Lucky numbers The random band formula of Rock Lottery

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG The principle, if not the process, is pretty simple. Thirty applicants chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, partnered up by a random drawing of names, are given five days to create two songs and then perform them. “I’m from Victoria, B.C., and it’s something we used to do out there with the local music community, just to mix things up and make things interesting,” says Amy Johnson of Pop Montreal’s Puces Pop offshoot, and co-mastermind of this weekend’s Rock Lottery show, a fundraiser/early promo vehicle for the Puces Pop record fair. “But it also gives a chance to people who aren’t necessarily in bands to get mixed in with people who are. It’s only two songs and it’s a one-time-only deal. The application deadline has now passed and Johnson says their assembled crew includes “everyone from people who are in bands that everybody already knows and loves in Montreal, to people who on their applications say they’ve only ever played in their living rooms. Everyone feels confident enough to join in, so we can assume they have a little bit of experience, but definitely, a lot of them have never performed on stage, or maybe even with other people, before.” Among those who are in bands, names include Jeremy Gara (Arcade Fire, Snailhouse), Tyler Rauman (Telefauna), Patrick Gregoire (Islands, Sister Suvi) and Rory Seydel (Shapes and Sizes), who’s also co-organizing Rock Lottery with Johnson and Jenny Lee Craig. The latter insist that their oversight of the matchmaking is minimal. “We ask people which instruments they play because we don’t want… well, maybe five guitarists would be really awesome,” Craig laughs. “But it is a lottery—we draw names from a hat, and then they can figure it out amongst themselves.” Of the expected results, Johnson says, “It’s usually a bit of a mixed bag. You get some people who are really earnest and want to make an awesome couple of songs, and then you get people who want to joke around and make goofy songs, or maybe songs in a genre they wouldn’t ordinarily work in. So you get people from rock bands making ridiculous reggae songs, and really good quality songs sometimes too. You never know how the people are going to work together, and what the stuff is going to sound like when it comes together.” AT IL MOTORE ON SUNDAY, AUG. 16, 8:30 P.M., $5