’Stache bash

>> Lip fuzz gets some love
at the Moustache Party

WORLD OF WHISKERS: OKgiraffe (above) and the Winks

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

“The moustache has this thing about it,” observes Kevin Bertram, “this association with dirty old men, or just funny men that have crazy moustaches—the kind of people who are willing to have a moustache on at all times. It’s something that we’re curious, kind of intrigued about.”

West Coast transplant Bertram, his bandmate Rosa Smedley in the duo OKgiraffe, and fellow locals the Winks and the Unsettlers have aligned for a Moustache Party at Divan Orange this Saturday. It’s an event that does have a precedent—“We did a party like this before, in B.C., and it was a night of hilarity”—but is notably unrelated to the presently inactive Montreal promoters Mandatory Moustache (“This is just our crazy idea,” says Bertram).

Whiskers aren’t obligatory, but Bertram and crew are pulling out all the stops to have attendees of both genders sporting soup-stainers, real or fake. “We’re trying to get everyone to have one, so we’ve tried to say, ‘Grow one out, if you can’t grow one out, then make one or draw one on.’ There will be a cheaper price for people that come in with a moustache, and then at the door, we’ll have some non-permanent pen or something, if people feel like they want to join in—because if they’re in a room full of people with moustaches, they may feel left out if they don’t have one.

The bands on the bill have been selected in no small part for their sympathy for follicular follies. “The Unsettlers are really great friends of ours, and I think they have a sound that relates to that thing with the moustache. They’re kind of a dirty, bluesy, gospel thing, a Tom Waits-y kinda thing. Our band OKgiraffe, certainly the lead singer Rosa Smedley, has a thing for moustaches. She always has.”

Betram explains the duo like so: “There’s a lot based around the upright bass. Rosa and I both play upright bass, and switch on and off, we’re somewhat known for that. We play lots of different styles, mostly with acoustic instruments—a combination of soul, world and acoustic music.”

As for the Winks, likewise relocated from B.C., “They play kind of a new pop rock thing, but all with unconventional instruments, like cello and mandolin. They don’t play with the guitar, bass and drums set-up, but with more creative sounds.”

Here’s hoping their face fungus is equally creative, because the possibilities are vast—the English, French and Fu Manchu, the walrus, horseshoe and handlebar, the toothbrush, pencil and chopper. Moreover, Bertram isn’t too partisan to consider celebrations of other facial hairstyles—even that deadly foe of the ’stache, the Amish “chin curtain.”

“I’ve been known to use my facial hair as a way to heighten any costume. Personally, I’m into any kind of a dress-up party.”

At Divan Orange on Saturday, Jan. 19, 9 p.m.,
$7 ($5 w/ real or fake moustache)