In Crust We Trust fest at Atria Sat Oct 29, we interview with founder Chris Hill

By Will McGuirk

The 11th annual In Crust We Trust roars into the Atria on Saturday Oct 29 2022. The one day festival takes over the main floor stage as well as running upstairs in the Diesel Room. The Atria is located in Downtown Oshawa.

Slowcity.ca checked in with fest founder , promoter and drummer Chris ‘Boneless’ Hill.

Slowcity.ca: 11 years wow - talk to me about the first one - who played and what do you remember about it that made you want to continue?

 Chris Hill: Its hard to believe its been 11 years already. How time flies!  Although it may not officially be the 11th? We skipped a year once or twice and I lost count! Hahaha

 The first ICWT fest was a stacked lineup as they always are. It was a whole weekend of shows and three days long.

 The first night EndProgram (Toronto Hardcore Punk) headlined. We also had Wake (Alberta Grindcore now signed on Metal Blade Records), Gag Order (Brantford Punk), GOD (Oshawa Grind), & Teethmarks (Toronto Hardcore).

 The second night we had Montreal punk legends The Ripcordz headline. Punch Drunk (Oshawa Thrash), Go Die Scum (Toronto Hardcore Punk), Dead Peasents Revolt (East Coast Punk) and locals The One Eyed Muskrats rounded out that night

 The third night we had Vancouver punk legends DOA headline and forgive me I cant remember who else played that night.

 Having the show 3 days in a row proved to be too much for a lot of people so this was the one and only year we did the fest 3 days. Going forward it moved to 2 days for 4 or 5 years and then just to one day. Since the Diesel Room and The Atria are in the same building I came up with a schedule that works for one night, where we stagger the sets alternating upstairs and downstairs so everyone could see all the bands that play. This also proved helpful with setups between sets. The first year was a blast but it was a lot of running around. The turnouts weren’t amazing but It was such a fun time with so many friends that it just made sense to make it an annual thing.”

 SC: How do you compile the bands, are they all known to you, are they recommendations, do they apply?

 CH: “From the very beginning the fest was an avenue to showcase the great bands that I had seen and played with on the road. Since I tour year round in my own bands I had the chance to see a lot of talent. A lot of these bands have helped my bands on the road with shows or places to stay so it was nice to be able to return the favour. That is how the punk rock community works here, we all help each other out. And its a closer knit community, right across Canada, that not a lot of people realise. I do sometimes take suggestions, and I do accommodate if there is a touring band coming through and the dates match up, but mostly I have a general idea of how I want it to go early in the year based on the previous years tours. Since the fest started I have compiled a list of every band that has asked to play as well which I try and wittle down every year. The show has always been about helping bands and putting them in front of a good crowd, and who wouldn’t want to see 10 of the best bands around in one night?”

 SC: Which band and I know you can play favourites are you most excited for the audience to see?

 CH: “Well this year is a special one. We are showcasing a bunch of bands from the new Cursed Blessings Records roster. Cursed Blessings was founded by Al Nolan of Almighty Trigger Happy fame along with Doug Smart who people from around Oshawa may know as the frontman from Figure Four, now defunct, out of Oshawa. Over the past two years they have put out records by some of the best bands in Canada and abroad including my own band Random Killing. This year i’d like to see everyone check out every one of these bands and they are all fantastic and unique in their own ways. In fact the entire lineup of bands has released records, or are releasing records, through Cursed Blessings. The only one who hasn’t is Filthy Kitty who is opening up the show with his unique blend of fart joke humour and guitar wizardry. He dresses up as a skidly cat and shreds on the guitar. Hes always a fun time! Fully Crazed (ex members of the Dayglo Abortions) are flying in from Victoria BC for the first time ever to play the show so they’ll be a must see. MVLL CRIMES, The Slime, Audio Visceral, and Choices Made have all been making waves recently across southern Ontario and Quebec and are all must sees as well. Then we have veteran bands like Dragged In, Gag Order, Almighty Trigger Happy and Random Killing which are all crowd favourites! My advice is come early and stay late, it’s going to be one hell of a party! It’ll be nice playing with bands from the label and a great chance for the scene to see a new crop of influential bands.”

 SC: We have all had quite some time to think about our projects and to re-imagine them; what works, what doesn't, where growth can happen etc, what are your thoughts about ICWT going forward ?

 CH: “My thoughts going forward are just to keep it a fun event, if it gets bigger fair enough or stays the same I am ok with that. Ultimately we learned early on that a 3 day or 2 day event in Oshawa (being the party town it is) is too much so the one night 2 stages 10 bands thing is perfect! Every year there is a great vibe in the room with the crowd and especially on the musicians side of things. Its rare you can get so many amazing bands in one night somewhere, and I am fortunate to have so many wonderful friends in bands that are out there doing it, making a name for themselves. I do imagine one day down the road doing something a little bigger, its my 30th year putting on shows in Oshawa next year so maybe I can cook something up. We’ll just have to see.”

The Slime, photo by Mikki Simeunovich