Boonstock ready to rock

A rock invasion is about to ignite the sleepy town of Gibbons as the fourth annual Boonstock Festival celebrates its hipster three-day party from June 25 to 27.

Some of the most prominent Canadian rock bands will pound out their gritty anthems — Finger Eleven, Theory of Dead Man, Bif Naked, Default, Shinedown and of course St. Albert’s own Social Code.

Local producer Colin Kobza is packing this explosive outdoor event with 22 rock bands and the funky techno of seven DJs, an unprecedented number and variety of talent. In addition, he’s hauling in a 45-game Sony PlayStation, and an outdoor wakeboarding pool for quiet moments.

Last year’s Pemberton Festival lured 40,000 fans while Boonstock attracted 5,000. But while Pemberton collapsed under its weighty success, Boonstock is still trucking and growing.

“A lot of people were surprised at the success of Boonstock, a small independent event. Last year we definitely took a major step in increasing our profile. Before that people weren’t sure what to expect,” says Kobza.

Kobza is a dreamer and risk taker. After graduating from Sturgeon high, he was drafted as a right-winger to play for the Oklahoma City Blazers. But a brutal leg injury sidelined his hockey career, and the diagnosis of Hodgkins’ lymphoma changed his life.

He organized a bush party with entertainment for friends. Since it was held in the boonies, he baptized it with an apt moniker — Boonstock. Although the first Boonstock attracted only several hundred rock fans, the show biz bug bit hard.

Like Ray Kinsella, the Iowa farmer in Field of Dreams who builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield confident that people will come, Kobza has spent countless hours and his life savings to risk everything on his private field-of-dreams.

Just as music fans are flocking to the Gibbons field, there are a fair number of killer Canadian bands with national and international reputations clearing their calendar for this fest.

Saturday night headliner Finger Eleven hits full throttle after a December 2008 European tour opening for Kid Rock.

“We really knew so little about him, only what we got from the paparazzi. We thought he was arrogant and cocky. But he was exactly the opposite. He was so welcoming we came home as a fan of Kid Rock,” says Finger Eleven guitar player Rick Jackett.

This is one edgy band that rubs shoulders with celebrities — they’ve performed three times on Jay Leno — and their music is a pop culture phenomenon. The fivesome has achieved gold and platinum status, and their mainstream sound makes the music a hot ticket for television shows and movies such as Gossip Girl, CSI: Miami, Scrubs, Daredevil, Elektra and Scream 3.

After parting ways with Kid Rock, the band returned home to Ontario and sat down to write new songs for an upcoming album. Finger Eleven’s last album, the Juno Award winning Them vs. You vs. Me was released in 2007.

And in a surprise move, guitarists James Black and Jackett have formed Blackie Jackett Junior Band, a side project of country songs that began as a back-of-the-bus joke. Yup, the band is expanding their repertoire with classic country tunes about meeting girls, broken hearts and drinking whiskey.

Will Boonstock get to hear this new side of Black and Jackett? “I guess we’ll have to see,” laughs Jackett.

The Friday night headliner, post-grunge rock band Theory of a Dead Man, is one band that gathers no moss. Since the release of their third album in 2008, Scars and Souvenirs, the rockers have toured with Hinder, performed at the 96th Grey Cup halftime show and worked their way across Canada building up a fan base. “Their sound is very distinct. When you hear it, it’s unreal,” says Kobza.

One performer Kobza is most hyped about meeting is fellow cancer survivor Bif Naked, a woman he clearly finds inspirational. The only major female headliner, her foxy rock gig is not for the faint-hearted. “It’s gonna be menacing. That’s my goal,” says Bif Naked.

She is rebuilding her life with the May release of her sixth studio album, The Promise, a record she made while undergoing 13 months of radiation and chemotherapy. “I was laughing my ass off. I have a Don Rickles and Phyllis Diller shtick, and I really think humour can cure anything in life.”

Never one to feel downtrodden even though she endured 17 rounds of chemotherapy and an “ovarectomy,” Bif Naked wrote songs from her bed and recorded on days she felt well. The first single off The Promise was the crackling F--- You 2 released early on as a free download. And the second single, Sick, released in April is loaded with her trademark ferocity and passion.

“All the songs are written from the same place. They’re songs about yearning and heartache, lost love and almost relationships. That’s the basis of what I sing. That’s what I get my rocks off singing.”

Another band undergoing a phoenix-type rebirth is Default, a popular favourite at last year’s Boonstock. In a sense they are launching a comeback.

About four weeks ago, their last album, recorded in 2007 was picked up by Orchard, an online record company licensed with EMI. The first single is due for release in July and the full album comes out in September.

The Vancouver-based alternative rock band had originally recorded three albums with TVT Records. But a month before Default’s fourth album release, TVT declared bankruptcy.

“In a way it was a blessing. We wanted to get off the label. We were wishing and hoping and trying to get out of the contract. We were happy at the time, but didn’t realize how long it would take,” says Default singer Dallas Smith.

For three years they experienced the unknown. “Are we gonna be a band? Financially, without a record, we couldn’t tour. We were lucky to have a good fan base in Canada where we could get bookings.”

Band morale hit an all-time low and to keep their creative juices going they went on an American tour performing at army bases in Okinawa. As a matter of fact, they just got back from Seoul, South Korea where they were once again invited to sing at four different American army bases. And Smith adds they’d be “ecstatic” to play for Canadian troops in Afghanistan if invited.

A couple of Internet websites are already listing the name of their first new single. However, Smith says the first single’s name is still under discussion. “But come down to Boonstock and check out our new songs.”

Social Code is also releasing another album in the near future. Unfortunately the band’s handlers are keeping the hometown boys securely under wraps until the release. But when it’s performance time, this killer band always injects a higher level of musical prowess for local fans.

Two other St. Albert ambassadors are Raptors and Longwaydown, the only band with the distinction of playing all four Boonstock festivals. And of course, Bon Accord’s acclaimed Shout Out Out Out Out pumps out their own version of ear-popping energy.

For camping information and a complete schedule of events visit www.boonstock.ca.