Summer Sensation Music Festival will be rocking the shores of Sylvan Lake this weekend with a number of prominent names to be gracing the stage.
One such band is Dragonette, an electronic pop band based out of Toronto who also has gained popularity from their time spent living and touring in London, England.
Dan Kurtz, bassist and producer with Dragonette, promises a good time for show-goers. “We play stuff that we really enjoy or songs that over time we’ve learned our fans really like. It’s important to make a set that has an arch and keeps people interested and keeps us interested. It varies a little bit as we try to build the best sets we can – I think we’re really close to a good one but we’ll see,” Kurtz said.
“The best guarantee for putting on a good show is making it fun for ourselves. Some of these songs we’ve played for so long, and in so many contexts – we have to re-energize them for ourselves and then they can energize us. That’s the best guarantee for making a show great for everybody.”
The Festival begins on July 10th with big names like Our Lady Peace, Matthew Good and Stars hitting the stage. Dragonette will join Hedley, Dear Rouge and more on July 11th. Tickets are limited, but still available online through www.summersensationfest.com, with weekend and day passes.
Kurtz said Dragonette has a wide variety of material to bring to the Festival including some newer songs such as Outlines (created with Mike Mago) and Peanut Butter Jelly (created with Galantis). As well, Dragonette recently released the track Let The Night Fall on Soundcloud, which Kurtz said will be making an appearance on the set list.
“Let the Night Fall is actually a song that I started writing four years ago. It’s one of my all-time favourite tunes by Dragonette. I think I made four or five different versions before we landed on this one and I could say this sounds how I wanted it to be. I love that song so much,” he laughed.
“I definitely want people to listen to that song. We’ve got another song we just finished called Mind and Body that we’ll probably play. We’ve got some great songs and they’re fun to play.
“Over the next few months a lot more music is going to be coming out. It’s going to be so exciting for us and I hope it’s as exciting for everybody else. It’s taken us awhile to make this album so I think it’s all worth it.”
Dragonette’s last album, Bodyparts came out in 2012. Following the release, the group spent many months touring before packing up their life in London and relocating back to Canada. Kurtz said the group needed a bit of time to recharge but is now fully back in the swing of music making.
“I imagine making music is kind of like being a drug addict in that the pull is really strong – it calls you. After a while, you don’t feel right unless you’re doing it. Martina wrote some really interesting songs and was coming up with cool ideas (while in London) and I did a bunch of shows with my other band The New Deal, and we just expanded our palettes a little bit. All of that kind of brought us back to our centre,” he said.
Dragonette hopes to release a new album this year and have been putting out music on their Soundcloud and other forms of Internet media for the time being. The group will rock the second day of the Festival and Kurtz encourages fans to keep a close eye out for their new material.
kmendonsa@reddeerexpress.com
