THE MORE THE MERRIER: MONSTERCAT COMPOUND 2019 PRESENTED BY SAPPORO

The ground wasn’t the only thing shook by the massive amount of fans who attended our annual block party last Saturday. We’re always floored by how open and welcoming our community is, and the weekend was yet another reminder of just how supportive—and large—the Monstercat family has grown over the last three years!

Welcome back to Monstercat Compound!

 

Monstercat Compound represents a bit of everything we see for the future of music. The idea is that, backed by the best supporters and partners in the industry and the City of Vancouver, we provide a place where people can tap into their exploratory instincts and be themselves. For seven hours, Railtown leaves the world behind and becomes an environment where all of our core values can be poured into a melting pot and served on a silver platter. Unencumbered by the worries and stresses plaguing our everyday lives, participants are free to explore to their heart’s content. Two hours into Monstercat Compound 2019, the grounds were already filled with memorable moments being made by the minute.

The point of Compound is to champion the community and the artists that live to share their work. We do away with typical barriers to entry and open our doors to any and all in our awesome city. It’s the perfect opportunity for fans to engage in a community environment, with some of the most celebrated artists providing the perfect sonic backdrop.

A Railtown romp for the ages — all ages that is!

Music is for everybody. As a transcendent and creative language that can be used to convey emotions and express a sense of self; it’s meant to be shared with those around us. Compound transformed a piece of our own world, Railtown, to embrace the community spirit, offering those in attendance a place to be bold and be themselves.

We strived to create an all-inclusive atmosphere that goes against the preconceived notion that big events are only for social butterflies. Nobody was out of place at Compound. Even some who came by themselves found themselves in the company of fellow fans connected by the love of music. With everyone welcomed with open arms, there were so many great opportunities to make new friends!

 

The streets abounded with things to do thanks to our event partners!

Groundwerk Stage

Returning for Monstercat Compound 2019 was the Groundwerk Stage, powered by MusicBC! To get there from the main stage, all you had to do was walk past Monstercat HQ, transformed into the Rendition Gaming Zone, and take a left. There, you could check out great techno acts like Adam 2, xtine, Joel West, Leon V, AWood, Diana Boss, DJ SKY DOG, and Someone Someone!

Art

While some of the industry’s best and brightest were busy showboating their sets on-stage, some of the local graphic artists such as Baska Szostak, Greta Burley, Sergio Morales Bello and J.J. McCullough were also present to strut their stuff at the event! We value all avenues of creative expression, and the visually rich works left in their wake were absolutely awe-inspiring.

We were also graced by the presence of local botanical artist Paula Barrantes! She popped out to help decorate the streets with some of her signature style art.

We had wooden Monstercat stands out as the blank canvases for our local artists to mark up! They were free to go as crazy as they wanted, design-wise, and we think they did quite the stellar job!

Activities

The Monstercat Gold claw machine made its return this year and fans were able to win some sweet souvenirs! Loaded with Monstercat stickers, pins, and other goodies, we made sure to go overboard when it came to stocking the machine. Set up as pay to play, the machine helped us raise donations for Music Heals.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a party without an appearance from our state-of-the-art Monstercat Street Piano! If you’ve been following us on social media, you’ll definitely have seen this bad boy around town.

Our heartbeats matched the boom of the bass all day, and not just from the music - heart racing carnival games including Monstercat Jenga and Kerplunk could be found all throughout the event grounds along Railtown. You know we had to bring the toys out!

Thanks to TapSnap, fans were able to take pictures in front of the exclusive Monstercat Compound backdrop. The photo booth was a massive success and, as a result, tons of great memories were immortalized!

The John Casablancas Institute came out swingin’ their airbrushes and makeup tools to help get attendees in the mood! A handful of their finest students at the ready, people could head over to the JCI booth to get decked out in face paint and airbrush tattoos!

Those who didn’t cash in on the opportunity to visit the Music Heals booth, tsk tsk! Our charity partner for year three, Music Heals, made a special visit to Monstercat Compound and brought a bunch of goodies with them! They make the real magic happen, working endlessly to bring music’s capacity for healing to those that really need it.

Food

If you’re like us and easily succumb to a case of the munchies, you understand why we just had to go and get great-tasting food for the strip. Bandidas Taqueria, Chickpea, Belgard Kitchen, and our next-door neighbors, Railtown Cafe, all came out to join in the jubilance! Talk about tasty!

Gaming

One of the big differences from this year was our revamped gaming lounge brought to you by Rendition! We took Monstercat HQ and turned it upside down. Aided by the friendly folks over at The Gaming Stadium, we had a full-on eSports tournament setup going on indoors: the Rendition Gaming Zone! Rendition Developments is a local developer that’s helping make Railtown absolutely sparkle; people from out of town got to check out what they’re all about at the same time! Games that were readily available included Rocket League, Sansar, Just Shapes & Beats, Beat Saber, and Electronauts!

This year was the Vancouver Titans eSports team’s first full season in competitive Overwatch. Some of their representatives set up shop on-site, which was all kinds of awesome!

The Monstercat Card Game

As many of you know, we are currently working on refining the Monstercat Card Game. At this year’s Monstercat Compound, attendees in the area dropped by to give it a try! As players had a blast maneuvering their way to endgame, we got tons of great feedback on the prototype demo available in-house.

Merch

When we set up shop, we mean business—and business was great! We brought out some of the most iconic Monstercat designs, some of which haven’t made an appearance for a very long time. Exclusive to Compound, the Sample Sale was the perfect opportunity to cop grail items, swag that’s long been sold out, and a handful of our newer items. We didn’t hold out, that’s for sure!

Music Education

We want everyone to have the chance to experience music production. Thanks to Ableton, the Nimbus School, Pioneer DJ, Roland, Table Tutors and Tom Lee Music, everyone at Compound got the opportunity to play around on top-of-the-line tech that today’s top DJs use on a day-to-day basis!

Educational Panel

Brand new to this year’s iteration of the Monstercat Compound block party was the inclusion of an educational panel which took place at Pace Studios. Guest starring our very own Orri Sachar, Tails, Nimbus School’s Kristina Lao, Shannon Luttmer from The District, and Paige Chan from This is Blueprint, those who attended the panel got to hear about each of the speakers’ career paths. Part of the journey is the journey, right? On top of that, curious attendees were able to ask burning questions that they normally wouldn’t get the chance to!

Here at Monstercat, it’s all for one and one for all!

Since its induction three years ago, the initial idea for a Monstercat block party has evolved into a yearly event that brings together a spectacular collection of new and returning faces. At the end of the night, if there’s a smile on every face, then we’ve done our job. And that’s exactly what we saw with a massive surprise B2B that shook the streets.

A wholehearted thanks to everyone who made Monstercat Compound 2019 such a success. Next year, we want to see more fans from around the world taking the trip to party with us in our own backyard!

Special thanks to all of our event partners:

Presented by: Sapporo Canada in partnership with: Blueprint Events

Sponsored by: Rendition Developments, Music BC, Creative BC supported by The Province of BC, Factor, City of Vancouver, PK Sound, Pioneer DJ USA, Absolut, Daily Hive Vancouver, Linetest, Splash Spiked Sparkling Water, Strathcona Business Improvement Association

Charity Partner: Music Heals Canada

Community Partners: Timelapse Film, Groundwerk, Nimbus School of Recording & Media, Do604, Roland

Vendors & Participants: Ableton, John Casablancas Institute, Beat Saber, Just Shapes & Beats, Rocket League, Tom Lee Music Canada, Bandidas Taqueria, Chickpea, Survios, MakerLabs, TapSnap, Vancouver Student Events, Raycam Renew, Sansar, Titans/Overwatch

Photos by: @pandosyco, @_brandonartis, @danielkeenvideo, @dylantoddphoto