IndieArts Fest Features Red Bull Music Academy
Saturday, July 31, 2010
It's something you have to see (and hear) to believe.
Tonight, the tunnel adjacent to the Bank of America Skating Center in downtown Providence transforms into the Red Bull Music Academy DJ Tunnel. For six hours starting at 6pm, the tunnel is filled with visual projections, a pumping sound system, and will host five DJ’s including headliner AC Slater.
The Red Bull Music Academy is most known for its annual two-week-long academy sessions in which 60 selected participants - producers, vocalists, DJs, instrumentalists, and all-round musical mavericks from all around the globe, come together in one location to develop their craft. These individuals come together to check gear, chat on tunes, play in clubs, get a rare glimpse into local musical hybrids in a different country, swap musical visions in the studio, and discover closely-guarded secrets of mixing desk magic - straight from those who started revolutions in sound. The instructors are world famous DJ’s and producers.
GoLocalProv had a chance to speak with DJ Melee (left), RBMA’s regional representative, and their point man for the RBMA Tunnel at IndieArts Fest:
This year's IndieArts Fest is the second year that RBMA is hosting a stage. How do you think the festival and RBMA help one another through this collaboration?
When we were first approached, I immediately jumped at the opportunity for many reasons. The first and most important reason is that the IndieArts Fest has the same organic outlook that RBMA does with choosing its artists, bands, DJ’s, and participants. Those who: eat, sleep and breathe music and art. Artists who are cultivating their passion in their makeshift studios, shared lofts, or their basements are whom we both want to be involved with.
The second reason is the connection that IndieArts Fest has with its own community. You can actually sit and speak or drink with someone one second, and then the next second that same individual is on-stage killing it. I believe this year and every year after will just continue to get better and better for this collaboration.
This year's RBMA tunnel has AC Slater as a headliner. Tell us about him and why you chose him for this year's event.
This is an absolute obvious choice simply because of this man’s story. AC Slater (right) comes from the Trouble & Bass crew out of NYC; which happens to be a young, energetic team of individuals that have been blowing up the dance scene with their electro and heavy bass productions. He has played for crowds of thousands, and has blown away every crowd that he has been in front of. Aside from his ridiculous talent, I felt his performance would be much appreciated by the attendees. I attempted at getting him to play last year but his schedule was way to busy. This year the stars aligned, and it’s going to be an amazing show!
The Tunnel has both an audio and visual component. Share with us what goes into designing the RBMA Tunnel stage.
A small team of people and myself first evaluate the space. With the tunnel, it’s pretty straightforward. It’s all about giving the artist the ability to express their personal vision of how it will go. We bring in VJ Zebbler, who is one of the most amazing VJ’s in the world. He decorates the space as he deems fit. He creates a few mock-ups of what he would like to do, in this case multiple screens and projectors, creating a visual playground that Zebbler has created for the evening.
With the DJ’s, I always like to go out with a bang and I always like to program the music accordingly. With my 15 years of DJ’ing experience I have learned that you have to program the music just like a movie. Creating a beautiful opening, increasing the excitement hour by hour and then introducing the climax until you just want more and more. We hope to see you in the tunnel this year, it’s going to be a great weekend for the IndieArts Fest!
Come and check out the AC Slater, DJ Melee, MO7S, and Tim O’Keefe & Gregor Mittersinker of Indie-Dance Party at the RBMA Tunnel. The Tunnel is located at the IndieArts Fest in Greater Kennedy Plaza this Saturday, July 31 from 12pm – 12am. Tunnel begins at 6pm.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
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