Winter festival takes the chill off the city
Organizers taking ‘calculated’ risk with bigger names during four-day fest
When you’re a successful — but still very much fringe — independent band with relatively limited access to funds, you play where the crowds are.
But while playing in “A markets” makes sense from a financial point of view, it can get a bit stale as the years go on, which is why Portland, Ore.’s Red Fang changed its touring philosophy.
“More places less often,” says guitarist and singer Bryan Giles, describing the band’s newer outlook.
“Seeing new places makes the experience more enjoyable. For a while, we were doing U.S. tours that just felt like Groundhog Day. It was the same cities, the same venues, the same routing. We were just driving counter-clockwise around the country over and over again. That’s when it starts to be hard to make it feel fresh. … Playing smaller towns is almost more fun because the people there don’t have as much to choose from entertainment-wise, so people get a little more excited and the crowd gets crazier, which makes it more exciting for us.”
The four-piece stoner metal band is gearing up for yet another tour, which will take them to Dickens Pub on Jan. 18 as part of this year’s Big Winter Classic festival.
Formed in 2005, Red Fang quickly amassed a loyal following with their aggressive, heavy and layered style of hard rock. A year after making their live debut on New Year’s Eve, they opened for legendary experimental punk band The Melvins in front of several thousand people.
“We’ve been really lucky in our career,” Giles says. “But none of us have ever aspired to be an arena rock band. If I could play (for) 800 to 1,000 people a night without spending a billion dollars, that would be great.”
Though they might not be selling out the Saddledome anytime soon, their popularity has grown since the release of their 2011 sophomore album Murder the Mountains, which hit the Top 30 Billboard Heatseekers chart.
The band’s latest LP, Only Ghosts, was produced by Ross Robinson (Korn, Slipknot) and recorded at his Venice Beach, Calif., studio.
“Ross has got a really great energy,” says Giles. “He’s a true believer in music. He described it as the highest form of art. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s the most important one to me.”
It was the first time Giles and his bandmates, bassist-vocalist Aaron Beam, guitarist David Sullivan and drummer John Sherman, had recorded outside of Portland and he says getting away from the distractions of home helped the quartet focus solely on recording.
“We pretty much worked every single day and stayed at his place. Ross put us in this tiny box to record in and it was in the upper 80s ( low 30s C.) There was a lot of sweating. But I think we got good results. I like it anyway.”
As with Red Fang’s previous releases, the lyrics on Only Ghosts lean to the dark side. Suffering, pain and depression are common themes, but you would never guess that from watching their hilarious, low-budget videos.
There’s a stark contrast between the doom and gloom of their music and the tongue-in-cheek humour in their videos, most of which are directed by filmmaker Whitey McConnaughy and often include nerdy pop culture references and copious amounts of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
“Our lyrics are kind of dark and we try to get that out in the music, but that’s not how we live our lives,” Giles says. “I don’t sleep upside down in the basement like a bat.
“I still love doing videos. It’s doing something for the band and it’s hilarious. And for us to, quote unquote, act is also hilarious.”
As for their ties with PBR, Giles says Red Fang has never had any sort of marketing deal with the popular cheap beer company, though it did help the band out of a jam a few years ago.
“We were on this really massive tour that was really expensive and the bottom line was not looking good,” he recalls.
“We realized that there was a number we had to hit or at least get close to for us to actually be able to get home. And we were not doing it. Not by a long shot.”
Pabst sent the band emergency gas cards and cases of beer to help them get through the tour.
“They didn’t want any attention for it,” Giles says. “They just said they appreciated what we do.”
Still, some fans have come to celebrate the connection between PBR and Red Fang. When the group was announced as one of Big Winter Classic’s headliners, a hardcore fan from Cold Lake sent organizer Adrian Urlacher a message.
“He wrote us a mini-essay about how much he loved Red Fang and sent us a picture of him in a Pabst Blue Ribbon body suit,” Urlacher recalls.
“He was the nicest guy and he was like, ‘Guys, can you please let me in wearing this?’ And I’m like, ‘ We’re going to have to run it by Dickens Pub, but I sure hope they say yes.’”
Urlacher says he’s pleased about the buzz surrounding this year’s Big Winter lineup, which also includes Toronto noise rockers METZ, veteran Florida ska punk band Less Than Jake, up-and-coming California singer Jay Som and acclaimed Calgary acts Raleigh, The Shiverettes and Copperhead.
In addition to music, the festival is also shining a spotlight on local visual artists, five of whom will have their work showcased on the indoor and outdoor stages of Big Winter Classic’s four Beltline venues — Dickens Pub, Broken City, Last Best Brewing and Gerry Thomas Gallery.
The festival debuted in 2016 and doubled in size last year with more than 1,100 music fans attending the four-day festival. Urlacher says he’s invested more into the festival this year by booking bigger-name American bands such as Red Fang and Less Than Jake, hoping to significantly increase the turnout again.
“We’re absolutely taking a risk this year,” he says. “But it’s a risk I think we’ve calculated. I think it’s exciting, personally. But even though we have more international acts, we’re not getting away from our main goal, which is to showcase Alberta artists first.” Art and ale always make an interesting combination.
Wild Rose Brewery and the Big Winter Classic music festival have teamed up to launch the BIG Studio Arts Collective.
Every Thursday through Sunday in January, the public can see and experience the work of more than 25 artists showcased at BIG Studio.
Once inspired, wander down the stairs at the Gerry Thomas Art Gallery, 602 11th Ave. S.W., grab a beer and take in more sights and sounds.
A launch party was held Thursday, while Daniel Romano will perform on Saturday.
Big Studio and Leroux Music are also hosting an all-ages day Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Parents and children can try their hand at various musical instruments on an open stage hosted by Dan the One Man Band.
The Big Winter Classic, Jan. 18-21, is billed as “a really, really fun party ... in the middle of winter. Because we’re Calgarians and dancing under patio heaters when it’s -15 C outside actually sounds perfect.”