AUX Group Photo: (left to right) I.E. (host of Cypher), George Pettit of Alexisonfire (host of Strange Notes), Alan Cross (host of ExploreMusic with Alan Cross), and Ingrid Johansson (host and band photographer for Band Foto).
At the recent MTV Video Music Awards, Green Day's Billie Armstrong, after accepting one of his band's three awards, urged that music-based television air more videos and fewer reality shows and car-pimping programs.
Now, Armstrong's wish has been granted: Aux Music Television, a Toronto-based multiplatform music channel, premieres Oct. 1 on Rogers Cable channel 107, making the jump from Internet to digital specialty television 25 years after MuchMusic hit the air.
Aux - pronounced "awks," as in auxiliary - is viewable on televisions in Ontario, New Brunswick and parts of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, and will stream its highly musical content on demand at aux.tv. The station's video flow has an interactive element, allowing real-time commentary via text messaging. Here then is a breakdown of what to expect from Aux:
Original Programming
Hard: With the rough-and-tumble punk band Fucked Up taking this year's Polaris Prize, perhaps hardcore rock is ready for its (sweaty and loud) close-up. A weekly series of profiles unleashes the best in music that is metallic and often screaming.
Aux Weekly: A new program updates the week in music with headlines, interviews and chart news.
Talk Show Night at Juicebox Manor: Welcome to the world of Sam Sutherland, a punk-rocking music journalist with a fat Rolodex. This "dude" presents some sort of freewheeling Wayne's World thing from his basement.
Aux Live: Unadorned concert footage, recorded live to tape, from clubs and concert halls across the country.
Explore Music with Alan Cross: Popular online, the weekly panel-format series features the insights of Canadian music authority Alan Cross.
Master Tracks: Also popular online, here Moe ( I'm an Adult Now ) Berg works with rising young artists to record one original track each week.
Exclusive to Canada
Later … with Jools Holland: The long-running British program is known for its major-act jam sessions. A recent show grouped Priscilla Ahn, Lily Allen, Depeche Mode, Raphael Saadiq, Sonic Youth and Taj Mahal.
Soft Focus: Shot at the Guggenheim in New York and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the 30-minute program has anti-authoritarian American musician Ian Svenonius interviewing musicians in an ironic, offbeat manner.
Hosts
Andrew Alba: Starting off as an intern in the summer of 2008, this upbeat British Columbia-born music junkie has risen swiftly within the ranks, now co-hosting the music-news roundup Aux Weekly .
Barry Taylor: The former radio DJ and fledgling comedian from Hamilton co-hosts Aux Weekly with Alba and Lavonne Allen.
Lavonne Allen: New to Aux Weekly, she's from Kitchener, Ont., and had her first music "ah-ha" moment as a five-year-old at an April Wine concert.
George Pettit: The Alexisonfire singer interviews hard-rocking bands on Strange Acts , edited in rough-cut fashion.
Facts
Aux TV launches in more than one million Canadian homes in Canada when it debuts Oct., 1, at 9 p.m. EST on Rogers Cable. An early highlight includes the Canadian premiere of Radiohead: From the Basement , recorded in producer Nigel Godrich's basement studio.
Sixteen original Aux programs are part of the schedule.
More than 60 hours of video flow are programmed weekly, comprised of some 150 videos in distinct blocks of rock, dance and hip hop, split between Canadian bands (60 per cent) and international acts (40 per cent).