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Here at ReGen, we're getting awfully excited about the Kinetik Festival. Taking place May 15-17 in Montreal, Canada, this special event features four separate phases, running the gamut of industrial dance music, from the classic EBM of Nitzer Ebb in Phase 1 to the hardcore techno assault of The Producer and Outside Agency during Phase 4. There's more to Festival Kinetik than bands, though, and every aspect of the event embraces the industrial aesthetic; even the main venue itself is a renovated factory! And of course, being in Montreal, there will be plenty of opportunities to sample local French-Canadian specialties like poutine, a favorite dish of festival organizers Jean-Francois Fortin and Kyo Lelievre. Fortin and Lelievre recently caught up with ReGen to talk about the genesis of Festival Kinetik, their roots in the industrial club scene, and why this event will be like no other.
Tell us a little about the genesis of Festival Kinetik. How did Festival Kinetik grow out of the events you had already hosted, like the C.O.M.A. festivals?
Fortin: I started in this scene as a DJ in 1997, because back then I thought the main nights in Montreal were not playing the music I wanted to hear. Then, in 2002, I decided to start to bring bands up here to cold northern America; most of the tours back then were always forgetting about us. From 2002 to 2005, I booked more than 25 shows, from Icon of Coil to a Canadian Funker Vogt tour. During that time, the Montreal scene was really big for shows, and some times I had shows every month or so. In 2005, the Montreal scene changed a bit; shows and club nights started to be less crowded, so I decided to put my time into doing fewer shows, but bigger ones that would bring a wider audience. I started to mix the crowds, booking 'dark rave' events with bands like God Module and big hardcore techno DJs. At that time, big commercial production companies that use to work on big shows like Celine Dion and Madonna started to get interested in booking industrial shows, especially with big names like Skinny Puppy, VNV Nation and others, so I started to work with them—better than against them—to co-produce shows like Front Line Assembly, VNV Nation, Covenant, and others. In 2006, I started to work with Guillaume, the man behind the C.O.M.A. festival project. At that time, he was on his third one already. I worked particularly on the industrial part of the festival, bringing bands like Grendel and Headscan. In 2007, I worked again with him on the fourth edition of C.O.M.A., with bands like Hocico, Tactical Sekt, Decoded Feedback, and many more. At the end of the festival, with the success of the Friday industrial night, I already had some idea of bands that I wanted to bring for the next edition, but at that time Guillaume wasn't sure if he wanted to continue the C.O.M.A. project because of issues with available free time and his work in his band, PerfectionPlastic. Because a lot of people where showing interest in a possible fifth edition, and a lot of bands had already said 'yes' to coming, I decided to continue the idea of a Montreal festival, this time with the Kinetik Festival project.
Lelievre: Well, I would say I have been in the rave scene for 10 years. I helped a lot of my good friends back in the day, like Cybervamp, who did one of the best parties I went to. As the years passed, less and less parties were happening; the scene was disappearing. In 2006, I organized Neurotoxik with Manu le Malin, Sulfuric Saliva, Lowtek and much more, which helped to put Montreal a little bit back on the map. In 2006 and 2007, I worked on C.O.M.A 3 and 4 to help Jean-Francois—a lot of running everywhere. I guess we can say we are crazy people up here!
What promoters are behind Festival Kinetik, and what specialty does each promoter bring to the table?
Fortin: We are the two main promoters behind the festival, me as KAO Productions and Kyo as Android Productions. We've worked together in different projects for the last two years, from industrial shows to techno hardcore raves. We decided to join our forces to form Kinetik Productions to work on the Kinetik Festival. Being in show production for the last six years, I do most of the booking work and preparation for the festival; Kyo, with her experience in the rave scene, is mainly taking care of the rave part of the festival. Being partners in our professional and personal lives, this helps, because of the fact that the festival takes a lot of time, so at least we have time to see each other, but yeah, sometime it can make it harder, too. I also do all the flyers and the Web site and other visuals for the festival, just to be sure that at the end of the day I don't get any free time for me. I personally have a 'normal' day job that takes more than 50 hours per week, and the festival takes up to 40 hours per week (and more and more as the festival approaches), so yeah, the festival is a big project that consumes a lot of my and Kyo's time for the past 10 months. The third partner in the festival is Richard with I Productions; he mainly works during the festival on the technical side. We also have a lot partners around North America. One of the most helpful is Ben (Hellraver/Terrorfakt) for the U.S. market, and for sure, he does know everybody in the industry. Artoffact Records did a really good job releasing the festival compilation in a short time. Metropolis Records and a lot of Web sites helped us with the promotion: ReGen, VampireFreaks, Rave.ca and others.
Your Web site states that one of the aims of Festival Kinetik is to aim for a bigger, more immersive event, like Wave Gotik Treffen. How have the giant European festivals inspired you in the creation of your own event?
Fortin: For sure, we never intended the festival as being in competition with Wave Gotik Treffen and other big European festivals, but we found that North America was lacking big festivals for industrial music. We did have good ones in the past, like Synthpop Goes the World in Toronto by Lazarus, and for sure what was started with C.O.M.A. by Guillaume, but at this time we still have to fight to get ourselves on the map of big festivals. The festival is on its first edition in its new identity, so we don't expect to have everything perfect the first time, but in the long term things are looking good. We were able to interest the Canadian government in our project enough to give us some small funding for the first edition, and we are trying to give industrial music more recognition to all the companies that usually only sponsor commercial music events. We know that an industrial music festival can as interesting and as well-produced as a commercial event, so we are trying to show them that we are worth the attention. In the long term, if everything works as planned, we are trying to keep the festival as big as this year's—damn, at some point it will be hard to find bands to bring—but with the help of sponsors and government funding to lower the price of tickets. We do know that the price of tickets and passes can look high for some, but when you look at it, we have more than 31 acts, with most of them coming from outside North America, so paying around $40.00 per nights to see between eight and 10 bands is not what I call expensive.
Montreal is near New York City, Boston, Toronto and all the big cities in the area, plus it is one of the cheapest cities in Canada to visit, so we think we are well placed to be the central point for a big industrial festival in North America. More than 60 percent of our audience comes from United States; we have some from as far as Mexico, the UK and Germany coming for the festival. Montreal is also a fun city to visit, being the biggest French-speaking city in North America. Yes, we all speak English, don't worry. We do provide a little something special, with architecture, food, and culture, and we have poutine!
Tell us a little about the line-up. It's separated into four different phases. How do these phases combine? What was the philosophy behind setting things up this way?
Lelievre: Industrial music has taken different directions in the last years. We tried to do a festival that will reflect this reality. This idea was already started by the C.O.M.A. festival, but we pushed it to the next level. With four night in three days—we are magical up here, and we can fit four days into three—we tried to cover as much of the spectrum of industrial music as possible.With the first phase, the electro one, we are looking at the more well-known bands of the festival. Covering the start of the movement, one of the pioneers, Nitzer Ebb, will be in Montreal for the first time in 15 years. Adding to this, Ascii Disko and The Horrorist cover more the new electro/industrial branch, with harsh electro beats that will make you dance, for sure.The second phase, the industrial one—or harsh industrial or aggrotech, depending on which Wikipedia definition you want to take—will cover the harsher side of industrial. With bands like Funker Vogt, Rabia Sorda, KiEw, Noisuf-X, Memmaker, Headscan, and Distorted Memory, that for sure will give the industrial lovers a really nice night. The third phase is dedicated to the rhythmic noise part of industrial, with the first show in North America for bands such as Feindflug and Xotox and—for sure not to be missed—Sonar. This Morn' Omina, Empusae, Terrorfakt, Mono no Aware, Iszoloscope, Displacer, Tonikom and others, with their noisy beats—weak ears, please avoid—and more than 12 hours of music, will be something to remember. The fourth phase, taking place at the same time as the third but going up until 9:00 am, will bring the audience to the techno hardcore side of the music. We are providing bus transport from both venues at 3:00 am to catch the big headliners. More and more big hardcore DJs like Producer, Outside Agency, Manu le Malin, and Lenny Dee find their roots in industrial music; hardcore music always was attached in Europe to the noisy side of industrial music, and we are trying to recreate this link in North America, too.
Are there any bands that you are particularly excited about seeing?
Fortin: Damn, that's a hard question. It's like asking a father which of his kids he prefers. But for sure, Nitzer Ebb will be something to see. Funker Vogt was a pleasure to work with during the tour I did with them in 2003, so it will be fun to see those guys again. Rabia Sorda; Erk always gives a hell of a show. KiEw promises something special for Montreal. Noisuf-X is in my top-played bands as a DJ. Memmaker, with their new album that everyone seems to like, Sonar, This Morn' Omina, Xotox, Producer...like you see, I'm pretty exited about all the bands playing at the festival.
Lelievre: I have to go with Jean-Francois on this one; it is a hard question. Well, for sure I can't wait to see Producer and Outside Agency; I heard them so many times in raves back in the day. And obviously Manu le Malin, being a good friend of mine; he was one of the first DJs I saw at a rave in 1997. I would also say This Morn' Omina, Memmaker for their craziness, Sonar, Feindflug, Ascii Disko—can't wait for that—and, well, I would say the whole festival is going to rock, but I am going to love my bed after that!
Tell us a little about some of the other media that will be presented, like visual and sculptural art.
Lelievre: Like what was started with the C.O.M.A. festival, video projection will have a really important place during the shows. Industrial bands always give intense performance, and we like to add to their shows with live visuals made by cool local VJs to bring the performance to the next step. For sure, the venues will be an important part of the the performance with their really nice industrial features. We will also try to make an important place for local artists to show their art during the festival. For sure, this will be a question we'll look at in the long term. We will try with each edition of the festival to push more and more the 'multimedia' side of the music. After all, industrial culture is not all about music!
Describe the venue for us. The building itself sort of fits in with the 'industrial' theme of the festival, right? Can you explain a bit about that?
Fortin: Being from the architecture field, when it was the time to find a venue for the festival, my choice was easy. Usine C is an old industrial building from the 1950s, renovated as a multimedia art theater. The venue has really cool features from the old manufacturing, like big concrete columns, big steel beams, brick walls, etc. The main hall has a 35-foot high ceiling and has really nice acoustics, being renovated to accommodate theatrical shows. The second venue, for Phase 4, the Theatre Sans Fil, is an old fire station from the 1940s, based on Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture, with an Art Deco architectural style. Again, it's a really nice venue for our style of music, looking a bit like a building from the movie Metropolis. For sure, we are not talking about the normal bars or small venues where people are used to seeing industrial shows.
Of all the things Festival Kinetik offers, what do you think is the biggest draw? What really sets apart your festival from other events?
Fortin: I think Festival Kinetik cannot be seen as one thing; all its particularities make the festival special in the North American market. For sure, we will never be as big as the European festivals, but with a strong line-up covering most of the industrial music genre, the festival has something for everyone's tastes. For sure, if you like industrial music, you have no excuse to miss it! With numerous bands playing for the first time in North America—and maybe the only time for some—we really think that music lovers will like it. Montreal is also a cool feature, a real nice city, with all the cool features of a big city without the dangers or crime of some cities. Oh, and we have poutine!
Lelievre: Well, I think with festivals like this one made by music lovers like me, Jean-Francois and Richard, you will see how picky we are in trying to make this perfect. Like Jean-Francois said, for sure we will never be as big as the ones in Europe, but that's not our goal; we are just trying to give the people of North America access to a festival that has industrial, noise and hardcore. Plus, Montreal has this little European flavor if you go to old Montreal, and for sure, we do have poutine!