By M. Morales
If you don't have time to get to a dozen shows a month to catch you favorite bands, like the idea of seeing bands all at once, or just want to discover new music, then you should consider reading on. New Jersey and New York are hosting festivals that are sure to catch your eye. While providing music fans with an eclectic mix of sounds, these fests are fairly inexpensive, and not all of them are outdoors. Here we offer you a sample of some of the best fests that are coming through, from 1-day events like Make Music and Punk Island to 3-day DIY indie rock shows Boro 6 Fest, and a hardcore and punk fest in Long Island.
Jersey Stock 2010
June 5-6, 2010
Paramus VFW
Paramus, NJ
Bands: The Dangerous Summer, We Are The In Crowd, My Arcadia, The Victory, Sexy Heroes, Gabriel the Marine, Count Your Blessings, and more.
Price: $10 each
Pete Kirk, one of the bookers for Jersey State Entertainment, offered us some thoughts on the third annual Jersey Stock Festival:
1. Star Beat Music: How and why did the fest form?
Pete Kirk: The festival start back in 2008 to highlight the best of the best local bands in the tri-state area. It was created to let people know that their still is a scene.
2. What bands are you excited about that are playing?
PK: I am excited to see Count Your Blessings play this year. They played last year and killed it. I would suggest for everyone to check them out.
3. What do you hope the fest will do for the community and music scene in NJ?
PK: I hope that the festival will let people know that their are really some awsome local bands out there and also that it will help spread the word out Jersey State Entertainment. DIY 4 LIFE
Hillstock
June 11-13, 2010
Shea Stadium, The Backyard, and The Roof
Brooklyn, NY
Bands: Laura Stevenson, Saddi, Hop Along, Fiasco, Aa, Ava Luna, No Courage, Kudrow, and more.
Price: $7 per day, $15 for 3 days
About: "Hillstock is an annual Brooklyn D.I.Y. music festival organized by Never Break Down. We invite about 50 acts of varying genres that we think are great to our neighborhood of Brooklyn to perform at one of three shows during a weekend in early June. Bands play back-to-back Friday through Sunday. Weekend passes are $15 and allow access to all 3 shows."
2nd Annual Boro 6 Indie Music Fest
June 11-13, 2010
Tiernye's Tavern and Asna House
Montclair, NJ
Bands: The Defending Champions, Bern & The Brights, Gerry Perlinski, Kagero, The Sirs, Frozen Gentlemen, and more.
Price: $5 each
About: While many festivals set up stages outdoor with highly priced tickets and too many bands, The Boro 6 Indie Music Fest in Montclair, NJ is keeping it simple. Formed by musicians in the North Jersey area, the fest showcases some of the areas finest for 3 days of music at Tierney's Tavern and Asana House. Over 20 local NJ/NYC independent bands will perform with each show priced at $5. How can you beat that? Some acts include The Defending Champions, Bern & The Brights, Gerry Perlinski, Kagero, and more. The show are all indoors, so you won't have to apply all that sunscreen and get burnt out. So get out and enjoy some ska, rock n roll, rock, indie, and singer-songwriters.
Catherine McGowan, one of the organizers of the fest and musicians in Bern and The Brights shines some light about Boro 6 Fest:
1. Star Beat Music: How did the idea for the festival come about?
Catherine McGowan: Last year a few local Montclair musicians were regularly performing in Tierney's and in places like Lucky 7's in Montclair. We've all been performing together and inviting each other onto various bills throughout the year. So, it just made perfect sense to bring all of the bands together in one place for one weekend to really highlight the quiet scene that has been growing.
2. SBM: Who else helped organize this fest?
CM: The bulk of the organizing has been between myself, Bernadette Malavarca and Deivis Garcia. Deivis dreamed up the fest last year and Bernadette and I immediately jumped in to help get the dream up and running. This year we've definitely had some extra help with getting the details ironed out, particularly from Montclair local, Alan Smith.
3. SBM: Why make the shows so cheap?
CM: The price is all to encourage attendance. We do our best to keep the overhead low so a large majority of the cover can go right back to the artists we feature in the festival. It's all split evenly among all the bands performing after some very small costs are recouped. Costs such as printing up fliers, etc. Our mission is to bring some great NJ bands to one place. It's common to find cover bands in Northern NJ and this is a weekend dedicated to all of the original acts working real hard out there right now. And Tierney's is a place that has been quite supportive so it just makes sense to host it there.
4. SBM: What do you hope the festival will do for the community/music scene?
CM: All we can hope for is to encourage enthusiasm for the local music that's right under everyone's nose. It's hard to get a spotlight on these bands all year round, so if we can guarantee to make it shine on them at least once a year then call it a victory. Also, we really want to encourage comradery among all the participating bands, and those who might show up to see the performances. We've built these bills to shape a loose theme for each night and hope that some new friendships between the bands is created. Everyone will share a house kit, I'll be running the sound, you'll find Bernadette help organize the merch tables and Deivis run the door. We're all there to pitch in and help one another and we hope it can grow into enthusiasm and support for future shows all year round.
CM: All we can hope for is to encourage enthusiasm for the local music that's right under everyone's nose. It's hard to get a spotlight on these bands all year round, so if we can guarantee to make it shine on them at least once a year then call it a victory. Also, we really want to encourage comradery among all the participating bands, and those who might show up to see the performances. We've built these bills to shape a loose theme for each night and hope that some new friendships between the bands is created. Everyone will share a house kit, I'll be running the sound, you'll find Bernadette help organize the merch tables and Deivis run the door. We're all there to pitch in and help one another and we hope it can grow into enthusiasm and support for future shows all year round.
Websites: Facebook Event, Star Beat Music post
Long Island Fest 2010
June 10-12, 2010
Broadway Bar, Ethical Humanist Society
Long Island, NY
Bands: Balance and Composure, Daylight, End of A year, Shair Hulud, Agent, Ambtions, Hostage Calm, Make Do and Mend, My Heart to Joy, Tigers Jaw, The Carrier, With Honor, The Banner, This is Hell, and more.
About:
Tickets: $14-25, Available at door
About:
Jake Zimmerman, the guy who conceptualized the fest, let's us know how awesome Long Island's music scene is and what bands to check out during the fest:
1. SBM: How did the idea for the festival come about?
JZ: A hardcore/punk festival on this level has not happened on Long Island in nearly a decade, and the music scene on Long Island is doing better than it has in recent years, so I saw it fitting to try this out to celebrate all of the recent success that Long Island has had.
2. What do you hope the festival will do for the community/music scene?
JZ: I'm hoping to showcase many of the smaller local bands that are opening the shows to a large amount of people and prove to people traveling to Long Island for this that Long Island has a thriving music community that should not go unnoticed. I also hope that it will bring together our scene even more for at least this one weekend.
3. Who else did you work with to put together the fest?
JZ: There are a few people that I would not have been able to pull this off without their help. My biggest supporter and best friend, Sarah Conte, for all the help with promotion, organization and everything else. All the older kids involved in LIHC who helped get other bands on board. And all my friends who have supported me from the beginning and haven't turned back.
4. What bands are you excited you got to play the fest?
JZ: I'm excited to have new bands that have not played Long Island very much at all like Tigers Jaw, Advent, Balance and Composure and Product of Waste. And then bands like, Cruel Hand, Trapped Under Ice, Shai Hulud, Bracewar and Ambitions, who continually do well on Long Island. And of course all of the local bands plus the two Long Island bands reuninting for this fest, Scraps and Heart Attacks and Subterfuge. The newer bands on LI that are going to kill it that weekend are Bottom Out, Scourge, Backtrack, Incendiary, Iron Chic and many more, it will be a memorable weekend to say the least.
Make Music Festival
June 21, 2010
All over NYC
11am-12am
Bands: Varies, many genres
Price: Free
Price: Free
About: Make Music is a 1-day event held on the first day of summer in NYC's 5 boroughs for 11 hours of music. Over 1, 000 free concerts will bring music fans a glimmer of the enormous music scene. Included is Rock, blues, country, experimental, folk, hip hop, Latin, Pop,and more. Artists play in public spaces, including sidewalks, parks, community gardens, and all kinds of indoor and outdoor spaces.
"Special projects in 2010 include the third annual Punk Island, the return of Mass Appeal, a Xenakis series in Central Park, a New Orleans-style Second Line parade, interactive music in the Meatpacking District, Take Your Musician to School Day, Play Hard: the MMNY Corporate Challenge, and much more."
Website: http://makemusicny.org/
3rd Annual Punk Island
June 20, 2010
Governor's Island
New York, NY
Price: Free
Price: Free
About: Punk Island is a 1-day long hardcore and punk event on Governor's Island, as part of the Make Music Festival.
Bands: Negative Approach, Team Spider, Factor C, and many more.
Northside Music Festival
June 24-27, 2010
Various Venues
Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Bands: The Fiery Furnaces, High Places, Islands, Les Savy Fav, Men, Real Estate, Shark?, Thao and Mirah with teh Most of All, Titus Andronicus, Twin Sister, Wood, We are Country Mice, Midnight Masses, London Souls, and more.
About: "On any given day there's a ridiculous amount of music and art being made in New York City, but perhaps no more than in the four-mile radius of Williamsburg and Greenpoint. The goal of the Northside Festival isn't lofty: We want to celebrate that community of independent musicians, filmmakers and artists in the place where it thrives the most, shining a light on the sheer talent and creativity that Brooklyn cultivates."
Price: Varies per show
Website: http://www.northsidefestival.com
6th Annual Afro-Punk Festival
June 26-27, 2010
Commodore Barry Park
Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY
Bands: Bad Brains Headline, Ninja Sonic, Activator, Game Rebellion, P.O.S., and more.
Price: $20
Price: $20
About: "Fresh off its first national tour, Afro-punk is returning to Brooklyn for the 6th Annual Afro-punk Festival on June 26-27 in Fort Greene’s Commodore Barry Park. And this year, the festival is proud to host hardcore legends and Afro-punk godfathers Bad Brains. In addition to Bad Brains’ set, the festival will include performances from Ninja Sonic, Activator, Game Rebellion, P.O.S., and many more! In addition, this year’s Afro-punk will feature the Battle For the Streets Skate and BMX contests. The Best Trick Competition (Skate) will take place on Saturday June 26, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be hosted by Steve Rodriguez & Keith White. The following day, Sunday June 27, The Best Trick Competition (BMX) will be hosted by Danny Parks aka Baby Bean, Jimmy Mac & Keith White. Both contests will be open to the public, and the contest winners will receive cash prizes, including an All Expenses Paid Trip to the XGames, courtesy of ESPN. The festival will also feature a BMX demo by NYC’s Bulldogs Bikes Team, Battle For The Streets Art, NIKE ID Customization, and more. Tickets for the festival are $20 and available at www.afropunk.com.
Described by the New York Times as putting 'rock and rebellion squarely in the category of African-American music,' the Afro-punk Festival has become a Brooklyn intuition, the focal point for the burgeoning Afro-punk movement. Over the past six years, the festival has presented new artists before they hit it big, such as Grammy-nominated Santigold, The Noisettes and Janelle Monae. Afro-punk mainstays like Saul Williams, The Dirtbombs, and Dallas Austin have also graced Afro-punk’s stages."
Website: www.afropunk.com
How can we join you we also like to play in NYC .
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