Organizers are dubbing it “The Folk Fest with An Edge,” a new two-day Coombs festival packed with hip, talented and interesting musicians bringing a new kind of show to the area this month.
“Everyone [had] to be interesting and that’s really what our prerogative was,” said David Fisher, organizer of the Kulth Music Festival.
Kulth (pronounced coolth) takes its name from the Coast Salish peoples who called Mount Arrowsmith “Kulth-Ka-Choolth” meaning “jagged face.”
Fisher teamed up with friends and veteran music festival organizers Trevor Procyshyn and James Boatman to bring the festival to the Coombs Rodeo Grounds this July 16 and 17, using their reputations to sign names like Ron Sexsmith, Stars, and Louise Burns.
An example of “interesting” is 24-year-old Louise Burns, Fisher explained, who co-founded her first band, Lillix at age 11. She appeared on Much Music and had interest from Madonna early on in her career, he said, and has now reinvented herself.
“Now she’s got more of this Patsy Cline thing going on and she’s just neat, she’s interesting,” he said.
Fisher, now a Hilliers residents, has been an organizer of Soundwave Music Festival in Ucluelet for the past 11 years and has also worked on a number of big Halloween and New Year Eve shows over the years. He previously owned a restaurant in Victoria in the early ’90s where he featured live music six nights a week.
Although this festival will have a modern, funky edge, with reggae and world music artists, as well as folk, electronic and blues, it will also have something for the little ones, Fisher said.
“We (the organizers) all have young kids — I’ve got an 8-year-old—and we wanted a festival we could share with our families,” he said.
Kids can enjoy a family dance party with Bobs and LoLo, and performances from Kellie Haines and Will Stroet and the Backyard Band, among others.
There will be two stages at the Coombs Rodeo Grounds, as well as a kid zone so festival goers will have a variety of options.
Over 35 acts will entertain at the festival, including Aidan Knight, Current Swell, The Boom Booms, and Canadian indie pop/electro group Top Less Gay Love Tekno Party.
A weekend pass to the Kulth Music Festival is $135 for adults, $100 for youth, $65 for seniors and kids 12 and under are free. Single day tickets are also available. For more information on the festival visit www.thekulth.ca.
