Erik Roldan writesNeon Marshmellow Fest

Chicagoans pride themselves on their summer music festivals. Whether it be mega-fests like Lollapalooza or The Pitchfork Music Festival that draw music fans in from around the country, or the myriad neighborhood street festivals which book local acts and world renowned performers on the same bill, the residents of the windy city are pampered when it comes to these fair-weather extravaganzas.

Now, we can add experimental music to the plot of our summer blow-outs. Debuting last year at the Viaduct Theater, the Neon Marshmallow Fest gives the oft-neglected crafters of experimental sound their own forum. While last year’s marathon edition eroded the ear canals of hardcore audiophiles with sets bleeding from day into night, this year’s festival scales back the endurance level while dialing up the sonic intensity with three nights of an augmented quad stereo sound stage at the Empty Bottle.

CHIRP Radio’s David Wicik got a chance recently to catch up with festival organizers Matt Kimmel and Dan Smith.

CHIRP: What is your background? How did you get into the experimental music scene in Chicago?

Dan Smith: I’m an MRI technician currently. As far as the music scene goes, I used to play a lot of piano, I didn’t really play with anybody, and then I started playing with this one guy and I thought I was doing some different things with instruments and sound and he was like, “Yeah that’s this whole other thing.” You know, I thought I had invented something, and he corrected me. So I started delving into the experimental scene more and more and I loved it.

Matt Kimmel: I do the video site Acid Marshmallow where I just video a lot of shows around town. Before that I had put out some records and worked on college radio and everything. And through the site I had videoed a lot of stuff. I met this guy (Smith) when I had booked him for a show at my old apartment and we’ve been chillin’ since then.

CHIRP (To Smith): So do you still perform?

DS: Yeah, I used to play as Red Electric Rainbow and have since dropped that. Now I just like to play by myself and collaborate with people more, and improvise when I’m playing by myself.

CHIRP (To Smith): Any recent collaborations we should know about?

DS: I play with my ex-roommate Ryan Schupak a lot, and I’ve played with two of the guys from Green Pasture Happiness a couple of weeks ago.

CHIRP: So I was going to ask about Acid Marshmallow since I assume that that was the jumping off point for this festival…

MK: Actually, this guy (Smith), last year, he had gone to the Viaduct Theater, where we had it last year, before we had the fest, and he talked to them about how it was such a great venue that we should have a festival there. And we were already friends at that point, and he had mentioned the idea of the fest, and I was like, “Yeah, that’s really cool, you know, there’s not anything like that in Chicago right now.” And he asked me if I wanted to help out. So we decided to go with it and it worked out pretty awesomely last year.

CHIRP: So what was the original inspiration then, to have the festival?

DS: There were a couple of artists I just wanted to see, and I thought it would be cool to bring them to Chicago and try to see if it would work, to see if people would respond to it. And they did.

CHIRP: You know, I feel like this is a feeling that a lot of music fans have, like “Oh man, if only I could bring these three artists,” yet for the most part the idea stops right there. So what you think helped you to follow through?

DS: Well I asked the venue and they said they were cool with it, and then I asked a couple artists and they were in, so I was like, “Well, I guess there’s no turning back now, I might as well try and make it happen.” I also got some advice along the way from people who had done shows before. I put in a ton of work. Matt put in a ton of work…

MK: There are just so many good artists in experimental music that don’t get a chance to play in Chicago. And just the idea of getting these guys out here that usually don’t have the chance, and just giving them a reason to have a bunch of people come out and see them. Experimental music can be tough sometimes, a lot of shows are not well attended. Touring it can be tough, a lot of venues won’t book it, it’s always alt. venues, and a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to tour. The fest gave people a good reason to come out to Chicago, and tour on their way out from all over.

CHIRP: That being said, how difficult was it to organize? Did you have existing relationships built up with these people?

DS: I really didn’t. Like I said, I’m pretty new to the scene. So, I started booking it before Matt was fully onboard, and I talked to a bunch of people that he knew that didn’t know me, and I mentioned that I knew him, and Matt was like, “Yeah, no, I’m involved it’s going to be cool.” But at the beginning there I was virtually unknown, just some guy sending an e-mail. But it seemed to work out pretty well, everyone was pretty responsive to the idea. So once I got a couple artists booked, it seemed to fall into place much easier. It actually ended up that more people wanted to play than we were asking.

MK: Yeah, I really think a lot of people want to play in Chicago, but don’t get the chance. So with the fest, it seemed like a lot of people were receptive because they just wanted to come out here.

CHIRP: How many of the acts playing the Neon Marshmallow Fest are local?

MK: Only two this year, right?

DS: There’s Beau (Wanzer), Sam (Prekop), Quam’s (Dave Quam aka Massacooramaan) deejaying, and then the Zerang trio (Michael Zerang, Michael Colligan and Jim Baker)…

MK: And Tiger Hatchery.

DS: And Tiger Hatchery, so we have five, and well John MacEntire’s deejaying.

MK: Yeah, definitely not as many as last year. The thing that we wanted to do this year, like our main objective, was we wanted to get people in town that have either never played here before, haven’t played here for like five to ten years, or like, the Chicago artists that are playing weren’t involved in the fest last year, like Beau. Except Tiger Hatchery is a return, but only on the idea that they had broken up. One of their members had left Chicago seven or eight months ago and he’s a really great guy and really supportive of the scene. He booked shows at The Mopery. And I wanted to just make sure that they had a chance to play in Chicago. But we just wanted to bring something very different, so people would have a chance to see something out of the ordinary. (Sunday headliner) Morton Subotnick is a very rare show. He just started playing again, he’s played two shows this year. But prior to that he had taken like a ten year break. And he’s a legend that a lot of people haven’t ever had the chance to see.

CHIRP: Describe the experience of an average festival-goer to the Neon Marshmallow fest. What is the energy level like?

DS: Well last year was like…

MK: A mindf#ck.

DS: Yeah, there were one hundred and five performances in four days.

MK: One of the days featured over thirteen hours of nonstop music. It was a true marathon. But last year, and this year, I think the cool thing about it is that even though everything falls under the umbrella of experimental music, there’s no one who is really doing the same thing as the other. So there will probably be some catchy, head-bobbing sets, and then there will be some walls of harsh noise. Another one of our hopes is that people who have heard of one or two of the artists, like Oneohtrix Point Never, you know there’s a lot of stuff on the bill, even on the Saturday bill, the night he’s (Daniel Lopatin) playing, that they would like, if they gave it a chance. And that’s the thing about experimental music, it’s really a great live medium. When you go to a performance, you really experience the music.

DS: You have to experience it live. A harsh noise wall live, it’s one thing to listen to it at home on your speakers and dismiss it, it’s another thing to go and hear it live.

MK: Yeah, and actually, the Empty Bottle has pretty great sound in my opinion, but we’re actually upping the sound. We’re getting extra speakers and extra subs. It’s going to be pretty incredible. Sets will be in quad stereo.

CHIRP: Can you describe quad stereo for the non-music geeks?

DS: We’re just going to move around more. You’re going to feel the music in other directions. Instead of just coming at you, you’re going to feel it behind you and beside you.

MK: Not just the left-right channel, a left front, a left back, a right front and a right back.

DS: It’ll be a more panoramic sound.

MK: And the Subotnick set, he’s doing his composition specifically for the quad stereo. So it will be…electric, it will be incredible.

CHIRP: If you had to pick one performer at the fest whose set is most likely to help you achieve Nirvana, who would it be?

MK: This is a toughie. They all probably could. I like all these bands so much. Subotnick is pretty f#cking incredible. He pretty much mapped out and invented the idea of a synthesizer. He’s been making music since the ’50s.

DS: Yeah, he really opened the door for what we hear out there right now.

MK: Yeah, I don’t want to cop out and call the headliner the one to make me achieve Nirvana. Really they’re all going to be great.

DS: Last time I saw Outer Space was pretty intense; it was just climax after climax, after climax.

MK: And he’s (John Elliott) actually, on top of using the quad stereo, he’s
actually bringing his own PA on top of it.

DS: Yeah, John really understands sound. All the tours that Emeralds did and all the shows he played, you can tell he really paid attention to what the sound guys were doing and then refined that and built on that, because when he plays live, you can really tell the difference. Sound is not good enough for him.

MK: I feel like that set is going to be very physical. But I think also The Rita set is going to be like that, as far as panic attack levels of bass. He’s (Sam McKinlay) like every sound at once, like a sheet of sound.

Neon Marshmallow Fest is currently underway (June 10-12) at The Empty Bottle (1035 N. Western). Tickets are still available for Saturday and Sunday night!