Wyrd MTL: Wyrd science
Shortpants Romance will launch the Let Me See That Other Hand: The Now Sound of Montreal tape compilation during Wyrd MTL
Photo: Fabien Loszach
Weird Canada’s travelling festival finally makes its way to Montreal
When he first bought the domain name weirdcanada.com in 2009, Edmonton’s Aaron Levin – the website’s founder and editor-in-chief – wanted to expose Canada’s DIY scene to fellow music enthusiasts. Two years later, the website has content coming from coast to coast and, in March, it won CBC Radio 3′s Best Canadian Music Site award.
“The website’s mantra is to cover self-released, limited run and small label music from Canada,” explains managing editor, and Hour collaborator, Jesse Locke. “Stuff that’s not covered anywhere else.” Months after the CBC Radio 3 announcement, the Weird crew isn’t resting on its laurels. Au contraire, they also spread the Weird gospel live.
Wyrd is many things. It’s a caravan of travelling bands like GOBBLE GOBBLE, Dirty Beaches, Silver Dapple (Jesse’s band) and Montreal’s own Red Mass and Tonstartssbandht. Together, they went from Edmonton to Vancouver in May and lived to tell the tale. It’s also a music marathon: the Wyrd crew uses a two-stage setup to avoid timeouts. Just when one performer’s final note fades away, another artist on the second stage keeps the party going, and so on.
And it’s also quite the bargain. “We want to make it open to everyone,” answers Locke when asked about the low price – advance tickets are $10 for a lineup of 10 bands (Dirty Beaches, d’Eon, Lantern, Dreamcatcher, The Friendly Dimension, Man Made Hill, Ultrathin, Hobo Expanding Cult Band, Shortpants Romance and Headaches). “It seemed like a good way to do it.”
But, most of all, Wyrd is love. “A lot of bands are coming up from Toronto and Halifax just to have a good time, to be a part of it and to support the website. It’s also bands that we love. We have Lantern, one of my favourite new bands, and acts like Shortpants Romance, a great local band. We just want to represent all the spectrum of the country.”
While past editions were mostly presented independently, Montreal’s Wyrd happening is part of the Suoni per il Popolo festivities. “We love Suoni and we thought it would be a great way to introduce Wyrd this year,” Locke says. “Maybe, in the future, it will be a separate event, but we’re big fans of Suoni and we’re happy to team up with them. It’s a great partnership.”
While music fans will be split between the Wyrd event, the rest of the Suoni program and all the other indie shows happening around town, Locke and co. remain confident. “We actually think June is a great time for Wyrd. With Mutek and Suoni, people are in a mood to go out all the time. There’s also a lot of visitors in town during summer. It’s perfect timing, as far as we’re concerned.”
While, we’re at it, who is Wyrd’s public? Import fetishists? Vinyl-collecting weirdoes? Old prog dudes with ponytails? “Anyone and everyone should come out!” Jesse exclaims. “We’re all part of Weird Canada! You know how they used to say that anyone that saw The Velvet Underground wanted to start their own band? We hope that anyone that comes to the Wyrd fest will want to start their own band and release an album or launch their own label!”
Wyrd MTL
At La Sala Rossa
June 20
