BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition November 2018

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FEMME WAVE 2018 THE FOURTH WAVE Femme Wave returns The clean energy of wave power will there was a lot of artists that we didn’t be sweeping through landlocked even know before we listened through. Calgary once again as the fourth A lot of people are going to see their installment of the city’s annual Femme new favourite band.” Wave: Calgary’s Feminist Music and Arts Cormack remarks that one of the Festival is set to arrive November 15th musical performances she can’t wait to to 18th. Rising with the tide, BeatRoute see is Lowkita from Vancouver. “She’s spoke with organizers Kaely Cormack this killer hip hop artist and I can’t wait and Hayley Muir to find out what to dance my ass off while she is playing.” fest-goers can expect out of this year’s Another head-turner, housepanther programming and why the Festival is was one of Muir’s top picks. “They’re more needed than ever. this kind of scrappy, fun, punky [group] “Expect a really fun time,” Muir exclaims. from Winnipeg.” She says many of the events they The Festival’s first-ever DJ Night is have planned will have more than one another feature the pair is thrilled to discipline represented so that fans can present this year – catch it at the King get the full experience, even if they can Eddy on Saturday evening. only attend one event. “There are a few Calgary-based “If you are coming to see a band at musicians, like Kloves and Mother Mary, the Kickoff Cabaret, you are also going and we have Duchess of Dub who is to experience some comedy, film and this rad DJ from Saskatchewan. In her perhaps even some visual art,” she adds. application, we asked what peoples’ The pair agree you should also be pronouns were, and she said hers were prepared to see something you’ve never She and Her Highness,” Cormack laughs, seen before. It will assuredly be a unique “As soon as we heard that, we were like, experience. ‘Oh my god, she’s amazing!’” “Femme Wave is absolutely a festival Femme Wave is optimistic that what of discovery. People can expect to not people can take from their experiences necessarily know who they are going at their events will resonate with them to see, but be really impressed,” says beyond the Festival weekend. Cormack. Muir emphasizes, “We can do this every Muir chimes in adding, “Going year and pour our hearts and souls through music submissions this year, into it, but there are daily and weekly 38 | NOVEMBER 2018 • BEATROUTE By Sarah Allen things that people can do support this kind of stuff all of the time.” Providing a setting and exposure for artists who are often overlooked has resulted in some great progress in Calgary and Femme Wave is looking forward to building on that momentum and attracting new audience members every year. “Lots of bookers and venue managers have begun to take different intersections into consideration and I think there is more women getting involved in music,” Muir shares and says she monitors how things are progressing in the community. The Festival continues to expand each year in the way of ticket and wristband sales, but the amount of submissions from those looking to be featured at Femme Wave events is a very interesting way of gauging at the project’s popularity and potential. Looking at the numbers, Cormack and Muir agree that artists continue to need events like Femme Wave just as much as audiences need exposure to wave-making creatives who defy tradition and dare to wipeout -- the lines that have been drawn in the sand. Femme Wave runs Nov. 15-18 at various venues (Calgary) BEYOND THE MUSIC With a strong mandate as a multi-discplinary festival, this year offers up plenty beyond the world of music. With an ever-expanding organizing team, each artistic discipline represented at Femme Wave sees its own expansion. The Visual Arts team of Dana Buzzee and Alicia McKenzie have orchestrated engaging, disruptive and innovating programming. Throughout the festival, pick up An Acknowledgment Of Land, Language And Culture - a zine by Alyssa Duckchief. For those unable to attend events this year, the Visual Arts Instagram account (@femmewave.visualarts) will have a digital exhibition by CB McCann. Sex Hysteria Afterimage will be posted throughout the duration of Femme Wave. In a more traditional gallery setting, Jane Trash and Adrienne Crossman take over U-Hall at Truck Contemporary Art for ‘Show Up For The Messiness Of How You Feel So You Can Better Create What You Need.’ The exhibit runs November 15-17, with a reception on Saturday november 17 at 3:30pm. Another Femme Wave first, comedy podcast duo Hot Takes With Hot Dykes will be in town from Seattle, WA., for a live taping at the Memorial Park Library on Saturday November 17. The Library is also host to the festival’s annual workshops on Sunday. This year, take in informational and hands-on sessions about zine making, letter writing, moon nodes in your natal chart and design justice. Too Attached’s Vivek Shraya will also be on hand for an intimate artist talk. All workshops are free and all-ages, but it’s a good idea to sign up ahead of time. For the film buffs, Femme Wave has two nights of shorts packages. Head to the kick-off party Thursday night for Collectivism and Activism, and an all-ages screening Friday night in collaboration with the Calgary Queer Arts Society. This year also sees the addition of spoken word for the first time. Calgary’s poet laureate Sheri-D Wilson will be on hand Thursday night for a performance before the comedy program begins. Get a full and detailed look at this year’s Femme Wave multi-disciplinary programming at femmewave.com The Hot Takes With Hot Dykes podcast host a live taping.
JB THE FIRST LADY change has to start right at the front lines by MICHAEL GRONDIN Red Empowered Daughter: a critical look at Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people. Vancouver-based MC, JB the First Lady is JB says there is a standstill that has happened in using hip-hop to create digital archives for the discussion surrounding Indigenous issues. future generations and dismantle systemic racism “I think it’s about the RCMP and police taking towards Indigenous people. responsibility for how they treat Indigenous “For Indigenous people, oral history is very people and people of colour. So, if you look back important to our community and how we learn to why the RCMP was created, it was to take care from each other. For me, as a hip-hop MC, I of the ‘Indian problem,’” JB explains. “Change has am collecting the oral history in 2018, and my to start right at the front lines for police. We need music is a digital archive for my great grandchildren,” JB says. “They can think about what was these organizations.” to re-examine systemic racism that exists within happening at this time, and what we are talking And with the blending of many elements about, and what we are advocating for, and what of hip-hop and Indigenous culture, JB says the has changed. What I want for future generations discussion can grow beyond the loop. is for them to not have to advocate for missing “For me, as an Indigenous person, when the and murdered women, or clean water in their stolen land is returned safely to its rightful caretakers, and we can return to traditional governance communities.” JB (Jerilynn Webster) of the Nuxalk & Onondaga Nations, is releasing a new record titled includes the protection of the environment, water of Indigenous people across Canada, which RED (Red Empowered Daughter), a conscious and our relationships,” JB says. critical look at Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people. Femme Wave fest this November, to which JB JB the First Lady will be featured at Calgary’s “My new album will be my fifth solo album, says such representation in the community is of and for me, this album is exactly what I’ve been utmost importance. wanting to create as an artist. It took four albums “As a woman in hip-hop, which is a very male to get to the place I am at. I’ve really found my dominated genre (like most genres), we’re only voice,” she explains. getting half of the story. I’m bringing a female With booming hip-hop anthems, JB addresses perspective, but also a story that hasn’t even been such complicated issues as missing and murdered told yet as a young Indigenous woman,” she says. Indigenous women, men and two-spirit people, “Honouring these new stories and perspectives clean water and more. and creating space for them to grow is so healing.” “I take my role in the community as a daughter very seriously,” she says. “We need to stand up for JB the First Lady perform during Femme Wave at and protect our Indigenous communities.” the #1 Legion Main Flr. on Nov. 16 at 11:30 pm. BODY LENS five equals one Body Lens, the stark experimental-punk outfit from Lethbridge, is molded from five perspectives, five minds, and five varying experiences creating — a dynamic that creates a cerebral yet ironic, a serious yet playful experience. As the band explains, each member adds an equal weight to the greater whole. With an unrelenting, heart pounding rhythm section provided by drummer Rebecca McHugh and bassist Brittney Ruston, a playful-angular guitar supplied by Benny Roy and Quinn Lee, and the ghostly voice of Brandon Wynnychuk, each piece of their sound is precariously placed until a bigger picture emerges. “I’ll counter an idea, and Rebecca will counter an idea, and it becomes this dance in how we weave our music together” says Ruston. “Everyone brings their own ideas and it pieces itself together. That requires an understanding and trust. We work with concepts we can all follow but there’s not really anyone steering the ship.” Within this larger thematic whole, Body Lens infuse their own absurd, cheeky humour to their dark and dancy brand of post-punk. “We’re all very dramatic,” says McHugh. Lee adds, “I think experimental punk music can be taken a little too seriously sometimes, and it can come across as a cool club. For us, being more playful is a way to counter that.” Body Lens takes collaboration to their core, scrapping the tropes of a front person and delving more into a communal effort. “I think it has a lot to do with the way stages are set up for sound. It doesn’t really make sense with our dynamic,” says McHugh of the front-person cliché. “Everyone’s part and everyone’s playing is equally weighted. We don’t think it’s that big of a deal that we can always reconfigure if we want to,” says Wynnychuk. Lee responds, PHOTO: Brandon Wynnychuk by MICHAEL GRONDIN and Hope Madison FAY “Sometimes the guitars can really stand out, or the drums can really stand out on certain songs.” This achieves more of a unified feeling created by five people rather than one person representing everyone. Six months after releasing their first self-titled EP, a furiously meticulous six-song release which showcases a multitude of skill, patience and spooky moods. Body Lens speak to how important representation is within the music community. Lethbridge hosts Flip Fest, a Feminist music and arts festival similar to Femme Wave. Ruston and McHugh reflect on their experiences as femmes in bands. “As I get older and a lot of my confidence has come from playing music and from performing,” says Ruston. “I have realized that gender is a performance, and I can play up ideas of femininity when I perform, and it’s helped me do that on and off stage.” To which McHugh adds, “Sometimes you aren’t perceived as genuine about your art. There’s always the question of why it is that you are doing this type of art. You sometimes are in spaces where you aren’t really considered equal.” McHugh says making safe spaces with friends, relationships, and places where varying voices can be heard ultimately leads to a more inclusive community. “It’s very important for us to be a part of the conversation and be present and participate in it. We need to take things into consideration as much as we can and represent the best selection of what we’ve got, people who are active and trying to do things in their community and supporting each other and lifting up their community to make good things happen.” Body Lens plays Femme Wave on Nov. 15 at Dickens Pub, 11:30 pm. BEATROUTE • NOVEMBER 2018 | 39
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