The Bokononists – Emerging Artist Spotlight NXNE 2013 Edition

June 17 2013  – North By Northeast (NXNE) is here and we are excited! NXNE may not be as well known as SXSW in Austin Texas but for us rock lovers in Toronto this festival satiates our musical hunger. We love discovering bands and take the opportunity of NXNE to find out more about some of them.

In 2012, T-Mak World initiated extensive coverage of NXNE and we saw a total of 51 bands/artists and interviewed the following 15 bands as part of our Emerging Artist Spotlight series:

Our wrap up article from 2012 is here and we are excited to be back in 2013 and to interview more bands to our Emerging Artist Spotlight Series. Today we focus on a band from Winnipeg, Canada  and their NXNE profile reads:

• Hey The Bokononists, thanks for taking the time out to talk to us. Let’s start off with the obligatory introductions. Who’s in the band and what instrument does everyone rock?

Bokononists: René Campbell – Guitar, lead vocals.  Bobby Desjarlais – guitar. Johnny Calderon – Bass. Jed Desilets – Drums.

• How about the history of the band, when did you get started and how did it happen?

Bokononists: 2009. Magic.

• Who are some of your musical influences?

Bokononists: it would be a long list. We all have many different influences.  Beans-the musical fruit for one.

• Congratulations on being selected to play at North By Northeast, what does the opportunity mean to you? 

Bokononists: hoping to be seen by many people who don’t have a clue who we are and weasel our way into their brains

• When and where is your NXNE gig? And more importantly, why do you suggest a music fan come and see your show instead of all the other choices available to them at that time?

Bokononists: june 13 we play saint james gazebo at 6pm and at the Rivoli at 130am, Also june 14 at Lot AB at 3:45 pm( 1632 dundas st. W. )

• What’s it like being on stage? Do you get nervous or are you thriving on the adrenaline (or somewhere in between)?

Bokononists: Not nervous. Invincible usually.

• What does 2013 hold for you?

Bokononists: we’ve done some touring with labelmates like SC Mira and The Revival and we’ll be working on our next record as soon as touring settles down a bit. 

• Imagine that you were asked to be the opener for any band’s world tour (both current and historical). Which past band’s tour and which current tour would be your dream opening gigs?

Bokononists: historical – up in smoke tour. Current – The Revival

• How important is the performer/audience connection for you? Can you rock a show as hard for 10 people as if you could playing an 80,000 person festival?

Bokononists: There’s always more energy with a big crowd but we’ve been known to rock out just fine even if we’re playing to the bar staff and one of their girlfriends.

• Where can people get your music/CD, is it being sold anywhere? 

Bokononists: working on that.

• At the end of 2012 we published our picks for top 10 albums of 2012. Lists like those are always a reflection of personal tastes so if you were making the list what are some albums you would you have had on it? 

Bokononists: Tame impala – lonerism Ty segall -slaughterhouse

• Any closing remarks for our readers?

Bokononists: we’re happy to be here and can’t wait to make people shake Uncontrollably. In a non life threatening sort of way.

Thanks so much to The Bokononists. We hope that you can see them live. They are playing North by Northeast 2013!

JUNE 14. 2013 – 1653 DUNDAS ST WEST – TORONTO, ON (*NXNE SHOWCASE – 3:45PM)
JUNE 15. 2013 – MODEL CITIZEN IN-STORE – TORONTO, ON (*NXNE SHOWCASE – 7PM)
JUNE 16. 2013 – OF A KIND IN-STORE – TORONTO, ON (*NXNE SHOWCASE – 3:20PM)

The band’s website is here and as you would expect they are on  Twitter and Facebook. In the meantime check them out in Facebook.

Author: T-Mak