Typically, when the cops show up to a loud backyard show, it means the party’s over.
Legend has it though, when the Mississauga moon is right (and it’s early enough noise bylaws haven’t kicked in yet), the Peel Region Police won’t shut you down: they’ll join in for a song, keep it fairly in the pocket, and even offer a few words of advice on making it in music:
Good thing there’s video evidence, cause otherwise no one would ever believe that’s how things went down.
After a neighbour called in a noise complaint due to Vinyl Ambush’s performance at a backyard birthday party, police were on the scene at around 9 p.m. Surprisingly, Constable Joel Clark told the band they could keep playing for a bit, instead of instantly re-creating the beginning of The Replacements’ “Kids Don’t Follow.” That in itself is shocking enough, but then following it up with a command performance and topping it off with a post-show pep talk is behaviour so stereotypically un-coplike, you’d be forgiven for thinking Clark was some rookie or cosplayer instead of a law enforcement veteran.
Note to cops everywhere: consider this the go-to example in how to respond to a noise complaint. Forces everywhere better brush up on their paradiddles.
