I first met Daniel Tate, the creator and curator of the exceptional The Flyer Vault project, when he was an elder teenager working on shows with the R.E.M.G. crew (I was publicizing their shows at the time). He was always a joy to work with and we had many laughs and “wow, did that just happen?!” moments together. 

I admired and even envied his wide-eyed wonder about all the great music going on around him. He possessed an innocence about it, but you could also see him soaking it all in and learning how it all worked so quickly. 

So when I first came across the Instagram page The Flyer Vault I wasn’t very surprised it was him. It had and still has his energized curiosity about music history and all those great memories we have from going to concerts and festivals.

Toronto is now benefiting from his work as we are pretty lousy generally about remembering and honouring our history whether it’s with musicians, authors or whatever architecture we have left not being transformed into glassified condos.  

The project began in 2015 as an Instagram account dedicated to documenting Toronto’s legendary but often forgotten musical history – with an emphasis on live music and dance clubs. 

Since then, it has grown to include assisting with historical exhibits, providing consulting and curation services, and the Amazon best-selling book, “The Flyer Vault: 150 Years of Toronto Concert History,” released in 2019 by Dundurn Press. 

You can also hear Daniel and Rob talk about their concerts memories and the book on this excellent Broken Mixtape podcast episode.

Now I envy Daniel for getting to work on the book and more with legendary Toronto ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman, a Grammy Award winning winner for his liner notes (the word notes really does not do it justice). He’s been nominated 6 times for Grammy Awards and has written extensively on popular music. 

Part of making history is remembering it and celebrating it. Flyer Vault gives us a window into the past that glamorous party shots can’t accomplish. Check out The Flyer Vault to see events you remember and you’ll be part of that history too!