The Singing Lamb: So give us a brief history of Synthfest!

Andrew Pulsifer: The first Synthfest was held three years ago in Ottawa and I hope this is going to be the first of an annual thing. The first Synthfest was brought out in Ottawa to specifically try to break the synth scene and bring it into the forefront because it’s often overlooked in Ottawa. But Toronto’s a completely different thing; it’s about embracing something that we do really well. We have Crystal Castles and Woodhands, probably the biggest bands to come by in the past three years and we also have a plethora of other bands that are doing just as well and they are awesome!

Is this festival still in Ottawa?

No; I guess the one in Ottawa was just a one-off thing. It was successful but it was also in Ottawa; it was a Wednesday show in Ottawa. They said it was one of the most well-attended Wednesday shows in Ottawa! I lived in Ottawa then and now I live in Toronto so I brought Synthfest with me!

What are some of your favourite synth bands?

Well obviously I love every single act that’s playing this festival. The Golden Girls, PDF Format and Opopo are amazing. Silly Kissers are from Montreal and I’ve never seen them before but I’ve heard their stuff and it’s really good. But in terms of acts who are not playing the festival, I mean Woodhands are spectacular.

We all love Woodhands!

Yeah, exactly! Parallels are really good, Everything All The Time! Yeah, there’s so many. Green Go, Cobra Cut…

Why the synth? What about keytars?

The keytar is a synth!

Well we can do something more specific then! A keytar fest!

Well really, only Dan Werb plays the keytar! So it would be the Dan Werb fest!

I wouldn’t mind that!

Ha! Well I’m a synth player and I just love them. I mean, I like other instruments too; I’m not going to not listen to a band that only has guitar players. I love the sounds it produces, I love the idea that with the synths you’re in full control over the sound you are creating and the amount of meticulous thought that most synth players put into making the sound.

Why do you think people think it’s cheesy then?

I don’t know! Just because of the 80s! 80s synth music is amazing but it lent itself to stereotype quite easily. As far as I can tell, the historic timeline of the synth is that it came out in the 60s and the 70s and prog bands started using it and bands in the 80s started thinking ‘No, this isn’t just the coolest thing ever, its going to change the world, man! It’s going to revolutionize everything in the world!’ And then grunge came around and killed all that and killed everything that was the synth, which was fine but you know, where we are now, we’re revisiting these things and we’re like, ‘Cool, they can be cheesy but they can also be very useful and make standard music and different music.’

Is there a particular instrument that you think is cheesy now?

I’ve got to say the melodica is a little cheesy! I like the melodica but it’s cheesy. Maybe in 20 years there will be a melodica fest in Toronto!

Do you play the melodica?

I could! I play the synths and they have keys but I think it would be hard to breathe and play keys at the same time.

What is it with Canada and our vast amount of synth bands? What do you think makes us so unique?

I don’t know. If I was more academically-minded I would look into the socioeconomic factors that cause Toronto to have so many good synth bands. I don’t know how to explain it. I would say many of the bands try to take it in a more conventional way but at the same time we have many unconventional synth-based bands but it’s not as weird as other places!

Do you remember the first time you played a synth?

Well I started playing the synth when I was 15 and I wanted to be in an industrial band. Every 15-year-old wants to be in an industrial band and you’d either play the guitar with a hell of a lot of pedals or the synth so those were my thoughts. ‘How much can I sound like Nine Inch Nails?!’

Why did you choose the Tranzac for Synthfest ’09?

I love the Tranzac. It’s some of the best shows I’ve seen in the city. It’s a non-profit organization and it’s so community-like. I’m not saying other places aren’t but the Tranzac just fosters the sense of community and it’s great.

It just feels like home there.

Exactly! It’s so welcoming and nice and the main hall is so beautiful. I also like that idea of doing a Synthfest at a place that’s pretty much a folk venue and that dichotomy.

You call this a festival – is there anything else to this besides the music?

No; when I was originally planning it, I did have this idea of having workshops but maybe next year.

Where do you see this festival in five years?

Hopefully something gigantic that happens every year!

You should do it outdoors!

Yeah, outdoors would be really nice! Although if it rains, rain and synths don’t mix! But I definitely plan on keeping this as an annual thing and I want to start planning bi-monthly showcases. It’ll be a much smaller thing, maybe one day and three bands. That’s the idea because there are enough synth-based bands in Toronto that I can have a Synthfest showcase every week; there are so many so I want to take advantage of that.

Anything else you’d like to add?

I’m really proud that I think Synthfest is going to be the first performance of Digits – which is Alt Altman from Europe in Colours and I’m not 100% sure if this is his first show but I’m pretty sure it is. It’s his solo project and I’m really proud to have him on the bill!

That’s great! And finally, if you were a singing animal, what would you be?

Probably a humpback whale because they’re so melodic!

Maybe a whale playing a synth?

Yes! And also the stuff on their neck looks like a synth!

For more on Synthfest,
Website: http://synthfest.ca/