HarvestMoon delivers some of the hottest Christian bands on the cutting edge, showcasing both local talent and more established artists like Project 86, Emery, and Pigeon John. In its eighth year, the festival attracts a crowd from across Western Canada, and even as far away as Montana. It is organized by the 780 Music and Arts Society, which seeks to encourage Christian musicians and artists in Edmonton.
If there was one word to sum up the weekend of September 11 and 12, 2004, it was 'cool' - cool music, cool kids, and cool weather. The unseasonable chilly September air was no detriment to the moshing masses. Few people stayed in their seats, but rather gathered around the stage for an intimate encounter with their favourite acts, with each other, and with God.
Despite the threatening clouds and frosty temperatures, Saturday morning got off to an enthusiastic start. 'Warm' was definitely on people's minds, as many wore shorts, no jackets, and hairstyles in various styles of spikes, dreadlocks, and colours. The first acts on stage were Lethbridge's The Learning Process with special guest Illes. The Learning Process is a very young band, but has already taken part in other festival such as Portland's Porticofest, as well as opening for Switchfoot in Edmonton. Illes added a hip-hop sound to the alterna-hardcore of the band.
Next up was Freedom Peace Zion, a hot band on the Calgary indie scene. By now the crowd had gathered around the stage and were jumping and swaying to the sounds. Around noon, Emery, one of the festival headliner's took to the stage. Hailing from South Carolina, the band was intense and full of energy.
The sun began to shine early in the afternoon, warming things up quite a bit. Another local favorite, Lee Spoken (a.k.a. Darcy Bennett) kept the growing audience satisfied.
In the meantime, it was time to check out the SparkArts ten which showcases emerging Christian artists. The theme of the tent was "to want, to need," and explored different forms of poverty through paintings, sculpture, and other visual media. Some of the images were powerful and disturbing, and represented a cross-section of poverty issues.
Back to the music. Roper gave a crowd-pleasing performance - no small feat considering it was the band's first-ever gig. Featuring former Five Iron Frenzy's lead singer Reese Roper, the band's performance was one of the several firsts of this year's HarvestMoon.
Another first involved Project 86, a hardcore band with a wide fan base including the Christian and mainstream markets. Although the California-based band has recorded north of the border (their second album, Drawing Black Lines, was recorded in Vancouver), they never performed before in Canada. Despite being one of the festival's major draws, lead Singer Andrew Schwab remains humble about the band's success. "We've always never completely grasped any idea of us being a big band because we're so close to it. It's just what we do," he said.
The band's hard sound and sometimes dark lyrics has raised the eyebrows of some in the Christian audience. "Any time you try to take an approach of presenting ideas that perhaps your audience may not immediately grab a hold of, there's going to be some misunderstandings," Schwab said. "We've counted the cost on that and feel that a major goal for this band is not just to play music and write songs that people can bop their heads to, but hopefully from a lyrical or message standpoint, to present our beliefs - our take on music and our take on life, in a different light that maybe the kids that listen to our music get from every other band.
"There's always a healthy tension between us and the Christian scene, where it's like 'We love you guys but we don't play just for you. Our ideas aren't just for you'."
Other acts that rounded out Saturday included Toronto's Miranda Stone, art-rockers Screwtape Lewis, Kiros (who recently took part in the Vans Warped Tour), Lucerin Blue, and rappers Grits. The evening was rounded out by Elektra recording artists Blindside, a band originally from Sweden who has toured with P.O.D., Linkin Park, and Papa Roach.
