The Village Idiots bring concert series to Facebook Live

Living it up on Roslyn and online

The Village Idiots (left to right): Morgan Coates, Michael Osikoya, Rylie Saunders, Kevin Repay and Joey Senft.

Photo by Daniel Crump

Anyone who can’t hear the Village Idiots’ apartment-based concerts through their floorboards can enjoy it free on Facebook Live every Wednesday night. 

The series came together pretty serendipitously.

“(Kevin Repay, co-creator) and I have been best friends for like 15 years or something,” Rylie Saunders, co-creator of Live at The Roslyn, says. “We go to rock shows non-stop, and you always kind of hang out and go for beers, stuff like that, and you just dream.”

Saunders dreams are about working in the music industry. Reality started moving in that direction after he and Repay moved into Roslyn Square together almost a year ago.

Being well-known in the music scene and living close to most venues naturally led to a few after-parties.

“We would have just like, the best musicians with acoustic guitars,” Saunders says. “(Repay) and I would just be sitting here front row being like ‘This is ridiculous.’”

Once the two became aware of Facebook Live, everything started to fall into place in November 2016.

Joey Senft was brought on board as resident photographer.

“I would be at the front row of every rock show, but then she would just be right in front of me,” Saunders says.

“I’m short,” Senft says, laughing. As a concert photographer with 15 years of experience, she’s used to getting a good view without getting in the way, making it easy to navigate a living room set-up.

She started shooting shows for fun when she was in high school, and it snowballed from there, she says.

Senft lives across the street from Roslyn Square, and the three agree it’s the perfect area for this project. 

Repay says they’ve received noise compliments, and a few curious Roslyn residents have even come by to check out the show. 

“There’s a few people that aren’t happy about it, but, I mean, we tapered our late-night stuff.”

They’ve got the go-ahead from the landlord, who was even present as a mural was painted on the wall in the living room.

“When he was giving me this one noise complaint, it was just super funny, because he just didn’t agree with the person that gave the complaint,” Repay says.

Senft, Saunders and Repay agree that The Village Idiots keep putting together tighter shows. They’ve already featured many of the bands on their dream list, including Dick Lizard and the Komodos and Attica Riots. 

“We’re flying by the seat of our pants, and we have no clue what’s going to happen tomorrow,” Saunders says. 

The team, which also includes Mike Osikoya, Captain Morgan Coates and James Hiebert, would like to see a sponsorship in the future but are passionate about keeping the shows free. A monthly subscription rate has been suggested, but accessibility is their mission statement.

Shows are every Wednesday at 8 p.m. Find videos live on Facebook at @WeAreTheVillageIdiots.

Published in Volume 71, Number 22 of The Uniter (March 2, 2017)

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