By Leah Kulikowski
First Aid Productions will be presenting the first F.A.P. Music Festival this weekend, bringing to campus a variety of alternative music including indie, rock and metal. The event begins at 5 p.m. Sept. 16 in the University Center courtyard, featuring rock and indie music and continues Saturday at 5 p.m. for a night of metal. Five bands will perform each night.
Attendance is free to students and the community, and the F.A.P.. staff strongly encourages all music lovers in Marquette to come.
Mike Metcalf, a member of F.A.P. and a sophomore art and design major said, “We want to provide music for people. We’re bringing music to the students that does not often get heard. Those who like alternative music, like rock and metal.”
This is Metcalf’s first year actively involved with F.A.P. and he said he is glad to be part of the organization bringing the festival to campus.
F.A.P. Fest will be presenting both local and out-of-town bands that play throughout the Midwest. Some of the bands, like The Melismatics, have played on campus before, at a previous NMU concert two years ago with Hellogoodbye. Other bands are making their first appearances on campus.
The first night will be dedicated to a combination of indie and rock music. The Javelins, Nathan K., Wall of Funk, Egon’s Unicat and The Melismatics will be performing.
Egon’s Unicat guitarist and vocalist Tim Gatza is looking forward to coming to NMU for the first time and performing with his band. They are about to release their fifth full-length album and said they are hoping to do more than perform.
“Maybe we’ll have some inspiration at NMU next weekend,” Gatza said.
Ryan Smith, guitarist and singer in The Melismatics, also has high ambitions for the return trip to NMU. Their music draws from several influences like funk and psychedelic music. They have released five albums and are excited to perform some of their new songs.
“We never make the same album twice,” Smith said. “This one is quite different than our other ones. Our first album was post-modern rock and it came out in 2001. It was kind of homemade space rock; it had a lot of interesting textures.”
Their second album had heavier keyboard-based music with a pop element. The third was strongly oriented around the guitarist, and the fourth album was more modern. The new album is more experimental with the sounds and textures of the music and has created a stir among their fans.
“We’ve had a few people listen to this album that know the band pretty well, and they were pretty shocked that it was us,” Smith said.
They are not setting out to stick with one type of music for their careers, and this weekend they will perform several songs from their newest album with a few songs from the older ones, letting students hear their most recent style of music.
The Melismatics are occasionally booked in Marquette, most commonly performing at the Upfront and Company. They are also performing at the Upfront on Friday, Sept. 23 and 24 a week after their performance on campus.
The second night of F.A.P. Fest is dedicated to metal music. Five bands will be performing: Beast in the Field, Dorian’s Decay, Nosferatu Man, Too Fond of Flames, and Two Holes of Man.
“I really want this to be not just for students but to have people from town show up,” said Erin Astle, a senior entrepreneurship major and the F.A.P. show manager.
Astle said that since it is common to mosh at many metal music concerts, they’re holding the festival outside so that people don’t get hurt.
“They don’t have to worry about breaking anything, but we’re still going to make sure everyone’s safe. We don’t want anyone getting hurt,” Astle said.
Nosferatu Man is a local band performing Saturday night. Calvin Stark and Nick Erikson, a junior graphics communication major at NMU, are both members of the band that was founded in 2010.
“It’s really difficult to define our genre. Sometimes it’s sludge-metal and sometimes it’s more hardcore. I just want to bring in energy, the same with each show. I want to bring out the most in the crowd,” Stark said.
Erikson said. “We needed to fill some spots so I figured it would be easy to get in.”
Student Finances Committee is funding the event and is free to everybody. For more information email First Aid Productions at [email protected].
