A chat with the Royal Mountain Band, and Indyish gets a little gonzo…

After leaving Tristan and finishing my last blog, I headed over to the small stage that Marilis blogged about with its great sound and occasional feedback fuzz to see the Royal Mountain Band play. RMB are a favourite of mine, a real homegrown Montreal crew with a timeless, pure rock sound that would’ve landed them at a similar festival in the late ’60s or early ’70s. Despite a small crowd, the band rocked the house (tent?) as usual and a crowd of dancing fans grew from one, during the first songs, to more than my typing-tired little fingers could count. I don’t have a digital camera on me, hence the lacking pictures, but I do have a disposable with film that one develops (remember those?), so I moved from one side of the stage to the other to get good shots. On one side, I turn around after the photo, and practically fall into my friend Jason Kent (who’s not playing Osheaga but is no less worthy of your link-following!), who sometimes plays with RMB. Earlier, I’d been thinking about my posts and wondering how to spice them up a bit, and decided that a band’s perspective would be nice to have. So, after RMB finished their set (and I ran into a friend as well as Tessa, who’s here today but not blogging), Jason and I headed to their truck and I volunteered the prospective interview. 

Moments later, several Royal Mountain Members and I sat down for a charmingly chill post-set chat about the band’s experience playing at Osheaga, complete with beer. As you read the following quick-hit interview, please imagine smiles and laughter the entire way through to best capture the atmosphere the band’s energy! The cast of characters? Me, your loyal blogger. Simon Nixon, guitar and vocals. Frédéric Charest, bass, harmonica, and vocals. Tavis Triance, guitar, vocals, and harmonica.

• Lise: Is this your first big festival?
• Simon: Pretty much. This is our first outdoor festival.
• Frédéric: Our biggest show so far was with the Stills. But otherwise, this was our first festival, yeah.
• L: How has your experience at Osheaga been?
• S: Well, we can play in front of nobody and still be happy, so…
• F: It’s been a lot of fun. Lots of our friends are here, there are lots of girls… there are really great people here. This festival could be fun even with only the free booze and free food!
• L: As you regularly play in local bars, how do you find playing outdoors?
• F: This was our first outdoor show!
• Tavis: Some of my favourite bands really are all about outdoor shows, just chilling, relaxing. It’s a great atmosphere.
• S: To be a real RMB fan, I think you’ve got to get yourself a lover, have a kid, and just go play frisbee on the grass while at a concert. Just relax! Bring the hackey sack!
• T: We’d like to step in where Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young or Neil Young and Crazy Horse left off.
• L: Where do you feel you fit in, in the Osheaga atmosphere?
• S: We’re kind of on our own cloud, and if you like us, you like us. But if you don’t, you don’t and you’ll go see someone else’s set, and that doesn’t matter to us.
• T: We’re old enough to have that kind of mindset.
• L: What’s been your favourite aspect of the festival?
• F: All the free beer and free food!
• S: Beautiful women! I can say that on behalf of all of us. It’s so relaxed here and people really care about the music they’ve come to see. I’m talking about everyone — the festival organizers, too!
• T: It’s a beautiful setting. It’s like we’re playing in Stanley Park.
• S: Bars have become different. People can’t just relax in bars anymore because there are too many rules. Here, smoke if you want to, sit or lie down wherever, see who you want to. If you don’t hurt anyone, all are happy. The people who run Osheaga are really amazing pure lovers of music.
• F: (Program Coordinator) Dan Webster is really great. He’s always been such a good guy.
• S: The whole team is just putting their blood, sweat, and tears into this festival.
• L: What’s your least favourite aspect of Osheaga?
• S: There’s nothing to complain about!
• T: …so we just end up complaining about each other.
• S: I guess I would’ve hoped for a bigger crowd.
• F: But tons of our friends got in free, so they all came and that’s great.
• S: Honestly, we’re just happy to be on stage.
• F: And this festival is great exposure!
• S: See, we only like things that don’t suck.

Enter Lise’s Id, which is just having too much fun backstage with with freebies and musicians. Simon offers to show me to the beer tent, so I follow, and end up sitting in a folding chair behind the MEG stage, chatting with whoever walks by. (And, I won’t lie… I did pay a few visits to the beer tent. This comment is made far more appropriate by the outburts of the guy current sitting across the room from me, who by now is so plastered that he’s doing his best impression of Tarzan only stopping himself when he needs to mock his friend by yelling, Hey! You spilled alcohol!)

Aside from spending a few songs standing in the wings, I hear the Besnard Lakes from this vantage point. I must admit that hearing the bands backstage offers not only the quality sound you get out front (indeed many of the artists would go outside to join the ranks for sets they wanted to see, which I love to hear), but allows you to speak at a comfortable volume with whoever is sitting next to you! I was, admittedly, itching to blog my lovely time with the guys of RMB, but this little voice kept telling me to experience Osheaga from a new angle for a while. So I stayed! I met a self-professed fugitive who claimed he hopped the fence to get backstage, chatted a bit more with Tavis and Simon, and borrowed articles of clothing to warm up from whoever had something to offer.

By the time the Besnard Lakes finished their (fantastic!) set, I’d run into Tessa once more, and we now found ourselves sitting with some of Miracle Fortress on the steps of their trailer, oh-so-diligently watching the door of M.I.A.’s… Apparently there were a few fans in the group! I warmed up enough to brave the open air once more, left the bounty they call backstage behind, and headed to the Internet Café, where I’m getting ready to sign off and join Marilis and Tristan for the end of Interpol’s set.

But, I leave you with one question. Since I asked an artist, I’ll ask you: What was your favourite part of Osheaga this year? Or if you’re at home reading this live, what do you think it might have been?