DeFrost Festival Drops The Bass To Warm Up Moncton Winter For Third Year
MONCTON – DeFrost Festival, an event that celebrates electronic music, will be back for the third year from January 31-February 2.
The festival is being held by East Coast Groove, a Moncton-based organization committed to promoting electronic music and culture in the Maritimes.
This year’s festival is longer than the previous years. It will include a free, family-friendly event at Place 1604 in Dieppe, as part of the city’s Fun On Ice initiative that utilizes its outdoor skating rink. The event will begin with a circus performance.
That will be followed by an event at The Caveau in downtown Moncton, with DJ performances, and an all-night event at the Moncton Lions Club. An all-access pass costs $20.
“Every year, we try to step it up a notch, whether it’s bringing artists or having different stages,” says East Coast Groove founder Fidel Franco. “This year we have three different venues, and we have a lot of young artists. That’s definitely what I’m more excited about – these new breed of artists coming out of Moncton and different places. We’re showcasing them, as well, which is pretty exciting.”
Franco says making it family friendly is important so people of all ages can enjoy it, explaining that the festival will include various genres of electronic music, from dubstep to afrobeats to deep house and techno.
“We try to put as many flavours as we can for people to enjoy it and to experiment it, too,” he said. “It can be for anybody. We want to make sure they’re aware of it. We want to make Moncton more vibrant.”
“It’s just for people to be happy and dance,” he added.
Fourteen DJs, three live painting artists and one visual artist will be performing in the festival. The artists will also be selling their art.
The artists and performers come mostly from New Brunswick, but some come from Halifax and Quebec.
“We try to keep it as local as possible because we want to give the new artists a chance,” Franco said.
DeFrost Festival began as a way to unite DJs and electronic music performers in Moncton and and New Brunswick, inspired by winter activities in Montreal.
“Montreal has this kind of artsy culture and a lot of our art culture goes away because they don’t find space to promote their art, especially in the winter. Winter is really, really bland. Nothing is going on, it’s too cold, nobody wants to go out anywhere,” Franco said.
After going to Igloofest in Montreal, Franco sought to do something similar in Greater Moncton and be a platform for local artists.
“We tried to unite all the DJs, all the artists, everybody that doesn’t have a chance that moves to Montreal, that moves to Toronto because there’s not a vibrant thing going on,” he said. “That’s how the idea came out and we’ve been doing it ever since.”