PROMOTER SPOTLIGHT: GILLIAN DORELLA OF PUREGRAINPROMO EVENTS
Gillian Dorella Has Built PureGrainPromo Events Into Not Only A Promotion Company, But An Open Hub For Barrie, Ontario's Music Community.
Written By Ben Rispin
Gillian Dorella and Trish Austin of PureGrainPromo Events in Barrie
12/18/2025 - I can't remember when I met Gillian Dorella but it was about 20 years ago while promoting punk shows in Burlington, Ontario. She was young, eager, naive, and in it for the right reasons. She had a lot to learn but had humility. I helped her promote her first show. Calgary punks Belvedere were headlining, I can't remember who opened, but I functioned as venue liaison. We through the event at Black Box in Burlington. A short lived venue that held about a 500 person capacity.
Gillian was so excited, but didn't calculate costs accurately and on the day of show, came up short at the door. She came to me crying. I explained to her that if she was going to do this, then a deal is a deal and she had to pay what she committed to the band regardless if she lost money.
To her credit, she called up her Dad and figured it out.
I'm not sharing this story to embarrass her. I'm sharing it because what I saw that day was a true hustler in the best way. She did something she wanted to do, and when things got hard, she took care of business and didn't let it stop her.
The world would be a better place if more people had that integrity.
Having built up her brand with PureGrainPromo Events over the years, Gillian has worked in several different scenes in Ontario. Having taken her lumps, having made some mistakes, she never approached anything with dishonesty and that character helped her to succeed.
Years later, that ambitious young lady has grown into a promoting power house. Having serviced the Barrie music community in several different capacities over the years, she's recently taken on a new huge role at The Rec Room in Barrie.
This new position has her managing all kinds of events in a variety of worlds (not just live music). The mounting responsibilities prompted her to join forces with her Trisha Austin who will be taking over booking duties at The Queens Hotel for Puregrainpromo Events.
Cancer Bats performing at The Queens Hotel - Photo "borrowed" from Total Impact Live
We hope you enjoy the latest edition of Promoter Spotlight featuring Gillian Dorella of PureGrainPromo Events in Barrie, Ontario.
Get tickets to CANCER BATS in Barrie presented by PureGrainPromo Events HERE or by clicking the image below.
PROMOTER SPOTLIGHT: GILLIAN DORELLA OF PUREGRAINPROMO EVENTS
Gillian Dorella
WHO ARE WE TALKING TO?
Gillian Dorella, founder of PureGrainEvents Promo in Barrie.
WHAT CITY OR CITIES DO YOU PROMOTE SHOWS IN?
Barrie, Ontario
WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR PROMOTIONS OR PRODUCTION COMPANY?
PureGrainPromo Events
WHAT VENUE OR VENUES DO YOU PRIMARILY BOOK SHOWS FOR ?
Gillian Dorella (PureGrainPromo founder) The Rec Room & Trish Austin (PureGrainPromo Partner) The Queens Hotel.
WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU MOST COMMONLY PROMOTE?
Everything and anything. We will try anything that we feel our community is asking for.
DESCRIBE YOUR SCENE FOR US.
The Barrie Music Scene is a huge community of promoters who love to work together and help promote each other's events. We all help the whole community to make sure that everyone's shows are a success.
Gay-Ass Productions is a promotion company that has been around for years doing shows in Barrie at The Queens. LiveBarrie, Underscored Sound, Barrie Music Scene made by John Derlis. Tarantula Tapes is a local record label that does shows and tours around Ontario and Canada. Baytown Hardcore does a monthly show at The Queens for the local hardcore community. JSN is a local hub for our community bands to practice at and they help out the community in a lot of ways. Gary from Barrie is our newer promoter who is also a great friend, who is working with Black Throne Productions out of Hamilton.
We have a lot of people who work together. Jacob, who runs out of Alley Cats in Orilla has a new paper for local events. Local & Live runs an online ad for all events. Our local bands also run their own shows sometimes that we all push together. The community here is working hard to make Barrie one to be on the map. We have a lot in store with some really radical promoters from the city coming up this way in 2025.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST CONCERT YOU WENT TO?
First Local was with my friend Val and Tiffany back in Oakville. I wanna say Hoodrat was playing (still got their 7inch). My first real concert at a huge venue would have to be Bush with my Dad’s friend Darren. I dragged him.
HoodRat was an anti corporate ska-street-punk band from Southern, Ontario
WHAT WAS THE FIRST “BIG SHOW” YOU PROMOTED?
Belvedere in Burlington with Ben Rispin in 2005 at The Blackbox .
WHAT WAS YOUR WORST SHOW OR FUNNIEST SHOW MEMORY?
The worst was when we had a pipe burst at the Queens in Barrie. Unearth played that night. I thought that it was the end of me doing shows but turned out that the community really came together and helped out.
The funniest memory would have to be in Oshawa at The Dungeon. Dead & Divine played my "goodbye" show as I was moving "away" from the local scene in Oshawa. GTA had a poll on how long I would be gone for. Well, Dead & Divine won that poll as my Goodbye show that happened the week before I left. We did a "HAHA Welcome Home Show" the week after. This was due to me lasting three days away from Ontario. The fact that we did pretty much the same show a week later and still sold out, shows how much people loved Dead & Divine back in the day.
WHATS NEXT FOR YOU?
Next for me is having one job working at The Rec Room (being a manager and still taking care of their entertainment). For the first time in a long time, I will be working one job. Trish, my right hand is taking care of 99% of the shows for the company as I will be focusing on career and family.
HOW DO PEOPLE LOOKING FOR SHOWS GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU?
Trish Austin (PureGrainPromo Partner) Trishaaustin13@gmail.com The Queens, Downtown Barrie. Gillian Dorella (PureGrainPromo founder) puregrainpromogillian@gmail.com The Rec Room, Barrie. I am not a big instagram fan as we get DMs that I don't see. Please email us.
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