9 questions about the Motion Notion Festival answered
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Motion Notion festival has stepped up their game this year with unarguably their most ambitious lineup yet. Set at the beautiful location of Golden B.C. in late August, the combination of the scenery, the music, and the intimacy of the festival will be a special experience for every fan. EDM Canada had a chance to talk to Kevin Harper, the owner and festival director of Motion Notion about the history, the lineup, and what fans can expect from this year's festival.
Give readers a brief history of Motion Notion.
Kevin Harper: We started 18 years ago, I have been working there for the past 10. I was the festival director for many of those years and this year I just purchased the festival from the founder. So it's a new exciting adventure to try to take the festival to new heights this year. But we really started from humble beginnings in Alberta, and outgrew all of our sites to where we eventually landed at the beautiful site at the Bearfoot Lodge in B.C. It's taken on a few remixes, with different art, décor, and location. But we've really come into our own since we moved to the new location about 6 years ago. It's taken off amazingly since then. It started as a psy-trance festival back in the day, and when I came in, we incorporated other styles like drum and bass, electro, house, and breaks. We now have something for everybody.
What makes Motion Notion special?
It is an amazing group of people that come together for Motion Notion. It is a very open, friendly, good sense of humour crowd. Most importantly, they are participators, and not just people wanting to be entertained. We've encouraged renegade stages that are approved by the festival where they can start their own art camp and stage. We are also encouraging artists from all over the world to come. We've got live painters, comedians, magicians, and hypnotists coming. There is a wide gamut of artists that we're seeing come together and create an amazing playground in the mountains.
How many people do you expect to attend the 2017 edition?
We've capped tickets this year at 5,000, by design. People really loving the fact that the festival is a down to earth experience and not super packed. So you can run into people more than once instead of trying to find them all weekend. We wanted a mid sized festival that still has open areas for fans to build stages and art projects.
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What's your philosophy when it comes to forming your Motion Notion lineups?
The gloves came off this year where I could take the musical direction and increase the size of the acts to showcase what Motion Notion has become. We want all styles of music to shine, by inviting both international and regional talent. We have curated a lineup that really does bring the best of all music to our event. This year, we asked ourselves what our dream lineup is, and we really shot for the stars for this one. Everything just aligned this year and it's probably our best lineup ever. We wanted to make sure we brought all of the types of styles that people have appreciated here are covered.
Which first time Motion Notion artist are you most excited to see?
I'm really really excited about Datsik, it's almost a homecoming for him (he's from Kelowna). It's Canada's 150th birthday this year and we wanted a big Canadian feature. We are so stoked to make that work.
Would you consider 2017 to be Motion Notion's most ambitious lineup to date?
100%.
Why are there so many cool festivals in Western Canada?
I would say it's the mountains over here. Having the mountains as the backdrop to our festivals lends itself more to the bassier sounds and it doesn't feel like you're in the city in any capacity. Nature is lending itself to creating cool art. Artists in Western Canada have been pushing the electronic bass sound for many years, from clubs in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver – to festivals. It's taken a life of its own and has worked itself down to the States and everywhere else as well.
What's your view on the current health of festivals in 2017?
The health of festivals are evolving. The festivals that get it and have connected with their fans are thriving. The ones that are in it for the wrong reasons, or maybe didn't have that soul to them, are disappearing a little bit. That being said, there are some great festivals that have closed down as well, like Squamish. It was an amazing event and it was a shame to see them go. Festivals are a risky thing and are exhausting to put them on sometimes. You're putting your soul on display so that everyone that judge it after that. It sometimes works, and it sometimes doesn't.
Make your best pitch: Why should people go to this year's Motion Notion festival?
Motion Notion is really in essence about freedom, self discovery, friends, hearing the best music and seeing the best performers on the planet in arguably one of the most beautiful locations in North America. It's your chance to discover new music and new stuff you've never heard of before. There is a magic to Motion Notion that's pretty indescribable until you get there. But people will tell you that it's one of their best experiences of their lives.
Motion Notion takes places from Thursday, August 24th until Monday, August 28th at Golden British Columbia. Tickets are still available - click here for more information.