Sled Island.
ah, yes. the annual rite of passage to Calgary. My 4th year at Sled and every year is special. This year, no different. For the second straight year I made the 12 hour drive through the Okanagan / Banff lands. This time with members of Sutures (Luna, Jason) and RWW. Got into Calgary pretty much 12 hours later + the hour ahead after leaving at 1AM the same day (after the Apollo Ghosts Planetarium show), picked up my pass at Henry’s (also artist lounge hangout, free drinks! etc).
For the first few days (Wed, Thur) I had a plan. However, that plan was foiled the first night when trying to see Memory Screen, Ketamines. Braids and Friendo among others. No worries, some of those bands would play later on in the fest. Crazy local three piece Faux Fur played the first slot at the Central United Church and played a short set that turned into a extended set when after about 3 or 4 songs they promised it would be there last but played one more, and another, and another. Wild Nothing followed and their set up wasn’t bad but their dream popness were more suited in a club like Republik. I scrambled off to Tubby Dog for a sparse gathering seeing Sans Aids before a frustrating back and forth between the Hifi Club and the Marquee Room in which I had no idea which bands played on time. The night wasn’t an absolute write off as I ended up at the Palomino, caught up with some Vancouver folks and saw Crocodiles. It’s funny that at every Sled Island I’ll meet people from Vancouver the first time in Calgary. It’s kinda like "Oh, I see u around in Van, but I don’t say hi. But now that we’re in a different city, who are u again?".
Ok, Thursday. Pool Party! House shows! It wouldn’t be a Sled if there wasn’t some kind of sloppy, sweaty show of some kind. At the pool party show, a stellar lineup of bands packed into this tiny basement. Duzheknew, Cousins, Feel Alright, Sans Aids, Faux Fur, Play Guitar and maybe more played. Rad bands from Halifax, Montreal, etc.. Ya know, where’s Toronto in all this. Are there not legit bands from TO that come to Sled? As a side, one of my favourite bands is from TO but other then them, I have no idea what goes on there. NXNE?
After some dry ice that was poured into the pool, veggie BBQ and drinking a few heaters (coronas, lime juice and hot sauce mixed up), it was off to a house show in a yellow house or in the backyard in a small wooden shed where Keep Tidy, Stressed Out , Grown Ups and I think B-Lines played. I was there for Keep Tidy and Stressed Out but I heard all shit broke loose when Grown Ups played. Fuckkkk. My tummy went for some Tubby Dog.
After Tubby Dogs, I got lost trying to find Emmedia but eventually found it as it’s by the Beatroute office and chilled out to some Two Bicycles (Teen Daze’s other band). Not wanting to repeat any bad timing mishaps suffered from the night before, I pretty much stayed in one place Thursday night at the Republik catching Starfucker (which, sorry, I can’t get into all after this second chance), Wild Nothing (way better than church setting) and Blonde Redhead.
No time to sleep in. Friday 1pm start at Broken City for the Mammoth Cave showcase featuring the Gooeys, Topless Mongos, Bare Wires and Times New Viking. Mammoth alright. Holy shit, Bare Wires. After a little break, the Buzzcocks were set to go at 6pm and I wanted to avoid Olympic Plaza like the plague but just this one time on the weekend I went in. It was a fiasco as last year with getting access to go in with a photo pass and everything. So the Buzzcocks, yeah. They played. WHAT DO I GET?! I mean, seriously, WHAT DO I GET?! exactly.
A quick walk over to the Palomino and saw some familiar local Vancouver favourites in Mode Moderne and Louise Burns. Oh Louise. Then it was off to Tubby Dog for some Teengirl Fantasy action. Gobble Gobble were set to play last and it would have been nice to stay but I saw them last year in the same venue so I went to the Twisted Element to see the Fist City, the Intelligence and Wild Flag show. Holy shit, Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss. Finally, icing on the cake for the evening going to the Legion for Cheeseburger and Hunx and His Punxxxx…love those Punkettes.
With Friday / Saturday hangover, I managed to get myself up to go to the free Beatroute breakfast at the Local 510. Last year was these small breaky sandwitches like egg mcmuffins but this year was a mini breaky pizzza with some hashbrowns. Starting off the morning with some No Gold turned out to be a solid choice to get your day started right on the last full day of Sled.
Since I’m writing this at 3:47AM now and wanting to finish this ASAP, the rest of Saturday was packed with a day show at Tubby Dog ( Slam Dunk) and another stab at Hunx and His Punx at Broken City. Missing Chad VanGaalen, Of Montreal and the Raveonettes at Olympic Plaza was of no consquence to me as I got to see a spiritually uplifting performance by Julianna Barwick at the Hillhurst United Church, Calgary girl punks in the Shrapnelles at Broken City, another decadent performance by Wild Flag this time at the Legion to close off Sled and being surprised by the surprise guest that is Purity Ring at the Twin Shadow show at the Hifi Club. Whew. All in all, 22 shows at Sled that I went to. I still have my Artist Lounge and Sled wristband on. We’ll see how long that lasts on my wrists. Sled Island. Looking forward to next year already.
