Hi and welcome to edition #5 of Alternative Motive! We are a monthly music newsletter focusing on today’s alternative music scene. If this email was forwarded to you and this is your jam, please click here to subscribe.

Tuned In

On the summer of friendship bracelets
The concert culture that emerged out of plastic beads

Concert preparation looked different this summer than in the past. Gone were the days of simply buying a ticket, planning an outfit, and skillfully packing a venue-approved bag. This year, I went on walks to Dollarama to buy the $4 plastic container of letter beads that includes way too many beads with the letter “W” and nowhere near enough vowels. I scrounged in my old craft boxes at home, pulling out bags of miscellaneous pony beads, hoping to find enough of one colour to match the obscure phrases I wanted to spell out. Green for the time that Ashton Irwin from 5 Seconds of Summer declared, “Tadpoles are baby turtles.” Shades of yellow, orange, and white to reference all the times Awsten Knight called Waterparks’ concert in Vancouver an “onion show.” Hunched over my desk, I threaded bead after bead onto stretchy string, tying 20-30 bracelets off at their ends before clipping them onto a carabiner clip. I took part in the summer of concert friendship bracelets.

Trading bracelets is nothing new. Many people have memories of making cheap bracelets in elementary school and gifting them to classmates as a vow of friendship forever. But even trading bracelets at concerts is an old tradition, particularly in EDM and rave culture.

An article by EDM Identity, a site that “strives to provide quality content about electronic dance music and the culture that surrounds it in the US and abroad,” discusses “kandi,” the name for bracelets and other accessories made and traded at EDM events. It’s associated with PLUR principles, standing for peace, love, unity, and respect.

This summer, trading bracelets took on a new life as Taylor Swift embarked on her Eras tour shortly after releasing the song “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” which contains the line “So make the friendship bracelets/ Take the moment and taste it.” Fans took the lyrics and ran with them, posting photos and videos on social media of the bracelets they planned to trade at Swift’s concerts, typically containing words that referenced album names, song lyrics, and fandom inside jokes. Some bracelets stuck with the classic pony beads and letters, while others used fancier charms or were made camp-style with coloured string. The idea gained traction in other fandoms – albeit less widely – where bracelets were traded amongst fans and performing artists at concerts across genres.

The summer of friendship bracelets has breathed new life into concert culture. Dedicated concert-goers often talk about how great shows can be to meet like-minded people and make new friends. I have certainly had that experience, meeting wonderful people through small talk in between sets, but I always found it difficult to start that first conversation with the people around me. Bracelets are an easy icebreaker: traders can approach people with an intentional action that has built-in talking points. The touch barrier is broken as the bracelets move from wrist to wrist as small laughs are shared when strings get tangled. Of course, some interactions are trade-and-go, but others foster further conversation and friendships that last the night and beyond.

Like all trends, friendship bracelet trading will eventually come to an end, but I hope the culture that came with it lasts as long as all the strings tied around my wrists.

Backstage

From farewells to fan-fronted: cutsleeve’s new chapter
Toronto-based rock band, cutsleeve, discusses what has changed and stayed the same as their lineup transitions

Emmanuelle Châteauneuf was first introduced to the Toronto-based band, cutsleeve, when her roommate invited her to a concert at The Baby G in downtown Toronto last year. Châteauneuf’s roommate had gone to high school with the band’s lead guitarist, Hannah Winters, and had a feeling Châteauneuf – who likes rock and punk genres – would enjoy cutsleeve’s music.

“I just remember I was standing in the audience, and they were playing ‘Shatter,’” recalled Châteauneuf. “There was just something about the arrangement – everything – that I was just dumbstruck in the audience. I swear to God, I was like, ‘Am I at an Aerosmith concert?’”

Châteauneuf described her experience hearing the band’s original piece, “Shatter,” as “love at first song.” She began singing it to herself around the house in the following weeks while exploring the rest of cutsleeve’s 2020 EP, the parts we could not abandon. She became a true cutsleeve fan.

Over a year later, in August 2023, Châteauneuf was announced as cutsleeve’s latest vocalist.

Châteauneuf joins Winters, drummer Lian McMillan, bassist Hillary Fong, and rhythm guitarist and vocalist Amanda Wong in the group that describes itself as a queer, East and Southeast Asian rock band.

But bringing Châteauneuf on board was not a quick process. It was a decision that required months of patience from the now-vocalist and months of decision-making from fellow bandmates.

Chanel Fu had been cutsleeve’s lead vocalist up until July 2022.

“We’ve known for a long time that Chanel wouldn’t be with us forever because of her goals in medicine,” said McMillan. “It was just sort of a question of when.”

While the band had previously played some shows without Fu, she officially announced her departure via Instagram on July 13, 2022. The following day, a farewell show was scheduled for the last day of the month.

“It was nice to have that proper closure and give everybody the chance to say goodbye,” said McMillan.

Châteauneuf had heard early whispers about cutsleeve’s potential new opening through her roommate. Rumour or not, she sent an Instagram DM to cutsleeve’s band account, introducing herself and asking for the opportunity to audition.

“We got the really nice message from Emmanuelle and we were like, ‘This is very sweet and nice,’ but with COVID going on, and we didn’t know what was happening with Chanel, and we didn’t know what was happening with the band, we just weren’t in the place to consider bringing somebody else on,” said McMillan.

The band replied to Châteauneuf, asking her to get back in touch in several months.

“It also just took us some time to reconcile with the fact that Chanel was leaving because obviously, she’s such an important part of the band and a dear friend to all of us,” said McMillan.

cutsleeve went through a period of playing shows with Wong singing lead vocals, before taking some time away from the band entirely to focus on their individual lives and determine next steps.  After some reflection, they decided to reach out to people they knew to audition a new lead vocalist.

“The most important thing to us is that whoever is singing with us has the same mindset, has the same values [and] gets along with us,” said McMillan.

cutsleeve has been composed of queer, East and Southeast Asian members since its inception in 2017, when McMillan first made a callout for bandmates.

As a fan, Châteauneuf was inspired to see a band of people like her on the stage. From the ages of 3-16, she was a semi-professional ballet dancer living in Sault Ste. Marie. She said her years as a dancer were challenging due to the racism she faced in both her northern Ontario town and in general dance culture.

“It just put a really bad taste in my mouth,” said Châteauneuf. “I was always told I belonged on the back line and it was never expressly stated why […] but it was because I was darker than everyone.”

She called it a “dream come true” to see a band of queer, Asian, and mixed-race people performing together.

“cutsleeve came around and just listening to their music, seeing them perform, and even watching their Instagram made me pull my head out of my butt,” said Châteauneuf. “It just brought me back to life again.”

But members of cutsleeve, such as Fong, also recognize the complexities of labeling their band based on identity.

“I have complicated feelings about how much labels get emphasized in our culture,” said Fong. “For the most part, queer culture in [Toronto] isn’t necessarily radical, when queer history at its origins is meant to be radical, so it’s really hard when you put too much weight on it and there’s nothing backing it up.”

Fong also has a different experience with Asian representation than Châteauneuf, having listened to East and Southeast Asian music since high school.

“I think we sometimes get caught up too much in ‘Oh my God, this person is like me’ when they, politically, might have no commonality at all.”

During their interview with Alternative Motive, a conversation between Fong and Châteauneuf transpired, as they discussed their varying experiences with representation. The members’ exchange was a prime example of sharing similar values but still engaging in new and thoughtful conversations with one another. It showcased why cutsleeve invited Châteauneuf to audition for the band.

During Châteauneuf’s audition, she sang “Shatter.”

“Some songs [like ‘Shatter’] require a level of conviction and power to communicate the meaning […] and it was just very obvious that Emmanuelle had a strong voice that didn’t have much resistance to hit those upper ranges,” said Fong.

McMillan added that when Fu left the band, live performances were missing the interaction between Fu and Wong’s voices. With Châteauneuf on the lineup, they could gain back their balance. Châteauneuf was offered a spot in the band.

Everything culminated at a show on August 6, 2023, when the latest iteration of cutsleeve performed for the first time.

With only three rehearsals under their belt, the band supported The Sonder Bombs during one of The Baby’s G’s Happy Sundays shows.

“Shatter” was on the setlist. Châteauneuf said the song has grown with her over time, initially reminding her of romantic partners, then friend breakups, and now the transition between her performance journeys.

“When we performed it [at The Baby G], I guess the energy I wanted to channel was saying goodbye to my hometown, saying goodbye to that dream, and saying goodbye to my old crew – my old ‘band’ – my dance girls.”

The performance was full circle for Châteauneuf, who first became a fan of cutsleeve watching Fu sing “Shatter” on The Baby G’s stage. This time, as Châteauneuf stood amongst her new bandmates singing the same song, Fu watched from the audience.

Alt New Monthly

August 2023’s Alt New Monthly features the cutsleeve song that started it all for Emmanuelle Châteauneuf, new music from MONOWHALES, and an ode to all the friends we made through bracelets.

To find songs previously featured in the Alt New Monthly playlist, check out the Alt New Archives on Spotify.

Thank you for reading the fifth edition of Alternative Motive. Be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already and follow Alternative Motive on Instagram and TikTok.

Until September,
Kendra