Sled Island | News

JOIN THE SLED ISLAND ARMY TODAY (OR GIFT ONE TO A FRIEND)

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:19:00 -0500

Shamelessly ripping off the Kiss Army, we’ve started our own membership group, only it’s more of a Water Buffalo Lodge than a Fan Club. Instead of getting mailed Gene Simmons airbrushed glamour shots, you’ll be getting real Sled Island savings, party invitations, the occasional beer, and a constant chance to win prizes.

A $15 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP (it renews after 1 year, but you can opt out at any time and we’ll remind you a month or so in advance so that you don’t get surprised) will net you:

$15 off your Sled Island Festival pass (see, it’s basically a no-cost membership)
A personal Sled Island Army membership card designed by the one-and-only Twyla Dawn
Invitations to private Sled Island parties, including a Christmas party at the Sled Island offices/secret underground base with an advanced look at some of the bands vying to play the fest
First word on the secret Legion shows and after-parties during the festival
A near-never-ending stream of contests and giveaways including tickets to rock shows in Calgary, other local festival passes, CDs, DVDs, posters and a whole whack more.

So yeah, join today (or gift one to a friend in time for the Holidays!). If you’re planning to attend Sled Island 2010, it’s essential a free membership and we’ll make sure that we make it worth your while.

SHOWS US YOUR SHORTS FUN(!)DRAISER PARTY!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:25:00 -0500

Hey gang, Jeanette Burman - Sled film head honcho - is busy trying to put together another addition of the face-meltingly good Show Us Your Shorts Festival, and she’s put together a shindig complete with bands and film screenings to raise funds for it. Spread the word and mark it on your calendars: December 11, 2009 @ Broken City. Help her make Show Us Your Shorts happen again this year by attending a fully affordable and exciting FUNDRAISER PARTY!

The Ex-Boyfriends, Extra Happy Ghost, and guests perform.

Films to be screened include: “Assbackwards” by Hussien Juma, “Big Fists” by Jordan Easton,” “The Edge of Town” by Chris Ciancimino, “The Secret Life of Robots” by Mike Peterson, “ The Samurai’s Last Stand” by Anne Koizumi and Travis Murphy, “Monkey Brains” by Tomlinson and Saxon Decouq, “Citadel” by Tinu Sinha, and “I’ll Believe” by Sandi Somers.

PLUS TONNES O’ DOOR PRIZES!!! SUYS Short Films! Filmmakers in attendance.

Doors at 6 PM, Films at 7 PM, Bands about 9PM
Tickets $12 at the door or in advance at Broken City
Broken City - 613 - 11th Ave. S.W. Calgary, Alberta

Sponsors And Prizes:
- PURR Clothing
- The Rocket
- One Yellow Rabbit Performance Group
- Caffe Beano
- Alberta Theatre Projects
- Sled Island Festival
- Steam Whistle
- CJSW
- Theatre Calgary
- Aldona Barutowicz Photography
- Beat Route Magazine

WANT TO PLAY AT SLED ISLAND 2010?

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:57:00 -0500

Hey gang - you can apply now to play Sled Island 2010 (June 30-July 3) through Sonicbids.com. Just fill out your info here for your chance to showcase.

As a festival, we really like using Sonicbids, because it drastically reduces the waste of demo packages, photos, CD-R insert labels, one-sheets and envelopes. We have to charge a small submission fee to cover the incredibly thorough listening session process that we follow while pouring over the wealth of submissions.

Hope to see your submission in our inbox soon!

SLED ISLAND 2010 ♥ JUNE 30 - JULY 3 ♥ KICK-OFF PARTY FUN

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:56:00 -0400

So, first things first - we’re giddy to officially announce that we’re doing this Sled Island thing all over again in 2010! Mark your calendars (June 30-July 3) and make sure that you don’t use up all of your sick days between now and then, because lordavmerceh, it looks like Sled 2010 will be an endurance test of legendary partying. Rumours are circulating that 2009 fest faves King Khan (Montreal/Berlin), Quintron and Miss Pussycat (New Orleans) are toiling away in a secret Sled Island guest curator laboratory planning the most epic kick-off party that a lil’ music festival could ask for! And it looks like they might not be the only guest curators in there…Sled Island is gonna’ be a Frankenstein’s Monster Party (Mash?). DUH DUH DUHHHH!

SLED ISLAND WRAP-UP PARTAAAYYYYY

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:24:06 -0400

Swing by Broken City today between 2-5pm for the Sled Island ‘09 wrap-up party. You all deserve the hugest of hugs. Also, don’t forget to catch the last films of the festival tonight!!

YOU GUYS! LET'S HAVE FUN TODAY! AND TONIGHT! OLYMPIC PLAZA OUTDOOR STAGE -- TICKETS ON SALE AT THE FRONT GATE!

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:30:00 -0400

This happened last night. Tonight it happens again at Tubby Dogg and again at Dicken’s. In addition to lots of fun times like that, we’ve got the main outdoor stage at Olympic Plaza (tickets on sale at the front gate!) w/ Breeders, Liars, Biz Markie, Holy Fuck, Anvil, Malajube, Summerlad and quite possibly the best show of the festival…M5!! We’ve got a stacked bill with Ladyhawk, Azeda Booth, HEALTH ++, The amazing Gift of Gab (Blackalicious) with festival favourites Blist, an early weird-punk/noise show at the New Black, the band that changed my life, Tricky Woo, Nardwuar’s video vault with the best live band of the festival, Quintron & Miss Pussycat and our new favourite band, The New Danger Kids, we’ve also got Jon-Rae Fletcher, Keser all the way form the UK (that rhymed), and well, a whole lot more. That’s one heckuva run-on sentence, hey? Oh, did we mention that you can end yer evenin’ at the Legion? With two surprise guests, one of whom I think released the best record of 2009 so far? They’re joined by Women (who you already know will blow your mind), O’Death, who are the gem of the festival, Sean Nicholas Savage, who sounds like Buddy Holly and Chad VanGaalen mixed together, and, well, just a whole lot more perfection!

THE END OF THIS SONG IS THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER...EPISODE 6: A STAGGERING WORK OF HEARTBREAKING GENIUS NOW UP! THE FINAL PODCAST AS THE FEST STARTS...

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:56:00 -0400

Colin Newman, Sled Island guest curator, and his Githead bandmate and wife, Malka Spiegel, join us on the final episode of the Sled Island podcast for 2009. It’s been a life-changing experience working with Colin these past few months, and even more of an honour to hear him talk about his experiences in Calgary. We talk about how minor observations about the festival turned into a curator position, how the fucking ridiculous fucking press about fucking posters with the words ‘Holy Fuck’ on them are fucking ridiculous, the genius of local bands like Women and Sub-linguals, and the power of confusion.

We’d like to thank our tireless workhorse of a producer, Angela Seto, who is responsible for all of this happening. CJSW have treated us all great-like this year, and so kudos to them as well!

As Sled Island moves into weekend mode, we really just want to thank you all so much for supporting the festival and for taking advantage of your wristbands—it seriously means the world to us!

Download: mp3 (48:39)

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(Don’t know which to pick? Check out our podcast guide.)

SLED ISLAND KICKS OFF NOT WITH A BANG BUT A WHISPER...AND A BANG!

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:45:00 -0400

You guys! Last night was kinda’ revelatory! And the crowds were PERFECT! Final Fantasy at Central United Church was perfection, Colourbook was so fun, The Superfantastics were indeed super-fantastic, Christian Hansen and the Autistics rocked the Factory Party hard with Andrew WK, Japanther, Sit Still and a whole lot more, Excision and Dieselboy killed it with dubstep and drum and bass at Dicken’s of all places, the Fake Jazz weird-punk noise show at Broken City left everyone thankful they had the complimentary ear plugs on them (because it was loud and good, but oh so loud!) and folks…tonight is even nuttier…end yer evenin’ at the Legion!

SLED ISLAND PASSES ON SALE UNTIL THURSDAY AT NOON. OLYMPIC PLAZA TICKETS ON SALE AT THE DOOR!

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:00:00 -0400

Folks, now is the time to buy your passes! We’re taking them offline tomorrow (Thursday) at noon!! You’ll still be able to buy main site passes at Olympic Plaza on Friday (that features The Breeders, Liars, Holy Fuck, Anvil, M5, Biz Markie, Malajube and the Summerlad!). The festival is kicking off today with a Final Fantasy church show, Factory Party 6 (complete with Andrew WK and Jonathan Toubin-led dance competition as judged by SI “celebs,” a crazy amazing dubstep show, a Vancouver-centric weird-punk-noise show, multiple art openings at the IKG, a free show by SNFU, Film Racing, Tubby Dogg goodness and the best pop show at the festival at Vern’s! So, uh, yeah…listen to the bunnies!

A TASTE FROM ABROAD #4 AND #5: TRICKY WOO AND BIZ MARKIE

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:21:50 -0400

Ack, the food analogies are really, really getting tough after 10 of these write-ups! But folks, we’ll say this. If we’re treating bands like meals, then Tricky Woo and Biz Markie would be contenders for our last meal before we die! It is an absolute honour to have both of these acts playing the festival.

TRICKY WOO

Watch: Tricky Woo “Fly the Orient” (youtube clip)

For me, there are two stages in life: there is life before the Woo and life after the Woo. I have been living in a post-Tricky Woo world since the tender age of 16. It was then that I snuck into my first underage rock n’ roll show. I picked the right one. I saw four hyperactive men simultaneously floating above and attacking the stage that towered above me with drops-to-the-knees, flailing and head-banging hair, behind-the-head dual guitar solos, near-random handclaps and a wall of sound unlike anything I had heard up until that point…other than in my head.

I was hearing the music that I had always hoped existed, but never thought would; the music that I was sure I myself was destined to play. Riff rock that was strangled and protected by feedback and psychedelic incidentals. Hard rock that understood that nothing hits harder than a perfect hook. Rock n’ roll that emphasized the oft-forgotten ‘roll’ in the rock n’ roll equation. Punk rock that understood that the humour of a big rock show (see: Chuck Berry, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy) was inherent in the playing of it – knowingly and lovingly – not something that had to be manufactured with winks and nudges. Classic-sounding music that was neither simply retro nor revivalist, but a leave-it-on-the-table love letter to and reply from the entire history of recorded rock music…itself being written with each subsequent note. You see, rock n’ roll itself is the Woo’s muse, lover, mistress, brother, doctrine and religion. And Tricky Woo is rock n’ roll itself. A rock n’ roll Ouroboros, if you will.

Seeing the Woo was a blessing and a curse. It was life-affirming to see someone already doing it. It was also heartbreaking to know instantly that, as a young musician, nothing I would ever do could come close to touching the Woo. They had already done it, and done it better than life itself could have managed. It is in this way that I think that I, and a small group of young Canadians have had Tricky Woo shape not just their musical worlds, but their world views. We live with a loving knowingness that perfection in human life is both attainable (the Woo did it) and as a result inherently unattainable (because nothing will ever be as perfect as the Woo). We live in a post-Tricky Woo world.

BIZ MARKIE

Watch: Biz Markie “Just a Friend” (youtube clip)

The legendary Biz Markie has been an innovative hip hop artist for over 20 year with a fan base that stretches across the globe. Starting out as 14 year old beat box kid, Biz Markie elevated his game with humorous, witty rhymes that made him loved and admired by fans all over. Best known for his timeless classic “Just a Friend” he has managed to stay relevant and admired within the hip hop industry.

Biz Markie is still kicking it strong as a performer and DJ, making recent appearances across North America, Japan and Europe. Even with so many shows under his studded belt, we can’t be certain what to expect when he hits the main stage at Olympic Plaza on Friday June 27th at Sled Island!!

THE LOCAL DISH #4 AND #5: PUBERTY AND DRAGON FLI EMPIRE

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:57:00 -0400

So, uh, we missed a couple of Tuesdays introducing local bands playing the festival. Mainly because we were running out of food analogies. We were on a bit of a hunger strike, if you will. Or that 12 day cleanse where you eat nothing but a cayenne-water-lemon mixture. Well, I hope you’ve worked up an appetite, because we’ve got two big servings for ya’…so ALLEZ CUISINE!

PUBERTY

Puberty have been flourishing in the local Calgary music scene over the last few months with the energy of a fifteen year old first discovering their sexual desires. Building on each moment, this band drives off of the melodic bass rhythms of Sydney Koke (can you change your last name to cola please?), the up in your grill guitar styles of Nicole Brunel and the brash drums and vocals of Jen Clement.

Together these girls are out to dispel any notion that punk rock is a boy’s only club. Having already opened up for the Famines, Japandroids and King Khan & the Shrines, expect to hear some big noise from this bodacious trio bursting out of their Calgary basement and into your heads at Sled Island ‘09.

You can catch Puberty playing at the Marquee Room on Friday June 26th along with Mount Analogue, Mt. Royal, Twin Crystals and HEALTH.. it should be a doozy!
http://www.myspace.com/pubertysounds

DRAGON FLI EMPIRE

Watch: Dragon Fli Empire “Outside Inn” (youtube clip)

For anyone who believes that Sled Island is a rock n’ roll-centric festival, take a better look at the schedule and get familiar with some of the amazing acts we have within the realms of hip-hop, dubstep, noise, punk, pop, ska, folk and experimental music. If you happen to be searching for some local hip-hop in that mix, then look no further than Dragon Fli Empire.

Calgary’s own legends in the game, DJ Cosm and Tekay represent true school hip hop. Their latest album “Redefine” has been received with much critical acclaim and hit #1 on independent radio charts throughout the land. Dragon Fli’s dedication to old school boom-bap flavored production laced with jazzy breaks have built them a huge following especially amongst the jazz-hop loving Japanese. Highly respected within the hip-hop community, DFE have collaborated with everyone from legends like Masta Ace, to current big names like Cadence Weapon, Moka Only and Josh Martinez.

You can catch them live at the Bamboo Tiki Room on Wednesday, June 24th along with Oye!, Jim Brown as Rank Nubah, Rica Razor Sharp and Cam the Wizard.
http://www.myspace.com/dragonfliempire

QUESTIONABLE TASTE IN FOOD, NOT IN MUSIC! EPISODE 5: BILL AND SLED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:13:00 -0400

(left to right: Richard Freeman, Drew Marshall)

So, let’s get this straight…not all of us here at Sled Island agree that Nellie’s is the best breakfast in town. Just putting that out there for all of the Chowhound regulars who might also be podcast listeners. With that out of the way, the Sled Island podcast welcomes its newest member, Brittany Taylor and highlights some of the crazy stuff happening during Sled Island in Calgary…like a 5,000 square foot independent market!

Download: mp3 (38:24)

Subscribe: Enhanced (iTunes only) | Standard (mp3) | Feed URL (RSS reader)
(Don’t know which to pick? Check out our podcast guide.)

CONTEST GEEKDOM #3: PICTIO-NARY-A-BAD-DRAWING IN SIGHT!

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:50:00 -0400

(Editor’s note: Twyla only drew the picture on the left!)

Our trilogy of geeky game contests comes to a close with the least geeky of them all: Pictionary! This coming Tuesday, June 16th on the Broken City patio (or inside if it’s raining), we’ll be giving out a Sled Island pass during a game, or games of Pictionary. Considering that both Zak and I are tournament-level Pictionary players, we thought it would only be fair to substitute in some lesser draw-ers of things. And by lesser we mean better. We’re calling in Sled Island illustrator Twyla (of Twylog fame, and the one who did all of the drawings on this site) and Sled Island program guide layer-outer, Megan Paterson. To be honest, even we don’t know the win condition on this one folks, but chances are it won’t be as simple as “win a game against us.” It should be a blast, because Twyla and Megan are two of the bestest people on the planet!

NO VEST FOR THE WEARY, VEST WE FORGET, THE BEST OF THE VEST ETC...

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:15:35 -0400

The results are in from Contest Geekdom #3! In the end, the pinpoint accuracy, hunter hero scores and killer instincts of the Sled Island staff proved too tough to beat, as no one was able to claim a festival pass by winning against both Zak Pashak and myself (“Zak” and “CCF” respectively on Buck Hunter Machines) in a game of Big Buck Hunter Pro. That said, knowing that we’re pretty good a shooting buck, we went in with a plan B…to give a pass to the best of the rest, or in this case, the best of the vest. And yes, Heather (“Oli” on Buck Hunter machines) certainly earned it. Son of a batch of cookies did she ever. Not only did she place third in both games she played (even killing more bucks than both Zak and I once, though scoring less total points in the process), she also showed up with an authentic hunting vest (complete with shoulder rest for the rifle!) and a slew of heroic hunting stories. Congratulations, Heather! Hope you enjoy Sled Island ‘09!

CONTEST GEEKDOM #2: HUNT SOME BUCK, WIN A SLED ISLAND PASS!

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:57:00 -0400

With the festival just under two weeks away, we’re needing to blow off some stress, and there’s no better way to do it than to gratuitously murder virtual animals with a pump action shotgun for no purpose other than to rack up some high scores. Join us (Festival Director Zak Pashak and myself, Shawn Petsche…and maybe the whole Sled Island crew?) in our celebration of the world’s greatest (and America’s most popular) coin-operated animal killing simulation this Saturday, June 13th at 3:00pm at Watchmans Pub (1109 - 17th Avenue SW) for some Buck Hunting. The pub’s got both Big Buck Hunter Pro, which we prefer for the purity of its murdering, and the totally over-the-top, and somehow more offensive Big Buck Hunter Safari, which allows you to take out spiders…with a shotgun. And the sound effect that accompanies it? Brilliant! Oh, did we mention that you’ll have a chance to win 1 of 3 Sled Island festival passes? Again, we’re not letting the win-conditions out of the bag until the day-of, so come on down, shoot the shit, and shoot some buck.

DOCS AND SHORTS AND VIDEOS, OH MY! BEHOLD: SLED ISLAND FILM!

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:09:34 -0400

Hey guys! We’re overjoyed to unveil our Sled Island Film Festival 2009 schedule happening from Tuesday, June 23rd to Sunday, June 28th! The one-woman, self-contained film-festival-making machine that we like to call Jeanette Burman (uh, because that’s her name!) has outdone herself and carefully curated 30 of the best in independent films worldwide from international award-winning documentaries to local shorts and everything in between! From collaborations with Movies That Matter, CSIF, BeatRoute Magazine, Fairy Tales Presentation Society and many more, we’re providing 14 screenings in total. We’ve done our best to schedule them either within the kickass concerts (like Nardwuar’s Video Vault happening between bands or Zyco Rock screening at the Factory Party) or at off-times of the festival (including pre and post-fest screenings!).

Sled Island Festival pass holders are admitted for free (!) but individual tickets/suggested donations for films are also available at the door.

CONTEST GEEKDOM #1: GATHER WITH US THIS WEDNESDAY FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A FESTIVAL PASS!

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:18:00 -0400

This Wednesday, June 10th, the word ‘tap’ takes on a whole new meaning in clubs as festival director Zak Pashak and myself, Shawn Petsche, will be revealing to the world that we are not just music nerds…we’re also full blown nerds (but in the cool way, like that episode of Freaks and Geeks when Daniel played and enjoyed Dungeons and Dragons and Bill named his character ‘Logan the Huge’). Anywho, we invite you to come down to Broken City after 8pm to play a game of Magic: The Gathering with us. We’re fairly new to this whole thing, though I used to play back when The Black Lotus could actually be seen in more than protective glass cases. Oh, did I mention there’s an incentive to do so as well? We won’t reveal the full details yet, so that everyone has a chance at winning, but bring your decks and know that we will be giving away a total of 3 Sled Island festival passes to our fellow Magic players. It’ll be fun, and who knows, might set the stage for a weekly Magic: The Gathering bar night full of drinks and shooting the shit about how creature names would make good band names…

Hopefully you come for the festival passes and stay for some epic planeswalking. If you’ve never played the game before, feel free to stop by and be one of our wingmen. We’ll teach you the basics.

ROCK, ROCK, ROCK N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL! ENTER THE SI '09 HIGH SCHOOL POSTER CONTEST FOR EXTRA CRED...

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:23:00 -0400

Who wants to do homework in the summertime? The coolest kids in school, clearly. Sled Island’s annual high school poster contest returns! Last year, no joke, the entries we got from high school students were on par with most of the professionally designed posters we had made up. Here’s hoping that last years’ winners are either still in high school, or now prospering as full-blown graphic designers. Back to the contest…we’re asking high school students to design a Sled Island 2009 poster, take a picture of it hung up around town, and submit it to Drew Marshall in order to have a chance at winning a festival pass to Sled Island and have their posters displayed at the Young Buds stage at Loose Moose Theatre on Friday, June 26th! The following info MUST be present to qualify:

Sled Island 2009
June 24-27, 2009
Calgary, Alberta

The deadline is June 15th and winners will be notified by June 19th.

SLED ISLAND 2009: FULL FESTIVAL LINE-UP ANNOUNCED...250+ BANDS!

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:57:00 -0400

Whoa. Our full line-up features over 250 bands spanning the globe, proudly including over 120 from Alberta (!), 100 + from the rest of Canada (!) and more than 30 international bands from Tel Aviv to Australia to Edinburgh and more (!). And it all comes in at less than $25 a day. Hoo-boy!

Acts added to the Sled Island 2009 lineup include: Hip-hop icon Biz Markie, New York weirdo-pop act Japanther, Seattle-based post-hardcore band These Arms Are Snakes (with ex-members of Botch!), Calgary legends the Ramblin’ Ambassadors, rap visionary Gift of Gab (of Blackalicous-fame), Canadian indie-darlings Woodpigeon, Chad VanGaalen’s new electro-project Black Mold, Montreal garage rocker Mark Sultan, Canadian punk legends SNFU, Boston buzz-band and best-game-ever (Rock Band 2) staples The Main Drag, Edmonton favourites Whitey Houston, and many, many more. Like 240 more…including the likes of Final Fantasy, Andrew WK, Hot Little Rocket, The Breeders, Githead, Liars, Cripple Creek Fairies, Monotonix, HEALTH, BRAIDS, Quintron & Miss Pussycat, Thighs, O’Death, Malajube, The Bronx, Mount Eerie, etc.

The festival has also extended itself to include a 5000 square foot day-long independent market (The Market Collective), a Sled Island-first dub-step show with internationally-renowned artists Excision and Dieselboy, the 6th Edition of the uber-popular Factory Party series, not to mention film and visual arts programs that constitute mini festivals in and of themselves! Sled Island 2009 is proud to be a self-contained argument against the notion that Calgary is lacking in culture. Please refer to the Bands page for a comprehensive list of all the bands performing, and check back later tonight for the full schedule.

BLOOD, SWEAT AND BEERS! EPISODE 4: "DIANA ROSS REBAGLIATI"

Sun, 31 May 2009 02:34:00 -0400

May the 4th be with you this May 31st. We probably recorded roughly an hour and a half’s worth of material to be edited down to the ten minutes of talking you hear this week (Episode 4: Diana Ross Rebagliati), but about an hour of the cut material was Craig Evans talking about various tour-related poo stories. Instead, we kept the classy stuff like: golden showers, late night drunken Texas poker, yam beard-fries and local bands we don’t necessarily love. Pooyaka!

Download: mp3 (38:36)

Subscribe: Enhanced (iTunes only) | Standard (mp3) | Feed URL (RSS reader)
(Don’t know which to pick? Check out our podcast guide.)