Girls to the Front Festival brings increased volume to Vancouver debut

rock outfit in Vancouver. They have done several tours around North America and Europe and have even had songs appear on popular video games. White and her bandmates aim to keep the momentum going, even if that just means getting their music placed in a movie soundtrack.“I don’t really want to be famous,” White confesses. “But I think the idea of having a song that you wrote together creatively impact a scene—like, if there’s a scene where characters are crying and there’s a WAIT//LESS song playing—that would be cool.”Crimson Funeral’s Madeline Manson is out for blood. Sometimes literally. Tanya Goehring Madeline Manson, the frontwoman and songwriter of the goth punk band Crimson Funeral, is looking to inject some fun into her band’s sound. “The secret is to look it up online and try to use a rusty handdrill,” she jokes when asked how she gets her deep, growling vocals. Despite the dark and moody music, Manson herself is quite the opposite: bubbly, effervescent, and quick with a joke or reference.“I’m a very visual person,” she tells the Straight. “When I write lyrics, I’ll see a movie in my head and then just write down what I’m feeling about it. It’s kind of like making mini-movies every time,” says Manson, whose recent inspiration came from watching The Conjuring 2. She promises that the music of Crimson Funeral won’t depress you.“If you’re making art that’s honest, then it’s going to appeal to people, whether it’s dark or light. Either way, it’s going to resonate with someone on some level,” she says.Crimson Funeral is currently recording a second album, full of big riffs they hope will lead to international tours and getting their music placement on television and in movies. “The dream is to spread our music as far and wide as possible,” Manson mentions.Gadfly’s Homa Khoshnavaz found a home in Vancouver’s music community after fleeing Iran. Tanya Goehring The first song that Homa Khoshnavaz ever wrote was about her experience of moving from Iran to Vancouver. “It’s called ‘ILLEGAL.’ It’s a bit of a punky goth song,” she says with a giggle, mentioning that she recently recorded a 10-minute version of it because she kept adding things.“Every single person who has come and seen Gadfly play comes back and goes, ‘Wow, it was so intense,’ ” she says. “But I don’t think it’s me; I think it’s where I’ve been and what I carry with me from having to leave my people.”Although the band started out as a solo project for Khoshnavaz, Gadfly has blossomed into a full-fledged, expressive project featuring the likes of Kittie drummer Mercedes Lander.Khoshnavaz says she hopes that Gadfly, which added Lamin Sillah for live purposes, creates a “baking-tray full of bugs” feeling through her music—a strong reaction that leaves the listener confused but eager for more.“We didn’t have the term back home, but Vancouver has this underbelly thing where people encourage artists who want to try something else,” Khoshnavaz says, calling the city her “new home.”Girls to the Front Vancouver takes place on Monday, March 14, at the Pearl with headliners WAIT//LESS, PISS, and Down The Lees. For full festival information and tickets, click here.