Oh my, the music festival was good this year! With all the pentup energy of the last few years, festival-goers and performers were ready to explode on the dance floor as well as on stage. I asked the local performers what their favourite songs to play live are and what they are up to in the coming months. Here’s what they had to share:

The Alkemist: Main man Jay Myer’s favourite songs to play live are The Moment because it’s ethereal and psychedelic “so I can get really into the soundscape of it all”. He also loves playing Sinners Blues because it’s heavier and cathartic. His three-year-old son Declan joined him on stage to sing his rendition of Iron Man by Black Sabbath.

Bloodline, Soulshine, Badfish & GiG: Gregory Williams played in no less than six different bands during the festival. He was in Bloodline with family members Kyrin (son), Chris (brother) and Jett Williams (nephew). Chris said his two favourite songs to play live are Dragonfly and The Way She Goes, both creations by Chris. Kyrin also played in Soulshine with Gregory - it was Kyrin’s and Jett’s first time playing on stage at the music fest. With the band Badfish, Gregory said he loves to play “anything heavy!” He of course played with his own band, GiG. Soulshine and Badfish will be playing a show at OceanView Pub and Grill on Sept. 3. All three of these bands will be recording original music this fall/winter.

Jason Camp and the Posers: This band’s antics at the festival--all the fake riot police on stage beating them up as they played-- was an amazing visual representation of their anti-colonial lyrics. Drummer Graham’s favourite songs to play live are 1873 and A Reminder. This was also the 6th of the bands Gregory Williams played in! They have an album called “Demoralising Amusements” coming up soon!

Mobius: Evan Galonski, the singer of this band, said his two favourite songs to play live are Run and Fingerprints. They are recording a new album this fall and look forward to sharing with you all soon.

One Hit Wonder: This newly formed band, whose members also include Kyrin and Gregory Williams, Kaede Miyagi -Leonard and River Michaeloff, played their first live show at the festival. Kaede said, “I enjoy playing a cover of Nutshell by Alice in Chains and Lost in the Glow, a song I co-wrote with River. He wrote the guitar part and I wrote the lyrics. It was my first time writing a song with someone and it was a great experience”.

Rusty Mould and the Sugar Agates: Lead singer Seb Dalgarno said his favourite songs to play live are “our rendition of a traditional song The Cuckoo because it gets people dancing and The Concrete Slab because it has a lot of dynamic range for us to play with”. Rusty Mould linked up with the Trembling Aspens (Jeremy Pahl, Danny Bell and Chloe Nakahara) and recently released a new EP online called Grew So Nice And Tall For Me with six songs available on Spotify. What’s next for them? They’re hoping to get some grant funding to do some more recording and write some more songs.

It is amazing to see what a creative and lively musical community we have on Haida Gwaii. Shout out to Vernon Williams, Out of the Blue, Harmonie Rose, The Slugs (School of Rock Youth band) and rapper Ase Mor, all local performers who rocked out on stage and made this years’ Edge of the World Music Festival fantastic!

Photos by Jelena Jakvljevic

If you missed the Pseudos at the festival or just can’t get enough of them, they will be the feature band at the next HG Coffeehouse at the Community Hall in Daajing Giids on September 30. Doors open at 6 p.m. for a community meal. Please bring a dish, spoon and your own drink. Open mic starts at 7 p.m. followed by the feature band around 8 p.m. Entrance is by donation. October 28 will feature Rusty Mould and the Sugar Agates. Check them out on Facebook for more info.