Written by Cameron Blackwood

On December 1st, I was lucky enough to attend the first ever performance of Sid’s Room, where local Toronto rock band, The Crime Family, brought the house down and kicked off this newest MetTV production with a bang. Sid’s Room, created by Jaiden Douglas, Sidney “Sid” Foster, and Keertan Somasundaram, offers a blend of the intimate and inviting space of NPR’s Tiny Desk, with the raw and vibrant energy that comes from the KEXP sessions, all while still keeping the show their own.

The original idea for the show began with Jaiden, who said that it has been in the back of his head for some time.

“It was something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I was always toying with the idea of house and basement shows,” said Jaiden.

From here, he asked fellow TMU Media Production student, Keertan, to help grow his original idea and to direct the show.

“When Jaiden texted me the original idea I thought that this was going to be so great, this is going to be so fun, but your room is the size of two closets,” said Keertan jokingly. 

Enter: Sid. Not only was Sid really good when it came to camerawork, but his room proved to be the perfect space to host the show.

“Without him [Sid], it wouldn’t look like it does at all, and I wanted somebody I trusted—and me and Jaiden both trust Sid,” said Keertan. 

Sid’s Room offers a unique structure to live music that has never been seen before. The production shares its focus between the band, and Jaiden, charismatically embodying the role of a type of talk-show host.  However, instead of typical talk-show formatting, the music takes precedence. Jaiden lets the music do the talking while still pitching in between songs to ask the band questions, getting behind the music, and pushing the show forward. 

As an audience member, I was blown away by just how calculated and organized the production was. I have never been around this kind of musical environment, and it blew my mind to see all of this different audio and camera equipment everywhere, and to see how many people we could fit in Sid’s abnormally large room. In only a half-hour of being there, I could tell how much work the production team had put into this show, and how much they cared to make everything run smoothly.

“We have a lot of talented people working on the entire thing,” said Sid.

I have yet to see the finished project when it premieres on MetTV, but I am positive it will be extraordinary. My sincerest shoutouts to the whole production team—you all put together something truly remarkable. 

Through this major production, the creators of the show have also been able to build a closer connection with one another. 

 “Sid, Keertan, and I, at this point, are a very tight production team,” said Jaiden. 

One of the main things that I love about Sid’s Room is its commitment to centralizing local music. It’s amazing that three TMU Media Production students are slowly but surely building a platform that promotes the Toronto music scene and helps push lesser known artists out to a bigger audience. By doing this, it can not only help Sid’s Room become a mainstream music show such as Tinydesk, but also help get these bands and artists the attention and traction they deserve. 

It’s safe to say that Sid’s Room has the potential to become a staple in the world of music and television, and that this first run has already given me high hopes for the show.

“I think episode one was really cool because it brought the vision to life, and now we can see what we can do and what’s possible for the future,” said Sid. 

I look forward to seeing what the future has in store for Sid’s Room, and I’m certain it will only continue to get better.