Love and Records continues to get bigger and better

CKXU is psyched for the sixth annual Love and Records Festival in Galt Gardens, Sept. 17. Five Alarm Funk return to Love and Records this year. Photo by Richard Amery

The much anticipated free family friendly annual event, put on by University of Lethbridge community radio station CKXU 88.3 f.m., continues to grow every year.

“It’s year six. Is that hard to believe? No. We’ve had some real painful growing pains. Some key people have left, but we still have a dedicated core of volunteers,” said CKXU station manager Aaron Trozzo.

One of the biggest losses was Nathan Kunkel who moved away to Fernie. He was previously responsible for booking bands, so that torch was passed on this year. “He was one of our core people,” he said, adding the event has expanded.  There will be record vendors coming from all over Western Canada and even Montana for the event as well as other vendors selling an assortment of items. There will be a beer gardens, more food trucks than ever before, disc golf, acrobats, a comedy tent, an outdoor art gallery and an expanded KidsZone.

“It will be a culinary experience — a festival of street food. Your biggest problem will be to decide where to eat,” he said.
“We even have a Ferris wheel this year,” he said.

But one of the biggest attractions of Love and Records is the live music.
“We really are running the gamut this year,” Trozzo said.

There is everything from popular dance and funk music to classical music.
Delhi 2 Dublin, Kytami and Five Alarm Funk (who played Love and records in 2013), Royal Canoe, Saskatchewan singer songwriter Megan Nash, Vancouver based accordion punk Geoff Berner plus sometimes tour mate Kris Demeanor, popular roots/ country trio Boots and the Hoots and a lot of local talent including Ryland Moranz, local alternative rock duo Sparkle Blood, local jazz rock combo the Groove Apostles and Thunder Chief, The Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp and the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra Musaeus group.

“We even have a theme song this year,” Trozzo enthused, adding one of the incentives during this year’s Fundrive was Sparkle Blood would write a personalized song for a $200 pledge.
“So Love and Records bid on it. And we just got it. It’s amazing. I can’t stop listening to it. It will be on all of our ads,” he said.

Trozzo is excited about this year‘s Love and Records lineup.
“Delhi 2 Dublin and Five Alarm Funk will provide your dance party. And Royal Canoe are a lot more experimental. But I love what they say. And Megan Nash of Pandacorn. We love her. She actually helped clean garbage off the highways for CKXU’s highway cleanup,” he enthused.

Aaron Trozzo and fans enjoying Love and records. Photo by Richard Amery
In addition to all of the fun on site, the entire event will be broadcast live on CKXU and simulcast on closer to a dozen community and campus radio stations nationwide.
They are also boosting the live broadcast aspect of the show by having some of CKXU’s most popular DJs to do live spots, interview bands and talk to people about their favourite records they purchased.

The event is funded through sponsorship and a $50,000 grant from the Community Radio Fund of Canada which will allow CKXU to not only release a live recording of last year’s festival but this year’s festival as well.

“Last year we didn’t have a recording engineer. We just hooked up a computer to multi track record and if it died it died, but it didn’t. This year we’ve hired our production co-ordinator Cory Fischer to record it. It will be the best one yet, hands down,” Trozzo enthused.

Local musician and recording artist Jon Martin was in charge of the 2014 live record, CKXU’s first live recording of Love and Records.

There will also be afterparties at a the Owl Acoustic Lounge featuring Calgary based grunge blues band Crooked Spies, Vancouver alternative rock band Winona Forever and local band the Bummer Club. There are also after parties at Plum and Attainable Records being put on by the venues.
Love and Records 2016 runs from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. in Galt Gardens, Sept. 17. Admission is free.