Pals Against Cancer

“A menagerie of successful, talented bands” was the response to the question of “who’s playing?” at this year’s Brofest. But Brofest 2008 is more than just a concert.
Yes, the lineup is indeed a menagerie of successful, talented bands, but the concert is also for worthwhile cause, with all of the event’s proceeds going towards the fight against cancer.
It’s also a way for many people part of the local music community to remember a friend who lost his fight, and for many, that opportunity to remember is infinitely more important than a lineup of bands. Brofest began in the fall of 2006 to honour Nicholas Hurlbut, a dear friend and beloved member of the Burlington music scene who had succumbed to cancer that summer.
From its humble beginnings at the Burlington YMCA, Brofest—now an annual charity concert—has grown to a large three-day event. This year’s lineup includes Silverstein, Dead and Divine, I Am Committing a Sin, Oceans, Lifestory: Monologue, and Titan.

“The first (Brofest concert) was totally reactionary (to Nicholas’ death) and ended up being really cathartic,” notes Ryan Henderson, guitarist for I Am Committing a Sin and co-organizer of this year’s event, along with Silverstein's Paul Koehler.

“With the second one, we’re like ‘OK, well, this is the opportunity we have to build on the success of this, and to celebrate Nick’s life a year from now and just kind of build upon the importance and the responsibility that we built in the community.’”

“A utilitarian concert,” Paul Rousseau, fellow member of I Am Committing a Sin, chimed in.

“With this year,” Henderson continued, “there were a few choices that we had to make which would’ve either leaned more toward keeping in line with the grassroots spirit of the first two events or more toward a bigger, greater-good mentality, if you will, which is something we leaned more toward this year, from the lineup to the venue and everything. It’s structured to bring more people into it and more exposure to what we’re about and our cause.”

This year’s expanded weekend event, running from Oct. 3-5, includes the Punk Rock Basketball Tournament and Covers for a Cure, in addition to the shows.

The basketball tournament will be a round-robin style tournament at the Burlington YMCA featuring members of various local bands and others involved in the local music scene. Fans will also have the opportunity to request cover songs from some of their favourite bands during Covers for a Cure.

Henderson had a lot of good things to say about all of the events. “Hopefully Covers for a Cure will have a sort of karaoke dynamic to it, so maybe fans can come up on stage and cover some of their favourite bands whom happen to be at the event.

“The basketball tournament will feature a bunch of people who can’t really play basketball and will be open to the public. I think kids are really going to like seeing members of Silverstein play basketball. Paul Koehler in jean shorts, I guess."
Rousseau was intrigued by the thought. “Cut-off shorts?”

“Yeah, they’d be cut-off jean shorts, actually,” replied Henderson, “my cut-off sister’s jeans.” Christie Hurlbut, Nick’s sister, corrected Henderson: “you said ‘my cut-off sister’s jeans’ when you meant to say ‘my sister’s cut-off jeans.’"
“Half of girls!” Rousseau joked.

Everyone laughed.
A sense of humour is important for helping everyone get through this serious subject matter, but as Henderson maintains, remembering Nick and keeping Brofest a personalized, local event is just as important.

“Certainly Nick’s passion for music has been a strong propellant in us continuing to do this and continuing to do it with so much passion. There is a weird dichotomy, though, between wanting to make the event bigger and more successful with each passing year but also wanting to keep it as intensely personal as we can. It is a local thing for sure and always will be, but our goal is to make it as big of a local thing as we possibly can.”

“What’s most important is that almost every band involved had a personal connection to Nick,” adds Rousseau.

This year’s Brofest concert will be held on Friday, Oct. 3 at 24/7 Live (formerly The Kingdom), 1400 Plains Rd. E., Burlington, ON. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at Dr. Disc (Hamilton), Looney Tunes (Burlington), Burlington YMCA Youth Centre, or online at www.ticketscene.ca. The doors open at 6:00 p.m.

All proceeds from the event will be collected by the Nicholas Hurlbut Memorial Fund and donated to The Carpenter Hospice.