Off the Record

Plover 0:01
What's good everyone you are listening to WKNC 8.1 FM HD one Raleigh. We are a student run nonprofit radio station based out of North Carolina State University. I'm valkerie. And this is off the record. Here with me today is Renee, founder of LMG fest. How're you doing?

Unknown Speaker 0:16
I'm good, how are you?

Plover 0:17
I'm great. Thank you. Um, first of all, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of how you got into making this really cool festival?

Speaker 2 0:25
Well, thanks. Um, I got into this because I wanted to work with musicians and I love live music. I tried to do straight jobs doing like cibtac and doing paralegal work. And I just, I hated the culture of it. So I wanted to do something that resonated with me, and I could use those skills in the music industry.

Plover 0:48
Sure, um, first of all, thank you so much for naming it LNG Fest and not the extension to that, so we can say it on air. So what is llg? Fast, if you were to sum it up, like in, you know, a few sentences, or a paragraph or so,

Speaker 2 1:01
um, yeah, it's a mix of hop, noise and hip hop, with a message of let's have fun, let's rage, let's get weird, in a safe place. So I just wanted to kind of create a community for people that might not feel like they fit in and they like music that's not mainstream, to come and get together and discover new music.

Plover 1:25
Here. Again, that's a really good point about safe space. Because whenever you think of your punker, I know your show, it's probably in some some dusty venue or something. And this is, this is much better than that. We really appreciate that. So what was like, the inspiration or I guess, like ethos behind LMG, fasted, like, deciding to combine that with, like you mentioned a safer space.

Speaker 2 1:47
I think it was because I had a familiarity with the artists who are performing. And I if I had not seen them live, I've seen videos of their content and their music. And to me, they're all kind of progressive artists that are kind of breaking different boundaries. And I felt like I wanted to initially bring that best, or this lineup to South by Southwest. But that would be cost prohibitive. So I was thinking, you know, maybe I'll just do a little event here in the triangle. And also, there were other events that used to other music festivals, large music festivals that used to happen in Los Angeles, and in Austin. One was FYI fest. And then the other one was fun, fun, fun fest. And so the branding of the thinking behind it was kind of in line with those festivals, along with just wanting to bring artists that I think are very talented and very creative to, to the triangle to perform.

Plover 2:54
Sure. So other I noticed there are definitely a number of local artists, was there like a local focus? Do you look at like, kind of a region of the US? Or is it like more of like a genre thing.

Speaker 2 3:05
Um, it was a region, or region, region and genre thing. I think the artists that I picked were just artists that don't usually get to tour because of the expenses associated with touring. And I wanted to focus on artists from smaller communities, because they definitely have a DIY ethos. And I feel like they just they're prolific in the music that they produce, but they don't always get the

Plover 3:38
price that they deserve. So is this like, you mentioned, like, the artists cut off and like not leave their own area there? Is that like something that's endemic to like, the punk scene? Or like, is it just harder for them to like, get like a van together and go out there?

Speaker 2 3:53
I think. I mean, this is just from my observation, I can't speak for them. But I think it's just that, you know, most of these artists have day jobs, and they don't make their money off of music. So it's a matter of taking time off and, you know, getting a vehicle and booking the venues because most of them book, their own tours, and they do everything themselves. So it can get a little bit you know, consuming time consuming and consuming with expensive. Sure. Um,

Plover 4:26
are there. i You mentioned a number of scenes and local communities. Are there also a diversity in the identities of the artists like who they are? Is this like a great way of kind of showcasing different identities across the scene?

Speaker 2 4:41
I think so. I mean, I really care. I mean, you know, I'm not a white person, so I care about diversity night. I look for it. I look for people who I don't necessarily see on the radars of A typical shows, and I really wanted to have diversity in, you know, in different backgrounds and ethnicities and orientations and all that kind of stuff. Because I think it's important to see artists represented. So that's what I was hoping to do. Um,

Plover 5:20
what do you say is like, I guess the importance of one of those kinds of festivals and like, the scene or like, just the general area of let's say, the triangle,

Speaker 2 5:30
I'm pretty new to the triangle. So I, I just feel like this is, you know, I think North Carolina is a purple state more so than where I'm from in Texas, where there are blue islands in a red state. And I like the fact that there is diversity in this community. And you can see it when you go out and about. And I think it's just important to kind of create spaces where people feel comfortable coming into, and where they don't feel like well, I'm not sure if I should go to this, because maybe I'll see representation within that community there. And I think like, one thing I noticed is the folks that do come out to shows that are a little bit more rowdy or pumper, you know, hardcore, is they're super sweet. They're super friendly. And they're just there to have fun. And I really liked that. And I just wanted to bring more of that into the room

Plover 6:29
next year. And also that a lot of like, in terms of concerts, they the best, most helpful, kind of most capable of making a concert good are people who have had that kind of experience or that kind of like, time in the scene and stuff. And often concerts, like, if you come in not knowing what's going on, or because of like a meme or something, it can get kind of hairy. So I'm really glad there's a focus on like, kind of making sure that there are those established faces, and that's going to be good. Um, you mentioned you're recently in the triangle, what would you say some differences, just music wise, from your time in like Atlanta, or Houston or wherever you

Speaker 2 7:09
think it's interesting, um, I wasn't really involved in the music scene to her core in Atlanta. I really, I mean that Atlanta is like that, you know, the Hollywood of the south and a lot of ways so they're, like, huge artists from there like Jermaine Dupree and like Mary J. Blige would just show up at different buildings. So that was very interesting to me. And then Houston has a really prolific music scene, there's a lot of hip hop, like dirty south, third Coast hip hop, and but it's very eclectic. It's very, like you'll have punks and people that like to step in college kids to older folks, to queer folks all coming together at the same music venues and hanging out. It's just a really diverse mix. And in Austin, Austin just had a fiercely, like, diet, la music culture, where it was a little bit like, Okay, if you're in Austin, you're really out there to make a, you know, to put yourself out there and tour and be a professional touring musician. There's also like really great punk scenes there, and lots of little unique spots, where people get together, and they have their own little events, like two day events that aren't necessarily festivals, but they're, they're bringing artists from other parts of the country, or maybe even world to come and perform. And that's kind of what also influenced my thinking about a lefty fest, is really cool.

Plover 8:40
I've had friends at Austin, who have said, it's kind of getting like tech wrote a bit of you didn't notice that.

Speaker 2 8:45
Oh, I mean, if you go to any coffee shop in, in Austin, it feels I mean, even outside of Austin, everybody's talking about entrepreneurship, startups, funding, all that kind of stuff. So it's like, it can be overwhelming. For sure.

Plover 9:03
Um, I think that definitely, one thing about the triangle is that there are all those kinds of scenes, but like, because the triangle isn't just one city, it's a bunch of different cities in bed even can often rope in like a Greensboro or something. It's kind of like a lot more spread out. Like you'll have. But if you combined the triangle, you'd probably have a great electronic rap, obviously, and all that but like, you've got to drive 45 minutes one way to get 45 minutes the other way to get it like did I did you notice that when like planning a festival, that kind of, I guess not centered aspect of the sea.

Speaker 2 9:37
Dune, but that's not because I didn't look it was more like I had a single focus in mind. I mean, I am exploring more of the triangle to try to learn where the different scenes are. And it's, it's, I mean, like you said, it's spread out and there are people in Greensboro to Chapel Hill to Raleigh and Durham and I'm just kind of learning about the different communities But this was a way to say, hey, we're here in Durham, and you're welcome to come and I want to meet you.

Plover 10:07
Um, so are you there and basically what like drew you to terms with,

Speaker 2 10:12
um, I, you know, Texas is a great state and a lot of ways, but there are certain things about it that I just wanted to get get away from one of them and includes the heat. It's like crazy hot there right now. It's like over 100 degrees. And I was just looking at the weather when I was walking up here, and it's like 76 degrees, and it's pleasant. What drew me to North Carolina and Durham is I how sat for a friend in Asheville, and I just loved North Carolina, it was just a beautiful state. And I have a background doing marketing and booking in different areas. And I just looked for a job here in the triangle and Motoko was looking for somebody but they didn't have the position available. When they did I moved out here.

Plover 10:59
So you're like, wait motorcar directly? Yeah, I'm, I'm their marketing manager. I'm tying into moto. What do you think about the construction around Motoko? And how that's going to influence the scene going forward? I know there's a lot of buildings going up without like come ordinances and stuff. What do you see going forward for like, that kind of, I guess, entertainment

Speaker 2 11:20
district. It's kind of complicated, because I feel like it kind of brings like, wealthier folks to the area that can afford the condos and want to go and have a nice evening, as you know, they can pay for parking. And it kind of excludes like people that maybe want to get a little bit more rowdy and, you know, are a little bit younger. I think overall, like we booked diverse dance, so we're still going to have that in our booking. But I feel like anytime like gentrification happens, it kind of pushes out communities who are used to being local to the downtown. So it's happening everywhere. It's just really, it's really I don't know, I want to say unfortunate. And that sounds a lot more negative than I mean it to be, but it's just like it's change is always hard.

Plover 12:22
No, it's it's a big one. So it's such a structural thing that it's like aren't even, like, develop and Yeah, well, we'll we'll see how that plays out. I mean, the buildings are still under construction. Lee Motoko can still stay diverse stay radical, I mean, do you want to have more lft events in the future going forward, like, we're not just allergy, but like other kinds of events, similar to,

Speaker 2 12:43
Oh, I'd love to, I'd like to do this again, in about a year. If there's interest, you know, it's kind of hard to grow a brand new event, and try to bring people in and raise awareness. So I'd like to, and I would love to collaborate with other people that want to curate events, and, you know, have a passion for music and, and kind of bringing people together and building community. So I'd love to do that. Um,

Plover 13:13
over some, if any, like, behind the scenes hurdles and putting together like this festival, we're getting funding for them underwritten with all these moving parts. Were there any kind of challenges there?

Speaker 2 13:26
Yes, I mean, I think the hardest thing is we're such a small team of folks. There's me, our sound engineer, our stage manager and our senior looking talent buyer. And so, you know, just coordinating everything, and getting people to help with like, PR, I had somebody outside our organization help us with, you know, public relations, publicity, and it's just getting all that coordinated has been challenging, and also just, you try to stay organized, you try to put things together and it's like, it's like, oh, things change and things shift and you have to be ready to just pivot to the next idea. The bands have been really great to work with so far. You know, they're, they were willing to come out for this from different parts of the country. And so I feel like that wasn't necessarily hard. But I think just like also not having sponsorships kind of doing it based on you know, you know, selling tickets and passes has been challenging because when you have sponsorship money, it makes such a difference. It's just a little bit easier.

Plover 14:46
Obviously, you didn't go over the sponsor for this one, not fitness. After all, was that like a deliberate choice?

Speaker 2 14:56
It was considered I thought about it with that The partnerships that the owners of MurderBot have, I didn't want to step on their toes. And you know, they had some hesitations about just bringing anybody in. So there was a time crunch with trying to look into that. And honestly, I kind of just like not having sponsorships. I think sometimes it leads dilutes the message

Plover 15:24
of the best. Sure, especially DIY kind of grounded vest like this, um, you had mentioned that kind of like, an accessibility to certain demographics, I definitely noticed that. When I go to motorcoach meme, like my friends tend to be the youngest people, they're often the some of the few college students. Is there a concerted effort? Or if y'all notice, like, kind of a shift away from like, young people going to these kinds of things? Or it's like not about, I guess, the next generation of people who could produce this kind of user? I'm not sure how, sorry, I can. Um, yeah, we just, like noticed a general lack of accessibility for young people in this scene? And are is there like, ways you're thinking about to kind of improve that accessibility?

Speaker 2 16:15
I think about this all the time. And so yes, I, I like to reach like, young, well, I want to reach everybody, but I really want to reach young people, you know, college students, and and I'm not sure if there are other DIY spaces that are just more like friends of friends that are throwing house parties and that kind of thing. And I would love to, you know, just be a welcoming space for everybody. But a lot of it. A lot of reaching those younger folks is learning about where they hang out where, how to market to them, how to get access to the college campuses, which can be tricky, because college campuses are their own organization, certain things need approval. So I mean, I've wanted to do just grill a campaigning where we just leave stuff all over campus, but then also, you know, I work for Motor Co, and I don't want to be disrespectful to, you know, to the campus and the colleges.

Plover 17:13
Sure, especially, Duke has a bit of a reputation of not engaging with the area as much. So yeah, that that can often be hard to like, kind of penetrate the Duke bubble. I totally get that. Um, I noticed you mentioned that it combines about pumpkin noise and stuff I'm appalled. And punk are to a lot of people, they sound completely, like completely different genres, like what would you say is like kind of connection between those two genres? There definitely are connections between

Speaker 2 17:40
them. And that's a cool question. Because I think like, a lot of people are like, if you say, Oh, do you like punk phobia? Like, and they primarily listen to hip hop, you think they're gonna be like, No, but I think there's an ethos there that they share a lot of the same, kind of just values become another word. And I feel like, you know, they're kind of anti establishment and, like, you know, they're very, like, they create their own culture and what I've seen over the years, you know, cuz, you know, I grew up listening to, like, the Beastie Boys, and like, Run DMC, and some of the later like, third Coast hip hop stuff. And there's a blending of like, people that are listening to all this different kind of music. And they're mixing it together. Like, black is one of the artists from Houston that's performing and he doesn't just do hip hop, he does like industrial music. He listens to like, you know, he like show me the body he could perform with some of these artists. And Fat Tony has a song that he DJ, where he landed, like, a country song. And I think I can't remember the name of it and ring the bell, which is a hip hop song. And he did it so smoothly. It was really cool. And it's because like, those folks have an eclectic taste. And then with like, with punk, I feel like I've known people who kind of who are in the punk scene, but they also will go on tour manage for different hip hop artists, because, you know, they, they vibe with each other, they kind of like the same things. And in terms of music, I think that there's a lot of overlap that I'm I'm hearing and it's, it didn't just start like maybe in the late 90s But it kind of has grown over time. Where genres are just blending. If something sounds good, like people are gonna be into it. If you want to Mosh to it. You can Mosh to it like juice slurred is a local artist, and he is nicknamed as the mosh pit Messiah. And he has such a good punk energy but he still had pop. And I think I think he's amazing. I He's a he's a rock star total rock star.

Plover 20:04
Well, we we read the station love Jesus Lord, we're we're big, big fans of them. Yeah, I tell you, you touched a lot on those kinds of connections between sort of the anti establishment stuff on both scenes arguably actually getting corrupted corporately pop punk and whatever major label hip hop is that like that, like an obstacle? Or is that like an opportunity to kind of grow new aspects of each of those scenes?

Speaker 2 20:30
I think it's a it's an opportunity. There was an article that recently came out, I think, in Rolling Stone, where, you know, I believe the artists was Travis Scott. And his he has a new album out, I didn't listen to it, I haven't heard it. And it references Kanye West. And Kanye West had a been compared to Blackie maybe about like, a little over eight years ago. And so it's, it's always like, they're always connections with the music where if somebody gets recognition and the writers or the journalists in music go, and they can pull out a name of an artist that isn't, as well known as Kanye West, it makes a big difference in their, their reach in their audience.

Plover 21:29
Sure, it's a really interesting way to look at it and never thought about that. Definitely read that article after this. So this is at motorcar, if for any listeners unfamiliar motorcar, what's like a good way of like getting there, like, What were his motor cars,

Speaker 2 21:43
Motor Co is in downtown Durham. And there is a lot of construction around there. But you can find parking. On our website, there's information about parking, and there's free parking, street parking, and also paid parking, the venue, our venue is going to be inside. So all like, even if it rains, we're everybody's gonna be inside. So that's nice. And if it's really crazy hot, so we're going to be inside. And then there's Motoko has like a restaurant attached to it. And also, we have a new veranda where we do woodfired food like, and all that kind of stuff. So if you want to grab a bite there, you can. Um, it's like the cap is like 450, or shows. So it's, it's big, but not too big. It's just like a comfortable size. And I think it's just like, a fun place to see a show app.

Plover 22:44
Yeah, that's a really great size for a venue. I know there's a lot of bands playing or like each idea or this, that's going to be like mind boggling, rapid fire sets.

Speaker 2 22:56
I mean, there's the changeover between sets is about 15 minutes or so. And you know, we're doing line checks, but we in the center, I think there are a decent amount there 30, between about 30 to 45 minutes, and it just depends on the size of the band. And I mean, what kind of audience it has, like local bands are going to play more like a 30 minute set, and then dance there from out of town or given a little bit more time.

Plover 23:26
It's, um, is there anything else specific that you want our listeners to know about? During this festival? Oh, yeah,

Speaker 2 23:34
I would love everyone to come we drop the two day passes to $50 to make it more accessible. But if there's only one day you want to go to those passes are only $30. But you should encourage your friends to come and even if your friends don't want to come because they might not be into it. Just come and make new friends.

Plover 23:55
Never sure it's always better friends on those shows. Um, before we go, what are some of your favorite artists are either in this scene or just in general? What? What's like your like general music?

Speaker 2 24:06
Oh, wow. I like I like too many bands. Like I think I stopped having favorite bands like a while ago, but I'm really excited about a check. I think they're an amazing band. I'm excited about sweeping promises and wambo and you stop them a lot of post punk kind of music. So like, you know, I like making the stallion I like hip hop. I like a lot of different genres and a lot of different artists. But like right now I think post punk is the music that I'm the most excited about.

Plover 24:43
Sure. Yeah. Thank you so much for speaking with us. By the way. It's been a really great combo.

Unknown Speaker 24:47
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Plover 24:49
I appreciate you all for tuning in. And you can check out all of the interviews I had everyone here does at wknc.org/podcast and click on off the record and Belgrade. I've been here with Rene from lft Fest on Wk input one FM HD one Raleigh

Transcribed by https://otter.ai