Music

Sled Island 2014: a weekend in words and pictures

by Nicole Villeneuve

A year has passed since the devastating Alberta floods forced the cancellation of the seventh annual Sled Island festival in Calgary, and while its return for an eighth year seemed to this total Sled newbie like an overall vibrant few days, some veteran attendees of the festival I spoke to throughout the weekend quietly seemed to think the scope and lineup had suffered in the damaging year’s wake.

It might be true to some extent, but the fact that it was even able to happen at all isn’t easily dismissable. As a modestly sized music festival, all the cancellation refunds Sled had to issue in 2013 could have been crippling. Luckily, as reported in the National Post, 70 per cent of 2013 passholders declined refunds, and word of mouth in Calgary suggests that some bands, who had performed and been paid prior to the full cancellation last year, simply tore up their cheques.

That generous mindset, coupled with the proactive dedication that emerged last year—fringe house and alternative-venue shows for bands that were stuck were immediately booked, even as far out of town as Edmonton—was the vibe that permeated Sled Island 2014 too. Any music festival of a certain size needs bigger-name headliners to be inclusive and attract a variety of interest, but its also meaningful to be mindful of discovery, community, and diversity. St. Vincent’s name is gonna look amazing on your poster and will be a no-brainer showstopper, but a band like Victoria, BC’s Fountain slaying Tubby Dog on a sunny afternoon with their infectiously youthful take on ‘70s post-punk is what you really walk away remembering. Killer Mike or Bob Mould will unquestionably shut a night down on a high note, but Dallas, TX’s thrash weirdos Power Trip will also introduce you to the Calgary two-step, something you might not even have known existed but is very, very real. Too real.

Calgary as a city is a bit of a strange place to try to foster this level of engagement. Even in the core it’s a bit sprawl-y and car-focused, and its downtown doesn’t exactly feel young. But most major venues (and makeshift venues) are within a 10-minute radius; the further ones are in the neighbourhoods you’ll probably wanna find yourself walking around in for a while anyway. And if you ask locals who’ve tread those paths a hundred times, you can find the best junk-food stopoffs (please by god go get that donair pizza at Awesome Kitchen) and off-major-road shortcuts that make it feel less isolated, more festival-y. On the topic of local gems, it’s mandatory to mention one of Calgary’s best-kept secrets (at least to the rest of the country), the National Music Centre, which, before it gets its swank new expanded digs in 2016, already houses a pretty extensive, mostly keyboard-based (it used to be the Cantos Synth Museum) instrument collection that is of global significance. Its staff is comprised of some of the most enthusiastic music lovers you’ll meet and you’ll have the best, nerdiest few hours of your life there. Go.

Making a point of seeing western-based acts paid off: Calgary’s Lab Coast and Lethbridge/Calgary’s Fist City were so good I had to see them each twice (at a senior’s club and a legion, natch), while BC acts Crystal Swells and the aforementioned Fountain were standouts at the festival (and I was just as stoked to finally check out longtime west-coast favourites B-Lines and woolworm; they didn’t disappoint). Guys, guitars are BACK for 2014. Other honourable mentions: Vancouver’s White Lung, as always, but now with added impact from bassist/vocalis Hether Fortune; Cashmere Cat’s blockpartydanceparty; and eastern Canada’s Crosss’ heavy psych grunge set had a solid front row of headbangers. GUITARS.

There were some festival disappointments, though they were beyond Sled’s control: they might face another unfortunate round of refunds this year, as anticipated Friday night headliner Neko Case cancelled at the last minute; the outdoor Olympic Plaza show, which also featured Bry Webb and Blitzen Trapper, was instead made free, and Joel Plaskett swooped in and took Case’s place in the midst of one of the city’s seemingly out-of-nowhere and intense thunder storms. Olympic Plaza was transformed into a temporary wading pool, shoes freely came off, and people jumped in. Literally. So much splashing. It didn’t hurt that Plaskett was in a typically cheerful mood and fittingly opened with “Lightening Bolt.” Comedy headliner Kyle Kinane also had to cancel his two headlining gigs after getting denied at customs. Though attendees to the comedy shows were anything but disappointed with other scheduled performers Jon Daly and Hari Kondabolu.

Watching tweets and Instagrams come in from NXNE in Toronto all weekend gave me some mad FOMO to be sure, but what it actuallly did was make me really happy to be at a smaller, more manageable and enthusiastic festival—I don’t remember the last time it’s been made so easy and enticing to check out the smaller bills as opposed to what feel like The Main Talking Point Events You Just Can’t Miss Out On. Sled Island still feels small enough to ensure a bunch of the performers actually have an investment in the festival and the community of artists it supports. At the end of most nights, I just wanted to go and start a band, a true sign of a music festival doing its job.

Enjoy a random and poor-quality iPhone gallery from the weekend above.