Rich and Phil plot their escape from Jale

“It’s not about profiting,” insisted Taylor over coffee last week. “We’re not looking at making lots of money off the music scene.”

The two young men co-founded Vive Music in 2008 with an ambitious five-year plan for the organization: they wanted to run their own venue and their own music festival by 2013.

The festival Greer and Taylor envisioned would be modelled after Calgary’s Sled Island and Austin’s massive South by Southwest festivals where hundreds of shows occur in the city over the course of several days.

“Why is it such an ordeal to see a music festival? There should just be one here,” Taylor remembers thinking.

Vive started holding shows around town and on the first anniversary of the organization, a simple concert was held called Vivefest. The following year, Vivefest 2 built upon this event but it wasn’t until this past spring, with Vivefest 3, when 45 bands played several venues over four days, that Greer and Taylor felt they had accomplished their goal.

The other part of the five-year plan happened much easier. Vive leased the space above Caffe Sola and held an average of three shows a week over the last year. That venue, which they named Jale, was also the only all-ages space in Saskatoon where the next generation of Saskatoon’s music scene could get involved.

“If we’re trying to build the music scene, 17- and 18-year-old kids are a pretty important part of that,” said Taylor.

But after a successful year at Jale, Vive is moving. With Caffe Sola expanding their business, Vive is temporarily homeless, although it will continue to organize shows around Saskatoon and has a very busy fall schedule.

But rather than being a setback, Taylor says leaving Jale will give the group time to reorganize and refocus. After all, the five-year plan was accomplished in about three and a half years.

“It felt like we were pushing this boulder up a hill leading up to Vivefest 3 — we got funding for that festival and were able to make it quite a bit larger than the year before — and it sort of felt like we had reached the top of the hill without knowing it,” said Taylor.

Setting out goals for the next phase of Vive will also require outside help. The group is now a registered non-profit, has five active members in addition to a host of volunteers, has a constitution and will need a board of directors. Anyone interested in becoming a board member, volunteering or even contributing financially is welcome.

Taylor says the goal is “to make it less about a project for Phil and I and more about an organization that exists in Saskatoon.”

The grand closing of Jale takes place Sept. 3 and, in true Vive style, features over a dozen local bands playing from 3 p.m. until late into the night.

Even though Taylor says they now have some “breathing room” to think about the future of Vive, the group still has a lot planned. Upcoming shows include PS I Love You, Karkwa and Chad VanGaalen. Planning is already underway for Vivefest 4 for spring 2012.

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photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf