TOUCHING DOWN WITH DAVE THE SPACE GUY: PART 1 OF THE NIGHT OWL FESTIVAL 2019

Written by Dave the Space Guy, @davethespaceguy

Photographed by Alex Carre, @1upcloud

Toronto, Canada

I’m a sucker for strong leading female characters. Maybe it’s because of my incredible mother. Maybe it’s because I fell in love with Ripley from Alien from a very young age. Maybe it’s because I finished re-watching Alien for the ten-thousandth time just now. Whatever the reason might actually be, I’m a fan of any woman who kicks ass and takes names; and the two ladies who mastermind and pull the strings over at Night Owl Festival Toronto, Juliana Carlevaris and Michelle Puska, kick an undeniable amount of ass.

That’s metric ass, if you’re wondering America.

The two have been partners in crime since the inauguration of the festival and are a power duo to rival The White Stripes and The Black Keys. If you think I’m lying, then I’d invite you to organize, book, and manage a weekend-long psychedelic music festival while fighting cancer, as Puska has done this year. Honestly, watching these two pushes me to work harder and achieve more every day. It was an honor and a pleasure to take part in and volunteer a little bit of my time to help out such a tremendous organization.

To give you an idea of how amazing of a festival Night Owl really is, I’ll give you some personal favorite bands Alex Carre and I saw last year: MIEN, Allah Lahs, King Khan and the Shrines, Night Beats, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, and Stonefield all shredded. Last year’s incarnation was our first exposure to this amazing underground, psych-loving gathering, and we couldn’t have been more impressed.

This year Night Owl offered another stellar lineup of psychedelic and garage rock acts, as well as psych-flavored dance and pop music with headlining acts No Joy, of Montreal, and Thee Oh Sees bringing their weight to the weekend. The highlights for me, however, were the local Toronto acts whose performances and song writing skill really impressed. So now, I’m going to talk a little bit about the bands and moments that stuck out the most to me from each night.

The Blank Tapes

Night 1, at the Horseshoe Tavern, opened with The Blank Tapes’ great surfy and chill jams straight from LA getting me good and ready for more.

mother tongues

Mother Tongues came up next and piqued my interest when their lead singer began a ritual of rubbing some unknown liquid from a small vial onto the backs of the whole band’s necks, then that of the woman beside me in the front row. I guess he could taste my intrigue because he smoothly turned to me and softly asked me if I wanted some. I asked him what exactly it was, to which he cooly whispered in my ear, “A magic potion.” I looked him dead in the eyes, shrugged and said, “fuck it, why not,” bowed my head, and felt him rub his palm on my neck. The singer did the same to Alex, standing next to me, and then began to perform. Whatever it was, it burned in the best of ways, and made me feel energized and connected to the band within a minute and didn’t fully wear off until I got home. Their set was great, I loved their energy, and their songs were engaging front to back with great dynamics to top it all off.

Mimico

Mimico then brought in some hypnotic and heavy kraut-psych-garage jams to us, which I loved. Synths raging, guitar and bass roaring, and great drumming throughout.

Ice Cream

Ice Cream came in style, gave the crowd a taste of their attitude with a more sparse synth-driven sound that was not for me. A friend of mine loved it though, so what do I know? Not a lot, to be fair.

No Joy

Finally, No Joy’s headlining set left me a little disappointed, they had an undeniable presence on the stage, but I could barely hear the vocals, nor the vocalist’s guitar, and overall the songs unfortunately failed to pull me in.

The following night took place at Lee’s Palace and saw more danceable and pop-oriented artists sharing the stage with Georgia’s Of Montreal. Although overall, I have never been into this kind of music, I did enjoy many songs over the course of the night. Again, I was most taken with Toronto musicians who delivered the most interesting sets of the show.

DEATH HANGS

Starting with Death Hags’ synth driven solo portion, she proved able to deftly and confidently build a full sound, nonetheless. I thought of it as ambient space pop from a great sci-fi adventure, but darker and trippier. When more musician took to the stage for their performance it ended up filling out their sound much more. They set the tone for the night with electronic psych flavors underpinning the majority of the night’s show.

zones

Then, Zones took to the stage. The duo turned out to be my favorite of night 2. Their rhythms had me moving, and their DIY aesthetic on stage and with their merchandise had me craning my neck with curiosity. Funky, with great low end. They managed to harness rock energy and translate it very well into a dance format, which is what I tend to prefer in electronic music.

DOOMSQUAD

Following Zones came Doomsquad. They were heavy on bass and supplied a lot more texture with the trio mixing their electronic and live instrumentation very well, displaying their virtuosity with ease. My main note from their set reads “boomy boom flute time,” and I think that that’s perfectly honest.

OF MONTREAL

of Montreal flew down from Athens, Georgia for the festival and brought some folks up with them, apparently, as Lee’s Palace was packed with their fans. I met two women who drove 6 hours from Montreal just to see them. I’m not making this up. Now, I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve never been a fan of theirs, whether it’s my hipster inclinations away from pop or something else entirely, I never “got it.” And now, having seen them live, I realize that I was totally right all along. I do not like of Montreal. It’s no fault of their own. I tried, they tried, it wasn’t meant to be. In the immortal words of Liam Gallagher: “it’s not for me, mate.”

And so we come to Night Three. By this point I had probably slept about five hours in 2 days, and I had worked 8 hour shifts every day before the show, as well as the week leading up to the festival. What was I to do? I poured some Red Bull down my gullet, apologized to Matthew Walker for my insolence and insomnia, and got mentally and emotionally ready as Alex drove us to The Garrison.

bart

The third night of the festival a local only bill that opened with Bart. Though one of their guitarists was under the weather, they had impressively composed and delightful triple guitar interplay. The bass was popping and playful while providing a great low-end thud that mixed with the drummer’s awesome beats. The band also displayed fantastic harmonies that elevated their vocal sections, and if that’s not enough they also really mastered transitioning from sections dynamically.

POSSUM

When it came time for Possum to start, I wondered whether they could follow such a great set, having never seen them before. They very quickly proved that they would have no problem building on Bart’s performance and ramping up the night’s energy. They jammed hard on psyched out heavy, groovy, and thumping tunes that had the whole crowd bouncing and swaying with them. It was obvious that they enjoy their craft as well, as they were totally in the zone on stage. Their second to last song of the night had a quick drum tempo and felt fantastic and was without a doubt my favorite song of the night.

Badge Époque Ensemble

Concluding the evening, Badge Époque Ensemble came on to the stage with congas, keys, and a flautist to compliment their bass, drum, and guitar players. How can you go wrong with that? I’m sure you could, but they didn’t. They nailed it. Their jazzy, Jethro Tull meets Bill Withers meets the Snake Eater theme song vibes were right up my alley. They had a bright, upbeat sound but were able to take their songs into very intense sections as well. Watching their keyboard player go buck during some of the heavier sections was half of the show for me. Honestly, they were just fantastic, and I cannot wait for the next time I get to see them.

To wrap this up nicely, I just want to highlight once again the work that Juliana and Michelle put into the festival, organizing everything and showing up beforehand to prepare the shows, and staying long after the show is over as well. All the volunteers I met were fantastic people and I was so glad to work alongside them and get to know them a little bit. All in all, I’m just so happy to have experienced every minute of the festival and had the opportunity to contribute a little bit of my time to it.

Next up is an article on the final night of the festival with Oh Sees. Brace thyselves.