Additional Information
Originating in Philadelphia, Making Time, a festival curated by artistic director Dave P, is returning to the SAT for the third consecutive year this Saturday, October 3, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following morning. The SAT venue and the Satosphère will be fully dedicated to showcasing eight local and international artists highly regarded by founder and curator Dave P. and Alexandre Auché, the SAT’s programming director, who have worked together to curate this lineup, which includes Dopplereffekt, Aurora Halal, Massimiliano Pagliara, OKO DJ, not to mention Olof Dreijer—one half of The Knife—and visuals by Klip Kollective. So PAN M 360 is suggesting this conversation between Alain Brunet and the masterminds of Making Time at SAT.
PAN M 360 : So Dave and Alex, let’s talk about Making Time, which is the main festival you founded and now happening for a third year Montreal version.
Alexandre Auché: We met together with other good friends we have in common. So it was like some festival, more than 20 years ago. We really never presented properly, but once I was in Barcelona, Tiga was playing at the Mitzah Apollo Club and Dave was backstage and me too. And so we started hanging out and we had really interesting discussions and good laughs, so Dave P told me about Making Time festival. That was in 2022, so he had the vision of the festival. It’s probably more like the type of festival we were used to have in Europe for years. So I was like, wow that’s so cool. Like someone wants to do it in a proper way. You know, make a festival for the people and the artists. The first time I came was in 2022.
PAN M 360: So you decided to do a smaller version of Making Time in Montreal.
Dave P : Alex approached me but yeah, it was three years ago about the possibility of doing We had already done New Year’s Eve
Alexandre Auché: Yeah, we did. We did the New Years Eve party together like I brought you to just play in Montreal.
Dave P: Yeah, it kind of started there. When Alex brought me to play on New Year’s Eve and then we started to talk about this idea of bringing the festival which also really started as a party and you know that the Making Time party started 26 years ago in May of 2000. The party was a club night but this is the sixth edition of the festival this year the festival started in 2021. It’s been 26 years now. I still do the parties in Philadelphia, and now we do the parties in other cities. I guess I would consider more of what we’re doing at SAT is like an extension of the club party and the festival. Because you know, it’s such a deep lineup, it’s more of a festival style lineup, especially when we’re doing the two floors. But it’s very reminiscent and kind of a nod to the parties as well because that’s kind of like, you know It’s very similar to what we do here in Philadelphia at some of the clubs here and we still do it.
PAN M 360: Would you do in Montreal a bigger version of Making Time someday Alex?
Alexandre Auché: Yeah, why not ? I think I really want, but we have to be realistic. You know, it’s also difficult to make another big festival or middle festival in Montreal where we already have major electronic festivals like MUTEK.
Dave P: One of the cornerstones of the festival is the location, Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia. And if we were to doing something bigger an extension of the actual festival somewhere else I think it would be very location dependent to yeah What would be amazing is if we were able to find like a you know Like a really magical location similar to something like Fort Mifflin in The Montreal area and then do like after parties at SAT I mean, that would be amazing. But and if it were possible if we’re possible then I would love to do it I mean Montreal seems like a very logical location for us to do something outside of Philadelphia Like it would be the first time we do the festival outside of Philadelphia and Montreal would make sense because of our relationship in the years that we’ve been establishing the event there.So it would be it would be a dream but I don’t know. Why not ?
PAN M 360: Well, anyways it’s very cool to see a sort of friendship becoming an event.
Alexandre Auché: I think Dave is special because he’s taking care of the music, the curation is really really good and the location is amazing and for me a festival which represents for me half of the festival’s success. You know, the public experience is perfect, it’s marvelous. Everybody is cool, no need for a lot of security, no fights. It’s marvelous. People are here for the music and it’s all ages.
Dave P. : Yeah it’s very diverse. One of the things that creates the experience is that it’s a somewhat older audience in terms of festival culture. So it does span a wide range like, you know, there’s people I mean, I’m 51, you know. So it’s like there’s people in their 50s and then there’s but there’s 21 year old kids there and they’re all getting along and they’re all you know, they’re all there. They’re all there for the same reason I mean it is like Alex said it’s a music first event. Yeah
PAN M 360: Well when the music gets deeper, the generation aspect disappears
Dave P: That’s cool and that’s I mean that’s for me that’s important, you know, it’s important I mean, like I said, I’m 51. There’s people that used to come to the party 26 years ago, right that are my age and don’t feel comfortable coming to the Making Time party at a club anymore. There’s no way they’re coming. They’re not gonna come but they come to the festival because it is their opportunity to have that experience. But you know in a different environment, they feel more comfortable, this is a question of environment.
PAN M 360: Well, most of the human beings stop being curious at some point of their life but there’s still enough humans who remain curious… and attend Making Time, among other events of this kind.
Dave P: I definitely agree with that.
PAN M 360: So it’s all night long in Montreal, from Saturday night to Sunday morning.
Alexandre Auché: It’s from 10 PM to 5 AM.
PAN M 360: We can just pinpoint the main acts and just explain it you both of you.
Dave P: I start with t-nex. Alex sent me a list of some Montreal DJs to choose from, so I chose t-nex because I think that I mean it was his sound that was like the perfect sound for opening the night. And I think he’s going to be a great DJ to set the tone for the experience and I’m really excited to have him play. Next would be me (laughs). I’ll be playing transcendental futuristic sounds. Then I could mention Massimiliano Pagliara, a legend, I mean he can play anything ! He’s truly a DJ’s DJ, a true DJ selector, one of the best of our time. I haven’t had a chance to book him in a long time and I’ve been wanting to have him play the festival. So I’m really excited to have him play in Montreal.
Alexandre Auché: But it’s important to say that we worked on the artist selection but also on the setup, I mean the way that people are gonna feel the night through its progression and the transition between artists. Some live sets are gonna be on the stage, but there will also be DJ’s in front of the stage, because we don’t want to cut the experience. We want people to live a perfect experience, in the same spirit of the Philly’s festival.
Dave P: Yeah, an important component of making time at the parties and the festival is that the music never stops. There’s no changeovers. One of the things I hate about festivals and just shows and and just like like musical experience in general is like changeovers when there’s like the artist playing and then there’s a gap and then they’re playing like house music like meaning like music in the like one in between the artists and it just disrupts the flow and and I think that’s an important part of the experiences like having this continuous progression from our one artist to the other. And Alex and I worked very hard and very closely on establishing that for this event in Montreal. That was a true collaboration between Alex and I.We sat together and we went over the lineup and the progression.
PAN M 360: Other comments on artist selected ?
Dave P: I would mention OKO DJ, who honestly played one of my favorite sets of the festival this year. She could pretty much do anything, so he played an amazing opening set in Philadelphia. That wasn’t necessarily like dance music. It was more like really smart experimental electronic, more avant-garde. So it was just a very good transition into the next phase of the festival, but also OKO DJ can play like slamming techno. It’s probably what she’s gonna do at SAT. On Saturday, she’ll definitely be playing more of a techno set and I’m excited to see her that other side of her very great ability. She’s just an incredibly versatile DJ and I’m excited to see her play in that kind of experience.
And then there’s Aurora Halal who’s almost like a Making Time resident artist at this point. She’s played Making Time many times. Because she’s one of the best techno DJs in the world ! She also does a festival in the family of Making Time that’s called Sustain-Release. We actually talk a lot with her about bookings and we actually like coordinating with bookings because her festival is the week before Making Time. So we actually work closely on bookings for both of our festivals every year. So it’s amazing to have her. She also did one of our nearest events in Montreal at SAT.
Alexandre Auché: She is also a good friend of us, she’s really respected in the Montreal scene, lots of Montreal artists go to Sustain-Release. So she is part of the Montreal family. And her set is gonna be amazing. And it’s gonna be a new live set and she’s super excited to play it.
Dave P: Then we have Olof Dreijer and that’s just gonna be I mean, I love that new record Loud Bloom. He DJed the festival last year at Making Time and I’m just really excited to see this live set. I’ve heard amazing things about it, it’s a true AV experience, a full sensory experience and it’d be a really cool thing to do. Yeah it’s just gonna really adds to the diversity of the whole event.
Alexandre Auché: And it’s important to also have Olof downstairs in the main room because we have all the production equipment for this kind of show with video projectors. Really good sound and light. So it’ll be an amazing experience for the people.
Dave P: And then of course, there’s Dopplereffekt, really not much to say except for you know, they’re just classic Electro like means that it’s just that’s gonna be incredible and they were amazing at the festival two weeks ago and yeah, I’m just I’m excited.
Alexandre Auché: It’s an honor to have them play, it’s also interesting to have them back in Montreal because they didn’t play in Montreal for a long time.
