Music festival season is upon us and there’s plenty to be a part of on any given weekend no matter where in the world you are.
The only festival to happen in the KW area is Ever After, which took place June 2-4.
The three day event was packed full of well-known EDM artists and local talent was also highlighted.
In talking to the owner of the festival, Gabriel Mattacchione before the event, Imprint was told about expansions on site and the A-List line-up that was planned for the weekend.
Having been to many festivals, including last year’s Ever After, I was hoping the festival would be at the same level as last year. I was happy with the festival generally, but there were a few things that I feel like could have been better.
BEST AND WORST SET(S)
I could not keep it to one best set. I’m going to share the best ones so you can find them and fall in love with them as well.
- Excision
- Snails
- Zed’s Dead
- NGHTMRE
- Ticky Ty b2b Miz Megs
- Dekoze
- Sydney Blu
It was very easy to pick the worst set of the weekend: French Montana. Hands down the worst set I think I have ever seen. He was 20 minutes late for his set, took a drink and smoke break, and was so incoherent he couldn’t finish any song he started in a manner that was pleasurable to listen to.
FOOD
There were many great choices to pick from when it came to meals at the venue in the form of food trucks (of course, what better way is there to eat?).
There was the outdoor event favourites such as cotton candy, candy apples, funnel cake, deep-fried Mars bars, and bloomin’ onions.
There was also a Boston Pizza food truck, Greek food, a food company called Kono Pizza (which makes pizza in a cone), tacos, and Jamaican food.
The selection was great but everything was so expensive.
STAGES
The event was promoted as having three stages; an exciting upgrade from last year’s two. Mattacchione told Imprint before the event that there would be two main stages with international acts and one stage dedicated to Ontario talent. The two main stages were called Excalibur Stage and Oculus Realm, and the local stage was aptly named the Ontario stage.
The Ontario stage did not set times, and the performers names were not shown anywhere. There were also Ontario artists that were on the main stages, which was very confusing. I wish that there had been some acknowledgment of the people on the third stage.
The Ontario stage was also not really set up in a way that would have allowed for crowds to enjoy what was happening there. Most of the space in front of this stage was taken up by an ATM bank and port-o-potty’s.
I hope that next time the stages would all be set up to succeed. I think that it would have also been better with just two stages as the space at the event wasn’t very large and there was a lot happening.
CARNIVAL
Last year’s event had one ride, the Ferris Wheel. This year they added a Tilt-A-Whirl, the Gravitron, and Salt and Pepper Shaker.
I must have ridden the Tilt-A-Whirl a million times in three days. It was great. I hope this part of the festival continues to grow.
BOOTHS
This years booths included a clothing store, henna tattoos, face painting, event merchandise, an onsite tattoo parlour, and an oxygen bar. I think there was a good mix of things for people to choose from.
CHILL ZONE
X Infused created a space for people to relax away from the heat, which included hammocks, shaded areas, and games. This was the perfect escape from the heat and a fantastic addition to the event.
FLAGS
All of the standard festival flags were present. The Canada flag, along with other countries, the marijuana flag, and even other universities were represented (especially Laurier).
In this space I was highly disappointed once again in UW students who were at the event. There was not a single UW flag, t-shirt, backpack, sticker — anything — anywhere.
Q&A: Good-to-know answers from talented Canadian artists.
1. Sydney Blu
What do you like most about Canadian audiences?
What’s my favourite thing about Canadian audiences? I mean Canadians are Canadians; they’re my favourite people. I get along with them, cause they’re my people. I’ve travelled all over the world but there’s nothing like performing at home. I like it for the fact that I feel close to the people, because a lot of my friends come out. It’s special to be able to perform at home in Canada.
What inspired you to get into EDM?
I’ve always been musical. When I was a kid I played the piano I was a dancer, I’ve done a lot of different things. When I graduated from college I basically decided I wanted to be a DJ, so I bought turntables. I mean like It’s been pretty much the only job since I graduated. It’s been amazing. I don’t regret it at all and it was the best decision I ever made. I followed my heart.
What’s on your summer playlist?
I like Hot Since 82’s “Evolve or Die.” I like “Alright,” Green Velvet’s label. I really like a new track that just came out on the Seth Troxler label, called “Play it, Say It ,”and its amazing. Chuck Daniel’s remix, it’s so awesome. There’s also Grave Records coming out on Elrow, there’s one track called Move, by Simone Liberali, it’s one of my favourites right now. SSo, , house music.
What event are you most looking forward to next?
I’m really excited about playing at El Paso in a couple weeks. It’s an amazing, amazing scene down there. They love house music, they love techno. So yeah I’m playing there in two weeks again and like I said it’s always packed whenever I play there.
What’s next for you?
I have a ton of music coming out. I’m releasing music on Hot Since 82’s label on Gene Farris’ Label, Joeskis label.
What’s it like to be a woman in this industry right now?
I don’t really think about myself as a woman, I just think of myself as an artist. I don’t pay attention to it, cause if you do; I think that’s a downfall.
2. Dekoze
What do you like most about Canadian audiences?
The things is, I love audiences everywhere, cause I love how music can be universal. However the thing with Canadian audiences, [is] I have a connection with them. I’ve been part of Canada for most of my life; I feel like I’m at home whenever I’m in Canada. But I love different crowds and see what they see and hear what they hear. I get a little bit of flavour I can bring home to Canada.
What inspired you to get into EDM?
So my dad used to bring home records, it started when I was like four. He’d bring a wild variety, from Miles Davis to ABBA, the Supremes, the Temptations. There’d be Jazz, there’d be RNB, there’d be soul, there’d be pop, there’d be disco, and he got me excited with what he would bring home — he’d get Barry White — he’d bring home all these sounds. He got me really excited about all these genres of music.
What’s on your summer playlist?
Well the thing is, when it comes to dance music, I’ve been listening to dance music for 30 years and there are so many different subgenres of dance. You have your house, you have your techno, you got your tech house, you got your disco. I mean, even on beatports I think it’s like 18 different subcategories for dance music. When you think about its kind of fascinating that from hip hop and disco, we have all these different sounds, even 18 that’s barely scratching the surface. However there are a few producers that jump to mind that I’ve been loving. One is Billy Kenny, it’s heavy and dark and driving and full on, but he has influences of old school house. So the Cube Guys, who are bringing out one of our Jungle Funk events, for our pre-Pride party in two weeks, and they’ve always been in top form.
What event are you most looking forward to next?
I’mma say two, ‘cause the first one is the The Cube Guys at our Jungle Funk event, and that’ll be at CODA, Saturday June 17, and then Pride. Pride in general, cause that’s really meaningful to me on a number of levels.
And what’s next for you personally in terms of your music and for Jungle Funk?
What’s next for me is touring around all over the world and pushing the label further and forward.
3. Miz Megs & Ticky Ty
What do you like most about Canadian audiences?
Ticky Ty: It depends on where in Canada you are I think, but there’s just this certain, I don’t even know what to call it; it’s a freeness and a love. I know that everybody has a love for music, and stuff like that, but like a freeness and a funness and not giving a shit.
What inspired you to get into EDM?
Ticky Ty: I’ve always been into music. I’ve been a dance since I was three and it was kinda like a gradual progression. I don’t know, I use to want to be a choreographer, so music and dance always been in me anyways. But physical limitations, kind of made me go in a different direction. The first time I listened to house music was in a friends backyard, we would like smoke joints and pick raspberries, we’d steal her older sister’s Happy Hardcore CDs and like just like play them in the backyard. It was good, it was fun it got me into it. I started bartending and the bar that I worked at the guys there they noticed I was starting into the music, and they took me to Boa and Comfort Zone and that was it.
Miz Megs: I was a ballerina from 3 to 16, ‘till they told me that my ass and my boobs and my head were too big. They were like okay, that’s not happening for you, and I was a violinist for 14 years, so I was always getting musical and dance-y. DJ-ing fuses my dancing with my violin. I think my mom said that! And even my love for house music. I started partying when I was like 15 years old sort of going to raves and stuff and I was like, I wanna do what they’re doing! And eventually I learned.
What’s on your summer playlist?
Ticky Ty: I’m just gonna do favourite genre cause I’m obsessed with psytrance. I’m just going in deep down the rabbit hole, I love it.
Miz Megs: For me, its actually been my favourite track for the past few months. Usually, it doesn’t last a few months, but when it does I’m like, “alright,” I gotta let people know and it’s Lizardking by Camelphats. A lot of people will know it cause it’s kind of an anthem right now, but when you just hear it, it’s like yeah, you’re in it.
What event are you most looking forward to next?
PRIDE! For the first time we’re both playing on the same stage together.
What’s it like being a woman in the industry?
Miz Megs: Depends on the way you look at it. You could be the girl that they expect to be crappy because you’re a girl, cause a lot of girls out there are, or its like the novelty like “ooooo! The girl,” or its like the girl that can kill it.
Ticky Ty: It’s a hard balance, I’ll tell you. People always have their own preconceptions, and its gonna be there and you can either let it break you down and feel like uggggh, or you can just go and say “y’know what? I gonna go and do my thing, I know I fucking do it well.” As long as you know, it’s not like we’re cheating, or like we’re fake-ass, ohhh we’re pressing — sorry, no offense to pressers. We’re not up there with laptops, no offense to laptop DJ’S, but we’ve done it. We both started on vinyl. We don’t need to rely on anything! We have experience it’s just one of those things where it’s just like yknow what? I can see how some girls, they come onto the scene and they’re sort of faking it to make it or doing shady shit to get ahead or whatever, guys do it too. At the end of the they’re making it harder for us every time they do that. Fads will come and fads will go, but when you have it in your soul and you have that love for it, it will never go away. You’re just gonna do it no matter what people fucking yammer on about, or whatever bad comes along.
What’s next around Ontario?
- Pride
- GLOWFAIR FESTIVAL
- Tall Tree Music Festival
- Escapade
- Kamp Festival
- NXNE
- Sound of Music Festival
