"I'll never be a household name," Ember Swift tells us, not seeming to have much envy of Eminem, Survivor 2 or toasters, things we all know too well.

"People think because we haven't broken through, we haven't succeeded, but I pay the bills. I don't have to do anything but music and I've done it all not full of compromises. They ask, 'You have six records, why aren't you rich? Aren't you tired of scrambling?' As if I've done something bad. Something wrong."

If there's anything you get to know quickly about Toronto's Ember Swift, it's her opinion. Which is good, because the 27-year-old, playing the Rev tonight, is fighting for the right things.

Take The Wage is the Stage, her new live album, was partly recorded in Edmonton. On it, you'll find criticisms of selling out; of the arrogance in assuming you're on the guest list for a $5 show; of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, of all things, a song her parents wrote and which she ran with, adding her own spin.

"I only go into a few things about race and suburbia there. I didn't get into gender, sexual orientation, even class. Everybody asks me why I didn't take on Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. We hear these stories when we're children and a lot of the lessons in them reinforce a certain inequality. An entire song about critiquing fairy tales is in order, don't you think?"

Instead, let's get to those guest lists, now.

"It's not anti-media," Swift says, after a bit of pointy questioning. "It's anti-industry. There's an attitude in the industry that independent artists have to pay for their way to the top. But they're the ones who need that $5 cover charge more than anyone. Yet there are always people trying to sneak into shows because of who they know or who they work for. I mean, come on. Five dollars?"

She loves Joni Mitchell, and there's a bit of Ani DiFranco in Swift, which she bucks off by playing with, well, anything she can get her hands on. Jazz, funk, folk, blues, you name it, often all within one song, poetry, politics and panache.

"It takes a while to get your own sound. When you start out, you end up showing off your record collection a bit, but then you get your own name. When I was 21, I was relying more on who I knew, but now it's what I know. I like my life better now. I don't own a television set. My ex took off with it. It was the best thing to happen to me. I'm aware there's a show called Survivor, but I've never watched it. I can keep up with the sitcoms, but I'd rather make music, to be inspired by reality instead of hypnotized by reality TV."