The boonies are rockin'

All Else Fails is ready to raise a little bit of hell at the four-day 2011 Boonstock Festival now revving its engine in Gibbons.

The St. Albert indie metal band has captured a primo spot as the featured headliner at Boonstock's Bud Stage on Canada Day. They are slated for a 90-minute show starting at midnight following a mesmerizing fireworks display.

"It's awesome. It's exciting. It's really a good spot," says Barrett Klesko, All Else Fails' lead vocalist and major driving force.

He's particularly impressed with Boonstock's diversity of entertainment with talent ranging from Seether to Trooper to Sublime with Rome. "It's a bit of a surprise, but it will certainly widen the audience."

But more than that, Boonstock, running from Wednesday, June 29 to Saturday, July 2, is a huge windfall for local rock bands. "If you look at the line-up, there are more indie bands than major labels. In normal circumstances, you'd see two or three indie bands and the rest would be big names or touring bands. But they've found the right mix. For us, it's way above the kind of shows we'd play," adds Klesko. He's heard that preliminary ticket sales are up to 12,000.

Last summer the band, also composed of Seedy Mitchell (bass), Mike Sands (guitar) and Tom Wolf (drums), opted for a cross-Canada tour from Vancouver to Charlottetown. Their average audience was about 500.

After the tour, All Else released Oracle, a five-song, mini-concept album of old songs they had kicking around. This limited edition release became the jumping off point for Oracle: What Was, Is and Could Have Been, a 12-song disc scheduled for its official release on Aug. 19. "But we'll have them for sale at Boonstock."

On July 14, the energetic, no-holds-barred foursome is hitting the asphalt with a 25-stop tour through Alberta and British Columbia. "We spend a lot of time on the road. But what else is there? It's such a huge part of my life I couldn't not do it."

With yet another overlapping project on the go, Klesko is already working on a 17-song skate punk disc. "It's the songs we liked when we were young."

In fact, 12 songs out of the 17 have already been recorded and mixed. For anyone that wants an advance listen, All Else Fails has studio space on YouTube and is slowly leaking songs to the mothership. "We shoot random stuff. We do semi-scripted, semi-reality stuff."

Their site is available at youtube.com/allelsefailscanada.

As for their Boonstock performance, "We're a great band that puts on a hell of a live show. We're a full-on metal band and we do it on a big scale."

Below is a schedule for Boonstock's two main stages. For a complete list of events visit www.boonstock.ca.

Wednesday, June 29 — Bud Stage

8:30 p.m. Mars and Venus

9:20 p.m. Who's the Hero

10:10 p.m. Dayone

11 p.m. Senorita Justice

12: 15 a.m. Dirty City Hearts

Thursday June 30 — Bud Stage

2:15 p.m. Gutta Muzik

3 p.m. Raptors

3:45 p.m. Kryptic Minds

4:35 p.m. DRT

5:25 Tyrant

6:15 p.m. Kick Up a Fuss

7:15 p.m. Dryland Band

8:45 p.m. Trooper

10:30 p.m. Creedence Clearwater Revisited

12:30 a.m. Looking East

Friday, July 1 — Main Stage

1:15 p.m. White Lightning

2: 15 p.m. The Red Threat

3: 15 Like a Storm

4:15 Jonas & The Massive Attraction

5:30 p.m. My Darkest Days

7 p.m. Five Finger Death Punch

8:30 p.m. Seether

10:10 p.m. Three Days Grace

Bud Stage

1:45 p.m. Crystal Kid

2:24 p.m. Keep6

3:45 p.m. Gzus Murphy

5 p.m. The Order of Chaos

6:30 p.m. Silo

8 p.m. Night at the Chelsea

9:40 p.m. Hollywood Assassyn

11:30 p.m. Fireworks display

12:05 a.m. All Else Fails

Saturday, July 2 — Main Stage

12:30 p.m. Self Evolution

1:15 p.m. Dani Jean

2:15 p.m. No Heat Tomorrow

3:15 p.m. The Reason

4:20 p.m. Dirty Heads

5:35 p.m. Crash Kings

7:05 p.m. USS

8:35 p.m. Sublime with Rome

10:15 p.m. A Perfect Circle

Bud Stage

2:45 p.m. Feast or Famine

3:50 p.m. Seven Straight

5:05 p.m. Stand Down

6:35 p.m. Call Before You Dig

8:05 p.m. Oldbury

9:45 p.m. Red Bacteria Vacuum

11:45 p.m. Greg Wood

12:30 a.m. Gunshy