LEAF is almost here — the festival’s 40th iteration runs Thursday-Sunday, May 7-10. In advance, Xpress is talking to performers about what they have planned and why being part of LEAF’s 20th anniversary is so special.
Local absurdist/gypsy/folk/funk/punk collective Sirius.B (Xavier Ferdón, Pancho Romero Bond, Imhotep, Franklin Keel, Mattick Frick, Brian Hermanson, Lee Stanford, Ryan Kijanka, Mike Oliver) has been playing fewer shows lately, but by the sounds of things, that’s about the change. The group launches a busy spring and summer season at Lake Eden.
Mountain Xpress: You’ve been part of LEAF for awhile — what does the 20th anniversary/40th festival mean to you?
Xavi Ferdón: For all of us, LEAF has been a big part of our Asheville experience. We love the festival, and especially now as many of us have kids, we really appreciate the chance to go to a festival with our families. Really, the fact that way up here in the mountains of Western North Carolina we can listen to (and perform with) inspiring and unique international acts — it’s a pretty amazing thing.
Do you have anything special planned for this LEAF?
We have finally achieved success in finding a tuba player. We are so excited for this addition to our act, which is really assisting us in finding the sound we have been looking for. We also hope to have some special guests join us at at least one of our shows. Last time we played LEAF, we played the latenight show, and we plan to bring the same sort of frenzied, wild energy to the daytime show.
What other LEAF artist from this season’s lineup would you most like to collaborate with?
We’d love to collaborate with Toy Boat Circus. We’re planning to add circus-like theatrics to some of our upcoming shows using local talent. Toy Boat Circus would be a great fit.
Any big plans for Sirius.B in the coming months?
This summer is huge for us. We will be working on a music video that we are very excited about. We will be playing, in addition to LEAF, the French Broad River Festival, the Mountain Sports Festival, and a number of shows in the Charleston area.
Sirius.B performs on Friday, May 8, 5:15-6:30 p.m. in Eden Hall; and Sunday, May 10, 1:15-2:30 p.m. at The Barn
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.