Indie pop band Almost Kennedy will be performing at Marvest, as part of this year’s CityFolk Festival, on Sept. 15.
Marvest is an offshoot of CityFolk that aims to offer a “musical harvest” of local bands to perform in the Glebe, according to the CityFolk website.
Almost Kennedy opened for Marianas Trench at Carleton University’s frosh concert last year.
Christian Lascelles is the drummer for Almost Kennedy and a fourth-year music student at Carleton. He said that the band has been working on a few new songs for their performance in preparation for their concert.
“It’s almost a little more funk-ish,” Lascelles said about the new music.
Lascelles said he has been drumming for 10 years in total, but seriously for five. He said he is not nervous about the upcoming performance,or about performing, in general.
“I find for me it’s not as stressful in a sense . . . I can just sit back,” Lascelles said.
Marvest was introduced to CityFolk in 2015 and runs from Sept. 14-15 this year. Many of the performers playing at Marvest are youth, as well as new bands trying to make a name for themselves in Ottawa.
Lascelles said Almost Kennedy scored the Marvest time slot by applying to play at Ottawa Bluesfest in November. In August, they were offered a spot in the CityFolk Fest lineup by the same organizers as Bluesfest.
Kieran Fleming is the band’s guitarist and a fifth-year computer science student at Carleton. While Almost Kennedy originally applied to play at Bluesfest, Fleming said he isn’t disappointed they’ll be at Marvest instead.
“I almost think this is better than Bluesfest. As a local artist, you always get a crappy slot,”he said. “There’s usually not a very big crowd there at that point.”
It also helps that Marvest is free for whoever wants to listen, Fleming added.
“If you’re trying to convince your friends to come, it’s more enticing,” he explained.
Fleming expects the band to play for up to 100 people, though he said he also isn’t nervous.
“It’s just a fun thing to do,” he said.
Admission to CityFolk, which runs from Sept. 12-16 this year, is free on opening day for Carleton students who participated in fall orientation this year.
Marvest artists will be playing in venues along Bank Street. Venues include the Clocktower Brew Pub, Mad Radish, BMO at Lansdowne, and Craft Beer Market.
Almost Kennedy will be playing at Bank Street and Fifth Avenue on Sept. 15 at 8 p.m.
Provided
