Vancouver's Victorious Block Party

VANCOUVER — The folks at Only Magazine are inviting Vancouverites to mark the unofficial end of summer with the Sept. 1 Victory Square Block Party.

Now in its fourth year, the Labour Day party that has previously played host to acts like Pink Mountaintops and The Unicorns is an annual celebration of Vancouver's local music scene. This year's fest includes Nardwuar The Human Serviette-fronted headliners The Evaporators and the critically lauded No Kids.

"It's just a combination of bands that have paid their dues — bands that have played in the city for a while and made a significant impact to the local music community — and also bands that have popped out of nowhere and are doing something really exciting things right now," says Cameron Reed, one of the Block Party organizers.

The festival is expanding its scope this year by incorporating local DJs and comics between sets.

"We just thought it would be good to have music during the day, and how better than to have our friends, who are actually good at it, playing records instead of us," says Reed of DJs My!Gay!Husband!, Ian Wyatt and Benjamin.

"The comedy thing is something that I wanted to do last year, but it didn't work out. But that alt.comedy scene has grown so much — they have their websites and weeklies — it feels like it's grown so much that it's just part of the same culture and community."

The idea of community is something that permeates all aspects of the Block Party. Prizes donated by local vendors and event planners will be raffled off throughout the day, with all proceeds going to the Street Corner Media Foundation, which publishes Megaphone Magazine, a publication that strives to give a voice to Vancouver's staggeringly large homeless population, and The Street Corner newspaper.

The Block Party receives its money through donations and local vendors who share the festival's fiercely independent mind set.

"One of the charming things about [the Block Party] that I don't know if people recognize is that it's not a major sponsor thing," says Reed. "It's not like 'Shark Energy Drink presents…' or something. Our wonderful sponsors, who are giving us anything they can, are local: indie music shops and video stores, VCC [Vancouver Community College], credit unions and things like that."

Those sponsors are the biggest reason that the Block Party is also 100 per cent free. But if you'd like to party past the 9 p.m. ending time and you're willing to shell out five bucks, there's also an after-party at The Bourbon this year that features Sorcerers and recent Metal Blade signees, Bison B.C.

"Bison were going to play the day, but because of scheduling they couldn't perform that early," says Reed. "But they still really wanted to be part of the whole thing, and we really wanted Bison to be a part of it too, because those guys are awesome."

The Victory Square Block Party will run from 2 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 1 in Vancouver's Victory Square (at the corner of Cambie and Pender). Here's who's playing:

The Evaporators
No Kids
Basketball
The Green Hour Band
Certain Breeds
The Mohawk Lodge
Ice Cream
Defektors

With comedy by:
Man Hussy
Bronx Cheer

DJs:
My!Gay!Husband!
Ian Wyatt
Benjamin