Three days of punk rockin’

Music | February 18th, 2015

Baltic To Boardwalk :: Photo by Kaytlin Dargen

New Direction Festival celebrates four years

The annual punk and hardcore music festival New Direction Fest is celebrating its fourth year in a variety of ways.

The fest kicks off on Feb. 20 with a punk rock garage sale. Tables will be set up with records, merchandise and other items for purchase. Music starts that night at 7 p.m. with local pop punk bands and artists from Minneapolis.

“I try to make it so diverse so that people who don’t come to shows will come to that show and then see a band they normally wouldn’t see,” said Jack Stenerson, co-owner of The New Direction venue. “It’s kind of a big melting pot of genres so people will start opening their perspectives to different kinds of music.”

Saturday continues with more hardcore bands such as Grim Light, Creep Colony and Lost Cause. Local band Lost Cause is closing out the day with the band’s last performance with singer Sean Thompson. The day will end with the fest’s second annual midnight acoustic set with performances by Channing Minnema, Joci Heart, Remember Me and Most/ Simple.

The last day starts off with a punk rock potluck with the bands and anyone who would like to bring food. Then, there will be a mix of pop punk and hardcore bands including Atrocities, The Sky Apart, Souls, The Last Echo, Baltic to Boardwalk and Crab Legs.

The fest will also feature a pie-in-the-face competition, in which people will be able to put money into a jar corresponding with the band they would like to throw a pie at. Whichever band has the most money wins the competition and will get pies thrown at them.

Stenerson started planning in November for this year’s event. Since the first year the fest has gained recognition locally and regionally. Stenerson has heard people driving up just for the three day music festival, and he had around 20 to 25 more bands asking to play the fest than there was room for.

“It’s just really cool that it’s being held in a high regard now and that people want to play it,” Stenerson said. “I know there are people from Iowa driving up for it [and] some people from Minneapolis, so it’s become a destination festival, which is kind of neat. It’s something I’ve never expected but hopefully as it moves on it’ll get bigger and bigger.”

This year’s festival is expected to attract a few more people than last year due to the variety of bands playing. Stenerson will keep the event at The New Direction, which is the only all-ages, do-it-yourself, underground local music venue, as long as it’s around. A show at The New Direction often has the same atmosphere as seeing a band play a basement show.

“A lot of the appeal to it … is you’re seeing a band like that in a venue you would normally never see that band in,” Stenerson said. “There is something about standing on the floor just piling onto people. It’s just a feeling you get down there, and I think that’s the coolest thing about it.”

Since the first year, the venue has been an avid supporter of anyone and everyone attending its shows. The first show Stenerson booked was five high school bands no one had heard of. The show attracted 169 people.

The New Direction still gives bands that don’t have the opportunity to play at other venues a chance to play live for an audience. The venue has grown over the last three years and so has the concertgoers, Stenerson said.

“One thing I’ve noticed over the past three years is that all of the people who have been going to shows from back then still go to shows,” Stenderson said. “There’s a lot of new people our age, college kids and stuff ... attendance is still good. It’s just kind of a different dynamic there because essentially everyone is more mature at the shows and gets along.”

New Direction Fest is three days of celebrating the opportunities the venue has created for new up-and-coming bands.

“That’s just such a cool feeling to know that we, together, built something where people love to play,” Stenerson said. “Fargo is becoming a destination that bands want to come to because you know they’re going to have a great show [and] you know the kids are going to get super into it. You know that it’s just a cool place to play.”