If you were to choose one artist from each city in Canada that embodies its culture and style, one might choose Arcade Fire for Montreal, The Weakerthans for Winnipeg, and so on. But despite the fact that many notable groups have come from my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, it wouldn't be odd for someone to choose a group like Wax Mannequin.

Like the city's reputation, Mannequin's music is gritty, dirty and raw. It is not what one might call ‘nice', and it doesn't try to be. Still, it does have a sort of charm, a sort of beauty that has people coming back to it again and again.

Mannequin acknowledges this, and it seems as though he and the city go hand in hand.

“When I think about all of my music at once, there is something really Hamiltonian about it,” Mannequin said. “It's a really crappy, fucked up city, but it's easy to live in.”

In fact, Wax Mannequin has quickly become a staple of Hamilton's music scene. They even honoured him with a 2007 Hamilton Music Award for Male Artist of the Year. He won it with his album Orchard and Ire, which combined loads of interesting songs, from organ-loaded power rock to Nick Cave-esque ballads.

His success doesn't stop there, though. After about five years of Canadian tours, he has started to build up quite a cult following. Part of this is due to his exuberant live show. Whether he's playing solo or with his touring band, he's almost always seen dressed in a full suit, with roses thrown around the stage, and into the audience.

“I think that being professional is really out of style, so it's kind of incongruent when I dress up all fancy to put on a messy rock show... and incongruence is always in style,” Mannequin said. “I'm also naturally inclined to be very disorganized, so I try to maintain a ‘put together' facade to compensate. It helps to keep me focused in a way.”

And about the roses in all his promo shots and at his concerts? Well, he speaks in a sort of poetry about them.

“I like roses,” he explained. “The roses are a disease. They grow out of my skin when I'm angry or suffering. It's like the Hulk, but far worse. Also, in the old days, performers used to get roses thrown at them. But now I throw them at the audience. Because that's just what it takes.”

Perhaps the rose can be a metaphor for his music, and Hamilton as well — pretty, as long as you stay away from the thorns. Be warned though, his show isn't for everyone, and oftentimes people are confused, if not simply captivated by Mannequin's onstage personality. But, judging by his growth in fans over the years, he's been carving out his own niche amazingly well.

And while Mannequin will likely never be the kind of guy who plays stadium gigs, he's pretty content with where his career lies. In fact, these were the words he left me with:

“I don't expect it to ever get super popular, but some people seem to really appreciate it. So I'd like to find all of those people and have a big, scary party with them.”

Wax Mannequin will be performing at Fanshawe twice next week, Tuesday at noon, and Wednesday evening.