There's a party and then there's a P-A-R-T-Y.
If you don't know the difference you've never been to a hedonistic multi-day festival that pays homage to your deeply buried pagan roots by celebrating the raw nature of art, music and physical movement. I use the word pagan loosely, mostly because it represents non-conformity to the status quo while honouring the supposition that pleasure shouldn't pair with shame.
At the Bass Coast Project in Squamish formal handshakes are traded for high fives and hugs, and it doesn't matter who you're hugging. That's the point - to let go a little, to make new friends, celebrate the B.C. wilds and get your bare feet fucking dirty on the dance floor.
"We were inspired by Burning Man, it was quite simple really," event co-founder, Liz Thomson, who along with Andrea Graham and Andrea Oakden, started the event in 2009. "We love camping, we love music, and we love our friends... At Burning Man the best vibes I found were in the Whistler camp so it inspired us to think of the possibilities of things we could create here, and make an event unique to our coast and culture, and bring that freedom back into our community."
Organize they did, these mistresses of mirth. The party doubled in size after the first year, and now heading into their third season the project is expected to draw around 1,500 people. To pull off such a large undertaking each manages a different component of the festival (as well as kids, husbands, freelance careers and other parties in Squamish and Whistler throughout the year). Thomson is in charge of stage design and art installation. Graham takes care of music and programming. Oakden oversees web design and marketing. Everything else they share among themselves and it's getting easier - now that the event has been fully established in the community, artists are approaching them with stage, music, signage and installation ideas.
"That's been a big re-learning curve, meeting all these people and incorporating their ideas into the festival so now it's not just the three of our ideas, it really is a festival for everyone," says Graham (AKA The Librarian, a well-known DJ).
Calling Bass Coast a labour of love is an understatement - without any kind of sponsorship to help weather the storm the project has at times been financially stressful for those involved. But a love for, and understanding of, the artistic world has helped them persevere - even when getting a "normal" job would have been a more economical solution.
"It seems easier to make money doing passive jobs that you're uninterested in, where you can just do a set of tasks and get paid accordingly," says Thomson, an artist, filmmaker and boundary-pushing digital designer originally from Victoria. "Well, not in the arts and especially not festivals. It is a passion-driven venture. We all have two or three other jobs, and when the pizza joint has 1$ pizza slices we all buy three to stock up."
Working together on projects for the 72 Hour Filmmaker Showdown and B-Grade Horrorfest in Whistler inspired the three friends to pursue larger, more intricate projects like Bass Coast, but it was a pride in the Sea to Sky community that really gave them a boost. They bring in international musical talent from the United Kingdom and all over North America, but a significant portion of talent is chosen locally for various sonorous, dexterous, corporeal abilities.
"We're really proud of the headliners we have this year. We have some of the leading underground DJs coming in, but we're equally as proud of the B.C. and West Coast talent that we have," continues Graham.
Bass Coast is held over four days on a secluded part of the Squamish River in the Squamish Valley Campground. Partygoers typically arrive armed with camping gear and set up temporary homes in designated areas, many of which embody expressive whimsy, decorated as they are with stars and feathers, lanterns and painted canvases.
Out in the party zone the visual feast continues. Food vendors serve organic snacks wearing Mad Max inspired cuffs and body paint. Hand carved wooden signs remind folks to clean up after themselves and use protection (and they're not talking about sun screen). Walking and biking revellers fly by in various states of dress. Outdoor dance floors explode with hard stomping carousers of all ages. And when it gets hot, a giant hose sprays cool river water over a section of the beach for anyone who needs a cool down.
"Above all we want to keep the quality of our festival," says Thomson.
"Everyone who attends Bass Coast is so far a professional partier and with that comes a respect for the land, the music, the vibes and each other. As we grow in capacity, budget and the ridiculous our highest goal is to never sacrifice these standards.
"Our second goal and vision is to expand the mind-expanding, this being through more fantastic music, more DJs from all corners of the planet, more experimental artistic experiences, more radical art and, of course, to find the most extreme ways of being ridiculous and pushing that past your imagination."
The musical talent drawn to Bass Coast is selected from a deep pool of electronica artists from various schools of drum n' bass, hip hop, reggae, house, funk and bass with a dash of live instrumentals thrown in for good measure. And while the artists are there to please the crowd, the love is a two way street.
"There are many things I love about Bass Coast - the vibe of the organizers, which spreads to the people there," says Juno winning DJ and producer Adham Shaik, who filmed part of his music video at a previous Bass Coast Project and will play again at this year's event.
"The amazing location - a sweet beach, water, mountains and fresh air.
"The music and sound are great and it's been a great opportunity to discover new music and people. There's always a really receptive crowd loving the same music I do."
Old favourites of Bass Coast include the (!) mud wrestling pit and the always-evolving fashion show. This year organizers have given grants to five local artists to create installations for the event grounds. A new radio stage will broadcast the event's various workshops, including laughing yoga and capoeira, and one of the main stages has been redesigned to better incorporate the video art of resident VJs.
"Our goal is to always have something different on each stage so that people always have an alternative to hear and always have fresh vibes and sounds," says Graham. "Also through the night each stage will never have the same style so every artist's style will be switching it up and progressing and reflecting the time of day and night. Chill, beautiful beach music and party music."
As opposed to closed sets in bars and nightclubs, which cater to a specific crowd on a specific night, festivals like Bass Coast offer musicians a certain creative freedom.
"Festivals in general offer an artist the chance to play exactly what they want to play," says Whistler DJ Mat the Alien.
"People tend to be open minded and want to hear new sounds. With so much music in a weekend you have to dig a bit deeper into your music.
"If you just play the most popular track they get played out very fast so you get to really dig and try to some something unique. Bass Coast seems to have got a big buzz in the DJ music community near and far, and people want to come and see what it's all about.
Says Mat the Alien: "I've had people asking me about all over when I've travelled around DJing."
Tickets for Bass Coast Project are $160 + HST or $170 at the gate. Go to www.basscoastproject.com
