Chuck Hughes
Beyond the Osheaga Stages
A five minute golf cart ride off the main grounds of the Montreal music festival Osheaga lies the artists village. This is a magical little world. A land filled with celebrities, lounges, ping-pong tables, barbershop stations, clean and fully functioning washrooms and most importantly a land catered by none other than Montreal celebrity chef, Chuck Hughes.
When our golf cart driven by a young woman in a Osheaga branded windbreaker and a headset dropped us off at the border of the VIP grounds we are greeted by another official who escorts us into the mini village and over towards the food tents. All so very official. The open concept allows you to see the chefs cranking away at their stations. Beautifully smoked salmon is expertly sliced to order on the right hand side and a boisterous crew rolling out fresh pizza dough going into the portable brick oven on the left hand side. Not a single chef showed any signs of fatigue. A miracle considering it was now mid-afternoon on the final day of the three day festival and by the quickly moving hands you would have thought it was day one. The only difference between day one and now is that the assembly line moves in succinct rhythm. It was clearly was no one’s first rodeo and if it was, by day three, they had become pros. Would you expect anything less from a crew vetted and orchestrated by Chuck’s restaurant ownership group, Crown Salts.
As we were allowing our noses, and hunger, drag us deeper into the food tents led by wafts of chilli dogs and poutine. We were quickly pulled back to reality as the man of the hour popped out from around the corner of a trailer. Adorned in a graphic tee, a trucker hat that said “Dark Seas” and orange tinted Oakley frogskins, he approached us calling out “NEW MONEYYYY” colloquially referring to our creative director, Leslie’s, DJ name and twitter handle.
“Where do you guys want to do this?” he smiles. Before we even had time to check out our surroundings he quickly followed up, “You guys want to take a ride?” pointing at a golf cart.
“Sure.”
The three of us, Leslie, Chuck and I, piled into the cart that is clearly made to seat two and these men are of the big hockey-player-physique type. No time for thinking, we were off. It wasn’t a perfect fit but I wasn’t about to complain getting the chance to be in that close of quarters with Chuck. Hanging with him is like hanging out with an old friend you haven’t seen in awhile. Always warm, friendly and usually involves food.
This year Osheaga hosted over 135,000 attendees breaking their 2012 record by a whopping 15,000 people. Their headliners were larger than ever and Parc Jean-Drapeau turned into a five stage three day momentus festival, kudos to Nick Farkas and Dan Glick, vice president of concerts at Evenko and his team of organizers. If you, like me, braved the crowds only to be pressed up against hundreds of other coeds swaying awkwardly to the beats of Phoenix or jumping up and down like a crazy person to Ellie Goulding you can attest to the fact that at those specific moments in time, nothing else mattered. As an audience member you are blissfully unaware of the entire world of busy worker bees backstage.
We pull up to the edge of the fence by the outer limits of the grounds facing the main stages. “This is the spot where I watch most of the shows, ‘cause I don’t really have much time,” Hughes says parking the cart. “You can go on stage and stuff but it’s weird. The guy on stage is looking at you like, ‘bro, stop lurking’.” He chuckles. By his calm and talkative manner you would have never known that his team of chefs were currently feeding the likes of DJ duo Disclosure or the band members from Mumford and Sons, and had over the weekend fed the 100 plus lineup of A-list acts that graced any of the five festival stages. Not to mention the others that make up the magical world of Osheaga’s VIP. He shifts to face us, “I’m excited for Kendrick Lamar today though; that’s the one guy I wanna watch.”
Did I mention that you’ll want to be his friend? If I didn’t. You do.
The beauty of a well oiled machine is that you don’t see the inner workings, the metaphorical gears turning and that is exactly what Osheaga has mastered. “There were a lot of cool festivals this summer, a lot of great bands everywhere but I’m not sure they’re all as organized at this,” Chuck explains, “there’s a reason why Osheaga has been so successful and I think it’s because of the organization, not just the music but the food, the venue. From start to finish they control the experience.” After seven successful events this year’s festival was no exception. Montreal Gazette writer Brendan Kelly summed it up nicely by writing, “So how do you top Osheaga 2013? Short answer? With great difficulty.”
This year’s festival experienced only minor setbacks. There was a short list of artists who didn’t make it to the stage, including Frank Ocean, Miguel and Death Grips and there was a public transit failure on Saturday night, which is common in Montreal. As well as the unpredictability of the weather. Despite these hiccups there was an overlying a hippie love-peace vibe so emblematic of outdoor festivals that was emphasized only by the excessive amount of girls in floral headbands. Chuck adds, “In these kinds of events people are always freaking out ‘cause of the rain, ‘cause of the weather, but here it’s like who cares? It’s the whole point of doing an outdoor festival. If you don’t want these kinds of things that add to the music, that add to the experience, then you wouldn’t do it outside.”
For things to go well on stage you have to make sure everything is taken care of backstage. It’s no surprise that the Osheaga staff have given Chuck and his crew carte blanche when it comes to all things food, “They’ve just been really great at letting us do as much as we can to make it the best event of the summer.” he says. “Working in a regular kitchen is already complicated; when you add the outdoors there are distractions everywhere, it turns into a fiasco and no one’s accountable for anything. I spend my day mostly managing.” He says this so matter-of-factly, one of the first times I’ve ever seen him so serious.
“I’ll move a bit. The music’s too loud.” He starts pulling the cart back onto the dirt road. “Yo, we’re trying to do an interview, bro! Fuckin’ hippie.” He jokes waving his hand at the band on the mainstage 400 yards away.
That’s more like it.
“After four years my role has kind of changed a little bit. Now it’s really about overseeing the whole experience and really being a manager,” he continues, “The menu is made almost six months in advance.” It’s these kinds of tidbits that truly put into perspective how large scale an event Osheaga really is. These are the things we don’t hear about when we’re picking out our neon and floral outfits to dance rhythmically for hours to DJ sets at the Piknic Électronik Stage. “Everybody eats here,” he says. “That’s the thing. In the end we try to make it all special. It’s all pretty much taken care of. You’re vegan? We have. You’re this, you’re vegetarian, you’re gluten free – we try to cover all our bases so you don’t have to cater to everybody individually.” Vegan. A term I’m sure he wasn’t worrying about four years ago when he first started.
So how does one go about rounding up a team of chefs to cater Montreal’s biggest summer event? “We’re lucky – a lot of restaurants close down for these two weeks in the summertime, so we’ve been able to get a lot,” Hughes says. “Sometimes all-star teams are the worst though. You have all these fuckin’ winners but they can’t learn to play with each other,” he continues as we flop around down the bumpy dirt roads, “we put together a team of 45 people for three days who don’t necessarily know each other – it’s kind of like a band. Just because you got the people doesn’t mean they’re going to gel, you know?”. For him the key to success is having a team that can produce. A cohesive unit that is simply there to work hard and get the job done. Understanding that forming bonds doesn’t happen overnight he has his chefs participate in team building activities, taking them out for dinners and having weird meetings that will allow them to create the connections needed to survive the three day festival. “Most of the guys we know; the kitchen world is pretty small. It’s become that one event in the summer where people just want to have a good time, have fun, make some money and work hard.”
As we ride back to the food tents we catch up on his life, “Last year I was on the road 128 days, and this year’s looking like a lot more than that.” Chuck says. He tells us about his most recent project, an American-based show called Chuck’s Eat the Street which he described as, “A show about adventure, food, travel, YOLOing¹. Basically it’s a fucking show about YOLOing. I’m lucky.” We all laugh.
He parks the cart right in front of the food tents where we can see Danny Smiles and James Baran, chef de cuisine at Bremner and Garde Manger respectively, both slaving away over the open BBQ pits. He tells us to go in and enjoy the food not before he confides in us, “Every year we’re like, ‘fuck, no one’s going to want to come back’ but every year the same people want to come back. It’s a unique experience.”
A five minute golf cart ride off the main grounds of the Montreal music festival Osheaga lies the artists village. This is a magical little world. A land filled with celebrities, lounges, ping-pong tables, barbershop stations, clean and fully functioning washrooms and most importantly a land catered by none other than Montreal celebrity chef, Chuck Hughes.
When our golf cart driven by a young woman in a Osheaga branded windbreaker and a headset dropped us off at the border of the VIP grounds we are greeted by another official who escorts us into the mini village and over towards the food tents. All so very official. The open concept allows you to see the chefs cranking away at their stations. Beautifully smoked salmon is expertly sliced to order on the right hand side and a boisterous crew rolling out fresh pizza dough going into the portable brick oven on the left hand side. Not a single chef showed any signs of fatigue. A miracle considering it was now mid-afternoon on the final day of the three day festival and by the quickly moving hands you would have thought it was day one. The only difference between day one and now is that the assembly line moves in succinct rhythm. It was clearly was no one’s first rodeo and if it was, by day three, they had become pros. Would you expect anything less from a crew vetted and orchestrated by Chuck’s restaurant ownership group, Crown Salts.
As we were allowing our noses, and hunger, drag us deeper into the food tents led by wafts of chilli dogs and poutine. We were quickly pulled back to reality as the man of the hour popped out from around the corner of a trailer. Adorned in a graphic tee, a trucker hat that said “Dark Seas” and orange tinted Oakley frogskins, he approached us calling out “NEW MONEYYYY” colloquially referring to our creative director, Leslie’s, DJ name and twitter handle.
“Where do you guys want to do this?” he smiles. Before we even had time to check out our surroundings he quickly followed up, “You guys want to take a ride?” pointing at a golf cart.
“Sure.”
The three of us, Leslie, Chuck and I, piled into the cart that is clearly made to seat two and these men are of the big hockey-player-physique type. No time for thinking, we were off. It wasn’t a perfect fit but I wasn’t about to complain getting the chance to be in that close of quarters with Chuck. Hanging with him is like hanging out with an old friend you haven’t seen in awhile. Always warm, friendly and usually involves food.
This year Osheaga hosted over 135,000 attendees breaking their 2012 record by a whopping 15,000 people. Their headliners were larger than ever and Parc Jean-Drapeau turned into a five stage three day momentus festival, kudos to Nick Farkas and Dan Glick, vice president of concerts at Evenko and his team of organizers. If you, like me, braved the crowds only to be pressed up against hundreds of other coeds swaying awkwardly to the beats of Phoenix or jumping up and down like a crazy person to Ellie Goulding you can attest to the fact that at those specific moments in time, nothing else mattered. As an audience member you are blissfully unaware of the entire world of busy worker bees backstage.
We pull up to the edge of the fence by the outer limits of the grounds facing the main stages. “This is the spot where I watch most of the shows, ‘cause I don’t really have much time,” Hughes says parking the cart. “You can go on stage and stuff but it’s weird. The guy on stage is looking at you like, ‘bro, stop lurking’.” He chuckles. By his calm and talkative manner you would have never known that his team of chefs were currently feeding the likes of DJ duo Disclosure or the band members from Mumford and Sons, and had over the weekend fed the 100 plus lineup of A-list acts that graced any of the five festival stages. Not to mention the others that make up the magical world of Osheaga’s VIP. He shifts to face us, “I’m excited for Kendrick Lamar today though; that’s the one guy I wanna watch.”
Did I mention that you’ll want to be his friend? If I didn’t. You do.
The beauty of a well oiled machine is that you don’t see the inner workings, the metaphorical gears turning and that is exactly what Osheaga has mastered. “There were a lot of cool festivals this summer, a lot of great bands everywhere but I’m not sure they’re all as organized at this,” Chuck explains, “there’s a reason why Osheaga has been so successful and I think it’s because of the organization, not just the music but the food, the venue. From start to finish they control the experience.” After seven successful events this year’s festival was no exception. Montreal Gazette writer Brendan Kelly summed it up nicely by writing, “So how do you top Osheaga 2013? Short answer? With great difficulty.”
This year’s festival experienced only minor setbacks. There was a short list of artists who didn’t make it to the stage, including Frank Ocean, Miguel and Death Grips and there was a public transit failure on Saturday night, which is common in Montreal. As well as the unpredictability of the weather. Despite these hiccups there was an overlying a hippie love-peace vibe so emblematic of outdoor festivals that was emphasized only by the excessive amount of girls in floral headbands. Chuck adds, “In these kinds of events people are always freaking out ‘cause of the rain, ‘cause of the weather, but here it’s like who cares? It’s the whole point of doing an outdoor festival. If you don’t want these kinds of things that add to the music, that add to the experience, then you wouldn’t do it outside.”
For things to go well on stage you have to make sure everything is taken care of backstage. It’s no surprise that the Osheaga staff have given Chuck and his crew carte blanche when it comes to all things food, “They’ve just been really great at letting us do as much as we can to make it the best event of the summer.” he says. “Working in a regular kitchen is already complicated; when you add the outdoors there are distractions everywhere, it turns into a fiasco and no one’s accountable for anything. I spend my day mostly managing.” He says this so matter-of-factly, one of the first times I’ve ever seen him so serious.
“I’ll move a bit. The music’s too loud.” He starts pulling the cart back onto the dirt road. “Yo, we’re trying to do an interview, bro! Fuckin’ hippie.” He jokes waving his hand at the band on the mainstage 400 yards away.
That’s more like it.
“After four years my role has kind of changed a little bit. Now it’s really about overseeing the whole experience and really being a manager,” he continues, “The menu is made almost six months in advance.” It’s these kinds of tidbits that truly put into perspective how large scale an event Osheaga really is. These are the things we don’t hear about when we’re picking out our neon and floral outfits to dance rhythmically for hours to DJ sets at the Piknic Électronik Stage. “Everybody eats here,” he says. “That’s the thing. In the end we try to make it all special. It’s all pretty much taken care of. You’re vegan? We have. You’re this, you’re vegetarian, you’re gluten free – we try to cover all our bases so you don’t have to cater to everybody individually.” Vegan. A term I’m sure he wasn’t worrying about four years ago when he first started.
So how does one go about rounding up a team of chefs to cater Montreal’s biggest summer event? “We’re lucky – a lot of restaurants close down for these two weeks in the summertime, so we’ve been able to get a lot,” Hughes says. “Sometimes all-star teams are the worst though. You have all these fuckin’ winners but they can’t learn to play with each other,” he continues as we flop around down the bumpy dirt roads, “we put together a team of 45 people for three days who don’t necessarily know each other – it’s kind of like a band. Just because you got the people doesn’t mean they’re going to gel, you know?”. For him the key to success is having a team that can produce. A cohesive unit that is simply there to work hard and get the job done. Understanding that forming bonds doesn’t happen overnight he has his chefs participate in team building activities, taking them out for dinners and having weird meetings that will allow them to create the connections needed to survive the three day festival. “Most of the guys we know; the kitchen world is pretty small. It’s become that one event in the summer where people just want to have a good time, have fun, make some money and work hard.”
As we ride back to the food tents we catch up on his life, “Last year I was on the road 128 days, and this year’s looking like a lot more than that.” Chuck says. He tells us about his most recent project, an American-based show called Chuck’s Eat the Street which he described as, “A show about adventure, food, travel, YOLOing¹. Basically it’s a fucking show about YOLOing. I’m lucky.” We all laugh.
He parks the cart right in front of the food tents where we can see Danny Smiles and James Baran, chef de cuisine at Bremner and Garde Manger respectively, both slaving away over the open BBQ pits. He tells us to go in and enjoy the food not before he confides in us, “Every year we’re like, ‘fuck, no one’s going to want to come back’ but every year the same people want to come back. It’s a unique experience.”