Strummerfest returns, virtually
Punk rock fundraiser ‘about celebrating life’
Close, but not quite there yet.
That was the assessment of Michael Clifton, the organizer of Waterloo’s punk rock charity fundraiser Strummerfest, running online this year due to ongoing uncertainty over COVID-19 restrictions.
“I just wasn’t certain early enough if we’d be able to have live performances,” says the organizer of the annual outdoor music fest that celebrates the music of Joe Strummer, frontman for The Clash, and is touted as “the only Strummer tribute in North America.”
“We’d be doing it outside, but management of the outdoor space with COVID restrictions seemed like too much to anticipate and to subject bands and audiences to.”
After skipping the fest entirely last year, he decided to return cautiously, out of consideration for sponsoring businesses still in survival mode.
So the festival will return on Facebook and YouTube on Aug. 21 — Strummer’s birthday — with 20 bands, including one from Scotland, which Clifton points out never would have happened in a live setting, and a headlining set by celebrated Kitchener musician Danny Michel.
Encompassing an eclectic mix of rock, ska, country, punk and their many offshoots, the series of 45-minute video segments will be tied together by the ferociously activist spirit of Strummer. “It’s about celebrating life and caring for one another, putting humanity back on centre stage, and people before profit,” notes Clifton.
“It would have been nice to do a big live show, but it’s nice to do something.”
Participating acts include Skaface, Theoretically Nameless Band, Brent Hagerman and the Passive Resistors, T.C. Folkpunk, Friday Empire and Matt Groopie, each contributing a video running from three to 10 minutes, including federal NDP MP Charlie Angus and his band, Grievous Angels.
Proceeds from online donations will go to local charities Your Life Counts, House of Friendship and the Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council.
For festival updates, Clifton encourages people to register at Eventbrite: eventbrite.com/e/162010827747.
For more information, go to strummerfest.ca/strummerfest-2021.html.