- Jenn Ivanovs
- all keyed up! HOYO!
The seemingly inexhaustible Rich Aucoin was all over Montreal last weekend for shows both scheduled and spontaneous. After spending Friday opening for Of Montreal at Metropolis, Aucoin was woken from a deep Saturday-morning slumber by his bandmate Joel Waddel, who announced that Cage the Elephant had cancelled and Aucoin was set to fill the Kentucky band’s slot on the Osheaga mainstage at 2pm. “The stage was ridiculously big. It was insane,” he says. Later that evening, Aucoin busked in a special tent to raise money for War Child Canada. He jammed on keys, auctioned off a pair of Oakley sunglasses and played trumpet from a tree. “I wasn’t sure what would happen if I just played as hard as I could, but everyone else was,” Aucoin says. “It’s always really rewarding to do that.”
In a non-boasting and completely excited way, Aucoin also lets it slip that he caught Snoop Dogg, Devo and basically every other good band at Osheaga FROM THE SIDE OF THE MAIN STAGE. "I saw a Snoop Dogg surge in the crowd and I just followed it," he says. (Um, whatever, Rich Aucoin. Who cares. I had a great weekend sitting in my backyard drinking warm beer and listening to old Coolio tapes on broken speakers while my cat secretly dry-heaved all over my bed. Who even likes Devo? NOT INTERESTED WHO CARES.)
Post-fest, Aucoin retreated to a Montreal basement to put finishing touches on his upcoming album Personal Publication and says August will be a welcome period of downtime in Halifax. You can keep donating to War Child in Aucoin’s name by visiting the War Child Osheaga website.
And you can next see Mr. Aucoin being a total freak and throwing a Hallowe'en Party at the Seahorse on August 14th with Windom Earle, Jenocide and the First Aid Kit.
- oh hi!