Who is M for Mikey?

Dial M for Mikey

If you go out (to shows and Plateau bars), you’ve likely seen M for Montreal‘s Mikey Rishwain Bernard. A man about town. A bon vivant. A guy in a hat, with a year-round ‘stache. But who is he? What does he do? Learn a thing or two about him and his festival right here.

Lorraine Carpenter: Where are you from?

Mikey Rishwain Bernard: Born and raised in the dangerous city of Stockton, California (home of Pavement and Chris Isaak). I also claim Lodi, Sacramento, Long Beach and Montreal. My pops is Québécois.

LC: What is your favourite band ever?

MRB: My holy trinity = Pavement, Hella and Brotha Lynch Hung.

LC: What do you do for M?

MRB: I program/book the festival and its satellite events around the world.

LC: What does M have that no other local festival has?

MRB: Our main event has a showcase/industry side along with a festival side over the weekend. Our showcases are exclusively for the international delegates, and, unlike other zoo-style festivals, the VIPs/delegates don’t miss a band. We help introduce our delegates to the local industry and local bands and hopefully create opportunities. We want to open doors and get concrete results for the bands — that’s the point. We also partner up with international festivals to promote M stages at their festival — for example, SXSW, CMJ, Iceland Airwaves and Bumbershoot, to name a few.

LC: What is the biggest difference between M now and M when it started out?

MRB: In its first year, there were only six bands and 30 people in the audience. It was strictly a private showcase for a dozen international buyers on their way to CMJ. Now, we’re a festival with over 100 bands and 270 delegates/gold badge holders.

LC: What are some of your favourite M experiences?

MRB: 1) Booking and seeing Grimes and Diamond Rings perform the M for Mikey showcase at SXSW 2011; 2) The look on peoples faces when they saw Half Moon Run for the first time. The energy in the room was set on high, and the band’s been on a high ever since. My next major M experience will be Saturday, Nov. 17 for Sacramento’s own Death Grips ;)

LC: Briefly describe a perfect night out.

MRB: I personally enjoy a simple night of rolling down the street smokin’ endo while sippin’ on gin and juice. ■

The M for Montreal festival runs through Saturday, Nov. 17. See our Day 1 gallery here, and our festival picks here, here and here.

Note that Mikey also hosts On the Rocks, the Thursday weekly at Salon Officiel (351 Roy E.) with resident DJ Pat Dynamite and guests. Tonight’s M for Montreal edition features PS I Love You’s Paul Saul.