Koroshi's catapult towards community in the Toronto music sceneIt was Christmas Eve and a pouring Saturday night in Toronto. I was headed to a local punk benefit show, the banner read 'Ask-A-Punk.' Considering it was held in the apartment of a fellow scene member, the address was on a need-to-know basis.
The mosh warms up and erupts into action. Headbangers and punks sway, swing and swarm across the cramped apartment for Strawberry Cough's set. Yet, it was Nick Bonnic's Neurotic that turned up the heat.
The Do-It-Yourself essence of the punk scene was harnessed by Dubs and Bonnic during their music debut,"Everything...Everything was kind of like D-I-Y. Yet, the loose ends were not all tied up. Bonnic and Dubs were still on the lookout for the missing members of the puzzle that would make up the original Forest Hill Project. What turns out to be a creative coincidence, a bar in downtown Toronto,"We found Dre at a bar. I met him when I was 14, at a bar called Houndstooth and said I look like the singer from Green Day," mentions Bonnic.
A year and a half ago, 19-year-old Walter"Schmall" Smallbridge joined the band. Originally being part of Neurotic, with his connection with a mutual friend, the transition"made sense." Despite feeling the sense of an"all for themselves" mentality that might make up aspects of the Toronto music scene, Koroshi's members wanted to create an art community that would fill that missing gap.
The ethos of GTA's Mosh Pit lies at the heart and soul of any creative. Their message embodies core artistic traits: self-expression, innovation, and embracing community. Their success can be chalked up to those very human qualities. Whose importance might not have been lost, but temporarily forgotten due to the pandemic.
When it comes to what kind of change these young artists look for, Pinnock puts the power and definition of change in his own hands or anyone's hands for that matter.