Riverside Festival Review

By Dominic Wren

Riverside festival has always been a special one ever since its creating in 2013, but this year… Oh man. They took it above and beyond. For a festival to be held on very limited space, DNA Presents find ways to make it one of the most exciting events of the festival season. I’m not just talking about the impeccable view onto the Canadian parliament or the beautiful architecture of the neighboring Canadian museum of history buildings, or the biggest lineup we’ve seen to date. I’m talking the maximum use of such a limited space without feeling like you’re squished into the festival. Not once would you feel suffocated by people, which sometimes happen at the major festivals. This aspect is often forgotten for why we had such a great time at an event. The organizer’s care for the attendees experience and comfortability is something to take note of.

Now to the music. Riverside Festival saw it’s biggest lineup since its birth. Some of the biggest acts in the world came to Gatineau last weekend, such as Matroda, Lost Kings, Borgore, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Steve Aoki, and so many more.

Starting Day 1 of 3 with a solid night of house music was the perfect warm up. With some local acts, such as Ross X Class, Mac, and others showing their talent, Matroda took the stage for dangerously hard set of hard house music. Matroda on his Red Tape Tour came and made a visit and slammed his set. Mixing some of the biggest tracks of the summer and switching to some crazy drops while keeping a house vibe. It’s also cool to note that he didn’t touch the mic once because he was so into his insane mixing.

Day 2 saw a new kind of energy. Starting the day on a more big room house lineup, the festival saw names like Maurice West, 13, Jay Hardway, and the Lost Kings performing some incredible sets and dropping crazy throwbacks, fresh music, and some unreleased tracks. To end the night, Borgore with the sunset time slot played a mixture of intense bass music with some of his classic Borgore originals. Have you heard Unicorn Zombie Apocalypse? If you have, imagine that at one of his shows. Yeah, it went crazy. To headline the night was none other than Montreal’s very own Black Tiger Sex Machine. Three guys with black tiger helmets that light up on a stage overlooking 6000 people and Canada’s Parliament was something unique. Not only did they kill their set with HEAVY bass anthems and a BTSM personal touch, the crowd’s energy was as entertaining as the show itself.

Riot Ten

The last day of the festival didn’t take a minute to chill. Two of Montreal’s most loved local DJs, Khaos and Domeno, warmed the day up in style. Next to take the stage was Riot Ten who mixed in and out of some of the hardest bass tracks of the night. He almost literally destroyed the crowd but they kept up with him. Tritonal followed to with an emotional and powerful set for Gatineau to enjoy. Zomboy joined to the Riverside party at 7:25 pm for his second time since 2017. He honestly took the definition of the word “intense” to the next level. Dropping tracks that would make your head bang even if you’re not a headbanger, this UK born bass DJ/producer made Riverside look like one of his own. He gave the crowd no breaks with back-to-back drops of pure fire and notably starting a “Wall of the Death” while playing Eptic and Trampa’s remix of Get With The Program. It went absolutely nuts.

Closing the festival was the one and only Steve Aoki. Easily the biggest name Riverside Festival has ever had, Aoki shut the festival down in style. He is no doubt the incredible showman he’s so well known to be. Ranging his set from hard trap to psy-trance to his biggest tracks with a perfect touch of emotional songs, he had something to everyone. Though what made his set special is his way of including the crowd as the show. Bringing cakes to throw (it still fascinates me to see someone throw a cake so well), pouring champagne onto the crowd, and giving giant letters spelling “Gatineau” for photos, Steve Aoki’s art of making a great show is nothing to be underrated.

This year’s Riverside Festival went to another level. Every year the teams at EDM Canada is impressed by this event’s outcome and we look forward to many more years to come.

Up and comer Maurice West talks of new projects (Maurice West Interview)

By Dominic Wren

Last weekend’s Riverside Festival in Gatineau, Quebec brought in an incredibly talented DJ known as Maurice West. I had a chance to sit down with the DJ/producer to welcome him to the nation’s capital’s neighbor, Gatineau, and talk about his upcoming projects.

West expressed his appreciation of Riverside Festival, mentioned that it had a unique concept being located on the grounds of the Canadian Museum of History and overlooking the parliament, which “kinda looks like Hogwarts.” He also said that this festival is the perfect way to finish the summer, as it’s comparable to a day at the park with some music.

 West had an incredible last couple of years. Playing the biggest festivals in the world, such as Ultra, Creamfields, Tomorrowland, Afterhills, and many more. He noted that the only difference between those massive festivals and smaller events such as Riverside is the number of people attending, but the overall energy and the vibes are just as amazing. He added that he just loves to DJ and festival sizes don’t make much of a difference to him.

Maurice talked to us a bit about his “re-branded” stage and he’s very excited about it. Without spilling too many beans, he explained that he found a special thing that will be unique to him and that his fans will recognize when it’s a Maurice West track. Not only that, he has a whole new show that he’s building and mentions that “it’s gonna be next level.” He has so many ideas, but now the puzzle is all coming together and he’s incredibly excited to showcase it in the upcoming Amsterdam Dance Event. It will have brand new visuals, new music, and new styles.

He wrapped up his first headlining tour in China last July. Explaining that playing a shows and traveling for nine straight days was very exhausting but he could easily push through as he got to do what he loved the most every night.

West has lots of music that he’s recently finished, but he’s trying to find the right date to release them. He expressed that he’s incredibly excited to release his next generation of music, as he mentions: “you’ll will be able to understand what I’m trying to get across.”  

He has multiple shows already booked in western Canada in October such as Boodang’s Scream event in Edmonton and headlining at Celebrities Nightclub in Vancouver. If you live close to the area, make sure you grab yourself a pair of tickets and catch one of his show! It’s one you can’t afford to miss!

Where you’ll find the real beauty of raving (The Flag Gang Interview)

All photos by Cédric Berger

By Dominic Wren

The Flag Gang is an Internet sensation. Today their instagram page has reached over 27,000 followers. This is an EDM specific page that aims to unite people from all over the world together. I was lucky enough to sit down with Mathijs van Dam and Renata Stuckert Vasconcellos, the creators on The Flag Gang. Their instagram page has become one of the most recognizable names in the rave community. From the idea of bringing people together with an online page to Laidback Luke wearing their logo, it’s been an exciting journey through electronic dance music for this wonderful couple.

We finally sit down after having to pull Mathijs and Renata out of the heavy bass music from Riverside Festival and people asking them for selfies. Mathijs started by saying that he was very impressed with the festival we were attending. Originally from the Netherlands and Renata coming north from the hot country of Brazil, the couple explained why they fell in love with raves and the rave community. “You go out to meet people, but it’s very difficult to meet people. So I brought a Brazilian flag and lots of people were approaching me. So he got the idea and he started this” said Renata with a unbreakable smile. Mathijs then added that flags made an easy door to conversation so from there on in, he started bring a bunch a different flags for people to wear while they were people’s shoulders so he could take photos of them in their most beautiful moments. And that was the start of an instagram mega page.

For people who have been to so many different concerts and raves, I asked them what was their best show that they’ve ever been to. Mathijs responded: “Virtual Self at New City Gas a couple of weeks ago was an experience for me. It was so different. It made me feel so nostalgic of the music I used to listen to back in the day. He’s just so different everything that we hear today.” His Brazilian better half had a bit of a different opinion. She mentioned that Virtual Self wasn’t her cup of tea but added that Oliver Heldens’ three hour set at Ile Soniq a couple of years ago was sensational for her.

The Dutch media entrepreneur went on to tell of the meaning behind The Flag Gang. If you check their instagram page, you’ll notice that their posts are crowd specific. It’s not about the DJ’s; it’s about the people. They’re promoting good vibes over who’s playing. “But we also want to have good music” affirmed Mathijs. Uniting people and creating one big family is the main goal behind the page. “We have a slogan for a while now which is ‘Break borders and party together’” said the EDM craving couple.

Today the page has caught the attention of thousands of people including some big time DJs. This summer at Ile Soniq festival in Montreal, Laidback Luke was wearing a The Flag Gang t-shirt at his set on the main stage. This story started a couple of years ago. The couple won a meet 'n greet with Laidback Luke at New City Gas. As they finally meet him and explained their concept of The Flag Gang to him and he thought it was a great idea. Weeks go by and one of Mathijs’ friend went to a DJ conference where Laidback Luke was also attending it. Mathijs jumped on the opportunity to give his friend a TFG shirt to pass on to the famous DJ. When Laidback Luke came back to New City Gas in January of 2018, Mathijs tweeted at him asking to wear his TFG shirt during his set. He tweeted back responding: “I forgot it at home” so nothing came of it, but his Ile Soniq set, he came to stage and played his whole set wearing the The Flag Gang shirt. “It was such a beautiful gesture and that I am very thankful,” said Mathijs.

If anyone is wanting to see the beauty behind the raving community, their instagram page is where you’ll find it. These two amazing souls have not only found themselves, but a whole other incredible family.

The grind of up and coming NoWayOut

By Dominic Wren

Maxim David is a Gatineau born up and coming DJ/Producer that played his first festival ever this past weekend at Riverside Music Festival. His musical peers and fans know him as NoWayOut. I sat down with him right after his set and he was still shaking from the adrenalin that was surging though his body. He had some very positive notes to say about the festival: “The festival itself is really nice. The line-up is sick. It’s stacked for both days. The organizers managed to get all the genres that the whole crowd likes like Bass and house music for example.”

He is more of a club DJ so the young DJ expressed that this was a major step up in energy. He mentioned that he was really nervous before going up on stage but once the spotlight was on him, but he managed to do what he loves the most. NoWayOut briefly explained that his set didn’t start off as smoothly as he was expecting. Before getting on the big stage looking towards the Canadian parliament, he realized that he forgot his headphones but luckily one of the NoWayOut team members helped him out by driving to his place only to come and give Max the headphones mid way through his set. “It made the first half of my set just that much harder than it had to be” said the young artist.

As an artist that is trying to make it in this unforgiving industry, you got to practice a lot. I mean A LOT. Maxim practices 6 to 8 hours a day trying new tricks and transitions methods. “That is only the DJing, claims the new talent, then there’s all the marketing, branding, producing, etc.” Today he focuses more of his energy into producing and learning the software. “That’s the next step for me” announced NoWayOut

His mom plays a massive role in his team and is his #1 fan even saying “she’s not a big dubstep fan but she’s always there supporting me.” What a trooper. I further asked him what keeps him motivated to keep up this grind. He responded by warning me that this would be a cheesy answer, but when you see a kid on the hockey rink and claiming that he’ll be the next Sydney Crosby or the next Stanley cup winner, he was and still is today that kid. He’s the kid on the hockey rink that’s really pursuing his dream. He also added: “To be on stage with a crowd is the best feeling in the world.”

Expect to see more of his name in the upcoming years. This DJ is setting his path for a successful career.

High-fiving Riverside (Festival review)

By Dominic Wren

This might just be the best Riverside Festival Gatineau or Canada has ever witnessed. With an insane lineup, pumping artists such as Kayzo, Deorro, Snails, Slushii and Loud Luxury, this year’s festival went up a level. All 16 artists nailed their sets over the weekend but the EDM Canada team has picked out five of the top acts that most impressed the crowd and us the most.

Breathe Carolina

All photos by Dominic Wren

This year’s set from the American duo was like none other I’ve seen from them before. They started with some of their classic big room house vibe such as “Always Find You” by Raiden X YURI (Sunstars Remix). About mid through their set, they noticed that the crowd was somewhat into it so they did what any world-class DJ would do - they adjusted. Breathe Carolina changed their set to a more hip hop/dubstep, playing tracks such as “Plain Jane” by A$AP Ferg and “Let’s Get Crunk” by Gammer.

Slushii

If want to see a crowd roar endlessly, go see a Slushii concert. From perfect transitions to emotional moments, to hard trap, hip hop, and dubstep. For a crowd that’s hard to please, they went HARD. Slushii also put a lot of effort into his visuals for the crowd. Not only did he wear colourful clothing but also the LED screens took on a trippy adventure though various colours and shapes.

Snails

This set can only be described in one word: RAGE. If you like to go hard then Snails is the artist you want to see live. There is a very legitimate reason why he’s created his own genre called “Vomitstep”. He opened the last set of the night with his track “Shake The Ground” featuring Kill The Noise, Sullivan King and Jonah Kay. Unlike the other artists, Snails had no throwbacks in his set. He gave the crowd no rest and kept his game strictly to “Vomitstep”.

NoWayOut

Everyone should keep an eye out for this up and coming DJ/Producer. Even though his set was early in the evening, it felt like he was closing the whole festival. The energy coming off of his movements behind the decks and his music attracted the attention of the growing crowd. From smart transitions to the choices of songs, this young DJ nailed his set in one of the best festival venues in Canada. He is definitely the smallest DJ in this list but definitely showed some world-class talent.

Deorro

Probably the best set of the whole festival, Deorro definitely left a mark at the Riverside Music Festival. The basshead crowd received his electro house set very well, which was a bit of a surprise. Before the second half of his set where it became very technical, he dropped tracks like his hit single with Steve Aoki, Diplo, and Steve Bays “Freak”. Deorro vibed with the crowd while playing his track “Bailar”, then kicking the energy up again with “Knockout” featuring Deorro, Makj and Quintino. The second half his set was the most interesting. Do you all remember when the 2012 pop group LMFAO dropped “Party Rock Anthem”? Yep. Deorro snuck in that lost artifact into his set. He followed up that great moment with a drop-less couple of minutes while transitioning between hip-hop to old rock classics. Deorro produced a unique set that was enjoyed by many fans.