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Festival of Friends
The 35th annual Festival of Friends happens this weekend – an annual tradition that has helped define the summer for many Hamiltonians. Some years have been better than others have – with weather usually being the main factor – but with night’s like last
year’s Finger 11 Friday night concert that brought out 30,000 plus people into the park, it’s safe to say the Festival of Friends is a Hamilton intuition.
This year Dr.John tops a Friday night roots fest, while Saturday’s more rock–based line up features the Tragically Hip’s vocalist Gord Downey and Sunday’s ‘80s retro night with Squeeze and former Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy – all have gotten Hamiltonians buzzing about this year’s Festival of Friends.
“We were talking about things that are identifiably Hamilton and we truly believe that we rank fourth and not an inch less for iconic things in Hamilton and area,” offers Festival of Friends Managing Director Loren Lieberman. “You can put the steel companies, Tim
Horton’s coffee and the Tiger–Cats ahead of us but I don’t think you can put anything else ahead of us. We are extremely important and iconic and one of the main reasons that Hamilton is known nationally and more and more so internationally.”
The name recognition is so high that often other festivals benefit from a confusion, but even with Y108’s Rock and Roll Picnic – normally held on a different weekend in August – now a part of the FoF, Lieberman and company simply look to focus on what they do best and to make the biggest musical event of the summer.
“As Kleenex is to facial tissue, the Festival of Friends is to the rest of the festivals in Hamilton,” smiles Lieberman. “We even created some of that confusion with Y108’s Rock and Roll Picnic now being an element of the Saturday night of the Festival of Friends but I suppose it’s a compliment more than anything else. But there’s a clear definition between the FoF and any other music festival in the region.
We’re not just the usual fare headliners. We usually go beyond the normal Ontario festival fare to bring things from far and wide that cost a lot more as well.
“Line–up wise, this is the most expensive festival ever,” he adds. “We
have acts this year that we’ve been trying to get for years. I think Squeeze is the biggest act to ever play the Festival of Friends. From Friday with Richie Havens to Buckwheat Zydeco to Dr. John, we think it’s very, very special. That’s something we strive for every year. With the business model of the festival, if we find more money for the
festival we put it on the table and there’s more music for the people to enjoy.”
Attracting people from across the province and from the Northern US,
Lieberman believes the quality of acts this year has the ability to be one of the biggest festivals with the most diversity. Harkening back to its folk roots, local singer/songwriter Mark McNeil heads up a long list of musical workshops but curiosities will surely bring different demographics to the park. WWE wrestler now game show host Chris Jericho and his hard rocking band Fozzy, a Coney Hatch reunion, A Flock of Seagulls and international guitarist sensation Gabriel Ayala will help to bring a wide range of people from Hamilton and beyond. If anything, Lieberman and company have perhaps done too good of a job
attracting people to the park – and this might be the last Festival of Friends in Gage Park.
“More so than any year, we’ve got something for everyone this year,” beams Lieberman. “The Festival of Friends is doing weather pending nights that surpass shows from 15 or 20 years ago all the time. Give me three nights of great weather and let’s see how many people come out to all three shows.
“But there has been a push from the City Of Hamilton with regard to
Gage Park,” he adds. “There are issues from policing to horticulture to forestry to traffic to parking. I don’t know if the long time future of the FoF belongs in Gage Park. The city wants things in the downtown core, but at the same time they’re certainly making it clear to us that Gage Park has uses more important than this festival. I can tell you wherever the Festival of Friends happens next year will be just as important to Hamiltonians and will have as much economic spinoff to tourism and otherwise. My promise is this; I won’t look to the City of Hamilton to build me a park for a hundred million dollars if we look to move.”
The Festival of Friends happens this Friday, Saturday and Sunday August 6, 7 and 8 from Noon to 11pm in Gage Park. Admission is free and for a full schedule of events click on creativearts.on.ca
Cowlick’s Wired
When Dylan Hudecki got together with brother Jackson Hudecki four years ago to record some guitar and drum based jams, they’d form the basis for a new band. Dylan would take those nascent recordings and fashion an album that would debut Cowlick to the world with a disc called Eternia Hernia. It was two musicians, two brothers coming together in a very organic, fun way to explore the music they could create together. While they’d been sidemen in other bands (like By Divine Right or Alive and Living), the Hudecki always act as frontmen and with Cowlick they offer their most exhilarating if not eclectic
efforts. However, four years later, the band has grown – in music and in membership – and Cowlick now returns as a three piece with a new beginning and a new CD, Wired.
“We made the first record very hap–hazard and happy–go–lucky,” recalls Jackson Hudecki. “We didn’t really have a set idea in mind about ‘what we’ll do next’ or ‘where this could possibly take us.’ Now that we are four years into this, our vision has changed into something more long-term. Since Dylan and I are brothers, I’ve always said Cowlick will end when one of us dies. Think of how awkward family dinners would be if the band split up, eh?
“Wires seemed to sum it up nicely,” adds Dylan Hudecki on the CD title. “Life is a bunch of tangled wires sometimes, like your brain. There are lots of metaphors one can take from it. ‘Wires’, the song, starts the record off with a bang and shows the listener that we’ve come a long way since E.H. and we are now a real rock and roll band.”
Now with Ian Parker on bass, Cowlick goes from an eclectic duo to a
more structured trio but without losing any of the excitement or creativity of the band. If anything, Dylan can concentrate more on what he calls more “face melting guitar solos” while Jackson believes it adds a missing “thunk” to the live set. As the core band grew from the improve duo, to a full on structured trio, so too did the guest list of performers grow during recording sessions to offer a fully fleshed Cowlick affair.
“We needed pedal steel on two tracks, they just felt incomplete – solution? Call Aaron Goldstein,” explains Dylan. “He did an amazing job. We needed strings on the same two tracks so we called our cousins Loretta and Rosemary Hale. We needed some female vocal help and called Terra Lightfoot and our sister Kristen Hudecki. Jeremy Fisher was in town for Supercrawl, so while he was over he played guitar on a song, it sounds exactly like a ukulele and that’s pretty
cool.”
“This is a way to bring in some friends and highlight their talents as well – keeping the sense of ‘community’ in this amazing music scene,” reasons Jackson. “Collaborating, helping, sharing and creating together can be a powerful feeling. We hope that people hear and see this when listening to Cowlick.”
Hard rock, pop, funk fusion, alterna–indie freak out – Cowlick is as fun as it is beguiling both musically and lyrically from the standard rock of the title track to the more eclectic improv of “I Like The Way You.” But with one of the album’s serious stand out tracks, “White Russians”, local emcee Lee Reed underscores the bands ability to defy genre and even propels them into hip–hop.
“Lee has been a guest on stage with Cowlick numerous times,” recalls Jackson. “Sometimes he freestyles, one time we played a classic Warsawpack tune together. Lee and the Lick go way back. We had recorded the album and had written a song specifically for Lee. We sent him his song, as well as ‘White Russians’ just for fun. He liked
‘Russians’ more and wrote lyrics for it.”
Wires defines Cowlick – it’s a new beginning for the band with a long list of old friends coming out for the party. This weekend’s production will include guests like, Reed, Goldstein, Lightfoot – sister Kristen and the cousins Hale... And keeping it a family type affair, Dylan’s former By Divine Right bandmate, Brian Borcherdt (now of Holy Fuck) opens the night with his band Fields of Fur alongside Kitchener–Waterloo’s Bocce and his former Moonkarma bandmate, Graham Walsh (now of Holy Fuck) deejays throughout the night.
“Visual treats are a secret, but there will definitely be something interesting to feast your eyes on,” smiles Jackson. “We want this show to be a party. One that is full of awesome people and great music.
“We are completely and utterly sure of ourselves with this record,” says Dylan. “It has no self indulgence, from the first note – to the artwork, it’s very clear and focused. It is exactly what we wanted to present and we’re very proud of that. People can love it or hate it but it’s our first confident statement. Our first real album is Wires. It’s us right now.”
Cowlick play the Casbah this Friday August 6 with Bocce and Fields of Fur. Doors open at 9pm and $10 gets you in with a copy of Wires. Click on cowlick.ca
Jamsquid
Zack Casuccio (vocals, guitar), Mike Cicuttini (guitar), Joel Spadafora (bass) and Brad Kiely (drums) formed Jamsquid in 2008 with the idea of making some heavy, progressive art–rock in the ‘90s alt–rock vein of Tool, Marilyn Manson or the Smashing Pumpkins. This weekend Jamsquid release their new self–titled EP with hopes of taking their tentacles and expanding hold on area music fans.
“I tried to capture the raw excitement of our live shows on the record,” notes Cicuttini who headed up the original recordings that were later mastered at Grant Avenue Studios. “It was cool thinking up different ways to convey that sort of energy. Using cool effects as
spices in an otherwise raw mix turned the album into a sonic wash of cool textures. I hear a mix of rock, grunge, rap, and even pop in our sound. It stems from our wide range of musical tastes. An element of every style comes through in the tunes. An underlying groove is also something that is always present.
“We have heard a wide variety of descriptions for our music,” adds Spadafora. “Trip rock and modern progressive have been used. Stoner rock has come up once or twice. The album is different enough to get people psyched and interested about what we are doing.”
With a couple of year’s worth of regular gigs that has reportedly had increasing dramatic flair, the plan is set to expand their geographic influence with touring and collect video footage for a pending DVD release for fans. But with the release of their debut recording, Jamsquid hope to start things this weekend with a splash.
“We’ve been stepping up our live show over the years,” says Cicuttini. “I’ve seen fans ranging from 13– to 50–year–olds at our gigs. The music we make kind of goes beyond a genre and connects on a level where anyone who likes good music will probably dig it. The CD release is going to be the biggest Jamsquid event to date. We’ve engineered a spectacular new light show to be unveiled that night. I think this is what the band needed to take our show to the next level. A perfect blend of musical textures and colour schemes is key to moving people through your live performance. It’s going to be something that will stick with you forever.”
Jamsquid play this Friday August 6 at This Ain't Hollywood with Dawn and the Dirts. Show gets underway by 10 and $10 gets you in. Click on jamsquid.com
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