Greetings Friends,

I’d like to take a little time and tell you about my time at this year’s Summerfest, held in my homeland of Milwaukee, WI. I only spent three short days there (and yes, three days is considered short in comparison to the eleven days total the festival runs) but I experienced much I’d love to share with you.

Many of the artists selected through Sonicbids were part of the Emerging Artist Series at Summerfest.  After selecting the first round, Summerfest ran a voting application through us where fans could vote for their favorite band. As a result, four artists for each day were selected to play on the US Cellular stage—one of the main stages there. Throughout the afternoon, fans were encouraged to text while their favorite artist was playing and at the end of the four sets the winner for the day was announced.  Each winning band won a package worth a cool $3,000 that included a Dean Electric Guitar, Sennheiser vocal mics, Digitech effects processors, a Yamaha snare drum, artist resources and more. Not too shabby, eh?

The first band I had the pleasure of catching on Friday, June 27^th, was Five Star Iris. If you want to find a good ol’ solid rock band, check these guys out. In addition to putting on a concrete show, their lead vocalist, Alan, shared with me that they had also been selected as a winner in the UK Songwriting Contest, and played at the Atlantis Music Conference, all among several other opportunities with their Sonicbids EPK. And if you want to talk about accomplishments, check out Maryland based group Fools & Horses. At just a glance, you notice that Fools & Horses are a group of well-dressed, charismatic and charming men. But do not be deceived, my kind reader, these guys put on an energetic and musically tight act and they certainly aren’t afraid to play their instruments hard when the time is right. I was extremely impressed by these two groups, in addition to all the other Sonicbids artists sharing the stage with them. At the end of the day, The Hollywood Kills were declared the Emerging Artist winner for the day and walked off with that sweet prize package.

The next day I was set to check out a bunch of different bands, but things got put on a slight rain delay due to torrential downpours and severe lightning. In addition to all the Emerging Artists on the US Cellular Stage, I went to check out other stages with Sonicbids bands like, Eli “Paperboy” Reed. For this gig, he was playing with his ensemble “The True Loves,” who together created some unbelievable throw-back-style Soul tunes. The brass section was on point and Eli’s vocals carried over the crowd in their full, edgy power. I also saw Milwaukee locals, The Northern Room, who drew in a huge crowd at the Harley Davison Stage. If you haven’t heard of these guys, all I can say is: look out Bono, you have some serious competition. The swift vocals and even swifter guitar lines create a seamless web of melodic rock. These guys have enjoyed a ton of success so far and are surely continued to do so.

Sunday I had a late start due to more severe thunderstorms, but when the sky cleared up I saw a rainbow and took at as I sign I was in for some more great music. On the Emerging Artist stage, I got to check out some bands, including Cabin and Company of Thieves. Cabin stood out when band member Sarah Welder brought out her violin on stage with the guys. The group molded together some intelligent and thoughtful melodies while varying the tempo of their set that kept the audience at full attention. Company of Thieves kept my focus with a ton of energy and lead vocalist, Genevieve Schatz, bouncing her head full of curls to the music on stage. It’s great to hear powerful female vocals mixed in with some interesting pop-rock. If you have time, check out “Under The Umbrella” on their EPK – they closed with that song and the ending is the ultimate crowd-pleaser.

Honestly, there is so, so much more I could write about and many more bands I’d love to highlight. But, I fear that will have to be saved for my upcoming novel, “Life as Tess,” due out early Fall. (Lucky for you, that was a joke.) In the meantime, feel free to check out more pictures here. I apologize in advance for the blurry-ish photos – my camera broke and I clumsily used a friend’s camera as a supplement.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave some comments if you’ve attended Summerfest, have any questions, or want to share anything related to great music and festivals.

Until next time,

Tess

PS: If you’re interested, here is the list of bands that all won their day’s competition as an Emerging Artist and walked off with that package:

Flatfoot 56
The Hollywood Kills
The Box Social
Sick of Sarah
Alex Winston
Hail Archer
The A.K.A.s
The Frantic
People in Planes
Voxhaul Broadcast
An Early Ending

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