Beatroute Magazine BC Print Edition August 2018

MOTION NOTION
ELECTRONIC FESTIVAL RELOCATES IN SEARCH OF A NEW GROOVE
PAUL RODGERS
CLUBLAND
YOUR MONTH MEASURED IN BPMS
ALAN RANTA
BPM
Motion Notion relocates this year to Merritt, BC, a tried and tested location for enjoying quality electronic music.
Motion Notion has moved four times
in their 19 years as a festival and this
summer, due to circumstances beyond
their control, they been forced to
relocate for a fifth time. After finding no
suitable locations close to their current
site near Golden, or in Alberta, they
threw a “Hail Mary” to a festival site well
known to them, the site of the Merritt
Mountain Music Festival, likely better
known to readers of this article as the
current home of Bass Coast.
“We really embody the name Motion
Notion quite frequently,” says Kevin
Harper, director at Motion Notion. He
says the first couple of times they moved
it was because they had outgrown their
usual digs. This year the reason is quite a
bit more unfortunate.
“We had been at Beaverfoot for about
six years and had an agreement to do
multi-years and build permanent stages
and kind of the dream scenario,” Harper
explains. “And then all of a sudden the
owner basically fired all of the Canadian
management staff of his company and
put in charge a U.S.-based developer to
manage the property.”
They and all other scheduled
programming, weddings and all, were
given the boot. To Harper and the rest
of his team, this obviously came as a
significant shock, especially coming just
a few months before the show was set
to go off.
“We had to basically make a decision
of cancelling the event, which would be
the first time ever to do so, or to work
our butts off to find a suitable new
location.”
They spoke with everyone they could,
government officials, First Nations
groups, farmers, strangers on the road,
becoming the talk of the town in Golden
along the way, but nothing materialized.
So then they decided to reach out to
their friends at Bass Coast. “[We] said,
‘this is the situation, we’re really sorry
to put this on you — can we have your
blessing to be able to get us by?’ And
they said absolutely.”
News of Motion Notion’s move to the
grounds that Bass Coast attendees have
a profound connection to seemed to
create two different schools of thought
on the matter. The first being that it
makes sense, the land is not owned
by Bass Coast, they are tenants there,
and the Motion Notion, like Fozzy Fest
last year because of the Wildfires, was
put in a situation where they needed a
proper venue fast. The land in Merritt is
designated for that exact purpose.
However, because festivals have such
an intrinsic impact on attendees, some
felt as though it would be weird having
another rave on Bass Coast’s setting.
“That was our utmost number
one concern,” Harper says. “From our
standpoint, because we our one festival
community, we do want to make sure
that we’re not stepping on anyone’s toes,
both on the event organizer side, but
even for the attendees so that it’s not an
overlap in terms of expectations and all
of that stuff.”
Harper says that 95 per cent of
feedback about this move has been
positive, though there has been some
negative comments, but in his 20-plus
years of running events — 11 just with
MoNo — he knows that problems can
always arise, and this one “takes the
cake.”
In terms of creating a distinct vibe
from that which Bass Coast conjure up
every year in the Nicola Valley, Harper is
confident that the overall atmospheres
of the festivals are different enough that
it won’t be an issue. Yes, they are both
electronic music festivals, but that term
is extremely broad.
Though it’s hard to categorize a
festival’s entire programming into a
word, whereas Bass Coast may be known
to be a little more heady, deeper, darker,
MoNo features more of the funky,
heavier sounds like breaks (Marten
Hørger, Freestylers), drum and bass
(Calyx and TeeBee, Original Sin) and
electro house (Slynk), but then of course
the sound that they are originally rooted
in, and that you are unlikely to find at
other West Coast festivals these days:
psytrance.
So worry not, there is plenty of
room in that valley to provide entirely
distinct playgrounds for many different
raving revellers to delight in, as well as a
logistical base of operations for festival
promoters caught between a rock and
a hard place — like Harper, who says he
is now going to be able to sleep a little
better at night.
Motion Notion takes place August 23 to
27 in Merritt, BC.
Things are rough out there, and getting rougher every day, but you’ve got
to take a little time for yourself every once in a while, just to maintain
sanity. It’s only a selfish act if you don’t tip your servers.
Shipped Waterfront Festival
August 11 @ The Shipyards
Many solid acts on this amazingly free bill, including Washington-based
downtempo electronica producer Manatee Commune, wh’s like a less
serious version of Tycho, and Juno-nominated electro-pop duo HUMANS.
It’s low commitment, high reward. Take a chance.
A Tribe Called Red
Aug 11 @ Jonathan Rogers Park
If you can’t get down with this Polaris-nominated powwow-stepping Tribe
from the moment they hit the stage, I don’t know what to tell you, other
than you’re missing out on a very important part of the Canadian national
identity. Their catalogue should be taught in every school across the
country.
Insane Clown Posse
Aug 16 @ Venue
It’ll cost you $45 to take in this spectacle, but even if you’re not much of
a fan of their novel hip-hop stylings, it might be worth the price tag just
to see the kind of people who show up. Few acts have a more dedicated
fanbase than these long-running Detroit underground weirdos, and energy
is contagious.
ohGr
Aug 19 @ the Red Room
If you know Skinny Puppy, you have an idea of what to expect from ohGr,
the electro-pop, hip-hop, and metal-tinged industrial side project of Kevin
Ogilvie (a.k.a. Nivek Ogre) and Mark Walk. These guys just successfully
crowdfunded the creation and release of their fifth studio album, TrickS,
and the Red Room will be lucky to be left standing after they shake the
foundation with it.
JPEGMAFIA
Aug 29 @ Fortune $15.00
Baltimore’s Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks dropped his second album
as JPEGMAFIA early on in 2018. It’s called Veteran, and the title cannot be
inferred as your typical baseless thug chest-pounding. Hendricks served
his country in Iraq. He’s the real deal, an actual veteran who has seen some
shit, which backs up his aggressive, experimental hip-hop style infinitely
more solidly than all the bulletproof vests 50 Cent can order online from
the safety of his mansion.
JPEGMAFIA
August 2018 15