The OnRush Festival in Stratford, Ontario has announced the first headliner for their inaugural festival will be Canadian independent artists Bedouin Soundclash.
The band will be performing on the Long & McQuade Stage at The Hall on Saturday, April 6, 2024.
Canadian indie rock and reggae royalty Bedouin Soundclash took a creative hiatus after climbing to the pinnacle of the Canadian music industry, and now they’re back better than ever to continue the next chapter in their singular genre-defying career – a career which has seen them celebrated at home and abroad with JUNO awards, Top 10 radio hits, and international tours with No Doubt, Ben Harper, The Interrupters, and Thievery Corporation.
This year Bedouin Soundclash return with a brand new album titled We Will Meet in a Hurricane, on Dine Alone Records.
Formed nearly two decades ago and named after Israeli dub artist/producer Badawi’s 1996 release, Bedouin Soundclash debuted in 2001 with the album Root Fire.
Their acclaimed sophomore release, Sounding a Mosaic (2004), featured the hit single “When the Night Feels My Song” and was produced by legendary punk-hardcore royalty Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains.
This earned Bedouin Soundclash their first JUNO Award in 2006 for Canada’s Best New Group.
Their follow-up album, Street Gospels (2007), also produced by Jenifer, earned a “Pop Album of the Year” nomination at the 2008 JUNOs as well as three Much Music Video Award nominations for “Until We Burn in the Sun” in 2009.
In 2010, the band released their fourth studio album, Light the Horizon, including the singles “Mountain Top,” “Elongo” and “Brutal Hearts” – the latter featuring French-Canadian singer-songwriter Coeur de Pirate. The album was produced with technical and theory-based precision by legendary deep house DJ and Philadelphia-based musicologist, King Britt.
In 2019, after a nine-year hiatus, the band re-emerged to release their fifth studio album, MASS, also produced by King Britt.
The album was a powerful experience that spanned two communities, recorded in New Orleans with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and in Vancouver at the St. James Church with the children of the St. James Music Academy.
SWOMP had the opportunity to interview Bedouin’s frontman Jay Malinowski last year. Listen to the interview, below:
The vision of the OnRush Festival is to provide a platform for regional unsigned and independent artists to gain experience and exposure and to introduce them to the tools necessary to continue their growth.
The first OnRush Festival will be held from April 4 – 7, 2024 in Stratford Ontario.
For more information, please see https://onrushfestival.ca/.