Sunshine Coast Underground Music & Comedy Festival - Turbofest 2024 Presented by Jake Warren of Take Warning Events & Sunshine Coast Turbojugend Sunshine Coast, BC Canada
June 27th - 30th
Live Show Review By: Khaos McLeod
What is there to do on a Thursday evening on a small peninsula tucked away in British Columbia; a 40-minute ferry ride away from Vancouver, BC? Absolutely nothing but a DIY underground comedy and music festival! Say what?
This year’s festival took place on the Sunshine Coast in Roberts Creek and Gibsons, the latter being the sleepy little town where they filmed The Beachcombers starting in the early 70s.
It was a beautiful long weekend for us in BC, Canada, with most Canadians getting ready to celebrate Canada Day. While some some people want fireworks, we want our fucking music!
Day 1 – Presented by Fade ‘N’ Dye Hair – Sound by Johnny Jevious
The first 3 evenings were held at the Roberts Creek Legion and lots of laughs were had as this year’s festival kicked off with our 3 comedians of the weekend featuring Sophia Ballantyne, Evan Mumford, and Kevin Von Helvete. They kept us in hysterics all weekend long whether they were on stage or off.
Next up was Neil E. Dee Danger’s Thrill Show. His act can best be described with two words. Fucking brilliant. I love a good side show with a sword swallowing act and this guy is top-notch and more than kind of freaky.
If you have a penchant for the absurd, the insane, or possibly want to witness someone used as a human dart board, then you should check him out. I think we also learned a lot about the audience members/assistants who were throwing syringes at the shirtless Neil. Wait, were they aiming for his nipples on purpose? Maybe he liked it? I don’t know, but it certainly has me questioning the sanity of those aiming. This guy was fucking nuts and if you ever get a chance to see him live, I highly suggest it. One of the highlights of the weekend.
The rest of the evening ramped up quickly when the bands got going. S.F.H. played a great set, The singer is the Mayor of Gibsons himself, so you could be sure we weren’t in any danger of getting a noise complaint!
Finishing up the opening night of festivities was the Ramores, the ultimate Ramones tribute band.
These guys have been rocking since 2000, and will definitely have you doing a double take. They’ve got their act down to a science and it’s always fun to take a trip down memory lane. I’ve seen them quite a few times and they were definitely a crowd favourite at Turbofest this year.
Joey (Ramores) also made a special appearance earlier in the night to lend a helping sledgehammer to Neil E. Dee Danger Thrill Show, but he soon traded the sledgehammer for mic and the guys played a killer set.
The Ramores mostly pulled songs from End of the Century but didn’t forget to play crowd favourites like ‘Sedated’ and ‘Pet Cemetary. Of course, the evening wouldn’t be complete without ‘Pinhead’. GABBA GABBA HEY!
All too quickly, the evening was over but this was just the first night. The weekend hadn’t even started yet but it was hard to wind down after the opening night.
It was a great turnout for a Thursday evening especially when the Coast is still quiet and sleepy before the weekend hits. I had to work at 7:00 the next morning so I called it and got my ass home to rest up for the busy weekend.
Day 2 – Presented by the Gumboot Cafe – Sound by Johnny Jevious
Back at the Roberts Creek Legion for the second night of shows with some great bands and comedy sets to come.
The evening was already off to a great start with Dead Rights opening with a killer set. Their music combines punk and hardcore and really set the mood for the evening with their unapologetic punk tunes.
Next up was Johnny Trash, a punk rock tribute band to the Man in Black. Everyone hit the floor for this energetic set of familiar favourites and kept going when the band played their own original cow-punk songs as well. As promised, they delivered both bang and twang despite his leg being in a cast.
Crowd favourite B.A. Johnston, a Canadian performance artist/musician captivated the audience with his comedic charm.
He played to a sold-out crowd and if he wasn’t jumping around on stage he would often be seen running to the bar while singing to grab a quick beer while he taught us about all things Canadiana.
Johnston had an incredible amount of raw energy and everyone loved him. People traveled by ferry to come check out his one-of-a-kind performance.
I laughed when I read their bio but now I know that they might have been serious when they wrote “Hold onto your nipples!”
Last but not least, A.T.D. killed it on stage.Talk about fucking hardcore punk! These guys came in red hot to finish the evening and left everyone in a hot and sweaty mess.
Day 3 – Presented by 101 Brewhouse & Distillery – Sound by Jamie Swan
Day three saw our festival change venues to 101 Distillery on the garden patio stage. Although the skies threatened rain, the weather held off and the sun poked through the clouds as the bands started playing this early afternoon show.
Up first was the SLIP~ons which sees former Doughboy member Brock Pytel playing guitar as the music makes a definite shift in gears. Super fun band with an excellent stage performance.
The Bad Beats were simply Off the Hook as they were next to follow with their garage rock-n-roll sound that had people up and dancing in the open-air venue. I loved these guys so much that I abandoned my prime spot up at the front and invaded their merch table where I bought 3 of their vinyls including Off the Hook.
Last to hit the stage for a stellar performance was the legendary Big John Bates! It’s been a while since I’ve seen these guys perform but they were every bit as good as I remembered them, probably better.
Big John Bates is probably one of my favourite Canadian performers with his mix of 60’s surf, psychobilly, and garage rock. Brandy Bones played a hellacious double bass which was painted by Canadian Artist Jim Cummings/I, Braineater, and Tim Houston absolutely nailed it on the drums.
What Turbofest would be complete without seeing Big John Bates slam out a cover of Turbonegro? Not this one, that’s for sure.
I don’t think anyone was expecting it, but out of the blue it came. Those all too familiar opening 3 notes that had any of us stragglers holding back make a run for the stage. ‘All My Friends Are Dead’ left everyone hoarse as they screamed the lyrics to the classic Turbonegro song.
All too soon the show was over and it was time to move back to the Roberts Creek Legion for the evening show.
Sadly, I wasn’t able to attend the evening shows and had to cut out shortly after arriving, but I heard that it was a great evening with Lords of Apathy, Hardball, Tides Will Turn and headliners OFF BY AN INCH putting out a killer set.
I did hear from Mike (Red) McLeod that OFF BY AN INCH, a melodic skate punk band, was amazing and gave everyone the stellar show we would expect from a band that has been together for so many years.
It was also great to catch up with Chris Off before I left as I hadn’t seen him since he played a Monday Night Khaos show with Off By An Inch at the Cobalt more than a decade ago.
Day 4 – Presented by Coastal Bay Cannabis & Six Gill Tattoo – Sound by Jamie Swan
Day four saw the festival move to an outdoor venue at One Foot Crow in Gibsons for another beautiful sunny day.
This was the last day of the festival and things were slowly winding down but the day proved to have some last-minute surprises still to come.
Ded Nz, a local high school band slayed it as they played covers of Green Day, Beastie Boys and more.
These talented high schoolers were definitely a crowd favourite as they rocked the stage with plenty of unbridled, youthful energy. They kept the audience on their toes and gave a great performance. It was a perfect way to start the day as most of us were living on little to no sleep that weekend. No rest for the wicked!
Skookumchuck Wipeouts served up some instrumental surf classics that included Dick Dale’s iconic song Misirlou, Walk Don’t Run, Surf Rider and Having An Average Weekend which many recognized as the theme song from The Kids in the Hall.
Next up was Dollhead, an electro-punk/metal duo that wowed us with their fun music and matching outfits.
It was great to see so many female musicians taking the stage and these two were some of my favourites for the weekend.
Cultovar was next as they hit the stage donning all-black garbs and included Bina from Dollhead on drums.
I have to say this band surprised pretty much everyone with their unique and captivating set that simply blew us away with their ominous music. I was drawn in and got goosebumps as I listened to the jaw-dropping doom metal set layered with heavy driven synths and bass.
The next of the heavy hitters was the female-fronted hard rock band Sinmobile featuring Queen of Scream vocalist Irene Orallo.
Mike Soper shredded on guitar after getting the A-OK from his doctor. Mike had suffered a heart attack barely a week before the festival and like the ROCKSTAR that he is, was able to make the show! Not only did he make the show but he FUCKING RAWKED!
Rick Raymond thundered on bass while Kody Raymond provided the perfect backdrop for the band with his heavy-hitting double kick on the drums. The band nailed it.
They pulled songs from their extensive catalog like ‘Look Who’s Crying Now, and my personal favourite, Sugar Shaker. They even played a new one called Stage Cake. They really got things shaking.
Awkward AC was super fun and a blast to watch on stage. Good old-fashioned punk with lots of energy kept us going and a surprise when Jay’s son joined him onstage for a bit.
The crowd cheered on as this youngster helped his dad sing a song proving you’re never too young to RAWK!
Think of a mix of Motley Crüe and Motorhead and you might end up with a band that sounds close to Rebel Priest. I’ve seen them a few times now and they are awesome with crazy high energy and lots of fun to watch.
Their music takes me back to the days of hair metal but with an added edge that gives them a distinctive sound.
The guys really know how to play a stage and today was no exception. The gritty vocals, shredding guitars and killer sound by Jamie Swan of Modern Terror was perfect for their amazing set.
Last up for Turbofest 2024, hometown heroes Modern Terror saved the evening after one of the headliners had to cancel at the last minute.. No one seemed to mind as the local favourites took the stage.
The boys ripped it up as the sun started to set and Turbofest was coming to an end.
The guys have a lot of fun onstage and their melodic pop-punk songs were an unexpected bonus to the already kick-ass festival.
They finished off the night playing songs from the latest album Going Viral which includes ready-made classics like ‘You Fell in Love With a Dick’ and ‘Quarantine Queen’. It was a great way to end the festival and leave the crowd wanting more.
I hated to see it end but after four days of lack of sleep, lack of food and lots of hard work, I have to admit that I was ready to hide in my house to recuperate.
Turbofest 2025 is already in the early planning stages and we hope to make next year’s show even better. This year will be a hard one to beat but we’ll try our best…until next time!
