Old Man Luedecke
Old Man Luedecke is the recording name of two time JUNO award winning and Polaris prize nominated singer songwriter Chris Luedecke. A multiple East Coast Music Award winner known for his high energy banjo driven stompers, touching guitar ballads and dry humorous stories, Luedecke has been making a soundtrack to an authentic life for nearly twenty years.
Songs like “I Quit My Job” at the beginning of his career and “The Early Days” at the beginning of his family and dozens of other fan favourites trace a warm line of effort, sadness and joy and provide a soundtrack to many peoples’ own progress through adulthood, touching a rare place of truth and charm in the holiness of the mundane. His performing style with his easy going humour and storytelling creates a rare space of hopeful and intimate magic.
Luedecke has kept up many worldwide concert appearances, playing in Europe and around Canada and the USA and six trips to Australia, including a memorable tour where his whole young family travelled with him around rural Queensland for the Festival of Small Halls.
In May 2022 Luedecke was awarded an honorary doctorate from King’s University in Halifax for his cultural contributions.
King Missile (Dog Fly Religion)
King Missile is an American avant-garde art rock band best known for its 1992 humorous single “Detachable Penis”. Vocalist John S. Hall has fronted several disparate incarnations of the group since founding it in 1986. In 1985, writer John S. Hall began presenting his work at open mic poetry readings.
Jaron Freeman Fox & Anh Phung
Crawling out of the depths of a perpetual psychedelic sojourn, Acidtrip.ca insists on its own inexistence as a literal illiterate alliteration; a tactile fractured fractal time-tunnel where the punchline is a distant memory.
Virtuoso flutist Anh Phung, floats between countless genres and is known for her collaborations with award winning artists Twisted Pine, Molly Tuttle, and Billy Strings. In Acidtrip.ca she joins forces with her evil twin; violinist Jaron Freeman-Fox, celebrating their decade of making mischief in numerous projects together.
The Slieves
The Slieves are a West Coast Celtic band hailing from Victoria and Duncan BC, the traditional territories of the Lekwungen, WSÁNEĆ, and Quw’utsun peoples. Brought together by their love of traditional Irish Music, this trio has been bringing Celtic folk and Celtic-inspired original music to the coast of BC for well over a decade! Drawing inspiration from such groups as Dervish, The Bothy Band, The Pogues, The Chieftains, Great Big Sea, and The Irish Rovers, The Slieves feature the magical Tasia MacKay (Irish flute, whistles, 5 string banjo, vocals), the accomplished Jeremy Walsh (guitar, vocals) and the foot-stomping Andrew Morris MacKay (bodhran, spoons, vocals).
Cove
Born on the shores of Quathiaski Cove and refined among the peaks of Vancouver Island, Cove’s unique style gets people dancing. With a powerhouse lineup featuring trombone and tenor sax, Cove plays a driving horn-led funk enriched with a blend of rock, blues, and jazz. Having released their first single, Movin’ On, in 2022, Cove is currently working on releasing their debut album titled Out of Bounds.
Entangados
A band of musical clowns playing genres like Ska, Balkan, Cumbia, Cuarteto, and Latin Rhythms. Their energetic live performance is a guaranteed party for any event anywhere in the world! This musical band of clowns was formed in 2004. Their show mixes theater and music, filling the stages of the world with energy. Dancing, fun, art, and social consciousness are the principal characteristics of the project. Every show is an unforgettable, marvelous experience. This performance-driven Cordoba’s project with 20 years of national and international trajectory will make you vibrate with love, humour, and energy. Entangados seizes this moment to live intensely in the present, in the best way possible. With their unique and original clown show Entangados transforms lives forever.
Big Fancy and the Shiddy Cowboys
Invoking the masters of Country, Old-Time, and Blues, Big Fancy roams the land, a true troubadour moonshiner with a sharp wit and love-lorn voice who’ll break your heart like an echo from a hidden treasure of a record collection. The Shiddy Cowboys join him with a sound coming straight from a late night, smoke filled, 1950’s Honky Tonk. Playing original songs of love lost and bad choices served with an unhealthy amount of self deprecating humour. This is Loser Country.
Red Haven
Red Haven began in 2013 on the grapevine of the folk circuit, developing their Alt-Roots and raucous Jazz sound, which features a trio of distinct voices that weave and harmonize to shape their live show. The three songwriters are: Jen Charters, lightning-quick saxophone and powerful blues vocals; Nathan Turner, laid-back grooves with soulful roots from behind the bass; and Brendan Steele, dark and angular guitar lines to match cutting lyrics. Having played with a Spinal Tap’s worth of drummers, they’ve found their back-bone in Max Ley on the kit. Red Haven has now been entertaining audiences for 10 years, from folk festivals across Western Canada, to bar halls in the U.K, to mountain-top horse ranches in Colorado, and hope to play for you soon
Babyface Brass
One of Vancouver Island’s best busking bands – with brass, chaos and improv, you’re sure to have a good time with these guys.
Zonnis and the Afterparty
Zonnis fits into any setting where music lovers are set to listen. Drawing upon their years of traveling and touring, their music takes you on a journey through upbeat and inspirational to somber and introspective, all with a healthy dose of humor thrown in for good measure.
While never hesitating to poke fun at the world around us, Zonnis rides the line to stay within enough boundaries that it can be enjoyed by folks of all walks of life. Styles range from traditional folk to alternative rock, with a bit of funk and soul tossed in as well.
Andrea and Adam love to visit exotic and foreign lands, and will go anywhere the music takes them. They especially love outdoor music festivals, and participate in every way possible, by dressing up for the party and bringing their uplifting good natures with them wherever the winds of fate deliver them.
Starting in 2024, they started performing with a backing band known as “The Afterparty”. Zonnis & The Afterparty offer a danceable hoe-down, while still maintaining the story-telling and personality of their duo performance.
Mt Eliah
Ben Howells has been building vibrant musical communities on the West Coast for over 15 years. As the founder of Long Shot Events Inc. and co-producer of festivals like Pachena Bay, Cumberland Wild, and Atmosphere Gathering, he’s helped shape the region’s cultural landscape. Starting out with the iconic NakedDJs, Ben laid the foundation for a career rooted in community-driven music and immersive events. Performing as Mt. Eliah, his genre-blending DJ sets have lit up dance floors across Vancouver Island and beyond, sharing stages with global acts. Based in Port Alberni, he remains deeply committed to fostering connection, creativity, and social impact through music.
The Dang Package
The Dang Package unearths rare jewels from the gem store: hard rock, soft rock, ambient rock, psychedelic rock, surf rock, funk rock, country rock, and other varieties of precious stones.
Felonious Parker
She has been a part of the local music scene for a number of years as the drummer for Prxncxss Apprntly, Red Circle, Kitty Prozac, and a member of the Red Gate Arts Collective. She also makes Industrial Dance mixes under the name dj ScissorFist (aka ChemFatale) and plays guitar in the Doom Metal band SNORLAX.
Oktiv6 and the Funkyard
Oktiv6 and Funkyard are a high energy funk trio, with a Soulful R’n’B/ Hip-Hop front man.
With a combined performance experience of over 100 years, and tens of thousands of road miles this little group is more than qualified to liven up any event or concert experience.
Curt Young and the Healers
Curt Young & The Healers are not just a band; they are advocates for positive change and unity. Through their music, they encourage listeners to embrace a harmonious relationship with the Earth and strive for a world filled with peace and understanding.
If you’re looking for a folk rock reggae band that will uplift your spirits, ignite your passion for social and environmental justice, and provide an unforgettable musical journey, Curt Young & The Healers are the perfect choice. Get ready to be moved, inspired, and immersed in their powerful and soul-stirring performances.
Hannah Rose
Hannah Rose is a West Coast based country-folk singer-songwriter. Having been an active member in her local music scenes since she was a teenager, she finally embarked on creating her own lyrical work in 2017. As a writer and a poet, Hannah loves to tell stories and is inspired by finding beauty and complexities in the everyday mundane. Hannah Rose’s raw and penetrating lyrics deliver a sense of realism into heartbreak, healing, family and legacy.
Age Against The Machine
Age Against the Machine is a local Quadra Island rock group whos set list is comprised mainly of original songs from lead singer Will Rendalls solo album Keep On Smiling. Dylan Alps, who has also just released his first full length solo album titled Old Songs, plays lead and rhythm guitar. Dylan also has a string of solo EPs out. Bassist Cal Juraschka is a Quadra Island music veteran who has also recorded a couple of albums over the years. The band is rounded out by drummer Shane Hedifine who brings a mix of energy and enthusiasm to the group. All four members have played with some of the best musicians and bands of Quadra Island since the early 90s. They are guaranteed to rock you with each and every song.
The Oldest Man I know
Hailing from Victoria, The Oldest Man I Know is an upbeat and untraditional punk inspired folk band.
The ElectraNauts
We are a live electronic band with lots of synths, drums and much much more. We take you on a journey through time and space with our edgy, funky and creative styles. From Dub to hiphop, house to funk, it is always exciting and always moving.
Witch Hazell
Hazell is a charismatic queer artist from the West Coast, known for their attributes in bands like Pages from the Oak Tree, Nowhere Fast, and the Railyard Ghosts. Their songs of travel, love, and loss, guides the audience through a dynamic world of authenticity and heartfelt story telling.
MASSIRRAYTORR
Vancouver Island, Canada-based label featuring the best in West Coast psych/doom/noise/drone, created by heads, for heads. MASSIRRAYTORR unearths the spell, travels through the mind cave, speaks to the maven, digest the embryo and arrives at the conduit of rock glory with mad respect to Hawkwind while bathing in a stew of Monster Magnet stirred by a disturbed Grand Funk. Once the symphonic riff feast is mangled, tasted and digested, the aerial navigation flows in the rush of Motorhead swimming in a cocktail of cough medicine with the angel of dark lightened with the love of the herb. Accession to the bright light, excavating the compulsion and finally conceding the fragility, MASSIRRAYTORR exhumes the cream of the riff, the ointment of the roll with the storm of three guided by the fourth. Ordaining the sound with psyched out Pearl Syncussions, feverish dilated guitar work. supersaturated bass doctrine and slab mud drumming birthing an aperitif of everything before mixed with nothing since landing in the pummeling rubble of clairvoyant earth rock with all dwellers not understanding the life that was and the life that just began…welcome to the head of MASSIRRAYTORR.
MASSIRRAYTORR is a 3 piece and hails from Nanaimo BC Canada, from the same fertile soil as Moths & Locusts, Anunnaki, and Psychedelic Dirt
Theremin Man
Stephen Hamm has been a pivotal member of the Vancouver Music and Arts scene for over 25 years. He’s played bass, keyboards and sang in bands like Slow, Tankhog, Canned Hamm and Nardwuar And The Evaporators. Today, Stephen is Theremin Man, a space traveler and storyteller who sends waves of good vibes and dance beats out to his followers, affectionately known as “The Space Family”. Since stalking the Pacific Northwest with his legendary rock bands, Stephen has shifted his focus to mastering the Theremin, an early electronic instrument that one does not touch but plays by interacting with magnetic fields around two antennae. In recent years Stephen has studied under the tutelage of German Theremin virtuoso Carolina Eyck and New York based Thereminist Dorit Chrysler. Stephen’s solo show, based around Theremin and Synthesizer is a psychedelic electro musical journey into new abstract dimensions of sound. Theremin Man is not just a solo act, it is an experience. A robed Stephen Hamm is an imposing presence, but his kind eyes and friendly face make everyone comfortable and ready to take in the overall space travel vibes and thought-provoking lyrics as he demonstrates his mastery over his esoteric instrument. Dancing usually follows shortly thereafter.
Kate Pike and the Loose Boots
Grease folk for greasy folks.
Kate Pike and the Loose Boots are happy humans. Happiest with sweat on their faces and voices tangled in chorus. A little bit folk, a lotta bit punk rock and/or roll, these humans play what they call the Grease Folk.
Grown in the pits of Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland) Kate’s songwriting brings forth the coast that grew her – hard and rugged, yet beautiful and alluring. Hailing from unceded territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, this energy packed trio (Kaleb Clarke, Johnny Prudhoe, Kate Pike) will keep you dancing your butt off and screaming into the ether. Let’s sing.
Scout Shorefox
Scout Shorefox is a queer folk singer/songwriter hailing from the traditional territories of the Cowichan, Tsawwassen, Tsawout, Malahat and Tseycum on Salt Spring Island. Scout”s music is a foot-stomping celebration of the musical harmony between love lost, fights won, and the beauty found in the fringes. An eclectic fusion of up-tempo rock/folk rhythyms paired with soul searching lyrics and wit.
The Infinite Atom
The Infinite Atom is a cosmic-disco collective blending psychedelia, world, folk, funk, reggae, rap and rock to create anthemic, high-energy original dance music while exploring themes of consciousness, spirituality, and the multi-dimensionality of life through highly danceable melodies and rhythms, and powerful lyrics.
Since forming in 2022, the all-original big band has performed at over 100 venues, festivals, and events across BC and Canada. Their unique sound and ability to move crowds brought them into the spotlight, headlining the 2024 Islands Folk Festival on Vancouver Island and performing at the ever-popular Khatsahlano Street Festival in Vancouver. Gaining traction quickly, their songs can now be heard on several Canadian and UK radio stations.
The group can now be found in the midst of their 2025 epic summer tour across Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
Railroad Tye
Tyler has been a traveling musician for over a decade. He grew up in rural north Alberta and witnessed most of the continent before the age of 24. He has been called a troubadour, a bum, a great folk legend, and the reincarnation of Blaze Foley from his old friend in Texas before knowing who Blaze Foley even was. Tyler does not believe or accept any of this. He just writes songs that help in his day to day life.
Pico’s Puppet Palace
Pico’s Puppet Palace was established in the year 2016 by the talented duo of Sally Miller and Jesse Hamilton. Together, Sally and Jesse meticulously create a wonderful array of puppets and sets for Pico’s Puppet Palace, using various reclaimed, recycled, and repurposed materials sourced from their surroundings. Each performance unfolds as a captivating episode of Pico’s adventurous journey and introduces ecological and environmental issues, innovations, and ideas, making the utilization of these recycled materials not only practical but also perfectly aligned with the overarching ethos of the show. They employ these diverse mediums to produce both puppets and intricate sets, drawing upon their extensive experience in crafting with materials like glass, an assortment of repurposed fabrics from old toys or clothes, papier mâché, wood, plastic, metal, and numerous other found objects. Jesse’s extensive knowledge of mechanics and building techniques greatly informs their production of puppets featuring multiple moving parts, and Sally’s skill as an actor and physical performer enhances their ability to create vibrant and lifelike puppets that enthrall audiences, sparking curiosity and joy among both young children and adults alike. Their impressive range of puppets includes everything from full-body puppets and costumes to hand and rod puppets, sock puppets, and muppets, as well as mechanical sculptures that can be animated by the puppeteer, shadow puppetry, and even more forms of this enchanting art.
Captain Thunderpants
CPTN THNDRPNTZ!!! is a singing, storytelling, intergalactic space pirate. His home planet, Funkathon, is completely inhabited by ceratopsian dinosaurs, (the ones with horns and frills, like Triceratops) where he was the head cook to King Zaxxon.
After running out of sweet potatoes, the CPTN headed out across the universe in his Space Galleon, to trade stories and songs for more sweet potatoes.
The CPTN has performed at festivals, schools, special events and libraries, bringing his unique blend of fun, engaging entertainment to the children of this planet.
Jeremy Bateman
Jeremy Bateman has been turning heads with his voice since he decided to pick up a guitar and start singing 17 years ago when his passion changed from sports to music. He is an original singer songwriter and you’ll either be tapping your foot or dancing to his music. Jeremy’s inspiration came from the talented musician, Ben Harpers; Burn One Down.
During his first year back on the Island, Jeremy won Artist of the Year with the Loft in Victoria. You will not forget his voice, his lyrics or his soul.
Aaron Riis
Originally from Quadra Island, Aaron now plays a one man mandolin band complete with drums and a loop pedal. His music includes originals and a few old standard interpretations. Aaron lives and works on Haida Gwaii.
April Dawn Brass
April Dawn Brass is Swampy Cree from Opaskwayak Cree Nation, she has been makin’ stuff and doin’ stuff in the Comox Valley, BC since September 2005 and now calls it home. April is an interdisciplinary artist, arts administrator, advocate and event producer. She has been honing her various skills in the arts since she was small and believes in leading with the intentions of the future.
April loves to play guitar and sing, it is healing. She also loves to jam the spoons.
365 Pro Wrestling
365 Pro Wrestling is a travelling pro wrestling company that puts events on up and down the island almost every week.