While summer may be long over, this isn’t true of live music events in Victoria. On November 18, fans of alt rock will be able to head down to the Alix Goolden Performance Hall for Bandemonium, an event with some serious Camosun College connections. The one-night-only concert features an assortment of local rock bands, including Silvertone, Baba Chaka, Polynice, and Ecstasy and the Agonies.
Second-year Camosun Music Performance student Sophia Kieferle is the event’s executive producer; she says there will be a wide range of acts at Bandemonium.
“It’s basically alternative rock,” says Kieferle. “But that’s kind of a really broad term. We have one group who’s describing themselves as ‘blues grunge.’ We have another one that’s kind of psychedelic dream pop. We have one that’s really traditional alt rock and another that’s kind of a jazz infusion.”
Kieferle says Bandemonium is “definitely for the younger crowd,” with college-aged students being the intended audience. The event is taking place at the Victoria Conservatory of Music (VCM), where Camosun’s music programs are held, but the connection doesn’t end there.
“One band, Baba Chaka, is entirely Camosun students,” says Kieferle. “So, they’ve all met through the post-secondary Music Performance certificate and diploma.”
There are also 11 current Camosun students and two more alumnus on the production side of the event. The tickets are $22.61 after fees, but Kieferle says that anyone under 19 can get tickets for just under $16, provided they buy the ticket in person from the box office at VCM and show photo ID.
Kieferle is planning on more live music events in the spring and next fall, possibly at different venues, and is interested in getting Camosun-related music groups to play at them.
“So if there’s any Camosun bands currently established who want to reach out to me and put their names on for the possibility of performing in front of a live audience and getting an EPK [electronic press kit] out of it, I would love to hear from them,” she says. “And I’m really hoping to keep this a regular thing, specifically for students and newly established bands.” (Kieferle can be reached via @sophiequinox on Instagram or found on Facebook as Sophie Sommer, as a member of the Victoria Musicians group.)
Kieferle wants people to support the event so she can continue to have it in the future.
“I’m really hoping to keep this a regular thing,” she says, “specifically for students and for newly established bands.”
Bandemonium
7 pm Saturday, November 18
$22.61, Alix Goolden Performance Hall
vcm.bc.ca