Last week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Raeland and Fab, the two young creatives behind the “brand” we’re all asking questions about, I’ll Call You Tomorrow. Tonight, I’ll Call You Tomorrow is hosting their first concept pop up shop at ANNMS. Read on further as we talk about their origins, their influences, what it means to be young and creative in Edmonton, and how you can experience their week-long ICYT concept shop in person starting tonight (see event here).
Alyssa: So here we have Raeland and Fab. Fab, what’s your real name?
Fab: I don’t want to say (laughs). Well, Fabrice is my full name. But everyone calls me Fab.
Alyssa: I like that. Fab just stuck? I wish I had a cool nick name.
Fab: I’ve had different nick names, but Fab just stuck.
Alyssa: So, you guys are making waves within the Edmonton community. I’ve seen your Instagram and I’m constantly wondering what you two are up to. You guys have that air of mystery around you, so can you guys tell me what you’re up to?
Raeland: So long story short, we’re an art collective that wants to bring people together through music, fashion and art in interesting ways that most of the time play out as parties. But it’s not your typical party either. For example, the last one we threw was a full-on photography show that turned into a surprise party in the middle of the art exhibit. As for the concept shop which we’re prepping for right now, it’s an amalgamation of everything that we do—art, music, and fashion. Put it together, and that’s when you get ICYT (I’ll Call You Tomorrow).
Alyssa: Your parties really reminds me something that would happen in Berlin. Eric and I were there recently and I can definitely see an ICYT party fit in perfectly there. When people go to your parties though, are they surprised? Because they do not sound like “Edmonton” whatsoever.
Raeland: Yeah, definitely.
Fab: They’re super surprised! They’re like, what is this? Does this happen often? There are so many questions.
Raeland: My favourite is, “I didn’t even know this could exist in Edmonton” or “Where am I right now?”
Alyssa: It’s cool that you can maintain this air of mystery especially when we’re in the age of social media and everyone is over-sharing. So when I’m wondering what someone’s up to while scrolling their Instagram, that’s pretty impressive.
Raeland & Fab: (Laughs) thanks.
Fab: The level of mystery is always a good thing because you never want to spell everything out. People are always wondering what’s next, but you just have to wait. I think this also ties into my friendship with Raeland.
Raeland: We’re both just really low-key. We’ll see you when we see you, you know? And one of the very few strict rules we have as a “brand” is that we will never live stream a party. If you want to experience an ICYT event, just show up.
Alyssa: And going back again to that “air of mystery”, it’s one of the reasons why I love your name, I’ll Call You Tomorrow. How’d you guys come up with that?
Raeland: Conceptually, it’s all about bringing people together in a meaningful way. So the idea is that you meet someone at one of our events. And whether it’s romantic or platonic, you actually establish a connection and relationship with them and do call them the next day.
Fab: The name just kinda came about, just because, you know, it was weird. It just happened.
Raeland: I remember we were tossing ideas around once, and we were just like, “What do you think about this name, I’ll Call You Tomorrow?” And it just stuck. The name’s also funny because you can take it a lot of different ways. For instance, tt the end of every party, Fab will say “Guys, I’ll Call You Tomorrow.”
Alyssa: (Laughs) That’s a great way to end a party.
Fab: Yeah, it’s a great segue.
Alyssa: Okay, so tell me what are you guys doing with ANNMS?
Raeland: Come this week, we’re teaming up with ANNMS for the ICYT concept shop, which is something we’ve been working on for over a year now. It’s a big idea that we’ve always something we’ve wanted to do. It’s essentially a week long retail pop-up and art installation with its own event programming happening all the way throughout. There’s going to be an opening party on April 14th to celebrate the whole space, and an after party at Black Dog which is a call back to our roots where we started. Mid-way we’re going to be doing Real Talk Live (April 18th), which is a speaker series featuring our head photographer Chris Mercado, in which he interviews us about ICYT. And then after that, we’re going to be doing a closing party on April 20th featuring Das, a local musician. We’ll also have craft cocktails and the whole thing is sponsored by Aurora beer. And yeah, basically, we’ll have fun for the week with the ANNMS guys in this space.
Alyssa: Well, it’s such a beautiful space, so I mean, take advantage of it!
Raeland: We’re actually going to be changing it up for a bit—notice how we always have a trick up our sleeves (laughs).
Alyssa: I’m excited to see what you do with it!
Raeland: And at the same time, we’re also debuting a full merch capsule too. We’ve started off with a few little things and have been teasing them in the last few parties, but this week we’re unveiling a whole range of it this week, including a small collaboration with ANNMS as well.
Alyssa: Amazing. So what inspired you to grow this concept shop and start your own merch line?
Raeland: So again, we just wanted to exist in different terms, whether its retail, streetwear, music, or photography, but also do it in a way that’s uniquely us, like how Fab and I move.
Fab: When you cultivate and have something that people are taking a liking to, it becomes a piece of something to remember.
Raeland: We even call some of the bags the Souvenir bags, and have a Souvenir cap. It’s just something that people can remember the night by.
Alyssa: Okay, so you guys both have such an awesome personal style. Where do you find your inspiration?
Fab: I don’t even know. Honestly, I don’t have a way of coming up with outfits. I’m just like, I’ll wear it. If I see something, I’ll usually just think “I’ll wear it”. But I think for me, one thing I realize about my style is that I have to be comfortable. I also like to dress for seasons, you know? I like colours when it’s Spring. I’ve just never had a fear of fashion.
Raeland: And I’m like the exact opposite of that. You know me, I just wear head-to-toe black (laughs). I’m a big fan of the uniform, so wear what you wear and you just tweak things here and there—it’s one less decision to make.
Alyssa: It’s just easy. And it always looks good too.
Fab: I find that people with uniforms always have such an interesting life.
Alyssa: It’s like they’re too busy to come up with outfits.
Raeland: That’s what I like to tell people. “I’m too busy for colour” (Laughs). And you know, none of us are actual “fashion designers”, but when we were making the merch, we knew we wanted to make it minimal and simple. Even the people who come together for our parties—there’s such a range of styles so we wanted to make something that anyone could wear. You know? Get a bag at the party and take it to the Farmer’s Market the next day.
Alyssa: And so why did you choose ANNMS to partner with?
Raeland: I’m actually old friends with Rex, met him back in his Haven days. I just met Ke, but I’ve always seen him around. GB and I went to the same Human Ecology university program, so yeah, they always do their thing by their own terms. They’re cool guys—super authentic, super integral to their brand. It just kinda made sense.
Fab: I think doing creative stuff, you always gravitate to people who are doing cool things, so that’s what happened. You know? They’re awesome.
Alyssa: Well, I’m so excited to see how you guys transform this space.
Raeland: I’ve been working with a few of our other team members for over a year now on this, so we do have a few tricks up our sleeves.
Fab: To give Raeland credit though, he’s just amazing.
Raeland: (Laughs)
Alyssa: Can you guys tell me what one of your most memorable moments with ICYT was?
Raeland: Oh man, this one party, Fab DJ’d the first half of the party in a full floor-length fur coat.
Fab: Every party has been cool and memorable. But something that sticks out? I think when we did our Mother Night party at the Chvrch of John in Feb. That was crazy because so many people came out.
Raeland: Yeah it was just under 300 people, give or take. And it’s crazy because the people who come in, you have like indie kids dancing with streetwear/hip hop kids.
Fab: Yeah, it’s this fusion of everybody. And that’s the inspiration behind ICYT. You know? It’s like when you go out and realize “I’m not having fun.” What would be the perfect party you want to attend? Something that brings everyone together. So that’s what the initial goal of ICYT was.
Alyssa: Well how do people find out about your parties?
Raeland: Mostly just through our Instagram. And a lot of it is you just kind of have to know someone who knows what ICYT is.
Fab: You really just have to experience it.
Raeland: It’s also why we tend to throw our parties at the Chvrch of John. Half of the experience is the reveal. You go down the stairs, and as soon as you walk in the doors, we have photography all around, canvasing the space. And then you walk in further and see the projectors and visuals. You already know then that this is something different. This one time, we moved the DJ booth right into the middle of the space and everyone’s crowded around having a good time.
Alyssa: How do you guys find the art for your installations?
Raeland: Fab and I make it really late at night.
Fab: We like using projector screen because we love that boiler room vibe.
Alyssa: I love that. There’s something so 90s about projectors it has me feeling nostalgic.
Raeland: Even if you see some of our promo images, it has a very 90s vibe. We love the look of VHS, and even some of our newer stuff is all filmed with analog VHS cameras. Chris shoots a lot of our photos on analog film as well, so it’s really authentic, it’s really true and in the moment.
Fab: Yeah we love the grittiness of film.
Raeland: It’s kind of the look that we’re known for now. We do get inspired and influenced by urban hip hop, so that just kind of carries over.
Alyssa: Okay, so here’s a question. What’s your favourite piece from your capsule collection?
Raeland: The Hats
Fab: The canvas tote bags. These ones are super heavy duty. Grab one and pass it around.
Alyssa: I feel like all my totes end up breaking.
Raeland: Not these ones. (Laughs)
Alyssa: Man, you could fit a lot of groceries in here.
Fab: You could hit up Sobeys, for sure.
Raeland: And tell the grocery lady you’ll call her tomorrow.
Alyssa: (Laughs) That’s freaking awesome. I love what you guys are doing and it’s so cool to finally learn about ICYT because I’ve been wondering for so long what you’ve been up to! And talking to you guys has made me realize how cool Edmonton is. I’ll definitely have to come by your next party.
Fab: You know, everyone loves the parties. But there’s this whole other spectrum—the art, the photography, you know what I mean? So one reason we’re so excited to do the concept shop is that we can kind leave the party side a little bit and focus on the art.
Raeland: Yeah, we want to show the breath of everything else that we do.
Fab: The parties are always going to be awesome. I feel like that’s the bread and butter. But by doing the ICYT concept shop, we are challenging ourselves and interacting with new people. We’re consistently trying to outdo ourselves with each event.
Alyssa: So are you guys essentially throwing the parties that you wish Edmonton had?
Raeland: Basically.
Fab: Pretty much. I was telling Raeland the other day that I wish I was actually there on the dance floor. But you’re right, this is the party that I’d want to go to. And all the parties we’ve had, everyone has been so comfortable.
Raeland: Yeah the energy of the crowd is unbelievable—nothing like I’ve ever seen before anywhere else.
Alyssa: Your parties sound so incredibly different to the Top 40s bars that I’ve been to in Edmonton.
Fab: Yeah, what’s up with bad DJs?
Raeland: Nothing kills a vibe faster than bad music.
Alyssa: Any last comments?
Fab: I don’t know. What should I tell the people? (Laughs)
Raeland: Concept shop. Opening April 14th.
Fab: I just want to say something positive, because we’re very positive people, you know what I mean? Okay, I’ll say this. Whatever you do, just make sure that you’re not only passionate, but you’re also coming from a real and positive place. Nobody is trying to outdo one another. The whole ICYT thing is all about being together, so we’re just trying to build a community and get people to feel the same way. So yeah, stay positive out there people.
Alyssa: Well thank you so much for fostering this community in Edmonton. For so long I’ve always thought that there was no space for young creatives to gather or really belong, so I’m fully behind what you guys are doing in bringing people together in hopes that they’ll connect and make something even cooler.
Raeland: Yeah, we’re throwing the events and making the community that we’ve always wanted Edmonton to have.
Alyssa: Well, good on you because Edmonton really needed you guys.
Fab: Also, I want people to come to the Real Talk Live Speaker series and speak.
Raeland: Yeah, everyone always asks us “What is ICYT” so instead of asking us in Instagram, come and ask us in person.
Fab: And thank you for talking to us!
Alyssa: No, thank you!
For more information on the week-long concept shop, click here.
Amazing! I love this style…