Something Happened in Montreal

Something happened in Montreal this week. The long-awaited Something Fest occurred with its day passes completely sold out and the promise of 9 acts spread over 3 venues and 10 hours. The planning of the thing was something I was lucky enough to witness from the sidelines, and it cannot be understated what a triumph of community organizing Something Fest turned out to be. Arriving at the first venue and seeing the giant Something Fest banner hung behind the little DIY stage opened a new angle of appreciation for this city within me, and I strapped myself in for a whole day of music.

Mai/son was the first stop, and the community power of Something Fest shone before any music even began. Upstairs was an art market of familiar faces. A tattoo studio, tooth gems and Something Fest merchandise created out of donated clothing. The scene was a maze of ‘someone recognizing someone from somewhere,’ and attitudes were bright. Somebody ran upstairs to let everyone know the music would soon begin. The first batch of sets were fittingly the quietest. Mai/son was decorated with colorful, soft lightning and people sat on the floor once somebody was brave enough to be the first. Act one was Johan Miranda, an acoustic guitar virtuoso with a delightful British flair to his soft, personal singing. His fast, light, Bossa-Nova-inspired guitar playing fluttered in intense emotional passages while he delivered his words. The sky began to darken into storm by the end of his set. Hanako soon followed, taking full advantage of the change in light. Her music consisted of effect-heavy, clean electric guitar and singing. A man who would turn out to be a guest drummer sat mysteriously behind the stage for the first songs. I have never experienced rainfall so utterly muted by a room’s acoustics. A silent storm, providing occasional flashes of lightning added a situational ambience that highlighted Hanako’s dreamy songs. It seemed like sunset due to the weather by the time the third act, Rachella Wred stepped onstage with an SP-404 sampler, Korg synth and an acoustic guitar. Her first couple of tracks were classic country-folk tunes with somber fingerpicking and songs about crushing city life. An unexpected shift was soon made to synthesizer-led music as the storm continued to intensify outside. It was hard to notice the sky darken; instead, the purple and blue lights seemed to be getting brighter. Her set peaked with the song Sooke. Illuminated by a slow, steady drum sample and a wash of droning synth, she delivered a somber ballad about watching your parents get older.

Set two took place at Quai des Brumes, and began with Chris Clegg, who seemed to just play under the name Chris and whose name was not on the flyer. Their set would be the final solo act of the festival. The songs were fast, acoustic, passion-filled yelps through a folk-punk filter. Their especially short banjo-led tracks left quite an impression in little time. Bloodfarts soon took the stage with an array of left-of-center acoustic instruments, most notably a melodica and a triangle. Their sound was folky, danceable and playful in a way that lit up the crowd. This was the first instance of a grand ballroom taking shape in front of the acts, a shape that would prevail until festivals end. After a tight setlist decorated with covers from Steely Dan, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell, they threw a couple of classical Spanish songs in the mix, with castanet dancing and all. Afterwards, I spoke to the band and confirmed that they purposefully chose a sound that’s funny to follow with “we’re called Bloodfarts.” The final Quai de Brumes performance was the jaw-dropping spectacle of Cianalas. An unbroken, extended Irish folk jam of two fiddlers, an acoustic guitar player and an accordion, I can truthfully describe as bedazzled. The four performers stomped around, leading the crowd into sways, spins and jigs, the likes of which I have not seen before in Montreal. When the band was not in full-explosive-melody-mode, the guitar player sang in howls that seemed to silence a one-kilometre radius. The heat of July 13th could not keep the people from dancing.

La Sala Rosa proved to be the highlight of Something Fest with its stupid-stacked lineup of young players. The crowd at this point had snowballed into an unstoppable pile of everybody knowing everybody. English Montreal has collapsed in on itself, and Something Fest was the singularity. The first of the last section was Lulu Lamontagne, a drag performer surrounded by a band that didn’t necessarily not look like The Strokes. They rocked a set of highly dramatic, wondrously energetic glam rock with some serious sense of spectacle. Lulu’s catty comments between songs as well as her willingness to strut through the audience while performing brought even more life to an already vibrant set. Next up was Hamilton Ontario’s Superstar Crush, whose music I was truly impressed by. The three singers (one being a singing drummer, which deserves praise of its own) voices meshed effortlessly together over the bright chords and breakneck riffing the rest of the band provided. A cover of Lady Gaga’s Pokerface split this set in half, with no attempt made to sound like Gaga. Instead, the band chose to totally make the song their own. It crushed. There was a feeling of happiness that seemed to wash over everybody around this time of the night. The festival was already overtime with one act to go and nobody, at least on the crowd side of things, seemed to mind. The festival’s grand conclusion came from The Satisfactory, a bluesy band with a factor of old school coolness and a clear appreciation of the British invasion bands. The twisting and thrashing audience let loose for this final, surprisingly short set. The end was presented by a cover of the Ronettes’ Be My Baby, a song that was announced as ‘one of the greatest songs ever.’ They were right about this. A final thanks from the Something Fest team brought a new swish of emotions. So much love and work were poured into this one-day experience, and anybody attending could see that. The Satisfactory was invited to play one last cover to close it all out. They were not brave enough to say that Oasis’ Don’t Look Back In Anger was also one of the all-timers, but it was clear the band believed this, nonetheless. During that final crescendo chorus, in a sea of community love, screaming through beer-breath and English Montreal’s overbearing connectivity, everybody felt something.

Simon Bowrin is the host of Weirdo Rippers, on air Wednesdays 1-2pm