Nest Fest is coming!
The NAIT Students’ Association will be hosting a three-day Nest Fest Beer Gardens welcome event on September 13-15 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on 103 Street between the Spartan Centre and L-Building.
This event will be a great opportunity for returning and new students to come together beer and some socializing.
Kicking off the all-Canadian entertainment on Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. is Albertan country music artist Brett Kissel.
On Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. The Wet Secrets, an indie/rock band from Edmonton, will perform. Wrapping up the event on Thursday is DJ Human Kebab.
Kissel has been on an upward trajectory ever since he released his first album, Keepin’ It Country, when he was 12.
A fifth-generation Albertan, the 26-year-old grew up on a cattle ranch and, in the beginning, that background made him a natural draw for Alberta’s farming and rodeo communities.
“I’m from the farming community of Flat Lake, Alberta,” he told an interviewer, “and the reason I have to say that is because the surrounding communities have all kind of adopted me. It’s six farmyards and a community hall.”
That boy from Flat Lake has grown into a seasoned performer and this year, he has been nominated for five Canadian Country Music Association awards – Fans’ Choice, Male Artist of the Year, Single of the Year, (“Airwaves”), Interactive Artist or Group of the Year and Producer of the Year.
The 2016 CCMA Awards Show is set to take place at Budweiser Gardens in London, ON on Sept. 11, two days before his appearance at NAIT.
NAITSA’s Campus Culture Director, Jennifer Grundke, said she is delighted that Kissel will be performing at Nest Fest because she has observed first hand how he can work a crowd.
“After we worked with Kissel last year while volunteering at the Barnburner Music Fest in Darwell, AB, our team was impressed with his ability to get the crowd absolutely roaring, up out of their chairs and singing along,” she said this week.
“This fond memory sat in the back of our minds since. We kept an eye on what Kissel was up to and with his recent success at the CCMA award nominations we couldn’t help but want to book him for a campus show.”
Kissel also recently performed at a Fort McMurray Fire Aid benefit concert in Edmonton and flew to Fort McMurray to see the destruction for himself. He headlined the Country Music Association Global Artist Showcase in Nashville in June and will open for country artist Brad Paisley prior to host-ing and performing at the Western Canadian Music Awards Show in October.
Last year was a breakout year for Kissel with eight Top 10 singles and the single “Airwaves” reaching No. 1 in Canada. He recently was presented with a gold record for his hit single “Started With A Song.”
The second night of Nest Fest will feature Wet Secrets, with their red and white marching band uniforms with a blend of horns, synthesizers, bass, percussion, drums and voice.
Formed in 2005, the band produced two albums in two years and then took a break while the members took on other projects.
The band released a new album, Free Candy, in early 2014. It was nominated for Best Rock Recording by the Western Can-adian Music Awards in 2014 and, in 2015, the band won the Edmonton Music Award for Album of the Year for Free Candy and Music Video of the Year for Nightlife.
In January 2016, The Wet Secrets released an EP, I Can Live Forever.
Wrapping up the three-day event is Jason “Human Kebab” Parsons. Parsons resides in Toronto and forms half of alternative rock music’s USS.
As Human Kebab, he has performed multiple times as DJ alongside Canadian hip hop artist Maestro Fresh-Wes.
-Image provided.
