Running on its fifth year now, Kitchener Ontario Independent (KOI) Music Festival is a festival that takes place in downtown Kitchener. This year, KOI ran from Sept. 25 to Sept. 27, and featured artists such as July Talk, illScarlett, Bass Lions, Run Coyote, The Ataris, Carousel Kings, and many more.
Founded by Curt and Cory Crossman, KOI is one of Ontario’s most respected festivals for featuring independent music, and provides tremendous support to emerging artists and musicians.
The best part about KOI is it is a very tight-knit festival in an intimate setting in Kitchener’s downtown core; it is surrounded by unique stores and small businesses. The festival featured a variety of different vendors, including food and apparel.
This year, Guelph was represented by a few bands in the festival, including Cinderose, Run Coyote, Olivia and the Creepy Crawlies, Islands & Empires, and Madison Ing.
The Ontarion had the opportunity to speak with Run Coyote, Cinderose, and Olivia and the Creepy Crawlies prior to KOI Music Festival.
Cinderose
Cinderose, an independent singer/songwriter, is currently a student at the University of Guelph. She takes marine and freshwater biology, and minors in music. Cinderose loves Guelph, and was able to share a few words about how the city impacted her as a musician.
“Downtown Guelph definitely has a huge music scene. It’s definitely one of the more music-friendly cultures, compared to where I’m from, which is Toronto. It’s great because there’s so much live music, there’s Van Gogh’s Ear, there’s Cornerstone, there’s DSTRCT. There [are] all these places that you can play at and everyone is so receptive to having music in their community. There’s definitely a strong music community, there’s a lot of different variety.”
When asked about what she would like to communicate to her fans through her music, Cinderose mentioned chasing a dream, regardless of what society tells you.
“Follow your passion, because that’s what I’m doing right now. I want people to listen to my music and then actually understand where I’m coming from, and be like ‘she’s following her dream, she’s following her passion, and I should do the same.’ We don’t have one road [that] we need to follow, there are so many different paths out there and we are so young right now that if we make mistakes, it’s totally fine. I guess I just want to tell people that that’s okay, make your mistakes, and follow your dreams. I know, it’s cheesie [laughs].”
Olivia and the Creepy Crawlies
Though she currently lives in Hamilton, Olivia Borkosky from Olivia and the Creepy Crawlies grew up in Guelph and continues to call it home. She began pursuing music in Guelph while she was in high school, and started to write her own songs when she began playing the ukulele.
“Guelph is just so beautiful, there are so many cool places downtown to, you know, go sit, write, hangout,” said Borkosky.
When asked what her main goal was with her music, Borkosky explained that she wants people to be able to listen to it and relax.
“I guess the goal that I’ve always kept in mind is I really want to make music that people can drink tea to [laughs]. That’s kind of always been my goal. I really want to make music that people can, you know, sit in the sun, feel happy, drink a nice cup of tea. I just like making people feel happy.”
Run Coyote
It’s been just about a year since The Ontarion last spoke to Run Coyote, and since then the band has done a ton of cross-Canada touring, as well as released a music video for their song “Love Like a River.”
When asked whether there were challenges in touring together for so long, Sam Allen (guitar, vocals) answered that the band got along very well on the road.
“I think we have pretty good chemistry, and we’re kind of like a family, well some of us are actually family, but we kind of work as a family unit, like a family band I guess. We usually get along, everything’s pretty fun, even though we’re crammed in. We are crammed in–we toured out in a RAV4, which is a small SUV, with everybody crammed in, you know, pillows and suitcases on top of us, so it was pretty tight but we get along pretty well and we’re a pretty good group. Once we get out there, things are great.”
Being good friends with Guelph artists, including Alanna Gurr, Allen assures us that the band will return to our beloved city soon.
“Guelph’s a really cool city–we love playing in Guelph. It’s close by too, so we always think it’s cool being able to play there, and we have a lot of friends there.”
About
The Ontarion publishes independent, student-produced news, opinion, and commentary for University of Guelph students so that they can make informed decisions in their lives. To do this, The Ontarion provides learning opportunities and training in journalism, media production, leadership, board governance, and other aspects of nonprofit news.
The Ontarion is the University of Guelph’s independent student newspaper. It began in 1951 as part of the Ontario Agricultural College and then began to represent the entire University of Guelph once it amalgamated in 1964. The Ontarion incorporated in May 1970 as The Ontarion, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation registered with the province of Ontario.