This past Saturday I had the opportunity to take part in the first ever WYRD Fest, a day long music festival celebrating the fringes of western Canadian music and including musicians and bands that cover a variety of genres and sub genres and sub sub genres. This was the first year of the festival and the hopes were that it would do well enough and there would be the support to potentially have a 2nd one, and so on after that. The festival was put together with tender loving care by mister Aaron Levin, operator of Cantor Records and foremost champion of the music that is most definitely not in the mainstream. I had offered to help out Aaron with whatever he needed and figured I would end up being the guy doing doors as I often do but instead ended up being the sound man for the main stage at the fest. This shocked and thrilled me to say the least. What follows is a brief recap of the day of events and a retelling as told from the side of the stage. Please note that this mostly pertains to my room that I was in charge of, as there was also a 2nd room with more bands but I only had a chance to check out Krang and Friendo that had played there.
Saturday 2:45pm. Showed up at the venue. Brought some veggies and dip and mandarin oranges for bands and such. Who doesn’t like Christmas oranges? Already people here at the venue including CJ Frena (of GOBBLE GOBBLE, and local promoter extraordinaire who is currently living in San Francisco). So good to see CJ, and already tons of other awesome people here.
3:30pm. Just setting up the sound for the big room. The past year of doing sound has been good to me, and I know a thing or two, but thank the heavens for CJ and Graham. Def tons of help. Getting things rolling.
4:40pm. The sound is pretty much good to go. Tons of troubles finding extra quarter inch cables and XLR cables and extension chords, but we improvise and get it going. Aaron is running around and super busy with getting the other room ready and organizing everything. What an organizer does right? Shocking. Meeting a few of the bands, everyone is sweet.
5:00pm. Festival is underway, everything is on time. We rule.
5:10pm. Just did a quick sound check with JAZZ, which is Aaron’s new band with Graham and another dude whose name I forget. Pretty noisy rock, got a good groove to it, I can dig. Sound is good, and we are good to go.
5:30pm. Jazz is on, right on time. Like I said we rule. Thank goodness that the drums set up are being used by Outdoor Miners and Wicked Awesomes. Alot less stress in dealing with changeover. Pretty sure a half hour though is plenty of time for changeover between bands.
6:05pm. Jazz is done. Found out that one of the fellows from Wicked Awesomes can’t play as he is incredibly ill. Not the swine I guess, but food poisoning. That sucks. Instead Peter, AKA Sans Aids is going to play, then Outdoor Miners.
6:20pm. Peeked in on Krang's set. Sounded pretty decent, really fuzzy stoner rock. Super fuzz. But sounded decent enough.
6:55pm. Sans Aids just played. Probably my favourite new local act. Its just Peter with a kick drum and snare set up that he can hit with his feet while playing guitar and singing. Mics are super sensitive and really picked up the snare, but it added an extra lo-fi feeling to the set. Great vocals too though, a sombre and unique sound. Sarcasm times a million. Great set.
7:20pm. Did a quick run through with Outdoor Miners. They are loud. Like really loud. They said they would turn it down a bit as at Likwid Lounge they were super intense. Lots of sweet friends here, definitely makes long shows go by faster.
8:00pm. Yup. Outdoor Miners. Loud. God bless earplugs. I feel bad for those that don’t have them.
8:10pm. Setting up the Ex Boyfriends from Calgary. Apparently they are punk rock. The singer is pretty nice, but a funny and really weird dude. Wearing yoga pants, and a faux fur coat and a giant hat. Looks like a pimp down on his luck. Seriously. All the band are funny though, drummer is the serious glue keeping them together.
8:45pm. The singer for the XBF’s is all over the place. Mixer almost got pulled off the table, thankfully Taylor caught it before tragedy befell us. Intense.
9:00pm. XBF’s barely ended on time. Close call, but all has been running smoothly. Lots of people here. Tons of fun.
9:15pm. Leave Graham in charge to help set up Grown Ups from Calgary. Finally met Josiah for the first time. He’s the singer. We’ve been facebook friends since summer thanks to Al from the WPP. Nice fellow. Off to get an energy drink. Sound is hard work.
9:25pm. Got an Amp energy drink. Haven’t had one in almost 2 months. Also had the last samosa that Aaron brought. So tasty. No Steel Wheels for this guy, though that’s where everyone has been hanging out drinking I would assume.
9:55pm. Grown Ups are done. Really tight set. Good 3 piece making quality rock. Crowd was getting into it.
10:10pm. Setting up the Famines. Favorite rock band in Edmonton. Best rock band in Edmonton. Just saying. God bless Raymond and Garrett.
10:20pm. Caught a bit of Friendo. I guess a super group from Calgary with a dude from Women. Mellow. With a capital M. Chill and awesome.
10:30pm. Famines are a go. Crowd is big. Rocking out is yes.
11:00pm. Best Famines set I have seen yet. Raymond was everywhere in the crowd. Garrett's drumming was ferocious. Sound was so loud. Again glad for earplugs that Nate gave me. Garrett grabbing the mic and singing out on the Sub with Raymond and a ton of people was awesome. Best rock band, hands down.
11:20pm. Getting ready for the GOBBLE GOBBLE set. CJ’s crazy setup is center stage, Corin and Calvin are getting dressed up in their matching crazy outfits. Percussion things and toys and various noisemaking devices are everywhere. Going to get crazy.
12:00am Sunday. GOBBLE GOBBLE set was killer. Phone video footage proves it. Everyone wanted to dance, and they did. Most of the big crowd was moving and shaking it. We were dancing a bit on stage. New Pixies cover and new tunes were good. Dancey noise pop at it’s finest. CJ definitely killed it. God bless him for flying up from San Fran for this.
12:15am. Caught a Sheering Pinx song. They were sounding pretty dece. Wish I could watch more. Back to clean up.
12:20am. Stage and floor are almost cleared from the aftermath of the GOBBLE GOBBLE set. Now setting up PEACE from Vancouver. Not sure what to expect. One of the guys Connor also plays in All Purpose Voltage Heroes, one of my all time favourite Edmonton bands, whom are keyboard driven dance rock I guess. Hopefully PEACE is good. Playing last, they probably are.
12:30am. Sound checking was good. Band sounded solid. Singer now has no pants.
12:35am. Aaron is thanking people and giving out prizes. There’s a ton of people here. Guess it’s been sold out for awhile now. That makes me happy. Love the support for the not really mainstream musicians.
12:50am. PEACE ARE AWESOME. Dancey joy division. This crowd is crazy. Had to keep a speaker from being pulled down twice, same with the mixing board. Lots of dance and mosh happening. Keep an eye out.
1:20am. Danced way too hard the last couple sets now. PEACE was mindblowing. The drummer took his underwear off about half way through, and played naked for the rest of the set. Alot of us were dancing on stage and going crazy. Too much fun. One of the most insane sets I have ever seen or been a part of. Amazing. Ridiculous. All of the above. This night has been so much work but so good.
2:00am. Still cleaning up and taking down the PA and everything. Corin and Calvin are showing me how to wrap cables efficiently. So terrible at it. Also really tired and want to sleep. Still alot of us helping out though. I love this city.
2:35am. There’s an after party at the Famines jam space and I want to go but am going home. Been a long day, definitely worth it though. Amazing. I love the unity here. So much fun with my friends and all the awesome new people I met. I wonder if other cities are this awesome.
3:10am. Bed time. Let’s do it again next year, yes?
