Oooh-wee we had some busy months! Spernie is back and in full networking mode, if he hasn't blown up your Instagram yet give it a week. Folk/Punk happy hour is up and running successfully, everybody's workin' on new music, there's a new DeBasement Sessions season, and I think Brae and Rebecca are almost done school. Here's a recap of some - if not most - of the things we did and released since the last recap I did (personal non-Absurd projects and activities aside, obviously). We've got lots more stuff in the works, and we're psyched to share them with you, but for now, won't you take a walk down memory lane with us?
Folk/Punk Happy Hour vol. 1
The first installment in the Folk/Punk happy hour series! For the benefit of day-drinkers, people who like to study to acoustic guitar, and Edmonton's Folk-Punk scene, which Braedon is pretty set on helping to maintain for some reason. You all know and love Marr - obviously they killed it. Also Living Suitcase who has been featured on DeBasement Sessions and a couple other Absurd shows, I think, because goddamn. If you haven't seen their DeBasement Sessions yet please do yourself a favor and go watch it. Also Levenin - a project which Brae is now a part of and so I won't gas up like the other two. They're playing a bill I set up on March 27th so check that out if you wanna see how good they are. Sewing Machine was gracious enough to allow us to keep having Folk/Punk Happy Hours and its now become one of our favorite series. If you know anyone who plays folk-punk please, please send them to Brae he ran out of people who are willing to publicly admit to playing folk-punk like three shows ago.
Dirty Dev X PHlLY Mixtape Release
This was so hype it was the perfect house show. We got the exact lineup we wanted to open for us, and it was subsequently PHlLY's first time being able to enjoy being on stage. Before we played the homie Ben dumped a bottle of champagne on me which was gross but I powered through. We paced ourselves perfectly and probably hit a 7/10 right when I got on stage and opened my whiskey which - if you don't know - is absolutely ideal. It was too hot in the basement and the beat started cutting out so I got to say the words "cut the beat, fuck it I'ma go a capella" unironically into the mic. That's all I'm gonna say about this show anyone who cares knows the rest. The Antimasque Tape is still available on all streaming platforms, by the way.
Folk/Punk Happy Hour vol. 2
Round 2! Oooh Brae was starting to run out of people who wanted to play folk/punk but he toughed it out and got a bill together and many of us day-drank and many of us didn't but we all had - at the very least - an alright time. Bert Mcclure plays cool political music and Callum has the Beatles swag. Thanks Sewing <3
Rhythm & Poetry vol. 2
Spernie set this show up and then couldn't make it to the actual day for completely valid reasons so I had to fuckin run it by myself but I did an alright job so it's whatever. This was the second installment of Rhythm & Poetry, a series that aims to blend hip-hop, poetry, and singing, to create an environment that focuses on the spoken (or sung) word. The poets were all great, touching on themes of blackness, femininity, oppression, imperialism, and some other good stuff. I think they were curated by Celine so thanks for that, Celine. Kaz Mega brought the og master-class bars like he always does, I did alright, and Rai shut it down. He did that thing where he brings all his homies onstage which was dope and a solid vibe. The next Rhythm & Poetry is getting announced soon I think, once I get Spernie that poster...
Safer Spaces Policy
Oh my god this got so much more engagement than we expected. I think it's still our most liked post on our Instagram. Go figure. We had been meaning to put it out for a while before we did, and it was adopted from a much more in-depth policy that Rebecca wrote up. This policy - which you can find on our website if you're interested - was posted alongside an anonymous submission form on our website where people who don't feel comfortable reaching out to us in person can still communicate and help us do the best job we can as we take up space in the community. This post spurred a number of suggestions specifically about the wording of the policy itself and I promise we're still getting around to implementing some of those, we're just busy and so if you want clarifications on our policy or anything else please feel free to message any of us.
Folk/Punk Happy Hour vol. 3
Folk/Punk 3! I didn't make it to this one because I tend to have work in the evening but I would imagine that it was dope because having seen the Womp Rats and Living Suitcase before, well, they're dope. Harmine was probably cool too and it was probably a fun ol' time. Thanks Sewing!
DeBasement Sessions vol. 3
Beach Towels, if you see this, sorry again for sending you to the wrong house on the day we recorded these and then telling you to just come in the back door without knocking. This was our first time doing mostly full bands for the DeBasement Sessions but Danny and Michael made that shit so professional (at least the final product, I mean) and we had a good time stuffing a bunch of cool musicians in our basement. The Womp Rats brought multiple fifteen packs and stuck around after. I love this series, it's so fun. Thanks Brae. I did this cover art, does it look like an adult swim promo type thing? That's what I was going for.
Sewing Machine Factory Indie Banger
What's the longest you've left a poster up that you designed without realizing that instead of the actual address for the venue, it literally just says "address"? Fliss hit us up to see if we'd set up a show for them, as they were new in Edmonton (I think), and looking to keep playing. The lineup was kind of a no-brainer because we'd just had the Beach Towels on the DeBasement Sessions, we'd just seen Heaven and the Ghosts live for the first time, and whenever I set up a bill I usually just ask Charles to open it up with a solo act, because it always works! Everybody killed it, and it was super fun to set up a bill that wasn't hip-hop and didn't have any members of the collective in it. We were a little worried that Fliss might just be straight up garbage because we'd never heard them play, but they obviously weren't and we set something up for them again on March 27th! Check it out!
Punk & Politics vol. 2
Also featuring the Beaver Hills Warriors. Rebecca and I, fully independently from one another, decided that the poster should be Kenney in a guillotine. Maybe we're just predictable. Maybe Kenney's just a fuckin' goof. I love this series so much and I think it's really the thing that has gone the furthest in establishing us in the position that we kind of want to occupy as promoters. All the workshops were amazing and it's really fun seeing the crowd go back and forth between lectures and wild punk. Everyone came out really heavy - as anyone who's seen these bands or speakers anywhere else can probably attest - and it was a super fun time. I can't wait for the next one I love these so much. The first P&P is also how Rebecca ended up working more closely with the collective so thanks P&P <3.
Indoor Recess - Indoor Recess
Braedon and I made a three song EP in, like, 2015 and thought that it was lost forever when I deleted it off my laptop shortly after because it never got mixed. A month or two ago we found it on our desktop and said fuck it let's release the mother on the Absurd Soundcloud. It's kind of a fun little project and I'm including it here because I like the cover art I did and I kind of want to promote it a little bit because we didn't at all when it got released.
Folk/Punk Happy Hour vol. 4
Sewing Machine gave us a saturday early show instead of the usual thursday and I'm told the shit was packed and a great time. Bif Naked is friends with Jim Nowhere apparently and she shared the event which was a fun little thing. Apparently she's famous! I'm chapped I missed a Pat the Bunny cover band, I bet everybody sang along and it was a great vibe. I think these are gonna keep being on saturdays. The next one is the day of my and Brae's birthday party so I'm gonna finally make it to one and wild out to Charles playing Mountain Goats covers - I hope he plays Dance Music.
Absurd Co. Presents the Free Agents and More
Oooh Spernie went wild on this one! First time taking presale tickets seriously for an Absurd show and the Free Agents packed it! Really great crowd, really great vibe. I stole one of those VIP ribbon things from behind the ticket booth and built a little VIP area in the back which was sick cause everyone thought it was real lmao. There was mad disruptions to the set order because the bouncer had one of those ID scanner things so everyone with expired ID had to leave before 11. It meant that PHlLY and I got to play to the biggest crowd though, so I didn't mind. We're having a bunch more shows at 99TEN now cause it went so well, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that. We snagged 4/20 for PHlLY's mixtape release party there, which is gonna be lit.
That's that on this recap. Thanks for reading <3