Passion, Community, and Live Music: The Inside the Scene Story
By Evan Wiseman, Feb 19, 2026
Hi Halifax,
I’ve always loved sharing music with people. It brings us together, it fires up memories, and it creates community. I spent countless days as a teenager diving into YouTube rabbit holes of performances and interviews featuring my favourite artists, learning all about their craft. And that feeling of showing a friend an artist that they can connect with? Incredible.
Growing up in Antigonish, NS, the local music scene had limited options to experience and explore. It wasn’t until I moved to Halifax in 2013 and started discovering its local music scene that I found how to share my love of sharing music with a community I could call my own.
How it started
After high school, I decided to study journalism at the University of King’s College. Specifically, my career plan was to become a music journalist. That way, I could share music for a living.
It was there that my ideas of Inside the Scene began to form. I envisioned a hub offering the type of content I loved to consume and share all in one place.
Want to see what an artist is like live? Want to know their favourite artist that inspired your favourite album? Or do you just want to know what they’ve been up to these days – are they working on something or closing a chapter? Maybe there is a new side project that piques your interest, and they’ve been interviewed about all the ins-and-outs.
After leaving university in 2015, I continued to build on the idea internally and among friends, but it wasn’t until a career change in 2023 that I suddenly had the time and capacity to pursue my dream.
Ironically, the original goal was to start with interviews and informational content before eventually moving into photography and videography. But when I started to regularly attend local shows in 2018, I found myself capturing songs, and sometimes full performances, on my phone. I was amassing a large amount of live videos that I would share with my friends and family, usually telling them excitedly “you would love this!”.
It wasn’t until Book Buddies had their Sean EP release show in February 2024 that I shared my idea with a friend, but included that I wasn’t sure where to start. One
simple question unlocked the most obvious direction: “You’re always taking videos at shows, why don’t you just start by posting those?”
Genius.
Big shoutout to Kevin Laing and Book Buddies, because a few days later, I posted a clip of Book Buddies performing “Pinky” on a new, anonymous social media account called Inside the Scene, and suddenly things started to shift. People were following my new mysterious page and sending DMs trying to figure out who it was. Who could be posting local band clips like Kids Losing Sleep, Electric Spoonful, Postfun, norc and Pale Ache (RIP). Who could it possibly be?
All I had was an iPhone 15 and an ungodly archive of videos. I’m guilty of taking a lot of those really long Instagram stories most people definitely skip through. I had an external hard drive full and organized – I’m an “overly organized” iTunes vet after all.
I started going to more shows. Eventually, bands I had never heard of would invite the page to check out their stuff or share an event. Sometimes I’d post something old and people would reminisce about that band or show (Behold, the Conqueror’s “Toil” still makes me want to run through a wall). It was like I found an itch and it was time to scratch it.
I wanted to have full multicam videos like I grew up watching. So instead of saving up and buying an expensive camera, I bought some GoPro Hero 10s and figured I’d get by with them for a while. I planned to later pick JT LaVoie’s brain, because he’s been doing video and photography for so long, and in my opinion is a pillar of documenting the scene.
Then I got a media pass to the 2024 Nova Scotia Music Week in Wolfville. I went with my partner Caitlin, and one of my best friends, Brian. We filmed as many live performances as we could in those three days. My wonderful friend Teri – we met at King’s where she too dreamt of a music journalism career – joined the team and spent the weekend doing interviews with artists.
From there, I was to edit all of the footage and either get better at it as I went, or find out I was chasing the wrong dreams.
At Music Week, I kept running into another local photographer whose work I really admired. I was going to ask her to join us, but she beat me to it! I was on my way back to Halifax at the end of that weekend and Belinda Naugler Adams messaged me wondering if I was looking for anyone to join the team.
Now we had a team experienced in photography, video, interviews, and writing, with a following that was eager to engage.
So, I put on a show.
the pavillion
When I was younger, I liked my music ‘louder’ than what was being played around Antigonish (which does have some great musicians, by the way), plus, there weren’t many places where people under 19 could enjoy live music. So, when I heard about the Pavilion, I was blown away that Haligonian kids could go to shows, and see any genre they want. They had a safe space to be themselves, find inspiration, and maybe even display their own creativity on a stage among likeminded peers. That kind of community should be available to everyone.
The Pavilion brought up a lot of local artists currently playing stages like Gus’ Pub, The Seahorse Tavern, and the Marquee Ballroom. It fostered a lot of artists that are being exported by Music Nova Scotia to travel across Canada or even play abroad. As an adult, I could see the impact it had on those that used the space in their youth immediately.
Then, in 2022, the Pavilion space was gone. Despite this, its team carried on while also trying to find a new venue. At the end of 2023 I joined their board, led by their president C.J. Hill, and wanted to support in any way I could to achieve that goal.
As a non-profit, the Pavilion Youth Association (PYA) operates on the generosity of their community and fundraiser shows like CJFest and Brownie Fest that donate proceeds. Feeling inspired, I planned my own fundraiser show for my 30th birthday: an Inside the Scene Pavilion Fundraiser (/birthday) Show.
I didn’t know what to expect when we opened the doors to Gus’ Pub that night – we didn’t even sell 15 pre-sale tickets – but it tremendously exceeded expectations. Friends, artists, community members, and more helped put it all together. We raised $1033 total. So, I did it again the following year – this time selling 72 pre-sale tickets – and the pub hit capacity just after doors opened. This time, we raised $2367. I was (and still am) speechless.
Raising over $3000 in two shows is unbelievable to me. And the cherry on top? An eager community of artists willing to perform, and an amazing volunteer team of creatives to capture it all. It’s more rewarding than I can put into words.
the future
Our second year of operation, 2025, was about trying to find our groove and expanding on what we already do. Josh and Belinda went to Halifax Music Fest. Belinda went to Sommo. We returned to Nova Scotia Music Week and I filmed a live EP. I checked out the folk scene in Sherbrooke, NS where Lanny Boyer is trying to bring people in the area together to experience live music.
Josh, Belinda, Emily, Haley, and Hailey already have big plans and will have incredible shots coming. I still use an iPhone – I’ve upgraded to a newer model as well – but we’re finally working on getting that expensive camera so we can really get to work. Teri and I have some new ideas cooking, and Belinda has been working hard at our website – you’re on it right now!
Things are both exciting and nerve-wracking starting off 2026. We want this Halifax music hub we are building to be just what we envision. For now though, it’s still small, new, and full of opportunity.
Now, we can film every show that hits Halifax for you to watch at home – but you still need to do the work to truly experience it. And that’s what I hope to leave you with.
Hearing Sleepshaker’s “I Knew You Wouldn’t Leave” was one thing, but seeing the crowd pile on top of Harley, yelling about how much they “hate you’re f**king cigarettes”, flipped a switch in me. Feeling that energy in the moment in a room of peers all there to experience the same thing is magical. It’s an energy that can’t be captured, only lived.
So go to a live show. Buy an album. Stream something (but please not on Spotify). Buy a T-shirt and wear it. Put that sticker on your laptop or your Playstation. Show your friends the blurriest live video they have ever seen with the most distorted audio you can get and drag them to Gus’ Pub on a GiG night. There are artists here who won’t ignore your city for 20+ years before they come back and play at the Scotiabank Centre for $150 a ticket – and it costs you maybe a few coffees to just show up.
When I first started posting to Inside in February 2024, I told only a small circle at first that it was me, because it would be insane to pursue a dream and find out everyone hates your idea, right?
Don’t answer that.
Sometimes people talk about plans and dreams to try and speak them into existence. Sometimes that process is quick and sometimes it takes about a decade to finally do it. So, I did it, and now you’re here and Inside the Scene is 2-years-old.
I am incredibly grateful for the support and opportunities that running this page provides. To be building an incredibly creative and ambitious team, and to be a part of such an amazing music scene is wild to me. The pure happiness I feel when witnessing someone discover their new favourite band is still my driving force.
We aren’t building a new community – the community is already here. We are, however, doing our best to bring that community together a little bit more while welcoming new people with open arms.
Major acts might not know that there’s more to Eastern Canada beyond Quebec, but so what? We know what’s here and we know it’s special.
See you up front,
Evan
Just Added:
Causes We Love
Our team is currently 7 people strong and looking to grow!
Our team is currently 7 people strong and looking to grow!
If you’re an artist, photographer, videographer, journalist, or grant writer who’s passionate about the music scene and would love to be part of what we’re building, we’d love to hear from you.
