Chelsea Sawatsky aka Maddi Corvette is excited to showcase some of the bands on her record label Shake! Records at the Electric Eye Music Festival, May 14 at Attainable Records.
“ I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to come, but James (Phelan) talked me into it,” said Sawatsky, who fronts Durban Poison under the name Maddy Corvette.
“ So I talked to the other band members and we were able to make our schedules work which is difficult when I’m in Victoria and they’re in Vancouver,” she said.
While she has been busy running her record label, she decided to book a B.C. and Alberta tour around Durban Poison’s Electric Eye showcase.
So they are making the most of the Electric Eye Festival by booking a six date tour of B.C. and Alberta around their Saturday show.
“ It was difficult to synchronize everyone’s schedules, but we were able to do it,” she said.
“We missed Lethbridge last year, so it has been a couple years since we were there,” she said.
“We’re starting in Vancouver and going to Nelson then to the Tubby Dog in Calgary then up to Edmonton and back,” she said.
“ It’s a little Alberta tour.”
It is a challenge being in a band with half of the members a ferry ride away.
“ It’s not as easy to jam. It’s like a day long trip to jam,” she said.
She said Shake Records is constantly improving so she is excited to showcase some of their bands at Electric Eye.
“ It’s been a lot of work, but it keeps getting better. I get to work with some cool bands and expose people to them. For the showcase, Terra released a cassette last year and The Ruby Plumes are releasing one for Electric Eye,” she said.
This year her band Durban Poison released a new record and tape as well called “Lemons.”
“ We almost sold out of it right away, but I found a stash of them to bring with us, so there may be a couple left,” she said.
“ We already had a lot of the songs from another EP,” she said.
Shake primarily focuses on releasing cassettes.
“I always liked the sound of tapes. I’ve been working hard trying to improve the sound of them and I’m only getting better at it,” she said.
She draws a lot of influence from punk music.
“ I grew up listening to a lot of ’90s punk and of course the Ramones when I was growing up. So they are definitely a huge influence,” she said.
In addition to the energy of punk, Durban Poison also embraces the short songs as most of the songs on the new record are two minutes long or shorter. One of the longer songs is a cover of the Runaways’ “Wasted.”
“I was always a big fan of Joan Jett and the Runaways,” she said.
“ I’m looking forward to playing the Electric Eye and seeing friends and meeting all of the cool people there,” she said.
“ We’ll be playing a 20 minute set. We don’t want people to get tired of us. We’ll feel out the crowd, so maybe longer. We’ll see,” she said.
Durban Poison plays Attainable Records May 14 at midnight, followed by Blü Shorts and the Power Buddies. There is a five dollar cover without a festival pass. Terra plays at 6 p.m. followed by the Ruby Plumes. There is a five dollar cover for that as well without a pass.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
