Sled Island

Sled Island is thrilled to announce the full lineup for the 8th annual festival edition featuring over 250 bands, films, artists and comedians spread across 30+ venues concentrated in the downtown core and surrounding areas of Calgary, Alberta from June 18-22, 2014. Check out the incredibly diverse lineup for Sled Island here.

Recent additions to the lineup include the electro-party sensation of Dan Deacon, American producer, AraabMuzik, Brooklyn-based experimental pioneer, Oneohtrix Point Never, incredibly fun Norwegian producer, Cashmere Cat, lush house sounds of Blondes, a special edition of Punk Rock Fancy hosted by DJ Bob Mould, Constantines front-man Bry Webb's solo endeavour and festival fave Ian Blurton's latest, Public Animal. 

Also announced are some of Calgary's finest, including the timeless power pop of The Mandates, hooky, guitar-laden popsmiths Lab Coast, the sheer ambition of 36?, the frighteningly catchy synthpunk of Teledrome and the audio-visual experience that is Holgans.

We've also added a variety of interesting acts from across Canada such as Crosss, woolworm, Jon McKiel, Open Relationship, Johnny de Courcy, Betrayers, Freak Heat Waves, Soupcans, xxx CLVR, Ghibli, Nervous Talk, Fountain and Maica Mia.

These artists join previously announced musical acts including Spiritualized, Neko Case, Rocket from The Crypt, St. Vincent, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Rhye, Killer Mike, The Julie Ruin, Mission of Burma, Touché Amoré, Earthless, Bob Mould, Chelsea Wolfe, Blitzen Trapper, The Fresh & Onlys, Power Trip, Jung People, Disappears, White Lung, Shannon and the Clams, Bass Drum of Death, U.S. Girls, Elliott Brood, Solids, PS I Love You, Royal Canoe, Jerusalem In My Heart, The Shrine, Each Other, The Blind Shake, Black Atlass, William Tyler, Renny Wilson, La Luz, Fiver, Anciients and Dead Ghosts.

In addition, guest curator and Riot Grrl co-founder Kathleen Hanna's personal picks include Screaming Females, Hunx and His Punx, Younger Lovers, Mindtroll, and Roman Polanski's Baby. Hanna will be performing with The Julie Ruin and the festival will also feature a screening of the documentary based on her life, The Punk Singer, with a special Q&A with Hanna.

This year's hot ticket comedy program features Kyle Kinane, Jon Daly, Hari Konabolu, Pat Thronton, Kathleen Phillips and Amanda Brooke Perrin. Stay tuned for more details to come in the following weeks.

Sled Island's film program is back for its 8th year and is built around all of your favourite things: record shops, synthesizers, punk singers and teenagers! Check out Sled Island 2014's film lineup here.

Stay tuned for the visual arts, special events and full schedule announcements coming in the next month.

Click here to view the Sled Island trailer.

Festival passes, offering access to every event at the festival subject to capacity, are now on sale for $199 (Discovery Pass) and $349 (Discovery Plus Pass) on our website. All-Ages Passes, giving those under the age of 18 access to the festival's all-ages programming, are also on sale for $50. 

A limited number of individual tickets for select shows are now available. Additional tickets for select shows go on sale May 6th on our website and Ticketfly. 

Sled Island film is back for its 8th year and we’ve built our program around all of your favourite things: record shops, synthesizers, punk singers and teenagers! We’ve included some of the best animated and comedic shorts we’ve seen in ages (keep an eye out for Ben and The Break), documentaries, premieres and an awesome Q+A with guest curator Kathleen Hanna on Friday night! When programming, we were careful to start our screenings between 6:30 - 7pm nightly, to give you guys time to line up for comedy and music! If you’re partied out by Sunday, join us at the Globe Cinema for an afternoon of music videos and a fantastic/ surreal/ eccentric film treat from the 1950s. For trailers and more details, visit the film page. 

Events are all-ages unless otherwise noted. Admission is included with the Festival Discovery and Discovery Plus passes. Individual tickets will be available at the door. 

Sled Island is proud to announce the 2014 edition of its fan favourite and hot ticket comedy program, which is sure to be a bigger favourite and hotter ticket than ever!

This year, we're welcoming the voice of Comedy Central, Kyle Kinane, the mastermind behind both the Kroll Show and the world's greatest ever Red Hot Chili Peppers-based hoax, Jon Daly, plus Hari Kondabolu, writer for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, who was hand-picked by Sled Island Guest Curator Kathleen Hanna. But that's not all! Also joining the line up we have the star of Rollertown and the annual "Pats 24 Hours" comedy marathon, Pat Thornton, Laugh Sabbath stalwart, Kathleen Phillips, and introducing hometown weirdo and Comedy Network contest winner, Amanda Brooke Perrin!

To top it off, thanks to our generous partner One Yellow Rabbit we have the pleasure to add the beautiful Big Secret Theatre to our comedy venues. The Big Secret Theatre will also host two presentations of Radioheaded 2: A Listening Party to Watch during the festival, a creation of Denise Clarke mixing dance, theatre and music, based on 2007 Radiohead album In Rainbows.

More comedy details including additional acts, ticketing info and schedule to follow over in the coming weeks!

Sled Island is excited to partner with Lukes Drug Mart to host our second annual pre-festival party on Sunday, June 8th from noon to 5pm. The event will feature a free concert and is open to all ages. It will be taking place outside of Lukes Drug Mart’s Bridgeland location at 112 4TH St. NE. 

Canadian hip-hop extraordinaire Shad will headline the party along with northwest pop-punk sensations, Tacocat as direct support. Vancouver’s Dead Soft and local Calgary band Night Committee will round out the bill.

This is our second annual event in partnership with Lukes Drug Mart, one year removed from the highly successful 2013 inaugural Sled Island pre-festival party which featured Rural Alberta Advantage and Ladyhawk as performers. As mentioned, once again it's free and all-ages. Join us for an awesome afternoon of total fun. RSVP for the Facebook event here.

Sled Island supports the creation of a Cycle Track Network based on the positive impact it would have on our festival-goer's experience and the boost to our city. Read what executive director, Maud Salvi has to say about it below. 

On April 28 Calgary City Council will vote on a plan for a separated Cycle Track Network in Calgary. This project will put more people on bicycles, reduce the amount of cars on our roads and benefit the health and safety of Calgarians. The vote at City Council is going to be very close. Tell your Council representatives that you support the Cycle Track Network by calling 403-268-2430. More information about the Cycle Track Network can be found here.

If you support the Cycle Track Network please consider ‘liking’ their Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're excited to announce our second wave of headliners playing this year's festival: Boston post-punk legends and long-time festival wishlist performers Mission of Burma, Portland-based freak-folk flag bearers Blitzen Trapper, The Fresh & Onlys' fuzz pop from San Francisco, punk'd-up thrash metal from Dallas Power Trip, indie shoegaze Krautrock and Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) collaborators Disappears, Vancouver punk rock DIY stalwart White Lung, doo-wop garage rock from Shannon & The Clams, Brooklyn-based experimental and ethereal pop artist Julianna Barwick, lo-fi, fuzzed out Mississippi garage rockers Bass Drum of Death, U.S. Girls' experimental 60s AM radio-inspired pop, Canadian alt-country heroes Elliott Brood, Berlin-via Montreal DJ Deadbeat, and Jerusalem In My Heart's return to Calgary post-2013 flood to finish their National Music Centre residency.

In addition, guest curator and Riot Grrl co-founder Kathleen Hanna's personal picks include Screaming Females, Hunx And His Punx, Younger Lovers, Mindtroll, and Roman Polanski's Baby. Hanna will be performing with The Julie Ruin and the festival will also feature a screening of the documentary based on her life, The Punk Singer, with a special Q&A with Hanna.

These artists join over 35 other artists, including previously announced headliners: Spiritualized, Neko Case, Rocket From The Crypt, St. Vincent, Touché Amoré, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Rhye, Killer Mike, Earthless, Bob Mould and Chelsea Wolfe. Festival goers can expect over 250 bands plus film, comedy, visual art, and special events in the 30+ venues from June 18-22, 2014. Stay tuned for comedy, film, and the full line-up announcements in the coming month.

Click here to view the Sled Island trailer

Festival passes, offering access to every event at the festival subject to capacity, are now on sale for $199 (Discovery Pass) and $349 (Discovery Plus Pass) on our website. All-Ages Passes, giving those under the age of 18 access to the festival's all-ages programming, are also on sale for $50.

A limited number of individual tickets for select shows go on sale April 11th via our website and Ticketfly. 

Are you interested in volunteering for Sled Island this year? The volunteer sign-up form is now live, get it here! and fill it out completely for maximum good times this summer.

If you're looking for pre-festival volunteering hours, we have an opportunity coming up. A casino fundraiser on Saturday, May 31st and Sunday June 1st. Please email volunteer@sledlsand.com directly or indicate on the form if you're interested in this opportunity.

Now is the time! Go ahead, sign up! After that, you can expect an email from Briana, our volunteer coordinator later this month regarding an orientation session (date TBA). You may also want to add volunteer@sledisland.com to your contacts or safe list to ensure future emails don't end up in your spam folder.

Thanks to everyone who offers thier time and effort by signing up to volunteer for Sled Island! Excitement is high this year, and we're looking forward to being able to work with all of you. Don't hesitate to contact volunteer@sledisland.com with any questions.