TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival :: Whistler, BC :: April 17

Whistler, in the spring, means live music for ten sound-struck days. Other spring blow-out events might have blended winter sports with music, but noone else let’s you rock out, every day, for 10 days and 10 nights, on this scale, for free. The Zune Concert Series is why the TELUS Festival is the Mother of All Winter Wrap Parties.

Main Stage located in Skier's Plaza, free concerts 2:30pm - 5:30pm.

The 2009 Line-up has started...

Friday, April 17
Thornley
Redeye Empire

Saturday, April 18
Animal Nation
Team Canada
Run GMC

Sunday, April 19
Ozomatli
Mama's Cookin'

Monday, April 20
A Whole Lotta Led
Black Dog

Tuesday, April 21
Arkells
USS

Wednesday, April 22
Ten Second Epic
Yuca

Thursday, April 23
The Stills
Ghost Brothers

Friday, April 24
Metric
Bend Sinister

Saturday, April 25
Ruffian Royale
Zune Contest Winner

Sunday, April 26
54•40
Jon and Roy

Evening Shows - Starting @ 8pm

Saturday, April 18 - Big Air
Lotus

Saturday, April 25 - Big Air
Z-trip
Mat the Alien
Vinyl Ritchie
Shad
Jon H from Fort Knox Five

Thornley, Friday, April 17
Thornley is a Canadian post-grunge alternative rock band, whose new album, Tiny Pictures (February 2009) reveals a vintage rock sound embellished with subtle hooks, likely to scoop up fans of Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Rush and Nickelback.

Redeye Empire, Friday, April 17
Redeye Empire Influenced by Jack Johnson, Sublime and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the pride of BC’s rock-reggae scene brings their forward-thinking, modern-day-movin’, ska style to town.

Animal Nation, Saturday, April 18, 4:30pm
A generous slather of irony and layers of sound scooped from jazz standards, hip-hop and pop-iconography fed Animal Nation’s insomnia-fuelled debut, Selfless Mind Indulgence. Tasty.

Team Canada, Saturday, April 18, 3:30pm
Team Canada’s two halves, D.R.one and DJ Grandtheft, combined to become one of Canada’s top club remixers and party DJs, with their unique mix of music and four turntable party set.

Run GMC, Saturday, April 18, 12pm
RUN GMC Any band described as “jumping off a moving pick-up truck with your pants down around your ankles” has got to be worth getting off your haystack and
dustin’ down your lumberjack to go and see. Hailing from Vancouver, this Stetson wearing, banjo playing, seven piece country rock and blue grass band will get your boots stomping.

Lotus, Saturday, April 18
This five-piece band creatively fuses electronic dance music with instrumental post-rock. Their newest album Hammerstrike nods to influences Underworld, the Orb, Talking Heads and Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters. With their massive light rig and high-charging energy, Lotus provides the requisite soundscape and lightshow for a blissed-out all-night party.

Ozomatli, Sunday, April 19
Hailing from Los Angeles, this 8 piece multiple-Grammy award-winning band blend Latin, hiphop, funk and reggae sounds in an attempt to capture the essence of the streets of the City of Angels, and have toured with the likes of Santana, Dave Matthews Band, and Lenny Kravtiz.

Mama’s Cookin’, Sunday, April 19
Hip-hop beats and dirty Delta blues anchor the sound of Mama’s Cookin’. The band put smooth grooves and a conscientious edge to the task of making music that moves the spirit and the feet.

A Whole Lotta Led, Monday, April 20
It’s the Zeppelin lift-off, when BC’s premiere Led Zeppelin tribute band, Whistler’s own A Whole Lotta Led, take the main stage, and master the time warp with their uncanny channeling of Robert Plant and crew at their early 70s peak.

Black Dog, Monday, April 20
This Zeppelin tribute band, features guitar-prodigy ‘the Rock ‘n Roll Kid’ Danny Sveinson, who first played on stage at TWSSF as a pre-teen and is acknowledge within the industry as a true talent.

Arkells, Tuesday, April 21
Old school southern rock meets an ass shaking indie rock rhythm section” is how one reviewer described the Black and Blue-Eyed Soul sound of Canada’s Arkells. Fresh from their release of Jackson Square, they’re taking it across Canada this spring.

USS - Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, Tuesday, April 21
Fronted by master craftsman Ash Boo-Schultz and backed up by turntablist and hype man extraordinaire Human Kebab, this Toronto based duo demonstrate a remarkable proficiency for erupting dancefloors and eliciting widespread audience singalongs.

Ten Second Epic, Wednesday, April 22
Voted “best band in Edmonton” after their first indie record, One More for the Road (2004), Ten Second Epic worked with Canadian producer Garth Richardson on their second album, Count Yourself In (2006), and saw the album’s eponymous single nominated for Rock Song of the Year at the Canadian Radio Music Awards, as well as for a MuchMusic Video Award. They broke open the new year with their third album, Hometown (2009), which debuted at #16 on the Canadian Album Chart.

Yuca, Wednesday, April 22
The 2008 winner of the Pontiac Battle of the Bands, Yuca takes the main stage with tracks from their about-to-be-released album, including the number 1 single, “It’s About Something.”

The Stills, Thursday, April 23
Fresh from their Juno success, winning both Best Alternative Album for Oceans Will Rise and Best New Group of the year, the Montreal-based band having toured with the Kings of Leon will embark on a cross-Canada roadtrip starting at the Zune Concert Series.

Ghost Brothers, Thursday, April 23
Vasudeva “V” and Govinda “G” Clayton’s various turns living in Hawaii, Detroit, West Virginia, India, and now Vancouver contributed to their refreshing style, combining pop, reggae, urban, world and surf rock.

Metric, Friday, April 24
Does Emily Haines need any introduction? Emily and her indie-rock/New Wave bandmates (two-time Juno nominees for Best Alternative Album, and Polaris Music Prize nominee for Canadian Album of the Year) are set to take the swag haul with their newest album, Fantasies, their most cohesive and heart-felt work to date. The result of an 18 month incubation period and a song-writing retreat deep in the Pacific North-west woods, Fantasies is what happens when rock’n’roll meets the Buddha, a fine balance between artistic purity and decadent spectacle.

Bend Sinister, Friday, April 24
Vancouver’s Bend Sinister reckon they played every dive bar and venue in their home town of Kelowna and wore every label from math to prog to pop, on their way to releasing their new rock album Stories of Brothers Tales of Lovers, to great critical acclaim.

Ruffian Royale, Saturday, April 25
Bryce St. Arnaud & Kris Casavant gathered together an eclectic mix of musicians and artists anchored by the common goal of collaboration and musical kinship to produce their first EP, Juniper Flowers, drawing influence from early rock, roots, reggae and indie flair.

DJ Z-Trip, Saturday, April 25, Big Air, 8pm
DJ Z-Trip will headline the main stage on Saturday night for the Festival’s finale... He’s opened for the Rolling Stones, played Bonaroo’s main stage, headlined Coachella and headlined Australia’s Good Vibrations Festival and the Big Day Out. His major label debut, Shifting Gears, (which followed early indie releases that have become sought after collectibles), was 4-starred in Rolling Stone. In 2008, he played for the troops in Kuwait and then threw fundraisers for the Obama campaign with former Brave Art exhibitor Shepard Fairey.

Mat the Alien, Saturday, April 25, Big Air, 8pm
Technically, he’s not an alien, but his seamless cuts, effortless scratching and distinctive selection are otherworldly, a style that has taken him from the family record store in Bury, England, to Whistler’s candle-burning scene, to a weekly fly-in gig in Vegas. He’s toured the globe with crates like wormholes, sending crowds warping through other dimensions with his mind control sound.

Vinyl Richie, Saturday, April 25, Big Air, 8pm
Fads come and go, but Vinyl Ritchie weathers them all, ranking among the longest-standing and best-respected DJs in Vancouver's clubbing history. Way before the hipsters invented the mash-up, Ritchie was playing all over the map, tracing contemporary styles like house and hip-hop back to their roots in '70s-era soul and funk.

Shad (Shadrach Kabango) is quickly becoming one of Canada’s most respected young artists. His sophomore record, The Old Prince, was received with top reviews across the board, snagged a Juno nomination for 2008 Best Rap Recording of the Year, and was placed among fine company on the coveted 2008 Polaris Music Prize short-list. After completing 3 national tours in 2008, Shad will pack his bags and tour almost 50 cities in the US on the 2009 VANS Warped Tour.

Jon H from For Knox Five, Saturday, April 25, Big Air, 8pm
Jon H is a member of the Fort Knox Five who are known for their leading force in the international funk and breaks scene. Having released an arsenal of floor rocking singles and remixes, the FORT KNOX FIVE has the midas touch for producing heavy hitting records. JonH brings his touch to this years TWSSF.

54-40, Sunday, April 26
54-40, a Canadian alt-rock group, might have been at their most culturally ubiquitous when Hootie and the Blowfish covered their song “I Go Blind” for the TV show Friends. The royalties from the cover enabled the Tsawassen, BC band, who are most frequently compared to REM, to build their own studio in Vancouver, where they went on to record their 19th album, and 12th studio recording, the 2008 politically-charged release Northern Soul.