Rock lottery organizer Luca Furgiuele draws musicians’ names from his fedora.
Ottawa’s second rock lottery concert is bringing together 25 local musicians from almost as many different groups in the city on Feb. 21.
The musicians’ names will be randomly drawn into five new groups the night before. This leaves only a few hours for them to prepare 25 to 35 minutes of original music for the concert.
Rock lotteries originated in Texas, but musician and organizer Luca Furgiuele first heard about them in Toronto. He admits Ottawa may not be as big a city for this event but says it’s more tight-knit.
“I was really confident that I could bring all sorts of genres and people together for one night of camaraderie among the whole Ottawa music community.” He says he wants to counter-act cliques developing around certain styles of music.
Local hip-hop artist Mihajlo Kos agrees.
He says the rock lottery gives musicians and concertgoers a chance to mingle and be exposed to different styles.
“That’s a lot of fun since hip hop artists tend to hang out a lot with other hip hop artists, so it’s a bit cliquey,” he says.
As a participant in last year’s rock lottery, Kos says he noticed a particular focus in the crowd that night. Fans were curious to hear each new rearranged band.
“It was really nice to have a captive audience,” he says.
Another former participant says the rock lottery requires that kind of open-mindedness in order to be successful.
“It’s not just about going in, watching the band play and going home to bed,” says local drummer Anthony Minichilli. “It’s really about putting aside any inhibitions and just coming up with something new.”
Minichilli, who plays in a hardcore punk band, says his rock lottery experience had its ups and downs. But he still appreciates the concept and associates it to the communal, do-it-yourself punk ethic.
“You have to remember that Ottawa’s a small scene” he says.
“We all have this love of music and we all want to support each other and support this community charity.”
All proceeds from this year’s concert will be donated to The Ottawa Food Bank.
And that’s how Furgiuele says he can measure the rock lottery’s success – by how much money is raised for charity – because the random draw can have a hit-and-miss effect on some of the groups.
“This year, I warned people ‘Your band might suck,’” he said, “but I’m in the lottery too, so I’m risking my own neck just as much.”
Kos says his experience last year was so positive that his group continued playing together after the concert.
“It’s just so much fun and so different from any other projects we are involved with,” says bassist Jordan David who was in Kos's group.
David says he enjoyed working with other musicians and playing to a different crowd. “People aren’t familiar with our songs, it’s a new excitement,” he says. “[It's] inclusive and very open, so I guess anything can happen.”
Kos says the first song the group performed came from improvised humming and scatting, a non-verbal singing technique.
“It just worked really well, we were all on the same page,” says David.
He says they even planned to perform again but that hasn’t worked out.
“I think when we do get around to jamming again or playing a show it will be good, we had really awesome ideas that I think we all want to make come to life.”
The concert is scheduled for Feb. 21 at Maverick’s Bar on Rideau Street.