Fernie’s first Wapiti music festival is finally here!
This weekend, Annex Park will be transformed for two days into a live music venue, showcasing the best in New Canadian Indie.
Confirmed acts for the event include Elliott Brood, Library Voices and the 2011 Juno Award Winner for New Group of the Year, Said the Whale.
The festival also features The Matinee, Yukon Blonde, Sun Wizard, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, and local band Shred Kelly.
For more information, visit the Wapiti official website. www.ferniemusic.com
Advance weekend passes are available for $40. Tickets at the gate are $50.
Said The Whale
Said The Whale formed in 2007 as a collaboration between songwriters Ben Worcester and Tyler Bancroft. The pair’s debut EP, Taking Abalonia, featured sunny west coast indie pop, with breezy harmonies, shimmering guitars, and lyrical tributes to their home city of Vancouver. In 2008, the album was rereleased as Howe Sounds/Talking Abalonia, featuring seven additional tracks that stretched the band’s stylistic palate to include bubblegum folk (“The Light Is You”), thundering hard rock (“Last Tree Standing”) and gentle ukulele ballads (“The Real of It”). After several personnel changes, the group settled upon a five-piece lineup that includes bassist Peter Carruthers, drummer Spencer Schoening, and keyboardist Jaycelyn Brown. The quintet embarked upon a rigorous touring schedule, crossing Canada numerous times and landing high profile gigs at V-Fest 2008 in Calgary and the nationally televised Canada Day celebration on Parliament Hill.
The group is now poised to take the next step with the release of its latest single, “Camilo (The Magician).” With its gritty powerchords and sunny powerpop chorus, the single has already been dubbed the “song of the summer” by Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3. Produced by Howard Redekopp (Tegan and Sara, The New Pornographers, Mother Mother) and Tom Dobrzanski (Hey Ocean!, The Zolas), it will appear on the group’s sophomore album, Islands Disappear, due for release on October 13 via Upper Management/EMI. Unlike the west coast focus of previous releases, the new album draws on the experience of driving across Canada, from the van breaking down in Manitoba (“Dear Elkhorn”) to camping in Alberta (“Emerald Lake, AB”). With stylistic forays that include backwoods folk (“False Creek Change”) and danceable ukulele/glockenspiel rave-ups (“Goodnight Moon”), it’s the sound of a band coming into its own, delivering on the promise of its early recordings.
Said the Whale won the Juno Award for New Group of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards.
Elliott Brood
Stalking shadows on the prairies with a compass and set of matches, shaking the mountains loose with howls and footstomps and, settled in meadows, while whispering tales under darkening skies, obsessed with history or historically obsessed, either way, Elliott Brood have a penchant for stories they just can’t shake.
Since their beginnings with their EP, Tin Type, home of the cult hit, “Oh, Alberta!,” to their Juno-nominated, debut full length Ambassador, Elliott Brood have earned the praise of connoisseurs and critics alike. They’ve won over legions of fans with their raw and energetic live shows and their atmospheric, richly crafted records, making a name for themselves worldwide. They’ve carried their tune through seven cross Canada marathons, including the headlining spot on the Exclaim! Magazine sponsored Wood, Wires & Whiskey tour and opening shows for Wilco, Blue Rodeo, Corb Lund and The Sadies. They have completed three European tours, playing festivals throughout Europe, Great Britain and Scandinavia, including an opening spot in Paris with Broken Social Scene. The Brood have toured through the USA with Do, Make, Say, Think and early this year, they made their debut in Australia with the release of Ambassador on ABC Records in the spring of 2008.
Alongside the Juno nomination, Ambassador earned The Brood a Galaxy Rising Star award for Best
New Artist 2006, landing them on Best of Lists from The Globe & Mail to CBC Radio 3, a four-star review from British music mag heavy, UNCUT, and kept them on the college radio charts for over 17 weeks.
With the release of their new record, Mountain Meadows, comes a new chapter. It marks the evolution of Elliott Brood from a backwoods character into a timeless figure. Recorded in town halls, front rooms, back rooms and good old recording studios, the album’s wandering melodies are driven by rusty guitars and aching vocals that waltz around charming piano lines while ukuleles and banjos sway to and fro between a chorus of horns. It’s sunnier the higher you climb the Mountain, but in the Meadows below lay darker themes each with their own lore.