If you missed out on Case of the Mondays' Halloween Party hosted in a Function Junction warehouse, fear not.
That blowout was just the start of something new.
"Dooda and I were planning on this garden party," says Joni Toews (better known as Joni T), one half of the Whistler duo. "It's a monthly party with fake plants, green lights, so it's like you're in a tropical garden. We're really beefing up the decorations ... It's like a tropical jungle festival, but then you can go sleep in your own bed."
While Halloween was a sort of test run for the monthly series, the official kick off to the garden parties will be on Nov. 28, just in time to celebrate the release of their latest EP, IV, on Westwood Records.
"It's got a more teched-out vibe," Toews says, comparing the four new tracks to their past music. "It's dark with more energy."
The plan is to release the new songs on Tuesday, Nov. 27, the day before the launch party, set to take place at the new venue The Hanger. "We're trying to play as far and wide as possible," he adds. "We're reaching out to all the booking agents now that we have the EP."
They might be planning for a winter tour, but Case of the Mondays are just coming off a busy summer. "It was amazing," Toews says. "We played six different festivals and we played in 13 different cities in B.C. and Alberta ... Edmonton was a highlight. It's so far from where we are—for two Whistler-based musicians—it was cool to get the response (we did)."
To that end, the monthly garden parties will serve as a way to bring something new to locals. Although tourists are welcome, the weekday shows in Function Junction will be primarily aimed at their fellow Whistlerites.
"We had such a good year playing outside of town," Toews says. "We wanted to show Whistler something (it's) never seen before. Good, quality house music, really good speakers and step it up to a new level."
For that, they're partnering up with XL Audio Visual and plan to bring in new guest DJs every month. "We'll change the layout every month. We'll have the ability to host acts from other cities or countries. If you have a whole month to promote, you can bring in big acts—Case of the Mondays "and friends"—or up-and-coming artists, really show Whistler this different scene rather than the radio music or what they're used to every week," Toews says.
As for the aesthetic aspect to the party, they've already been preparing for a month. "We've been doing a lot of Amazon shopping," Toews says. "We want to buy cool fake plants. The rental companies are actually pretty good. The cool thing about winter is no one wants to rent big plants for some reason."
For more information on how to hear the EP and get tickets for the Garden Party stayed tuned to facebook.com/pg/caseofthemondaysofficial.
