Bryan Power, Artistic Director at Lawnya Vawnya

Bryan Power is the Artistic Director of the Lawnya Vawnya Music and Art Festival in St John’s, Newfoundland. He took the AD role in 2013 and, with the support of the keen LV crew, helped grow the festival into what it is today.

Bryan is based in Toronto these days where he works in Music Supervision, Programming and Artist Management under the umbrella of NoMission Music.

What is your favourite part about your job?

ADing a festival like Lawnya Vawnya makes me pay attention to what's new. I love new. Old is good too. But new drives us down streaming wormholes and makes for great music chats with like-minded people.

What is the biggest challenge you face in your job?

Saying no to incredible bands because we just don't have the room. We book about 20-30 bands from outside the province in various genres and the programming fills up quickly. Emailing rejection letters to friends is the actual worst.

What do you look for in an artist you want to work with?

We look for a great live show, friendly people, and they should be willing to come for the duration of the festival to play and hang out/party with us. We get lonely out here.

Favourite musical genre(s)?

I like anything fuzzy or jammy or both. Psych, shoegaze. Any band that can depart from their album song structure and improvise to make something new (see: long)

Go-to Karaoke song?

So Far Away - Dire Straits

Top 3 favourite albums released in 2018?

U.S. Girls "In a Poem Unlimited"
Graham Van Pelt "Mountainside"
Lucy Dacus "Historian"

Poutine, shawarma or pho?

Sure!