Steve: First of all, I’d like to congratulate the two of you, and the entire NEARFest team, on what seems to be a nice little success. How does the entire experience compare to what you were expecting?
Chad: Thank you very much. To be honest, we expected a decent demand for tickets on the first day of sale, but nothing like what we actually got. We were overwhelmed with the response, especially considering that we sold no more than about 10 tickets in a single day last year! 619 in one day is astronomical. Since then, we've been averaging between 20 and 25 ticket sales per day. If you don't have yours yet, better get on it!
Steve: What helped drive the numbers that high?
Chad: We think that the key factors are the strength of the lineup, the success of the inaugural NEARfest '99 and the wonderful enthusiasm of progressive rock fans worldwide. And I mean "worldwide"... we have people coming from Aruba, Germany, Holland and even Japan!!! Our lineup is more international this year and arguably more diverse. We have bands from Argentina, Sweden and the cult favorite, Italy in addition to bands from here in the U.S. The inclusion of a modern supergroup in Transatlantic that features members of such prog giants are Dream Theater, Marillion, Spock's Beard and the Flower Kings certainly helps, too! Also, the styles of the bands range from symphonic to Rock-In-Opposition to neo-progressive to fusion. This gives fans a chance to get a good feel for the whole spectrum of progressive rock and it seems that many out people there are more than open to expanding their musical palette. Or maybe they just trust our judgment.... Gulp. :^)
Steve: Your goal was to build the NEARFest 2000 roster into a diverse range of prog bands. In doing so, how do you two personally define the lines between the different sub-genres of prog music in order to assure an equal distribution?
Chad: Well, there are some definitions out there, but gaining a listening knowledge of
the music makes it much easier for us to discuss it. Rob and I have very in-depth conversations
on the phone about what types of bands we want represented. In some cases, we've turned each
other on to sub-genres that we may not have listened to by our own volition. Rob turned me on
to RIO while I've gotten him interested in some progressive metal.Steve: Once you’ve decided what bands you’d like on your roster, how do you go about convincing them to play at NEARFest?
Rob: Usually all it takes is that we just ask! The artists also know we're not-for-profit and not trying to get rich on this thing, so financial negotiations go very smoothly as well.
Steve: I noticed there are no repeat performers from last year’s festival.
Chad: That is correct. We feel that there are so many progressive bands out there that it would be unfair to repeat some of the same bands year in and year out. Whereas a band like IQ or Spock's Beard may have a very wide appeal, we want to give people the chance to see a big variety of other bands before we decide to invite them back for a second performance. Our rule of thumb is no repeats in consecutive years, so anything's open for 2001. However, don't misconstrue that as being a hint that IQ or Spock's Beard will be part of 2001. Nothing's been decided on that front yet. We have this year to worry about!
Steve: I seem to remember reading a post on the ProgAndOther mailing list, mentioning that, at least for 2000, NEARFest would forego recruiting prog metal bands. What prompted that decision?
Rob: Two reasons really. Ice Age is one of the BEST new prog-metal bands to come along in a while, and played their guts out at NEARfest '99, and received a polite, but extremely lukewarm reception. So we learned that MOST (but definitely not all) of the NEARfest clientele would rather us avoid that heavy side of things. I also know a couple of people who came for Ice Age only, who didn't really like most of the other bands ("too soft"). So maybe prog-rock and prog-metal are becoming two distinct genres with less and less overlap in fan base???
There were some folks there who were really into it, though, so we may revisit having a prog metal band in the future. In addition, the classical concert hall setting didn't seem to work too well for the huge balls-out sound of a metal band...the volume really did overwhelm the hall. That's something we'll have to work out if we book another prog-metal band for a future NEARfest.
Steve: Larry Fast gave a prog lecture at last year’s NEARFest. I would not have expected to witness something like that at a concert, but it seemed to go over quite well. Interesting twist you guys came up with. How did this event come about?
Rob: We asked him! :-) He lives only about an hour away, and wanted to be involved in some capacity. Larry is a great guy and we were definitely happy to involve him in the fest. This kind of prog lecture wouldn't have worked at something like OZZFEST, that's for sure! But in the small hall with a group of attentive music lovers, it went over great! We're not doing this in 2000 at Lehigh, with the tiered 1000 seat hall, it probably wouldn't work quite as well.
Steve: I’ve seen the term "not-for-profit" mentioned in conjunction with the NEARFest effort. Why do you make that distinction?
Chad: The Not-for-Profit standing does a few things. First of all, it keeps the government off our backs. Secondly, and more importantly, it helps the international bands through U.S. Customs. Work visas aren't necessary if they are coming to play a not-for-profit event at a college or university. Lastly, it just backs up our credo that we're out to support the music and prove that it's STILL a very legitimate genre of music. We believe in progressive rock and are trying to recruit as many people as we can in our quest!
Steve: So, it was obviously wasn’t enough for you to simply join a bulletin board or e-mail list and share your prog views with others.
Rob: Sometimes you believe in something so strongly that you just HAVE to do something. We saw other festivals (Progfest, Progscape, ProgDay, BajaProg) attracting reasonable audiences, and saw a need in the market for a prog festival closer to the major population centers of the Northeast US. It wasn't without some hesitation, back in the fall of '98 Chad and I were considering if the financial risk was really worth it. But we got a dose of "chutzpah", and went for it, and now it's been more successful than we could ever have imagined.
Steve: The one aspect of promoting prog that’s caught my attention is the amount of time people are willing to give to the cause without expecting much in the way of reimbursement.
Rob: People get very passionate about progressive rock. :-) For all the enjoyment people have gotten listening to records etc, they often want to give something back to the scene. The motives aren't completely altruistic though. With the music industry the way it currently is, the ONLY way to see a lot of these more obscure great progressive rock bands is at a fan-run festival. No festivals, no live prog (outside of the HUGE name bands like YES, King Crimson etc). So people are happy to pitch in to make the fest happen.
Steve: And, speaking of such people, there are a number of others that work under the NEARFest flag. Tell me a little bit about the rest of your organization.
Chad: From the beginning, Jim Pitulski has been a big part of NEARfest. His official title is Technical Director, but he's done much more for us. We owe a good part of our success to Jim. He's been invaluable with his contacts, his knowledge and experience and just his enthusiasm for progressive music. There's no doubt that InsideOut Music America will be a success with Jim at the helm.
Also with us since '99 is Dennis Haley. Dennis is our keyboard technician. We couldn't survive without his help. Dennis is part of a large contingency of keyboard collectors, and with that he became THE source of all the keyboards for NEARfest artists, not to mention ProgDay as well. Not only does Dennis supply the equipment, he works hard backstage to set up the rigs and make sure each artist is using the units and sounds that they need for their performance.
For 2000, we've added Jason Kochel to the mix. A good friend of Rob's and mine for several years now, Jason work Public Relations for us. He's taken on the task of setting up blocks of hotel rooms for the festival and making contacts to larger-name sponsors. Jason is also a great sounding board for Rob and I. He helps break the tie in our discussion sometimes too. His knowledge of progressive music from a listener's standpoint is great to have available. Between Rob, Jason and myself, we have access to thousands of progressive titles which help in our band selection process.
Also for 2000, Tom Gagliardi of the Gagliachives radio program has come aboard. He runs a fantastic 4-hour progressive rock show on 88.9 FM WBZC in Burlington County, NJ on Saturday nights. Tom is a good friend of mine and after last year's success of NEARfest, he wanted to take on the task of promoting the event across the airwaves. For the second year in a row, Tom is doing a 1 0-week NEARfest special on his radio program. During the 10 weeks leading up to NEARfest, he will feature a different band from our lineup. Many of these features include interviews with the bands themselves! At some point along the way, he also plans to have Rob and myself into the studio for a live interview... probably in May. Tom has also produced a 2-minute NEARfest radio ad for distribution to progressive radio stations worldwide. If anyone has a show and would like to use the ad, contact Tom at gagliarchives@nearfest.com.
The last "official" members of the NEARfest staff are Linda Shulman and Jeff Kushner. These two are our photographers, or progtographers. Linda and Jeff have been known to travel to many, many shows across the area and the country and have documented them all along the way. Their albums are full of great professional pictures of bands like IQ, John Wetton, Spock's Beard, After Crying, Fish and hundreds of others. To myself and Rob, it was a no-brainer to invite Linda and Jeff to part of NEARfest. We are very happy to have them aboard as it guarantees that we'll get an excellent visual record of the festival, not to mention they love doing it!
Steve: What words of advice (or, warning!) could you offer those who feel the desire to establish their own prog festival?
Chad: I guess it's more of a warning. We don't want to discourage anyone from organizing a show, but it's a hell of a lot of work. There are many more details to attend to than one might think and they multiply when dealing with international bands. Make sure that you think EVERYTHING through before even thinking of taking on such an endeavor. With much of it though, you just need to use common sense. For example, in order to recoup your investments, you need to bring out enough people to have the show break even. For those of us that aren't millionaires, this is a must. Also, such things as realistic budgeting and changeover times are also important parts of running a smooth and successful fest. Location is a no-brainer. We put NEARfest in the northeast corridor of the United States for a reason... population density. Philly, New York and Baltimore are all within about a 2 hour drive and many, many progheads live in the region. A healthy lead time is also key. Rob and I began planning NEARfest '99 14 months ahead of time. And even though we said we'd take the summer off last year before even talking about NEARfest 2000, we were into it by the end of July. Either we're crazy or we really want to do this right.
Steve: What kind of influence do you feel the Internet has in the growth of NEARFest?
Chad: In short, NEARfest wouldn't exist without the Internet, nor would progressive rock be near the revival that it's currently enjoying.
Tons! Last year, we virtually sold all 428 tickets due to the Internet. Besides a handful of tickets sold at a local record store, it was a total online effort. We also put a lot of stock in our website. We post as much information on there as we can. We want to eliminate as many questions for people as we can. It's always up-to-date and, I think, very clean and easy to navigate. This also adds to our continuing attempts to a very professional organization. I think we've done an excellent job of this in all aspects of the festival.
The Internet also allows us to offer many functions that we would otherwise not be able to do. Our site has band information including MP3 files for preview, travel maps and hotel information, venue pictures and a seating chart, an online auction, advertising information, a ride board for people to communicate and set up carpools, a scrapbook with pictures, comments and playlists from NEARfest '99, a downloadable flyer for distribution at local shows or record stores, and even a RealAudio webcast of NEARfest '99 courtesy of Studio M. We've really tried to build a sort of community out of it and so far its received great response.
On top of all this, the Internet allows us to be very personal with a hell of a lot of people, which Rob and I really enjoy. We're more than happy to talk to people about the show and do what we can to make their entire weekend an extremely enjoyable and memorable experience.
Steve: The number of prog festivals, and even that of one-night prog showcases, is increasing. How large would you like to see the prog business become?
Chad: Like most progressive rock fans, I think we have a special attachment to the music. It's like our little club and we don't want everyone sticking their necks in it. We also know that big-time record execs could foul the whole thing up. However, we have a conflicting interest to have the world once again recognize progressive rock as viable genre of music that should be appreciated and paid attention to. I don't think we'd want to be all over MTV or VH-1, but we'd like to a strong as say jazz or blues. Those two genres don't get airplay like rock, rap or country, but they still thrive nicely.
