BINGO enthusiasts, lovers of free music and Skrillex fans surely felt the void left by the Virgin Mobile FreeFest. But 2014 may go down as the year that the D.C. music community really took ownership of music festival organization. The DIY spaces of D.C. mobilized in August to produce In It Together Fest, and although Fort Reno is not so much a festival as a local institution, it would not have happened without the high degree of public outcry and involvement. Sure, we'd be remiss if we failed to mention previous music festivals within the metro area such as the ambitious (in terms of scale) Sweet Tea Pumpkin Pie Festival or the equally ambitious (in terms of headliners) DAM! Festival before it, but the events that have transpired this year have instead started smaller and planted the possibility of growth. Add to that list of nascent celebrations, the Magnificent Intentions Music Festival.
There may be a handful of unfamiliar names at the three-day festival, which begins tonight at IOTA, but everyone on the bill hails from the D.C. area. What's more, the recognizable names are nothing to sniff at. Haunting Neil Young-indebted Paint Branch plays tonight along with fun-loving indie rockers Olivia Mancini & The Mates and D.C.'s rock and roll workhorse, Justin Jones. On Sunday, listeners will be treated to the eye opening introspective folk of Vandaveer and the silky smooth soul of lowercaseletters. What's more, festival organizer Ryan Walker will be onstage twice this Saturday as his bands The Beanstalk Library and Cowards Choir will both be featured. We took a few moments to speak to Walker about the reasons he put together this event and why he chose this particular festival name.
I know that 'The City of Magnificent Intentions' is a Charles Dickens quote about D.C. but is there something additional that this quote inspires in you in regards to putting together this festival? I'm especially curious because the word 'intentions' often comes with negative connotations, such as what the road to hell is paved with.
My experience is that big aspirations have traditionally been sort of frowned upon in certain pockets of the D.C. music culture. We encountered that Dickens quote in the description of an exhibit on the National Building Museum's website, which made me realize that there's a strange kind of modesty that runs through this city, even down to the height of its buildings and physical landmarks, considering the degree to which decisions made here affect the entire globe. That's a great point about 'the road to hell.' I believe that the music that will be on display at IOTA this weekend is as great as anything you'll hear anywhere and is being created by people who are quite sincere, but there's certainly a winky doomed undercurrent (which I always appreciate) to the name of the fest!
What specifically made you decide that you wanted to put on a festival of local bands here in D.C.?
The purpose of the fest is to counter the notion of D.C. as a place that used to produce music worthy of being heard outside the area. We've curated a lineup that reflects a diversity of genre, but a unity of quality. We refer to this music and these acts as 'D.C.-area', rather than using the L-word ( editor's note: For those who are, for whatever reason, thinking of the old Showtime show, Walker means 'local'). Without meaning to denigrate the worth of good cover bands and bar bands, these are not those kinds of acts. These are artists making interesting original music that people would find just as compelling as that of the national acts they go to see at the 9:30 Club or Merriweather Post Pavilion. My hope is to introduce a cross-section of these artists to music fans who might be unaware or skeptical of what's happening in their backyard or, perhaps, just don't know where to start. I also wanted to do my part to begin to break down the philosophical barrier of the Potomac River by programming bands that are generally more associated with either side. I'd love to see more people going to shows at both IOTA and the Black Cat.
Have you ever put together a festival or a giant show like this before? How long did putting it together take? Did you learn any quick and important lessons about the organizational end? Anything you think you'd do differently next year?
The Beanstalk Library has put on our own multi-band shows at non-traditional venues before, but this is the first time we've done something of this magnitude. We've been working on this for about six months. In terms of the organizational aspects of the festival, I just tried to make sure to get people on board who are good at things I'm not good at. For example, in addition to the many many wonderful things I love about my bandmate and festival co-founder Brian Pagels, I've learned that he is a whiz with spreadsheets. We haven't really had any major snafus, thankfully, but we have had to figure out a lot of things as we went along. What I'm excited about for next year is that we'll have a formula to follow, so things will run even smoother and leave us time to try some things that we just didn't have time for this year, such as official merchandise.
Will people coming to the festival be able to see every band on the lineup or are there conflicts/multiple stages/bands playing at the same time?
There is only one stage with a single lineup, so if your schedule and attention span allow, you can see all 21 acts over the course of the weekend. If that's the route you want to go, all-weekend passes are available here or at the door tonight.
Some of these bands have gotten a lot of good press and reception both within and outside of D.C. With the understanding that you stand behind all of the bands on the festival, are there any that the general public may not have heard of that you'd like to tell us about?
Wow, that would be really tough. Every one of these bands are playing this festival because I think they are extremely worthy of being heard and I can't wait to see them all. In order not to completely dodge your question, I'll say that Carolyn Crysdale (opening tonight's show at 7 p.m.) and Jasmine Gillison (opening Sunday night's show at 6:30 p.m.) are relative newcomers who write and sing absolutely beautiful songs and that people shouldn't even think about getting to IOTA late. The same thing goes for those who have Saturday tickets. Get there at 4 p.m.; all these bands playing in the afternoon are really, really great!
Also: parents, curiosity-seekers, and completists should know that there is an all-ages kids' show on Sunday at 4 p.m. with Rainbow Rock, featuring many familiar faces from the scene performing children's music in costume.
Entities 0 Name: D.C. Count: 8 1 Name: Beanstalk Library Count: 2 2 Name: Walker Count: 2 3 Name: Virgin Mobile FreeFest Count: 1 4 Name: Cowards Choir Count: 1 5 Name: Charles Dickens Count: 1 6 Name: Skrillex Count: 1 7 Name: Paint Branch Count: 1 8 Name: Fort Reno Count: 1 9 Name: Justin Jones Count: 1 10 Name: Brian Pagels Count: 1 11 Name: Carolyn Crysdale Count: 1 12 Name: Rainbow Rock Count: 1 13 Name: Jasmine Gillison Count: 1 14 Name: Olivia Mancini & The Mates Count: 1 15 Name: Ryan Walker Count: 1 16 Name: Dickens Count: 1 17 Name: Potomac River Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1rGVzEd Title: You've Likely Never Heard Of One Of The Music Industry's Most Important Music Festivals Description: The popularity of music festivals is on the rise, especially in America. Big name events like Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza sell out in minutes, no matter the cost and have now become global brands worth millions (if not more). New festivals arrive every year, looking to cash in on the [...]
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