Countless musicians and fans converge on downtown Tulsa today and tomorrow for the inaugural edition of FreeTulsa.
Admission is $10 per day.
Below, watch some great videos of FreeTulsa artists Brine Webb and Deerpeople!
After the jump, get a handy hour-by-hour FreeTulsa show schedule.
A new music festival, FreeTulsa!, is filling the gap left behind by DFest. The festival will take place on July 30 & July 31 in downtown Tulsa’s Brady Arts District.
Bands: Submit at OKKLE.com!
Live music promoters Jeff Richardson (Hard Work Records) and Marc Matheos (owner of Crystal Pistol and The Marquee) have joined forces to put on an all-ages two-day music festival featuring top bands from Tulsa and surrounding areas.
An initial list of bands has already been announced:
Acoustic Ross, And There Stands Empires, Bearhug, Brine Webb, Broncho, Bruder, Cecada, Daniels, Danny J. Buck, Dead Sea Choir, Digital Graffiti, The Doldrums, Eden Sharmaine, Ester Drang, Fiawna Forté, First Lady Assassins, Gentle Ghost, ISHI, Jacob Abello, Johnny Polygon, jor DAN, Kelli Lynn and the Skillet Lickers, La Panther Happens, Low Litas, Lunar City, The Moai Broadcast, Motive for Movement, Native Lights, The Non, The Panda Resistance, Popular Culture, Project Huckleberry, Recorder, The Red Alert, Science Club, The Shining Lights, Stars Go Dim, TeddyJackEddy, Triple Fang, Unwed Sailor & Vandevander
“The thing is we are both big fans of Dfest, but anytime there is a gap it’s going to get filled. The void is going to get filled with something. Probably several something’s and we wanted our something to be the best.” - Jeff Richardson
Acts will play on nine stages, including two main outdoor stages, The Soundpony, two stages at the Crystal Pistol, Bob’s (Cain’s second stage), The Marquee, Hunt Club outdoor stage and Lola’s.
Ticket prices and information will be announced soon.
Photo: Jeremy Charles
Hundreds of musicians and tens of thousands of fans converge on downtown Norman this Saturday and Sunday for the third edition of Norman Music Festival.
I will be there with Mrs. OklahomaRock and Baby OklahomaRock. I hope to see many of your faces there as well. (This event is totally FREE!)
To get your ears ready, here’s some FREE mp3s from NMF 2010 artists:
DOWNLOADS:
8Bit Cynics - “You Ain’t That Pretty”
Brother Gruesome - “Cut It Out”
Cecada - “Handspots”
Copperheads - “Drugs”
Dead Sea Choir - “Image D93″
Depth & Current - “Arms of Your Love”
Early Beat - “Maybe I Love You”
Euclid Crash - “Girl Talk”
Evangelicals - “Bloodstream” (Slow Blood Version)
Gentle Ghost - “Please Don’t Go Out Tonight” (Basement Session)
Hush Hush Commotion - “The One That Got Away”
Jabee & Ashlee Madison - “Picture on the Wall”
Junebug Spade - “Buckshot”
Maggie McClure - “Out of My Mind”
Marcy Priest - “Never Ending”
Mayola - “Where Does God Come In?”
Miracord - “New Religion”
The Pretty Black Chains - “Ambulance”
Rainbows Are Free - “Are You Dead?”
Student Film - “Whirling Dervish”
Traindodge - “Messenger’s Victim”
After the jump, get your hour-by-hour band schedule, which should come in handy.
Photo: Jeremy Charles
Another partial list of bands playing this year’s Norman Music Festival (April 24 & April 25) was announced this week on 105.3 The Spy.
This is only a partial list. More bands will be announced in the coming weeks. Oklahoma bands are in bold. You can view the previously announced bands here.
Bear Colony, The Burning Hotels, Graham Colton, Odis, The Workweek, Broncho, Native Lights, Ishi, The Orbans, Jacob Abello, Paul Benjaman Band, Brine Webb, OK Sweetheart, Marcy Priest, Cecada, Radiant, Chrome Pony, Chase Pagan, Beau Jennings, Jesse Aycock, The Red Alert
Last week, Leon Russell announced as the second stage headliner and Jabee was added to the main stage
The free two-day festival will take place in downtown Norman on Saturday, April 24 and Sunday, April 25. Saturday performances will take place at night inside downtown venues, while Sunday performances will take place all day on stages set up on Main Street and inside downtown venues. NMF is for all ages and FREE!
More than 30,000 people attended the 2009 edition of the festival, with an estimated $2.5 million being spent locally.
If you are a local band and have a music video, send it to NMF here! Deadline is March 25!
NX35 Music Conferette in Denton, Texas (March 11-14) released a preliminary list of showcasing bands this week.
Eight Oklahoma bands will take part in the festival:
• The Flaming Lips (headliner)
• Colourmusic
• Green Corn Revival
• Native Lights
• OK Sweetheart (Erin Austin)
• Paul Benjaman Band
• Stardeath and White Dwarfs
• Unwed Sailor
More than 20,000 fans are expected to attend the four-day music conference, which will include performances by the Lips (FREE outdoor performance), Midlake, The Black Angels and Neon Indian. Other big attractions include a discussion with producer / musician / journalist Steve Albini and the grand opening of a museum honoring the history of the 8-track tape.
Tickets are available for $20 (all-night, one night) or $65 (all-access)
We will post a full list of dates and times of Oklahoman bands playing at NX35 closer to the event dates.
Videos of some of the artists listed above after the jump!
Native Lights‘ Blackwater 7″ is available digitally today on iTunes. It’s also available in limited-edition red vinyl, as well as black vinyl, via Hardwork Records.
The 7″ features their original song “Blackwater” and a really great cover of OMD 1982 song “Of All The Things We’ve Made”. The songs were recorded at Blackwatch Studios in Norman.
“The title track Blackwater displays a moody yet precise melody carried through with heavily effected guitars and feedback. The vocals sound far away, a droning melancholy chant of ‘I want to drown in your Blackwater / I want a taste of your Blackwater.’” - Independent Cause
The second day of DFest 2009 was a tough go for this 30-year-old body. After suffering a slight case of dehydration early in the night, I rebounded to enjoy a great night of music.
6pm - The Uglysuit @ Poseidon Stage
Photo: Michael Cooper
Oklahoma City’s own little indie hippies The Uglysuit hit the stage early on Saturday. Making seamless transitions through their ethereal songs, the band did their best to keep things steady when wind threatened to blow the tarp over their amps and engulf their drummer. Jason Newsted needs to talk with some of band about constant headbanging and the effects on the human neck.
In the crowd: members of Other Lives and Van Risseghem, as well as former Uglysuit bassist Matt Harrison.
8pm - Spencer Sharpe @ Liddy Doenges Theatre
Photo: Michael Cooper
Tulsa’s Spencer Sharpe showed off his strong and unique voice to a modest crowd at the Performing Arts Theatre. The 18-year-old mixes solid pop rock music with some perfect making out and breaking up music.
In the crowd: members of Ithica.
Thousands of musicians and fans converge on downtown Tulsa this weekend for the ninth edition of DFest.
I will be there solo this year and I hope to see many of your faces there as well. (Buy your tickets by midnight tonight or pay an additional $15!)
Throughout the coming weekend and into next week, we plan on bringing you recaps on the conference and festival, as well as Q&As, videos and pictures.
To get your ears ready, here’s a collection of free mp3s from DFest 2009 artists:
DOWNLOADS:
8Bit Cynics - “You Ain’t That Pretty”
Ali Harter - “Grandpa”
Astellaway - “It’s Not Worth It”
Callupsie - “The Murderous Type”
Crocodile - “August is Over”
Dead Sea Choir - “Image D93″
Ghosts - “Nuts n Boltz”
Hush Hush Commotion - “The One That Got Away”
I Said Stop - “Born To Be Great”
Jabee - “One”
Junebug Spade - “Buckshot”
Kawnar - “Lost”
Maggie McClure - “Out of My Mind”
Marcy Priest - “Never Ending”
The Nightlife - “Take My Hand”
Other Lives - “End Of The Year”
The Pretty Black Chains - “Ambulance”
Rainbows Are Free - “Are You Dead?”
The Romantic Disaster - “Full Blooded Fool”
Stars Go Dim - “Come Around”
The Uglysuit - “…And We Became Sunshine”
Van Risseghem - “We Are All Full of Love”
Western Heritage - “She’s Only 16″
X-Cal - “Starving Artists”
Ziff - “The City Knight Life”
After the jump, get your hour-by-hour show schedule, which should come in handy.
Photo: Jeremy Charles
As we prepare for DFest, we will be speaking with a few Oklahoma acts who will be playing this weekend in Tulsa.
Comprised of Johnathan Ford (Unwed Sailor), Bryce Chambers (Ester Drang), Aaron Hamby (Callupsie) and Nathan Price (Vandevander), Native Lights was labeled an indie supergroup upon conception. Although many supergroups are started as publicity stunts for short-lived runs, Native Lights is comprised of friends with plans on making a serious run as a band. The Tulsa band has an unique sound for this area of the country, taking cues from 1980s post-punk and shoegazing bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. Native Lights will tour this fall with Unwed Sailor and plans to release a 7″ single, followed by a full length.
Native Lights plays Saturday at 9:10pm on the Dilly Deli Patio.
How did this band come about?
All of us have always enjoyed playing music together in whatever band or incarnation we have been in with each other, so it was kind of a given for us to start Native Lights. We all really respect each other on a musical scale, and it just made sense for us to come together and start something new. Aaron, Bryce, Nathan, and I have always found it very easy to write music together…the songs really do come through like waves, almost effortlessly, so why not channel that and have some fun!
A partial list of bands playing DFest 2009 was announced at a press conference this morning at Dilly Deli in downtown Tulsa. The festival and conference will take place on July 24 & July 25 in downtown Tulsa’s historic Blue Dome District.
“Dfest 2009 will not only be more exciting with thanks to our new sponsors, partners and venues, but this year’s talent will by far be the most exciting and diverse offering yet.” - Tom Green
This is only a partial list. More bands will be announced in the coming weeks. Oklahoma bands are in bold.
Headliners:
The Black Crowes, Gogol Bordello, Ozomatli, The Knux, Blue October, Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, Joe Pug, The Uglysuit, Metro Station, Citizen Cope, Bassnectar, Bill Hamel, Delta Spirit, DJ Rekha, Gringo Star, Rachelle van Zanten, Dub Trio, Dusty Rhodes & The River Band, Other Lives
Emerging Artists:
Adam’s Attic, Ali Harter, The Burning Hotels, Callupsie, CoCo Jones, The City Lives, Crocodile, The Culprit, Daniel Walcher, Dead Sea Choir, Dignan, Dirtfoot, Erin Austin, I Said Stop!, Ivan Ives, Kawnar, Mayola, Modern Science, Native Lights, The Nightlife, P.D.A., The Pons, Recorder, The Round Up Boys, Ryan Lindsey, Sam and the Stylees, Scott Goldman, SydeWayz, SocietySociety, Stars Go Dim, Three Penny Upright, Tim Miller, Unwed Sailor & Vangough
Stages:
Poseidon Stage (Sante Fe Parking Lot), Triton Stage (PAC Parking Lot), PAC Williams Theater, PAC Liddy Doenges Theater, The Blank Slate, Exit 6C, The Asian Noodle Bar (formerly Tsunami), Blue Dome Diner, Dirty’s Tavern, McNellies, Dilly Deli (patio), Jo Mamma’s, Templ & The Flytrap Music Hall
“In addition, we are excited to welcome the Grammy Foundation, NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences), and MusiCares to the Dfest family. These new industry partnerships will allow us to further expand the already incredible opportunities that the Dfest Music Conference offers emerging artists and managers.” - Tom Green
Ticket and more festival information available after the jump.