Originally posted by redsock:
Um, anyone coming?
Does no one really care? Are the shows boring? Was the DAM! Festival too 'last year'?
I think it??s awesome that you??ve organized this thing. As to why it??s not really on my radar, there??s a couple reasons. I don??t mean this as criticism, slagging or panning, because I know it??s been a ton of work, but rather some brutally honest feedback and the thoughts that went through my head when considering it.
1) The format ?? for me, the biggest issue was not really knowing where things were going to be. I??m sure to you it seems totally obvious and intuitive, but if you??ve only heard about it in bits and pieces, it??s confusing because certain sets are at certain places, and it just seems overly spread out. Also, for me personally, there??s no way I can commit to 4 days of anything much less a bunch of bands I haven??t heard of.
2) The specific shows ?? This is a small quibble, but frankly, the reason I??m not going to see the one band I??d be excited about (Place to Bury Strangers) is because it??s on a bill with four other bands. I??m getting to be an old fart who still likes his shows, but the idea of sitting through four unknowns on a Thursday night to get to the one I want is daunting. I love seeing new bands, and I always come early for openers, but five bands, four of which are unknown (to me) is just too much, especially on a work night.
3) The ??known?? line-up ?? some good names, but? something is lacking there. Cat Power is a nice ??get?? but she??s been playing live a lot lately, and has probably done her ??Greatest?? album to death. Stellastarr is the other name, and it seems like they just played here recently, plus with no new album out, my feeling was, ehh? Place to Bury Strangers is very compelling as well, but the timing isn??t right.
4) The ??unknown?? line-up ?? I??m not even close to being the most knowledgeable person here about new bands, but I??m relatively with it, and I haven??t heard of most of these acts. When I first scanned the band list, it was so many unfamiliar names that nothing compelled me to keep it in mind. In contrast, when I looked at the Fun Fun Fest, several things leaped out at me (Angry Samoans! Poison Idea! Youth Brigade! Battles! Witchcraft! The motherfucking SWORD!). The first three are (maybe? maybe not) reunions that I had no idea were happening, the second three are new, hipster bands that I??ve been digging on. Not trying to compare your event with the one in Austin, but rather to point out that when I looked at the Fun Fest line-up, I was sold immediately, enough so to buy a plane ticket and festival pass, and to round up some buddies to come along.
5) The overall vibe ?? Because it??s spread out over a few days, with a wide variety of bands, it??s hard to know what this festival ??means?. Not that you need a concept or theme, but there??s nothing about it that stands out. With the Fun Festival, my thought going to that is ??this is going to rock balls? and that??s where I hang my hat. With the DAM festival, it just seems like a line-up of bands spread over a few days with nothing really connecting it except the DAM label.
So those were my thoughts. Without a lot of money, these kinds of things are a bear to pull off, and the way to do it is to keep doing it, so I hope this year??s is successful enough to keep it going in the future, because I??ll bet you??ll keep getting better as you go.
