DIY Bushwick Music Festival

The first DIY Bushwick Music Festival is coming to Brooklyn Fire Proof on March 24-27.

Presented by Bushwick Music Studios in association with Deli Magazine and Arts In Bushwick, the festival will feature Brooklyn based bands, DJs, and artists performing in alternative Do-It-Yourself spaces across Bushwick.

Admission to the Brooklyn Fire Proof shows will be $5.

From the press release:

Tito Fleetwood Ladd, owner of Bushwick Music Studios, decided to organize the festival in an attempt to galvanize the neighborhood’s flourishing music and arts scene. In the last few years, Bushwick has emerged as a frontier for DIY venues, attracting artists and musicians with the limitless opportunities provided by these raw spaces. Although the scene has been growing for some time, a Bushwick-centered festival of this scale has never been attempted.

Ladd’s vision was that by working together, the Bushwick music scene would ultimately receive more visibility. “There’s this incredible energy and all these cool spaces with amazing talent in Bushwick,” says Ladd, “This is our way of showing that to anyone who wants to pay attention to us. We’re all doing it together.” When he reached out to several venues and organizations in Bushwick, he immediately received enthusiastic support.

Deli Magazine and neighborhood stalwart Arts In Bushwick have both signed on to help coordinate and produce the event. Bushwick Music Studios will be joined by nine spaces including Party Expo, Goodbye Blue Monday, Brooklyn Fireproof, Castle Braid, The Opera House Lofts, House of Yes, Eastern District, and Northeast Kingdom.

Two Brooklyn-based companies have pitched in their efforts: The first, an online gig-booking agency, GigMaven, has been helping to book bands. And the innovative StreamJam will stream the shows live online. The festival is truly a local DIY effort that takes pride in its self-dependence. Corporate sponsors are nowhere to be found. DIY Bushwick is pure grassroots.

An open call to NYC based bands was hosted by The Deli Magazine, attracting submissions from over 200 bands wanting to play in the festival. Bushwick locals Not Blood, Paint, a rock band that Deli Magazine describes as, “…at times earthy, at others cerebral while remaining true to their roots… encapsulating rhythmically complex but somehow lyrical verses, angular choruses a la’ King Crimson.” will be feature at three different venues during the festival. Not Blood, Paint is known for its theatrics and frequent on stage costume changes.

Other acts to look out for include Otis Grove, a soul/funk/rock band from Boston that will make you want to dance. The scratchy post-country riffs of Bushwick’s Gunfight! Shinobi Ninja also joins the first year line-up, “…a walking, breathing and screaming cartoon: loud, colorful and full of enough energy to put nearly any other band to shame,” says New York’s Radio Exile. The indie and folk scenes will be represented by Pearl and the Beard, a folk trio that, according to Time Out New York, “…conjures up lazy summer afternoons…” and Lowry, an indie/folk band that sports gorgeous lyrics and dreamy soundscapes.

“Let the music industry have South By Southwest and the CMJ festival. Brooklyn has its own DIY Music Festival for Brooklynites by Brooklynites.”
– NY POST

Mar 18, 2010 | Categories: Events | Tags: bands, bfp east alley, bfp east bar events, music festival, shows | Comments Off