Sled Island 2026 Debrief - Part One
cute, Photo By: Michael Sarsito
Jeff MacCallum
Another Sled Island is in the books. I’ve had sufficient time to recuperate and I am now trying to gather my thoughts on this year’s festival. This is the first one of these “festival journals” I’ve done in a long time. I’ll try to be brief and concise but may blabber on for a bit here and there so please bear with me.
I look forward to Sled Island every year. Well not every year but I have been coming to this festival annually since 2015 and have seen it evolve with the changing landscape. I can’t say enough about how well the festival is curated. For example, this year I walked over to the Legion on Saturday after clipping slayed the Palace. There was a decent line. I don’t wait in lines at Sled, there’s no need. I walked to the Palomino and saw what was one of my favourite performances of the week. (More on that later)
Spank Williams, Photo By: Matt Wallace
Anyway. Over the years the Cups N Cakes Network has developed a great relationship with this festival so please take that into account as you read my thoughts. We have a media partnership with the festival but I will still give you my honest thoughts which are this… I didn’t really care about the international acts they brought this year. I listened to them in advance, thought some were cool but unlike 2025, I was going to be focusing on some of the emerging Canadian talent over the other acts. I was shocked however that they brought clipping and billy woods was also crazy to see on the bill, even if I skipped that one. Big ups to Sled for this year’s curator.
Anyway. What blew my socks off? Well on Wednesday I started at Sloth and was very impressed by the extremely young trio from Vancouver, Often Wrong. I remember when their EP came out last year and we passed it over for review, I stand by that decision but their live show blew me away. It had a raw energy and a rough-around-the-edges bite that was lacking on the EP. They blend noise-rock with emo and post-hardcore and it hits in all the ways I love. Keep this bad on your radar. I bounced around a ton on Wednesday but made sure to be at Pin-Bar for Spank Williams. Easily one of the most charismatic bandleaders imaginable. He had us laughing and dancing simultaneously. Greasy Country & Western music brought to you by a wild man who keeps his (ultra-talented) band on their toes all show long with his antics. After this show I booked it to Palomino and ran into my buddy Chad and described Spank Williams to him as the BA Johnston of Country music. I stand by that. Anyway, I figure I should also give a stick tap to J.R.C.G who ended my night at the Palomino. They are not Canadian but were definitely a festival highlight as well.
Thursday was all about the Cups N Cakes showcase at Loophole. To be honest, I didn’t watch a ton from Uncanny Valley, Non-Ultras, and Yarbo. I’ve seen them all before. I spent my time at Loophole meeting new people, chatting away and enjoying the company of other humans. It was fun. I will say, I specifically asked Sled if we could present this show based on the strength of the bill. I knew these three bands ruled. The one I didn’t know was cute from Hamilton. I’ve heard through the Canadian music journalist grapevine to keep them on my radar but I wasn’t expecting their incredible aesthetic. No lights on in the room, cute took the stage in matching coveralls and the only light was from headlamps each band member wore. The ambiance was further amplified with the help of a smoke machine. It was really cool visually. They proceeded to rip through a memorable set of noise-rock with forays into post-rock and post-hardcore. They slayed. After chatting with the band, expect music this year.
Franklin, Photo By: Shannon Johnston
Friday was different for me. For the first time, Sled Island asked me to take part in the conference portion of their festival and I was both honoured and shocked. Defining Your Artist Brand was my panel and I had a blast sharing the stage with Jess Arcand (REVERIE, Take Aim Media), Nathan Iles (The Scene, Brain Bent), and moderator Dylan Mansfield (CJSW Host). We received positive feedback so I hope those who attended enjoyed our perspective. Afterwards, I walked from the Library to Palomino and caught a band I’d never heard of called Tall Mary. This Vancouver noise-rock quartet blew me away! Using power drills to create dissonant feedback and playing guitars with scratch awls (I’m a carpenter, I know an awl when I see one!), they crafted impeccable noise for their front person to put maximum emotion into their performance. They were a standout and one I’ll be looking forward to hearing more from in the future. I was also excited to see Cups N Cakes longtime volunteer Simone (Atenea) Medina Polo make her Sled Island debut as pseudo-antigone and another CnC volunteer, Tea Fannie, deliver an incredible performance with a guest appearance from Ice Tha One for her whole set.
Tall Mary, Photo By: Kyle Wilson
Finally, the standout set from my entire weekend was one I never planned on seeing. After the conference Kirsty Wells and Evan Joel came up and introduced themselves and I had such a positive experience chatting with them that I changed course and went to Pin-Bar to check out their sludgy doom band, Franklin. Their set blew me away. Grimy doom metal, loud as fuck and the most incredible vocal snarl from Wells made their appearance one I will not forget.
And the there was Saturday. The last day of Sled is always hard for me. As an out-of-towner, I treat this as a vacation and as such, tend to have a little too much fun over the course of my time in Calgary. This year’s Saturday was about hanging with pals, crushing Dandy pizza and beer and getting to the Palace for a good spot. I watched Jairus Sharif for the first time live, an artist I’ve been championing for a few years. I love his approach to experimental music and he was on point on the big stage at Sled. Cartel Madras came home to Calgary and Sled for the first time since they were noticed by Ishmael Butler upstairs at the Legion in 2018. While impossible to recreate the raw energy of that 2018 set on such a massive stage, they did a great job getting the crown primed and ready for clipping. to absolutely bring the house down. This was an incredible bill. I stayed from start to finish.
With very little left in the tank I went to see what was up at the Legion but turned around when I saw a long line and instead caught Montreal’s Pnoom upstairs at Palomino. This band is a sonic delight. They control feedback and dissonance like a proper shoegaze act while playing a brand of music more akin to post-punk. This was my third time seeing them and the first time they played to a packed house on a smaller stage. This made the performance much more intimate and immediate and when it was done, I decided that it was how I wanted my Sled Island 2026 to end. I went home.
So when I look back, this year didn’t have me crossing off bucket list bands like 2025 did with Tropical Fuck Storm but it did feel just as special with the community building I did and the fact that I discovered more bands than I normally would. I may not have cared as much as others about most the international acts but it freed me up to see more Canadian acts and make new connections. I truly enjoyed my 2026 Sled Island and am already counting down the days to next year.
Pnoom, Photo By: Matt Wallace
