In March of 2011 I was home in Chestertown for the weekend, but I spent one of those days in Baltimore with about a dozen of my friends, (we used to all go to punk shows together), at the electronic dance music festival, Spring Massive.
Plenty of articles have been written about our “iPod Shuffle Generation” and I’ve always had rather diverse musical tastes myself, so I won’t rehash any of that too much. However it was this experience in particular that made me think… “what if there was a Kent Massive?”
I mocked up a logo and posted it on Facebook. The response from that simple act was so positive that I started taking steps to make it a reality.
Earlier that year I had heard that the skate ramp out in Big Woods, and run by East Coast Skates, had started hosting local bands, so that’s where we held the show. The line-up consisted of myself, (DJ-ing), two local hip-hop artists I work with, K-0TiC Couture and Breezy Go Hard, a dubstep DJ recommended by friends who had moved to Ocean City, and the first hometown performance by the recently reformed Kent County punk band, The Converted.
This year Kent Massive will be held at the Lelia Hynson Pavilion, on the Chester River next to Wilmer Park. There are twice as many acts, and they range from punk and metal bands (American Outliers, The Abolitionists, To Build A Bomb) to folk, blues, and reggae (Gage Rhodes, Brooks Long, The Good Funk) as well as hip-hop (Dutch Williams, Breezy Go Hard, K-0TiC Couture, DDm) and dubstep (Schmohawk).
I must also credit a good amount of my inspiration for the festival to Schmohawk, the DJ duo from Philly, made up of Aaron Ruxbin and Shane Sixten, who also run the label Actual Records. During the year I spent in their city they put on a slew of events that featured bands playing side-by-side with Djs; always with a fierce DIY (do-it-yourself) attitude.
Another factoid I’d like to note is that this year’s Kent Massive will boast two veterans of Baltimore’s Artscape festival. Brooks Long will be playing there this year on Saturday July 21st, and one of our headliners DDm (aka Dappa Dan Midas) performed last year.
Fellow Kent Massive artist K-0TiC Couture explains the significance of having DDm on the line-up: “For fans of DDm on the shore it means a lot; he’s definitely a rising star and a name not only in Baltimore but on the east coast – so to have someone whose music is unique, artistic and meaningful come to a growing festival, it shows the power music has to fuse things together.”
Since the word has gotten out, bands from all around Maryland, DC. and Delaware have been hitting me up and asking if they can play. As much as I wish I could, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day for me to put everyone on the festival; this just shows how viable a music venue accessible to youth could be in Chestertown.
Next year, I hope to secure some grants and local sponsorships in order to be able to offer more support to the local artists as well as attract more upcoming talent from elsewhere. I could say so much more about everything that is going into this and everything I’m looking forward to it becoming, but for now I just hope to see you there!
Kent Massive 2012 will be held Saturday July 28 from noon until dark at the Lelia Hynson Pavilion (399 S Cross St) in Chestertown. General admission is $5 and advance tickets & merch can be purchased at www.kentmassive.tk
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