The 2025 edition of Sled Island Music and arts Festival announces Japanese punk quartet Otoboke Beaver as the guest curator for next year’s festival, running June 18 – 22, 2025. The group’s fast, fierce and sincere approach to punk is met with unmatchable style, quick humour and feminine rage, making them the perfect guest curator for Sled Island 2025. Along with guest curator duties, Otoboke Beaver will perform at The Palace Theatre (219 8 Ave SW) on Saturday, June 21, 2025.

Sled Island’s guest curator puts their stamp on the festival through special programming choices and their presence at the event. Otoboke Beaver’s curatorial selections will be announced in the coming months, along with 200 additional bands, comedy, visual art and conference programming chosen by the festival in multiple venues across Calgary, Alberta.

Before playing a ripping version of “La Dee Da” at Roskilde Festival last summer, Dave Grohl roared, ”I would like to dedicate this song to the coolest fucking band I’ve ever seen. They’re from Japan, they’re called Otoboke Beaver, and I got to see them for the first time tonight.” It’s a fitting tribute to the riotous punk-y explosion of this frantic Japanese four-piece.

Named after an Osaka love hotel, Otoboke Beaver took shape in ‘09 when singer Accorinrin and guitarist Yoyoyoshie met at a music club at Kyoto’s Ritsumeikan University. Following several furious years of releases — including the single “Otobokebeaver Daijikenbo” on Jet Set Records and the 2013 mini-album Love Me Sign — the band broke through in 2016 with the album Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver on Damnably Records.

Adding bassist Hirochan, and drummer Kahokiss to the lineup, Otoboke Beaver has been unstoppable in the years since, embarking on several North American tours and bringing the house down at SXSW, Glastonbury, and Coachella. Their 2019 album Itekoma Hits further developed the band’s rat-a-tat take on noise punk, described by Pitchfork as “a tornado of defiance,” whilst 2022’s Super Champon takes a knife to tradition with sugar-coated girl-gang vocals across songs like “You’re no hero shut the f*ck up you man-whore” and a surf-y fuzz-punk meltdown entitled “First-class side-guy.” Their furious live show — which sold out some of the same venues in ‘23 that Nirvana did in ‘91. Jack White (who recently named Yoyoyoshie his new favourite guitar player) and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

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