Amplify Festival gets ready to shake the rafters

Leaner and meaner, the third annual St. Albert Amplify Festival for youth returns Oct. 14 and 15 with some of the best crossover visual art, dance, music and poetry in the making.

No longer at the Enjoy Centre, the two-day festival has switched its command centre to the Kinsmen Banquet Centre.

"We basically rocked too hard. Last year the Enjoy Centre had also booked a wedding and our concert was a little too loud. It was a great fit, but we wanted to continue to rock hard. The Enjoy Centre was lovely and did their best to accommodate us. But I understand, if you have a wedding, you don't want the walls to be rattling," said Kathleen Bell, festival associate.

"But we're excited to have the run of the Kinsmen hall. It's a smaller venue and everything is tighter – more inter-knit. Hopefully the energy will be bouncing off the walls."

The cultural festival's 2016 theme is The Art of Being Alive featuring an assortment of vibrant workshops, concerts and activities designed to animate and galvanize youth from grade 7 to age 21.

"We're really excited. We've built it in the last two years. This year the response has been faster and people have reached out to us. Ticket sales have picked up faster. We're definitely building and it's exciting to realize people know who we are," said Bell.

The City of St. Albert has committed to providing an annual budget of $80,000 until 2018. Bell is particularly excited that the funding has assisted in building and shining a light on a growing community of artists.

"This year we have 89 artists presently working in the visual arts, as dancers, the acoustic show and concerts to name a few."

Free stuff

Anyone who wants to explore Amplify can drop by for free drop-in activities and entertainment. The acoustic stage is the hang out centre where youth can listen to a jam-packed lineup of musicians and poets.

There are also various stunning visual art projects to see as well as experimenting with pancake art, poi, T-shirt tie-dying, magnet making and mug decorating.

Workshops

Several favourites returning this year including henna body art and Halloween gore F/X makeup. Theatre and film makeup artist Noreen Jani introduces her ghoulish expertise in creating twisted scars, stomach-churning gashes and colourful bruises while working with latex, fake blood and special effects materials.

"It's a good time to bring this in with Halloween on everyone's mind. Kids find it fun to be gross and walk away with gashes. They delight in grossing each other out," laughed Bell.

New this year is learning the skills of stage fighting. Fight director and stunt double Janine Waddell Hodder takes youths through a choreographed fight involving biting, hair pulling and punching.

"What she's going to teach is a bar brawl, a saloon style of fighting."

Edmonton Music Award winners The Royal Foundry are back leading a songwriting workshop while Quincy Pipella, a hip hop dancer crewing with NXG Co., will set in motion her arsenal of dance moves.

In addition, local artisan Esther Vanderwel teaches the art of sudsy soap making, photographer Rogie Golloso walks participants through the basics of shooting festival photography, and Sam Killick leads an hour of yoga flow.

Friday night concert

Both event-filled festival days are capped with an electrifying evening of music. Friday night's The Show 3.0 is crammed with five emerging acts.

Kaleida, 5 Cents Richer, AM:PM, Thursdays and Alleviate compete to win a music video and photo shoot as well as berth at next year's Saturday night gig of established artists.

None of the acts are new faces on the entertainment scene. Edmonton-based Kaleida, 15, participated as a Top 6 finalist on YTV's season series The Next Star. St. Albert's own 5 Cents Richer is an alternative rock band that has played gigs at the Bellerose Bike-A-thon and Vinyl Rock Café.

AM:PM, a Paul Kane High fivesome, is a popular indie rock band, and returning competitor Alleviate pushes its rich, rootsy swagger to the max.

The band to beat is Thursdays, last year's first runner up. The five-piece ska band is super-charged and stands out, in large part, due to the musical textures from a sax and trumpet.

Drummer Jacob Kryger believes their popularity stems from their vivid interaction on stage.

"We try to go for a positive vibe and we really enjoy what we do. There's a lot of positive energy and we try and get it out to the crowd."

Saturday night concert

Van Damsel, known for its indie-pop grooves and light, lyrical choruses, is the big Saturday night headliner. Based out of Kamloops, the foursome has a pair of EPs to their name. They picked up momentum from their 2013 EP, the award winning The Sunshine, Girl.

"We were searching for an indie pop band and stumbled across them. They have the same energy as Zerbin last year. They bring a lot of energy and get the crowd going," Bell said.

From the burg of Sherwood Park, North of Here goes on stage just before Van Damsel. The band's warm folk sound highlights blissful four-part harmonies, an infectious mandolin and a steady bassline.

Caleb Sinn, Luke Jansen, Ian St. Arnaud and Will Holowaychuk met during a Bev Facey High School creative music class four years ago and in Nov. 2015 the foursome released their first EP Make Hay While the Sun Shines.

"When we were in high school, we were new to our instruments. Now our song writing matches the pace of our playing. Festivals like Amplify are an integral part of that process and should be supported," Jansen noted.

Another band performing on Saturday is Lusitania Lights, a four-man alternative rock outfit that pulls its influences from Radiohead, Mutemath and John Mayer.

"They're very addictive, very bright upbeat and crisp," Bell said.

Julia Nicholson, winner of Amplify's emerging artist The Show 2.0 and the Synergy Youth Artist Award at the 2016 Mayor's Celebration of the Arts Awards, opens the Saturday night concert.

This appearance is her last as Julia Nicholson. In working with PlanIt Sound, the St. Albert-based singer has rebranded her name, image, music and website. As of Oct. 18, she will be promoted as Lia Cole, a derivative of her full name.

"I wanted to rebrand everything and take things more seriously," Nicholson said.

Her 20-minute set is filled with six songs including pop, R&B influenced originals such as Talk the Talk and You Lost Me.

For complete festival information visit stalbert.ca/exp/amplify/.