Fest Shalom is here! This weekend Beth Shalom’s best bands play Signature Brew Haggerston, and we caught up with Americansignlanguage to chat about the festival and their live show.
This will be a farewell show for Americansignlanguage – what will you miss most about live music?
I’m not moving away from live music! I’m just not performing in it anymore, if you’ve seen us before you’ll know that most of the performance is in the crowd so the only real difference is I won’t have the microphone…so I guess I will miss the microphone?
What can we expect from one of the final shows?
Chaos.
Hardly any time on a stage.
Probably a lot of tears.
How hard was it to make the decision to call it a day?
It was the most difficult decision I’ve made, I have loved being ASL for the last 5 year! Playing shows and making so many friends along the way has shaped all of us and I personally am extremely proud of what we have achieved but ASL was created as a platform for better mental health, it’s purpose was to open a discussion and for me to free the feelings I had locked away. For a long time it was cathartic to express myself so openly but in recent times I have let go of that part of me and found who I am so revisiting my past self on stage has become hurtful.
Much as the start of ASL was what I needed for my health, the end is the same but I will cherish what we created forever.
What has it been like working with Beth Shalom?
BSR is a family. The tagline of being genre-fluid really does nail it. We have had the chance to meet, perform and create friends in scenes that we were never a part of before. Our time with the label has musically and socially shaped us. I will never forget Joe emailing us back so quickly from sending I EXIST over, his passion was unmatched and that’s why we decided to join the family.
Which band on the Fest Shalom lineup are you most excited to catch and why?
I don’t play by the rules so I’m gonna give 3…
Autumnboy is gonna be amazing! Lee’s music has been a huge part of my life and dragged me through some tough parts of the lockdowns so I’m excited to happy cry as I sing along!
Kieran P.A because dang that man is handsome and I’ve loved watching him play on stage ever since we played our first hometown headline with Baby Names and Pet Library.
It goes without saying that I will be going mad during itoldyouiwouldeatyou! They have been the cornerstone of my experience in this community and personally have helped me with my identity via their music, ideology and personalities!
You can purchase tickets to Fest Shalom here. DO IT!