Noise 101: Beach Season kicks off national tour
‘Booty wave’ proves successful for local artist
Ali Hardstaff
Staff Writer
Beach Season, who got the inspiration for the name while on a trip to Thailand, is a local up and coming band that has been in the works for over two years. They will soon be starting a ten-day, seven-show tour and have their first EP, Internet Evenings, coming out in January.
Photo: Ali Hardstaff
Local up-and-coming artist, Beach Season, is moving steadfast into the public eye. Sam Avant is turning 21 years old on Oct. 20 and already the singer/songwriter kicked off a national tour at Dickens Pub on Oct. 10. Simon Blitzer, producer and collaborator, is joining him for the tour.
The tour consists of seven shows in 10 days — starting in Winnipeg and ending in Montreal, and it follows the release of Beach Seasons first solo EP, Internet Evenings, in January of this year.
Beach Season has been in the works for two years with some fun side releases and it has grown over time.
Avant describes his music, which he refers to as “booty wave”, as having ambient texture and tons of reverb.
“The combination of hip-hop beats, that’s where the booty comes in, it’s a mixture of all those elements. We’ve been into twerk music, jersey music, bass music and that is where it all stems from. The wave comes from the chill side of things.”
Between sharing knowing gazes, chuckles and finishing each other’s sentences, Avant and Blitzer talked to The Reflector before the show.
They told stories about the transition between first whispering about playing music in their high school English class, playing their first show from their friend’s deck, from dropping out of university to pursue music full-time to where they are now.
Though the young talents have played around Calgary at The Hifi Club, Bamboo Lounge, Broken City, Republik, Commonwealth and the Sled Island Festival, they also performed across the country at Canadian Music Week in Toronto and POP Festival in Montreal; it has been a long journey for them.
Avant is okay with the long process, because making music has always been his passion and it is now his main focus — even if this realization did not happen right away.
A trip to Thailand inspired the title, Beach Season, after Avant was feeling at total peace while smoking on the beach.
Here, his music is what puts his mind at ease and keeps him from feeling like he is falling back — making beats, being in the studio with Blitzler and playing music.
“Nothing else is bothering you. You’re not worrying about tomorrow, you’re not worrying about yesterday, you’re in the zone and you just don’t care. I’ve been sitting at my computer for six hours just making sounds and I have no idea what time it is, I haven’t eaten all day because I’m just in it. I’m so focused and so connected. It is just the greatest thing because I don’t worry about a thing.”
Women can’t stop Avant from moving forward, though they are a good muse and easy for him to write about. When asked if the two of them have similar taste in women, Blitzer chimes up and says, “You make some weird choices man. Real weird choices.”
“I like crazy girls. Obviously if they’re good looking, you know,” Avant trails off with a nonchalant shrug and a sly smile.
“We haven’t hooked up with any of the same girls, that’s for sure,” said Blitzer.
Besides being friends for years and making music together, their support systems also helped them progress.
Beach Season and Blitzer have been fortunate in their experiences thus far, and all Avant wants from the audience is for them to experience the emotion from the music with “an everything is alright kind of vibe”.
Clearly the audience was feeling it.
