FestivalMusic

Deerhoof announced as guest curators for this year’s Sled Island

San Fran favourites Deerhoof will help guide the Sled this year.

Sled Island organizers announced on Tuesday that the veteran indie rock act will be the guest curators for this year’s festival, which runs June 20-24 at various locations around Calgary.

They’ll help pick some of the more than 250 acts that will appear over the course of the event, and executive director Maud Salvi couldn’t be more pleased.

“They are a band, that personally, I’ve always liked,” she says, noting that it’s also a pretty widely held opinion with fans and artists alike. “They’re really highly respected, especially in the music community.”

The band, which has released 14 albums over its 24-year career — including their latest release, 2017’s Mountain Moves — and its members have worked with everyone from Jeff Tweedy from Wilco and Questlove from The Roots to experimental jazz artist Matana Roberts.

“It’s just insane, the number of collaborations they’ve done and various projects they’ve been involved in,” Salvi says.

“But also what I love about them is the variety of artists that they’ve worked with and that was really a big thing for us to choose them as guest curators.”

Which, of course, bodes well for the acts that Deerhoof will help bring to town, with Salvi noting that she’s already seen a list of potential picks and it is as varied and interesting as you’d expect from the band and hope for from the festival.

Salvi also points to the fact that the band played Sled in 2010, so they certainly understand what the festival is about and were more than enthusiastic to get onboard.

“We just asked them and right away they were super-interested,” she says. “It’s been a dream working with them, quite frankly.”

Deerhoof join the impressive list of past Sled guest curators, including Peaches, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Andrew W.K., Kathleen Hanna and last year’s pick Flying Lotus.

As with most other curators, they will also perform a show during Sled — June 23 at the #1 Royal Canadian Legion.

Single tickets for that gig and other shows will go on sale in the spring.

Sled passes, though, are on sale now until Feb. 13 at 15 per cent savings from SledIsland.com, with the following options: Discovery Pass, which includes access to all events at Sled, subject to capacity, for $191; Discovery Plus Pass, which grants priority access to all of those events, albeit again subject to capacity, as well as access to the artist lounge and goodies including T-shirt, tote bag and poster, for $327; and the All-Ages Pass for $35, which allows anyone access to more than 50 all-ages events to those Sledders under the age of 18.

The first wave of Sled Island 2018 acts will be announced Feb. 13, and Salvi says it’s already shaping up well.

“We feel pretty strongly about this year,” she says.

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