Balancing act

The Definitely Not Jazz events come
marching into the Saints

FILLING A VOID: Shane Phillips

by SCOTT C

While the Montreal International Jazz Festival has been taking over the city just about every summer since the dawn of man, closer examination has also revealed a growing number of mini-festivals and events tailored to offer an alternative to Jazz fest programming. From June 26–28, and July 3–5, Global NTT Productions presents the Definitely Not Jazz events happening right in the middle of Jazz fest territory at Saints Showbar, with the sounds of hip hop, reggae, rock and electro represented. Names like Jah Cutta, Nomadic Massive, Shane Phillips, Kalmunity, Velvet Trench Vibes and Typecast are only a few of the Montreal acts taking part, and the Mirror spoke to organizer Mike Mendell about some of the other great music in store.

Mirror: I know that a lot of Jazz fest alternatives have come out of frustration with the programming schedule, but how did this whole thing come about?

SMOOTH MOVES:
Velvet Trench Vibes

Mike Mendell: Well, we love the fact that the Jazz fest is happening—not to butter them up, but it’s obviously a wicked time of the year for entertainment. A few of us sort of feel like we have to take a backseat when the Jazz fest happens, because it’s just so overpowering and sort of blankets the whole city, so we came up with an alternative to bring awareness to local and international artists, where they can take advantage of the foot traffic in the streets and the tourists and out-of-towners who are looking for great music.

M: The Jazz Festival’s programming is anything but jazz year in and year out, so what’s the alternative?

MM: It’s basically an alternative for bands that don’t have a booking at Jazz fest to come and showcase their talent. Call it strategic, but we just feel like there’s an opportunity to showcase a lot more local talent during the summer months, acts that perhaps the Jazz Fest has overlooked for whatever reason. The acts involved encompass a lot of different genres, and we’re trying to establish something that will be here to fill the void. We’re hoping that we can get our motor started so that next year it can emerge with that much more momentum.

DRAWING INSPIRATION: The Wells

M: Even though there are a lot of familiar names on the bill, do you think that there’s enough variety to get introduced to something new for the first time?

MM: Definitely. You don’t see Jah Cutta and Determination’s name around as much as you used to, so it’s a great opportunity for people to maybe see them for the first time, and there are also a lot of bands playing that encompass a Montreal vibe that you don’t see on bills every day, like Kuza Funk and Leesa Mackey. There are also a lot of familiar faces like Kalmunity who are taking part, so it’s a nice balance. Montreal is a great grassroots community for music and all we’ve done is put together a local team of artists and organizers to make it work for all of us.

At Saints Showbar tonight, Thursday,
June 26 (Jah Cutta and Determination Band
with guests, $5), Friday, June 27 (The Wells,
Cab, Crombez Band, Shane Phillips, DJ Sarcastic,
DJ Ever, $10), Saturday, June 28 (Nomadic Massive,
Velvet Trench Vibes, Annakin Slayd, Eleveneighty,
$10), Thursday, July 3 (Ideal Lovers, Mike O’Brien,
$7), Friday, July 4 (Kalmunity Vibe Collective,
Kuza Funk, DJ Sarcastic, $10) and Saturday, July 5
(FEMME, 011, DJ Lynne T, $7), all shows 9 p.m.