FROM THE GUT

[nyarlathotep]

So last night I went to a meeting with some people who are more or less putting in a proposal for Paxahau to let us set up a stage at the fest, which as of last night looked like at least 85% likely. The stage was propsed as an "industrial/experimental" stage, and they're really interested in seeing what kind of interest they can get out of the "breakcore and noise camps".

Essentially, this will require some work, some pooling of resources, and some networking, however the pay off will be the ability to have a presence at the festival that isn't geared straight towards the techno club scene. They're interested in more avante garde type stuff, anything hardcore, experimental, noisey, industrial, and live. djs are welcome too, but I was more or less told that the underlying idea was to keep it away from techno and more on the industrial and experimental tip.

So. there's going to be another open meeting in a couple weeks, and they're really interested in hearing what you guys might be interested in helping with, providing, or even playing. we would get to give input on artists that are booked, or provide artists for a chunk of the slots, and a chance to set up a merch area to sell records or cds or t shirts or whatever.

I'm not sure how interested any of you would be, or if anyone would have any input to provide, or be interested in participating, but I'm really curious to see if they can pull it off, and I think it would be really interesting to see some of you play the fest instead of the usual getting pissed on by minimal techno douches we experience every year.

As of right now the core of the whole thing is industrial, but I know a LOT OF YOU are into industrial, and they're really interested in getting some noise/breakcore artists out and just don't really know where to look. hell, I don't really know where to send them either honestly, other than offering up some names of artists I enjoy/have seen/played with/etc.

thoughts?

[m_babble]

I'd love to help organize that stage!

[systemofadon]

yeah, i would love to play and/or help out.

[nyarlathotep]

excellent. I will let you guys know the next date for the meeting as soon as I know the specifics...I'm pretty sure we're doing it on the 12th before the last Division X show, just for convienience purposes, but I'm not certain. Anyone is welcome that wants to throw out ideas and help back me up on the fight to get some breakcore at the fest.

[splithorizon]

The best I could do is offer to fill a chunk of slots with Void artists, to organize getting them here and pulling it off. Having representation for hard broken beats at the festival would be quite interesting, but unfortunately I am too busy with work, running the label, and pursuing graduate school to be able to attend any meetings. Keep me in the loop if there is anything else I could do to help, or if you need to get in touch with any promoters or labels from out of town that I work with.

[selector catalogue]

This is interesting because it's happened before. If this was a real possibility it would be important to confirm that the stage is going to be a real stage instead of a tent set up in some hard to find spot. I honestly want nothing to do with this idea if it's thought of as some small add on to the fest so a bunch of techno heads can associate with alternative electronic music in Detroit. We've been doing the opposition parties for a reason. I definitely want to be involved if it looks like breakcore is actually going to be taken seriously. But if it's just going to be a stage of a bunch of random styles shoved in the corner then Paxahau can book Fergie for all I care.

[nyarlathotep]

jonah, that's actually how i felt about things initially, and for all i know, you might be right, but i figure it might be worth a shot to offer up any artists i can somehow muster on the off chance it actually works. we were initially told we had a shot at the underground stage area. and then we were also offered the field stage where the beatport stage is traditionally. of course, we're shooting for the underground because that's a pretty busy area and has a nice kind of vibe to it that the field stages don't have, but who knows. last minute paxahau could pull something like "oh here have a tent stage behind the main stage by the main gate " like they did with whatever that tent was 2 years ago that tech itch played at.

they were actually asking about the "anti-demf" opposition parties and if that was going on this year, if that would conflict with anything, etc. and personally, i think i'd still rather be involved with the opposition parties than the festival. however, assuming that this situation works out to be a real deal, i feel like the opportunity to get exposure for things that aren't techno or electrohouse or whatever couldn't hurt. there is a piece of me that has issues with being involved in something so commercial, but then again it's one hell of an opportunity. there's a lot of pros and cons involved, but throwing out ideas isn't such a bad deal.

and matt, helping me secure some artists would be a definite help for sure. i don't think you HAVE to go to the meetings to necessarily get involved, but offering up contact info and helping get the right artists together is a bigger help than you can imagine.

the underlying project going on is planning a festival to offer as an alternative to demf next summer. which is going to happen wether the stage proposal goes through or not. the festival next year will be outside of detroit, and include as of now, at least 3 full stages and 3 smaller side stages, as well as various vendor booths for whatever and a campground. the whole goal of it though is to bring different crews together because "we all like music, we all like to have a good time, and we all have something different to bring to the table".

i'm just throwing it out there, im not expecting much. and as i mentioned before, the stage as of now has a really large chunk of it being dedicated to industrial stuff. but the committee is open to more, and realize that there is a lot more out there that doesn't get accepted by the mainstream techno circles, and deserves the same chances. they originally asked me to be on the committee because the toolbag that runs my label told them that i was "pretty involved with that breakcore stuff" and they felt i'd "have some interesting ideas to throw into the mix". so far all i've really added is that i know a lot of really amazing local artists, and through them i am possibly able to secure some other larger scale artists that may be interested in participating and that i'd love to help do what it takes to get breakcore and other "non-dancefloor oriented" sounds some stage time at the fest.

i'm actually kind of hoping that the dealings i've had with jason from paxahau, and the guy running this committee's experience with the rest of the paxahau gang gets us some pull. if that lame ass club bleu or whatever it was can have a trance stage at the fest, its not all that far of a shot for us to get some air time too. i mean, they DID have otto von shirach and kill memory crash at the fest a few years back. so it can't be impossible or anything.

[nyarlathotep]

also, sorry i'm so wordy. i ramble when i'm excited or something.

thanks everyone for all the input. and keep it coming so i have some real words to contribute at the next meeting besides derrrr i know some kids who know some kids. (not that that's how it was, but the generalized jist of it was. i hate being put on the spot and that's precisely what they did. firing questions at me i was not the least bit prepared to answer.)

also, anyone else who's got some ideas on this, throw em out. artists you can help get out, if you'd be willing to have an artist crash with you, if you know any good printers for banners, if you screenprint and wanna make shirts to sell, how to run a merch booth, whatever. anything. its all appreciated. questions, concerns, comments, etc.

[splithorizon]

[systemofadon]

i myself could care less if it's just a tent in a random place. i have always wanted to play at the fest. and also there are like 1000 people or some shit that go to this thing. a good chance of having at least 50 to 100 random people hear your music. i say we try to get in on this thing and just have fun if it actually happens. p.s. this is also a good way to get the word out about the good after parties that don't cost $30.

[nyarlathotep]

yeah, i agree with that. so much quality broken beat shit IS danceable, but i think the term "non-dancefloor oriented" stemmed from music that isn't designed to be danced to. which i still think is bullshit. i may not intentionally make my beats with dancefloors in mind, but i definitely wind up trying to keep a groove because i like dancing. just because it's not techno, doesn't mean you can't groove to it.

My involvement in this whole thing is to challenge all those preconcieved ideas from the club crowd, and from paxahau, and get them to recongnize that the same dinosaur djs we've heard for 10 years playing the same 20 year old records every night isn't going to cut it forever, and that there are new and interesting methods of getting a crowd moving and that there are new and interesting ideas in sounds available that many of those dinosaurs may never think of. I chalk a lot of it up to lack of education because of their own closed minds. And doing what I do with what is a predominately dancemusic label (by that i mean techno), i try to do that a lot, and have gotten a lot of good results. people think what i do is kind of unusual compared to what they're used to, and they like it so i get asked to do other shows and events. And what i do isn't that weird. it's actually at the core of it, not that new or interesting either. but i do what i love and say fuck the rest of it. and i know a lot of you have the same ideas.

and matt, you were actually the first person that came to mind when they asked me about "artists that can bridge the gap" because so much of what you do sounds directly influenced by detroits techno/electro movement, only with a new up to date sound and style to it. to be honest, there's no reason why you shouldn't be included in the festival shit anyway for all the history you have here doing shows and running a label. But again, that's kinda what the stage proposal is all about - putting the festival back into detroit instead of having it be nothing but moby and italian techno artists.


i'm supposed to find out the next meeting's information tonight, so i'll let everyone know when i know. if you're even remotely curious, come out and hear their ideas and throw out some of your own. if not, that's fine too. if nothing else, i'm really inspired by the passion these guys have for keeping the festival what it was supposed to be about, only with out genre limitations.

[selector catalogue]

Adon, I know what your saying. You have to keep in mind it's not like they're asking us to play at the music fest. What they would want out of us if they decided we were good enough for them; would be to set forth a proposal then do A LOT of work AND most likely pay for most of our stage and artists costs. THEN probably just put us in a spot where people will ignore us. If they just asked some of us to play at the fest then I would do it for those same reasons, but I'm not going to work my ass off and go broke for nothing when there are some other really cool things starting up again around here.

I think it's cool that this is brought to the table and if the conditions were right I could still be really into the idea. If your really interested you should talk to Life Toward Twilight(dan?) He ran the "abstract stage" for a few years near the birth of DEMF. He had some really cool acts come out and I'm sure could add some insight to what this might involve, although I'm not sure that he was dealing with Paxahau at the time.

[gwen]

*Daniel

Kris or Dave would have his contact info

[nyarlathotep]

well, it appears that we got our response back from the paxa-fucks, after they were more than interested the past few weeks they have decided to decline our proposal. and here's why...

-grass restoration at hart plaza is costing them too much
-they blew their budget on the festival line up already, and can't afford any additional assistance (despite the fact that sponsorship was already in the works to completely cover our own asses)
-they didn't recognize any of the talent listed in our proposal list of artists(of course they didn't.) which included national and international acts that spanned several genres of the "not commercial techno" realm
-and it was topped off with saying "maybe next year you guys..."

now, this was obviously just a proposal and some idea fetching and so on, a portion of us (the collective putting it on) knew that this was a pretty likely outcome, but the rest of us were hopeful that we'd be taken far more seriously than we were, since our paxahau contact more or less told us initially that we stood a very good chance, because they could use the help in bringing different talent in.

according to some of the other guys in the collective, the big strain on them was the not knowing any of our performers listed on the proposal. That is the one that pisses me off the most. I don't know how many of you besides matt have some kind of roots in techno or the styles of music they cater to at the festival, but year after year since paxahau has ran this thing into the grave, they've filled the lineup with a slew of no-names from over seas that have very little relevance to detroit and cap it with benny benassi and moby or some equivalent. of COURSE they don't recognize the names on the list, since the proposed stage wasn't a commercial music stage. though i do find it a bit disturbing that someone running a music festival doesn't know enough about their own cities music to put on a quality DETROIT music festival otherwise there would be far more representation from at LEAST the historical figures in detroit electronic music, and not just throwing a cracked out juan atkins on the stage before the "headliner" of the festival.

the new proposed idea among the collective is to do their own music fest next summer, and spend this entire year planning and seeking sponsorship and things of that sort. which I heavily support. It would be interesting to participate in an alternative to the commercial music fest that goes on memorial day weekend. as of now, the festival they're tossing around ideas for will have a few different stages, plenty of vendor space, and potentially involve some performance crews like the theatre bizarre people and whatever.

so the meetings are going to continue, but with a new focus at them. doc, one of the leaders in the group, is really interested in hearing what the "breakcore/broken beat and noise community" is interested in doing as far as participating in helping organize a stage. i believe that it's completely feasable for us to put together a quality large scale festival if enough of us worked together for it.


i'll post up meeting info when i get the revised schedule, and anyone who wants to throw out an opinion is welcome to come.

[selector catalogue]

Yeah, I bet they've never heard of LOW RES. It's only the longest running breakcore vinyl record label in the U.S. based out of Detroit... But you know, it's not Mos Def... or Fergie.