stereophonic
The 10th annual
Stereophonic Festival begins today and runs until Saturday, January 19 in
Sackville NB. Organized by and as a fundraiser for CHMA 106.9 FM, (the community radio
station headquartered on Mount Allison’s campus) the festival is about
promoting a diverse range of music without any commercial distractions. Rock
icon, Brent Randall, has classified Stereophonic among the “best alternative
music festivals” and this year’s varied line-up is sure to follow suit. (Note:
This year’s schedule offers a mixture of all ages and 19+ shows.)
Musician Kevin Brasier, the festival’s co-director, shares more on what you can
expect this week. ~ Story by Michelle Brunet
For information on this year’s
schedule, tickets and festival passes and a free digital compilation of this
year’s bands, check out: www.stereophonicmusicfestival.
AE: How did you get involved with co-directing the Stereophonic festival?
KB: I worked with SappyFest as their production assistant in 2011. My
intern partner then, Aly Kelly, co-directed Stereophonic 8 earlier that year.
She and her boyfriend Pat LePoidevin encouraged me to help organize
Stereophonic 9. I gave CHMA my résumé and the next thing I knew I was hired.
AE: Stereophonic raises funds for Mount Allison's campus radio, CHMA 106.9
FM. To you, what makes this radio station vital?
KB: In a town as small, but creative, as Sackville, our relationship to
CHMA is much more direct than perhaps any other town in Canada. Since they are
so good to us, we owe them a kind of birthday present; this is what
Stereophonic is. I've played music in a few different cities, and writing music
in a jam space is only the first step. Who will cover the costs of posters for
the show? Who can lend us a PA system? Where can we duplicate cassettes? How
can we get our music played on the radio, and share it with all the campus and
community stations in Canada? The answer is, of course, CHMA. Also, because
Mount Allison has a small student population, anyone can have a weekly radio
show, and gain valuable experience in a wide range of communications arts. Our
spoken word department is getting stronger every day, and just this year we
began to offer kids summer camps. Never have I felt such a strong partnership
between a town and its community radio station.
AE: How do you select/recruit the diverse line-up of performers and artists
for the festival?
KB: At its core, the festival celebrates and promotes local talent, so we
had eight bands and singer-songwriters lined up by September. Sackville is
really lucky that bands like The Mouthbreathers and song writers like Jon
McKiel call Sackville their home. As for the rest of the bands, some are
handpicked, and some apply to play in September. The visual artists are also
local; Joe Chamandy, who will be playing with Astral Gunk at the festival, is
our art-director, and is responsible for that amazing line-up announcement
animation [http://vimeo.com/54555932]. He
has also delegated tasks such as poster design for each show to other talented
artists in Sackville.
AE: Anything special or new happening for the festival's 10th anniversary?
KB: Yes, we have some new innovations for the big ten-oh. Sara Evans and Al
Barbour, who run The Black Duck Inn, are letting us use their other store front
as a pop-up headquarters. Located right downtown, this space will let us sell
festival passes, art, records, tapes, posters and zines for the entire duration
of the festival. We will have a professional festival program guide this year,
filled with illustrations, interviews, and more. We are also incorporating a
new venue into this year’s festival - Pickles Deli. I wanted to get them
involved because, as of the last year, they became huge supporters of local
music. I think just about every local band paying Stereophonic this year has
played at Pickles at some point in the last 8 months.
AE: For someone who has never attended Stereophonic, what is the experience
like? Is Sackville completely taken over by music and art in various venues?
KB: Stereophonic doesn't physically take over the town as much as SappyFest
does, but one can feel something special in the air during the festival. Many
out of town friends are visiting, or coming down to perform, which contributes
to the excitement. Also, with nine shows in four days, live music culture
pretty much takes over every popular establishment: The Vogue Cinema, Bridge
Street Café, George's Roadhouse and many more – you would have to be
hibernating pretty hard to miss everything.
AE: Will you perform in the fest?
KB: I will be performing in the festival, playing bass with YELLOWTEETH,
Jon McKiel, Marine Dreams, and Go Get F**ked. I can only swing it because we
have an amazing group of volunteers. I also have an amazing co-directing
partner, Jess Palmer, a total pro.
AE: Anything you'd like to add?
KB: There has never been Stereophonic like this one - this is the best
line-up we've ever had. With Maritime cult legends such as Cousins and Cold
Warps, to our large headliners like Rich Aucoin and Old Man Luedecke, this
years Stereophonic offers something for everyone.
