I spent a few days trying to figure out a way to summarize the behemoth that became the Wyrd Alberta Traveling Festival. Yesterday it dawned on me that I don’t have the time to go through every minute detail of the event. Instead, I’m just going to talk it out (see 2:42).
What started out as a phone call between Paul Lawton and myself on the successes of Mammoth Cave Fest and Wyrd Fest, quickly turned into a mad-hatted idea to both showcase Alberta’s burgeoning talent and bring bands from Canada’s abundant East to our beautiful, desolate West. Thus the Wyrd Alberta Traveling Festival was born; a traveling caravan of our favorite, genre-bending bands whose schedule permitted them to make it westward.
Paul and I proceeded to write up a list of “dream bands.” After a number of e-mails, deals, hand-shakes, phone calls, and deliberation, the first “final draft” of bands was concocted. We were lucky to work with Calgary’s premier indie-music festival Sled Island, granting us a Calgary date for the whole ordeal. Boom! We thought all the work was done there! Press releases went out, tickets went on sale, and my partner Marie LeBlanc Flanagan embarked on the unsane task of ensuring I didn’t work myself to death. In the interim we had some unfortunate drops (Dead Ghosts and Grand Trine) but we had some very fortune replacements (MYTHS and D’EON). The festival seemed on track…
After about a hundred hours of phone calls, venue cancelations, billeting, postering, painting, advertising, interviewing, soliciting and organizing volunteers, and trying to ensure the whole operation didn’t collapse under a pile of promoter entropy, the festival happened. There were many times I thought the whole thing would implode, nevertheless, it actually happened. Before my own eyes the whole thing unfolded like a chromatic Mobius strip undulating within some cosmic explosion. What an experience!
Calgary :: April 31
Calgary was the show I was concerned the most about, only because I had never promoted a show in Calgary and was very unsure of the strength of Weird Canada’s brand. It turned out Calgary was the most successful ticket-wise (thanks largely to Sled Island), and for Paul and I probably the most fun. The No. 1 Legion was a great venue, and it was amazing to experience bands like Bikeland, MYTHS, D’EON, and Omon Ra II for the first time. While I prefer the 30-minute set-times, the 20-minute set-times in Calgary seemed to work quite well and by the end of the night we were only 25 minutes behind schedule. Calgarians seemed really into the philosophy behind the festival, which was a very encouraging experience.
(personal) Highlights: D’EON (w/ tiny midi-keyboard), MTYHS (impromptu liquid dancing), Shearing Pinx, Nü Sensae (best sound I’ve ever heard).
Edmonton :: May 1
In Edmonton we were not able to use the venue we had used for Wyrd Fest I (it was already booked) so, after spending about 30 hours visiting various venues around town, the Edmonton organizers (thanks: Marie, Zach, Sean, Tyler, Amy, Taras and Stephanie) and I settled on TheARTery and a friend’s loft next-door which we termed the Annex. The event was a smashing success and everything proceeded very smoothly outside of the untimely visit of a Fire Marshal and the eventual crack-down on capacity (for any Edmontonian’s reading this, I’m deeply sorry for the lineups). Having both venues separated was quite interesting and worked well. In fact The Annex was a really great second venue. Pretty much every band killed it in Edmonton (from what I heard – I was too stressed running around ensuring people were OK with the capacity issues) and the two things keeping my sanity were: Marie’s extremely well-coordinated volunteer organization and the bounty of smiling faces leaving and entering each venue.
(personal) Highlights: COSMETICS (“they melted my face!” – jon), Taras telling me “you should have just booked D’EON for eight hours”, Nü Sensae saving my sanity in the green-room, The Wicked Awesome!’s last show (two crowd-surfed chairs), and Marie & Murray (my saviors!)
Lethbridge :: May 2
This was my favorite date of the festival. Paul had the event organized. So, I basically showed-up late and enjoyed myself. The Lethbridge date took place in the now-defunct Henotic Lounge, a venue/art-space/lounge/bar compacted within Alberta’s oldest brick-and-mortar Firehouse. It was a wild place and really exciting to cruise around, finding bands playing within every nook and cranny. Paul seemed to put Lethbridge’s entire music community within the building, jamming thirty bands for the day (it started at Noon and went until 1am). It was a wild ride, to say the least.
(personal Highlights): dude playing solo bass with four huge amps, Omon Ra II (dismantled guitar shreddery), The Famines (I didn’t see their set but everyone said it was amazing (it brought literal tears to Paul’s eyes)), the Days Inn grotto, and Women.
Summary & Thanks
In sum: Wyrd Alberta was the largest undertaking I’ve lived through. Co-ordinating 16+ bands from across Canada in three different cities was not something I imagined myself doing after I defended my masters thesis two years ago. I’m super proud to say it was a great success and I can’t wait to start planning something even bigger.
I couldn’t have accomplished Wyrd Alberta without the huge support of Paul Lawton (it is equally his festival as well), Marie LeBlanc Flanagan, Zak Pashak (from Sled Island), and Drew Marshal (also from Sled Island). Nor would it have been possible without the cooperation of all the bands (Women, Omon Ra II, D’EON, MYTHS, Shearing Pinx, Nü Sensae, Sharp Ends, Stalwart Sons, Brazilian Money, JAZZ, KRANG, Myelin Sheaths, Fist City, Topless Mongos, Outdoor Miners, The Famines, The Wicked Awesomes!, Bikeland, Hunter-Gatherer, Moby Dicks, the 20+ bands at the Lethbridge show) and the infinite support from all the volunteers (the five people in Calgary (thanks for the drawings!), Taras, Amy, Zach, Tyler, Marie, and Stephanie in Edmonton, and all the volunteers in Lethbridge). I’d also like to acknowledge the support of our sponsors (Beatroute Magazine, Sled Island, Pilsner, Pop Echo Records, Blackbyrd Myoozik, and the Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair) for their strong role in ensuring the Wyrd brand made it into the Canadian media ether.
Additionally, it’s important to acknowledge and thank the participants, especially every single person who purchased a ticket and made the whole festival financially viable: without your support none of this could be possible. This also goes to all the readers and supporters of Weird Canada
I’m glad to have made some new friends (Zach, Chris, Matt, Emily, Felix, Nic, Aja, Lief, and Quinne), solidified some old friendships (Nic, Jeremy, Daniel, Andrea, Paul and Evan), and had a gay ol’ time in the process.
I look forward to Wyrd Alberta II and, eventually, Wyrd Canada.
Hearts,
Aaron Levin
Weird Canada / Cantor Records
www.weirdcanada.com / www.cantorrecords.com
PS – Thanks to Omon Ra II & D’EON for the serious bro-down! See you at OBEY!
PPS – In case it wasn’t clear, I’d like to thank: Paul, Marie, Zak, Drew, all the bands, Mike Deane and Kathy, Graham Nichol, the volunteers, sponsors, anyone who came up to me during the Edmonton show and said “thank you” or “this was a great show,” the volunteers (again), the bands (again), everyone in the world, Max from the Annex, and, finally, to the dude who wrote “fuck lofi punk rock” on the wall of the Annex bathroom: you are an infinitely hilarious jerk. And I’m out!
