Ever heard of Pouzza Fest? No? Well, you should have. The Montreal, Quebec festival boasts four venues and over a hundred bands over the span of three days. To make things better, all of these venues are within walking distance of each other. It’s every punk rockers dream come true. There are local and not-so-local bands playing, and true to Montreal’s character, the festival featured both Anglophone and Francophone groups. This year, the lineup included Lifetime, The Queers, Bad Astronaut, The Sainte Catherines, and many more.
As the creator and Great Designer of Pouzza Fest, Hugo Mudie didn’t have much time to reflect on the event, but was able to give us a quick interview about the planning and execution of Pouzza Fest, and explains exactly what a pouzza is. You can read the interview here.
First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the amazing job you have done of pulling Pouzza Fest together.
Thank you.
You’ve been working really hard, coordinating everything for Pouzza Fest, how does it feel on day 3, to see the fruit of your labour?
It’s pretty exciting, but pretty tiring at the same time, so it’s a weird feeling. Kind of like when you wake up from a super fun, drunken night, you kind of feel happy about it but at the same time you kind of feel like shit. It’s kind of the same. Every night around 10, when I’m finally done doing stuff, I walk around all the venues, and then I have the feel-good moment of the festival. Everywhere was packed, everyone was like, high-fiving each other and drinking everywhere and laughing and crazy. That was what I’d had in mind when I booked the festival.
Last night, after The Sainte Catherines played, there was a huge crowd and everyone was having fun, how does it feel to be the cause of all of that excitement?
I don’t know, I didn’t really appreciate the playing part because I was too fucked up on my work. So I guess it’s cool. I appreciate people liking my band, and it’s amazing to see all those people having fun. I think I had more of a good feeling seeing all the people getting excited when Lifetime were playing. I was on the side of the stage, and everyone was jumping around and all that, so that was a good moment.
How difficult was it to coordinate all of the bands and venues for the festival?
Uh, it’s pretty crazy. From doing the booking, which was a hell of a job because there’s like a hundred and twenty something bands, and you have to have contracts for all of those bands and you have to take care of borders for all of those bands from the US and Europe. It was crazy to organize, and then to actually run it was even crazier. But we had a lot of volunteers and they were all amazing. I’m not alone in the festival, it’s me and my partner Hélène, and we have a company together (L’Écurie, a booking agency), and then we had a bunch of volunteers. We had a great team and everyone worked hard and it was pretty smooth.
For those who aren’t familiar with Quebecois cuisine, how would you explain a pouzza?
Well, it’s a mix between a poutine and a pizza. A poutine is French fries with gravy and cheese curds, and everyone knows what a pizza is, I hope.
Do you see a future for Pouzza Fest?
There is a second year for sure. No doubt.