Apr. 28, 2010 - Issue #758: May Week

Prevue

Weird community

The second Wyrd Fest pulls in bands from across Canada

Given the runaway success of the first Wyrd Fest, it was maybe inevitable that Weird Canada impresario Aaron Levin was going to expand on the idea. And while returns from the sweat-drenched crowds and ecstatic bands certainly had some say in expanding the 16-band, one-day festival into a three-night behemoth that will feature some 22 bands in three seperate cities, you get the impression that at least part of the motivation was Levin's own selfish desire to bring out some of the bands that couldn't feasibly make the trip out last time.

"For me, it was just kind of a necessity: how do I get these bands here?" Levin explains with his usual kind of dry but palpable excitement. "Last time, it was a coincidence of bands converging, but now we're asking them to come. I couldn't get some of them to come for just one show, but I could if there were three shows."

So where the first Wyrd Fest had a definite bent for the western weirdos, number two is truly a cross-Canada affair, pulling in bands from Montréal and Halifax to go with a slate of locals. But while there are a few familiar faces—Levin's own popsplosion JAZZ, naturally, as well as the sludgey assault of Edmonton's Famines, the smart psych punch of Lethbridge's Myelin Sheaths and  the tribal no wave of Vancouver's Shearing Pinx—even among the locals things have been mixed up, pulling in bands that Levin couldn't get into the fold on the first go-round but that he had always wanted to have involved.

"I looked at who I booked for Wyrd One and tried to cross them off, because I wanted to have a fresh line-up. Then it was like Christmastime, literally just who did I want to see?" he enthuses. "Even once that was done, there was all these bands coming out of the woodwork, and it was just kind of like, 'Damn, why didn't I contact you? How dumb am I?' There was so much enthusiasm that it's basically exactly who we wanted to see."

Who that is ranges from local psych-punk stalwarts the Wicked Awesomes—who will, regretablly, be taking the stage for the final time in Edmonton at Wyrd—to the screwy muted-pop of Calgary darlings Women, with a mess of styles in between: glitchy drum-dance and moody disco courtesy of Vancouver's MYTHS and Cosmetics, respectively, the psych-fuzz blasts of Montréal's Omon Ra II and Lethbridge's Fist City, the synth-heavy dance music of Montréal's D'eon.

If that seems like a rather diverse array of talent, well, that's by design: it's not called Familiar Canada, after all. Because as much as this is a sneaky way for Levin to get to see the bands that interest him, it's also about something bigger: bringing together these disparate communities into something resembling a unified whole.

"I really feel like all these communities have so much in common: the same struggles, the same goals, they're pushing in the same direction, it's just a different genre. The only difference is that they're in to different sounds. But I truly believe that all these separate communities really can just get along, if they're brought together," Levin explains, noting that exposure to elements outside your comfort zone is the key to any kind of growth, artistic or personal. "How we work sometimes is that we need pricks or some kind of stimulus outside, and then we can grow. Someone who isn't exposed to that stuff has no idea that it exists, and whether or not they like it is yet to be discovered, but if they see it it grows their consciousness and idea of music."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Levin has found that attitude can sometimes be taken the wrong way. From the get-go, he and Weird Canada have had the experience of being passed off as esoteric for its own sake, which perhaps says more about the narrow mind of his critics than any fault of his. As evidenced by his enthusiasm for getting getting these bands out into the public consciousness, though, it is less about being part of an exclusive club than it is about a man with vast curiosity and interest in music trying to find people to share his taste with.

"The finding the new, that's a significant part—it's not token, though. It's only good when I really like the music, but when it's music that I like and it's unknown, that's like icing. The esotericism, the ability to discover and broadcast to the world, is only ever an added benefit, but it's a big added benefit. Huge," Levin explains with a sly smile."But it seems like what's important to stipulate here is that some people will say I'm pretentious, but really I think it's the opposite of pretension: I just want to share it with you. I recognize it's not known and that's part of what excites me about it, but I want to share it with you." V

Sat, May 1 (3 pm)
WYRD FEST II
Featuring Women, Cosmetics,
the Wicked Awesomes, The Famines, More
The ARTery, $15

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