ARTISTS AND WORKSHOPS 2026

ANTI-NOTHING, the fiery DJ who fearlessly embraces her provocative persona, crafting cacophonous beats that defy convention and cater to the delightfully disruptive. With an avant-garde edge, her music is a bold fusion of chaos and rhythm, irresistibly drawing in those who revel in the unconventional.

Backhomes is the long-running musical project of Aimee van Drimmelen and Kees Dekker. The duo play a hypnotic blend of psychedelic pop driven by fuzzy guitars, and echoing organs. They will be releasing their third album in 2026.

pulsing rhythmic hardcore dystopic dance trash

Amateur theologians, professional artistes

COLLECTIVE ECHOES (Vancouver Island) blends Trip Hop, Dub, Funk, and Reggae into slow-building, immersive sound. Flute, synth, bass, and drums weave through echo and space, moving from ambient drift into deep, dance-ready grooves.

Crotch combines field recordings, songwriting, and improvisation on an assortment of instruments. Their performances incorporate handmade costumes, lights, guest musicians and dancers to address topics such as abuses of power, feminism, occultism in the modern era, mental illness, counter-culture, psychedelia, and altered states.

Humour and despair grapple on a cerebral plain. Whiskey is drunk in the aftermath. Tragic and hilarious, profane, surreal, occasionally profound, and sometimes deeply personal

DJ MOLLY POCKET, aka Nina Parrotta, is an emerging freestyle DJ, producer, live musician and partygirl residing on Lekwungen territory. MOLLY brings to the stage high concept dissonance, melancholy, and unconventional song structures. She is inspired by early 2000s UK dubstep and John Cage esque musical performance art.

Justine Chambers teaches attendees The Electric Slide. The Electric Slide is a popular 18-to-22 step line dance created by choreographer Richard "Ric" Silver in 1976 for a New York City club, set to Bunny Wailer's "Electric Boogie".

Special thanks to Crimson Coast Dance for bringing this amazing dance class to Sunk City!

What happens when you grow up pissed off, angry, and emotional? You turn it into noise.
Gadfly was formed by Homa and Nigel Young, with bassist Hansen Thingvold. It’s a bilingual, genre-obliterating scream in the face of erasure, repression, and whatever fake shit the scene is selling.

Nanaimo Hardcore- Punk, excessively political and hard hitting music for the punks, weirdos, people and apes alike!

Hank Pine is a queer Canadian multi-instrumentalist blending hip-hop, punk, rock, dark cabaret, disco, and theatrical performance.
Boss Saint B is a theatre and performance powerhouse, clown instructor, and rapper that blends real stories, melodic hooks, and West Coast swagger, delivering raw energy, ambition, and authentic Canadian hip-hop vibes with global appeal.

Explore improvisation through sequencer based electronic music with MOONBEAN.

Sequencer-based Improvisation entails the synchronizing of one or more electronic instruments together via a “Master Clock”, then using sequencers, sound design, audio mixers, and effects, to spontaneously compose fluid and spontaneous music in real-time.

MASSIRRAYTORR arrives at the conduit of rock glory with mad respect to Hawkwind while bathing in a stew of Monster Magnet stirred by a disturbed Grand Funk that flows into Motorhead swimming in a cocktail of cough medicine with the angel of dark lightened with the love of the herb. Welcome to the head of MASSIRRAYTORR.

The Queen of Nanaimo is here, and she’s ready to play! Olivia Leads has been the heart and soul of Nanaimo Drag for over 6 years, and she continues to set the bar higher and higher. Join Olivia and her Dolls as they have fun in the sun, and give everyone a lesson in Drag 101

Emo pop trio from Nanaimo and Duncan BC. These 3 young musicians have made a name for themselves through their energetic blend of emo, pop, and punk stylings and memorable ballad tracks. Since 2024 they have played countless shows, selling out all ages venues across Vancouver Island.

Sejal is a violinist, singer, and songwriter originally from Surrey BC, now based in Nanaimo. Using her vocals, violin, and loop station, she crafts layered and lush vocal and string arrangements, drawing inspiration from western classical, hindustani, folk, jazz, r&b, soul, and pop music. Sejal's debut album "Water" will be released in spring 2026.

Small Pleasures is a post-punk duo from Victoria. Inspired by early 80s dark-wave pioneers, the band is a fusion between Viny’s fuzzed out bass backed by Nevada’s textured drums and triggered synth mixed with lofty vocal melodies.

Cosmic Dust will enlighten spirits with their hypnotic sounds of handpan, flute, tabla, synth and vocals as Alex guides participants through the anatomy of a Sun Salutation; first deconstructing the sequence to reveal each individual pose within, and eventually stringing them together to find the flow.

A folk troubadour with a proudly Inuvialuit heart, Willie Thrasher’s road-worn country rock is a vital piece of Indigenous Canadiana, properly venerated after several of his tracks were featured on the 2014 Grammy-nominated compilation Native North America (Vol. 1). Performing alongside the ever talented Linda Saddleback, these two are here to get us to our feet!

By providence, Aster Dawn has cracked the code and is prepared to bare it all! Amidst ongoing chaos, find momentary relief from psychic strain and mental fatigue. A new digital alternative to the mindfulness phone app, jack in to an electro sanctuary free from the chronic headache.

battys at the mill

<3 dark soothing elevator craft station synth ride <3

Brookie Boi (formerly Brooke Bath and Beyond) creates live soundscapes using her voice, guitar, and heirloom omnichord. She layers of a mix of haunting melodies and vocal harmonies tapping into lyricism written from real-life experiences with mental health. Her music opens a space to share relatable frustrations, connection and dance.

Imagine Nina Hagen and Lemmy backed by Public Enemy’s drum machine on a heavy metal-meets-techno acid trip. Nanaimo BC’s Caveman & The Banshee (aka Dave Read and Valentina Cardinalli) have been blowing up stages across Canada since late 2021 with their lethal psychedelic electro punk –meets-psychedelic performance art live shows.

A "genre-bending supergroup whose pulsing instrumentals can simultaneously form the centre of a raucous party and serve as a dreamy background soundtrack." - The Discourse

An intoxicating bass house, dnb, and jungle set by Daddy Liquid with surprise drag performances by Sovereign Ace and Zoe The Strange. Expect big party time vibes, weird and/or sexy dance performances, and a healthy dose of clowning.

Death Proof is a 4 piece sonic cacophony that combines elements of sludge, punk, and noise. With blistering riffs that devolve into a glacial crawl, thunderous rhythms, and a ritualistic worship of high-gain amplification, Death Proof will transcend you deep into the all-consuming void.

A duo collapsing boundaries between sound, body, and image. Moving through music, poetry, humour, and raw performance, they build immersive set that feel part ritual, part rupture. Ever shifting, intimacy meets noise and nothing stays fixed for long.

Elise Boulanger is a classically-trained Orchestral Indie-Pop artist from Vancouver/Nanaimo, BC. She is known for a commanding, angelic voice that draws frequent comparisons to Kate Bush and Florence & The Machine. Boulanger weaves ukulele, symphonic strings, drums and autoharp into dramatic songs in English and French drenched in beauty and uplifting environmentalism and social advocacy.

GMO - The Gabriola Microsynth Orchestra was formed in 2018, as a collaboration between Dinah D, Trevor Gear, Andreas Kahre and Alex Varty, — four seasoned performers with a soft spot for the intimate sonic world of embodied electronics; noise generators, crackle boxes, samplers and synthesizers controlled by human gestures, bananas and other edible objects.

Group Vision: Mastermind Material by Nxc Hxgxhs (Maskara, Shearing Pinx). The original line-up debuted their noise punk no wave condition at Music Waste 2013 in E.Van and lasted until 2019. Faster, sharper, danger lover - glamour clamour cloak and dagger —> the new lineup is here to RIP IT ! MyNaimo Faction

Long running project of songwriter Ryan Beattie. Tonely sounding instrumentation and wistful melody.

New album The Chimes coming summer 2026

Our Indigenous-based blues-hip hop group is a direct reflection of who we are as people in our respective communities. Having lived through experiences battling mental health challenges (PTSD, trauma, anxiety, depression) and substance abuse; we now spread hope, unity and connection.

m-a will guide a gentle full body stretch & some mellow flow at mellowdrama. she will be joined by nodata (jesse lough and dane letourneau) who will be offering guitar & effects-based soundscapes for a gentle musical backdrop to augment the experience

PINDN is a Kwakwa̲ka̲'wakw and Nuu-Cha-Nulth M.C born on lək̓ʷəŋən Territory (A.K.A Victoria B.C) who in over 4 years of recovery from addictions has found immense healing in expressing himself through lyricism in the genre of Hip-Hop which he views to be an innovative, creative-native, continuation of their nation’s oldest tradition of storytelling.

A lo-fi freak music duo, Reveal Yourself play bubblegum-egg-punk earworms with tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Their live shows are saturated in feminist camp satire: left-field out of pocket performances for odd ducks and weirdos. Distorted looney-tuney zany fuzzy jumpy funny high energy boy girl party.

music began as ceremony; as a more direct power. we want to utilize our modern tools to remind others of these ancient roots. we want to invoke a regulation or release of pain.

The glitchy experiments of State n Divison – AKA composer Carlos Arteaga – has been entrancing audiences for years. Drawing intense influence from IDM artists like Squarepusher, State’s unpredictable sound veers from droning noise to skin-crawling synthesizer blasts, charting a thrilling ride to the outer edges of electronic experimentation.

I make electronic music on my modular synthesizers. I patch from scratch, improvise a while, and the thing builds into a big wild sound. Sometimes this music features a manipulated sample, maybe ravens, or geese, or writing, read.

Ay Lelum is a multi-generational Coast Salish Design House and Recording Artist from Nanaimo, B.C., located on the Snuneymuxw First Nation. Sisters, Aunalee and Sophia record music in hul'q'umi'num' language and English as part of the design process for collections, capturing the essence of Coast Salish culture through art, language, music and wearable art garments.

Ambient fahey esc funeral folk based from Nanaimo

The Brutal Joy, created and performed by Justine Chambers, draws from the Electric Slide and Black dandyism as embodied knowledge sources for self-actualization in the present through a dance of future possibilities.

Special thanks to Crimson Coast Dance for bringing this amazing performance to Sunk City!

Chris Fretwell plays the langspil, weaving nordic folk melodies with effects pedals, synthesizers and midi controllers. Dreamy drones and harmonies, alongside gritty bass and beats, form the backdrop for a traditional Icelandic bowed instrument.

Croquis is a durational performance that explores the idea of a “croquis”—a quick, expressive sketch of a garment, often the first step towards bringing an idea into tangible reality. With it’s ephemeral handmade paper costume, Croquis illuminates Ralph’s fascination with codes of fashion and his act of constructing materials by hand.

Special thanks to Crimson Coast Dance for bringing this amazing performance to Sunk City!

Known for crafting music that is both intimate and otherworldly, Dana Sipos coaxes silkworms out of their cocoons and spins them into song. She inhabited the far north before going nomad and her captivatingly nuanced songs are filled with a wild wind and a haunting surrealism.

Heavy Queer Punk, Hardcore Riffs meets Synth Drone

Longtime husband and wife duo Papi Fimbres and Shana Lindbeck filter Latin dance rhythms through a portal of krautrock and electronic club music.

Felonious Parker the lyrical dominator delivering devilish delights from the nether regions of the light ⚡️

mutated electro-trash

Handyman - "We're workin on it"

Reimagining the world isn't escapism. Decades of research show that when people imagine alternatives together, they build resilience and the ability to respond to crisis, especially when institutions are failing. When people believe together that change is possible, they're more likely to act. Studies also show that imagining better futures in a group is vastly more effective than doing it alone.

Dream Pop Noir — Forest Hush. City Noise, shaped by mood and melody. A versatile and seasoned performer, Fawn has shared the stage with acts ranging from The Swans to Fred Penner to Grimes. Performing with Marco Bozenich (MeatDraw) and anyone else who wants to jump in, as Lily Fawn Electric

Myles Black (he/him) is a settler of Irish and Scottish ancestry who grew up on Snuneymuxw land on Gabriola Island. He works as a truck driver but lives to make music and volunteer. As a songwriter, teacher and recording artist, Myles is passionate about community-minded care and making music more accessible.

Nanaimo-bred home-grown slacker rock for the buzziest of brains and fuzziest of hearts. Collapse yourself inward to the beat of the drums! Hailing influences such as Eric's Trip and Rilo Kiley, Sunk City will be Red Giant’s debut performance as a full band.

Sea Moss is Zach D'Agostino and Noa Ver, a duo based out of Portland Oregon, specializing in homemade electronics, lopsided dance beats, and analog noise. Their music melds angular grooves with pummeling rhythms and DIY sensibilities

Just picture if Frank Black had a baby with Patti Smith but that baby doesn’t like being put in a box, so come find out for yourself.

Comprising anywhere between 3 and 8 members depending on the moon phase. Expect visually stunning sculpture as instruments, shopping carts loaded with trashed instruments, drills as guitar pics and a few tricks not even Nostradamus could have predicted. For fans of Zoviet France, Einsturzende Neubauten and Taj Mahal Travellers.

A workshop led by Legendary OA Mother Posh Gvasalia, that covers foundations of Ballroom history, both local and international, and shares insights into Ballroom etiquette along with basics of Vogue Femme.

Special thanks to Crimson Coast Dance for bringing this amazing workshop to Sunk City!