign that welcomed students every day. The bear outline is a particularly striking bear left at one of the vigil sites which wore a school sweatshirt. We then filled the sweatshirt space with more and more imagery, from the many bouquets of flowers left in honour of the victims to the signs pleading for action, from the white dove that was a centerpiece in one vigil to the butterfly benches hand carved for each of the nineteen youth whose lives are the cost of inaction, lobbying, and bureaucracy.

I am very proud to have worked on this. Not just because I am deeply proud of Natalie. Because working on something so meaningful and profound compounds your resolve. It makes you feel the empathy and compassion that gets pushed down by your own struggles. Makes you know there are things greater than yourself that you must find the will to keep fighting for.

Art is a radical act. Use it to be a radical.

CBC Music East Coast Music Hour - CBC Radio Wendy Bergfeldt East Coast Music Association (ECMA) Music Nova Scotia Cape Breton Music Industry Cooperative.

09/24/2026

A first on the work bench. Prints of my artwork for Nova Scotia Upick Flower Farm and Wedding Venue’s Harvest Market will be for sale at the event on Saturday. $20 each through Percy and Clary Percy & Clary 🏳️‍🌈. Stoked how these turned out, my first real time having professional prints of my work. Thanks to my bff Merrideth for the great work and kind encouragement. You da best.

09/23/2026

What's your favourite music conspiracy theory? The Paul is Dead conspiracy? The Elvis, Tupac, and Jim Morrison fake deaths? My new favourite one is that Jon-Benet Ramsay was never killed but grew up to be popstar Katy Perry!

This past Summer, Alan Cross explored Music's Greatest Conspiracies over four episodes of his hit podcast UNCHARTED: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry. Alan brings these stories of crime and mystery to Cape Breton for Alan Cross' UNCHARTED: LIVE at St Patrick's Church Museum on November 3rd, with live podcast stories, new stories that haven't been told on the podcast, and a live audience Q&A. If you have an appetite for True Crime and Music, this is a night you can't miss!!

Ticket are on sale now at http://theopenscene.ca for $30 plus tax and fees. The show is all ages with a content advisory for sensitive audiences.

East Coast Music Hour - CBC Radio Wendy Bergfeldt Steve Sutherland Chuck Boudreau East Coast DNA The Coast 89.7 CBFM - Cape Breton Information Downtown Sydney Cape Breton Music Industry Cooperative.