Feature Friday: Double Experience

Tell us a little bit about your band. When and how did you guys meet?

The two of us met while playing in different bands in the Ottawa valley. We shared ambitions to venture beyond our respective backyards, and we initially worked together on show swaps. When the time came to formally join forces, the lines between songwriting sessions and multiplayer video games quickly blurred and eventually became “Double Experience”!

‘Jet Black Weekend’ How was the idea hatched and what was the inspiration behind it?

In 2018, we released a song called “Jet Black”. We believed in the single so much that we endeavored to make its release as special as possible. We were fascinated by the contrast between “home games” and “away games” in the sports sector, and felt inspired to bring that concept into the Ottawa music community. The central idea was to craft an expectation with a “home show” that has a completely different look and feel to our “away shows”.

This weekend you are celebrating 5 years of Jet black weekend. How special is that, and how different is this year’s event from the past ones?

The growth we both see from year one to year five is incredibly rewarding. Our first year was entirely Ottawa centric, while the following year included a Montreal date that deliberately juxtaposed the Ottawa show. That year, there was a line of people outside who couldn’t even get into the venue. In 2020, we live-streamed a full band concert on Twitch and in 2021, we performed at the Bronson Centre. Soon after that show, we made the decision to “double-down” on the idea of a two night concert in an intimate setting. Since we write and release a song every month with the help of our Double Experience community, we had an excess of songs to choose from. These songs run the gamut of songs we haven’t performed in a decade to songs our community have never even heard before. Nobody is prepared for this year’s event!

If you can have your fans remember one thing about you, what would it be?

Let it be known that Double Experience did things differently; from creating music firmly in the “nerd rock” genre, to a largely DIY work-ethic, our band exists to empower others and be a constant reminder that you don’t necessarily have to fit into a mold to achieve a goal or pursue a dream.

What can your fans expect from you? Any upcoming projects that you’d like to share?

In 2021, our Twitch community nearly doubled our fundraiser for our upcoming album. After cutting through as much red tape as we could, we were able to return to the USA to pick up where we left off with our 2020 release Alignments. It’s a safe bet our fans will be able to hear music they co-wrote, funded, and watch come to life via livestreams very, very soon. Because of how heavily involved our community was in the album’s inspiration and creation, we felt very strongly about making our songwriting and recording sessions open to all, no paywall, in the name of continually demystifying our process. In terms of what fans can expect moving into 2023, the book of Double Experience remains wide open.

If you could have an Ottawa musician tag along with you for a one month tour, who would that be?

We recently discovered our comedian friend Tim Riel used to be in a band. Even though Tim Riel is sharing the stage with us once again at Jet Black Weekend in that capacity, we like the idea of Tim getting the ol’ band back together for a reunion tour!