We are a little less than a month out from Secret Stages, Birmingham’s newest music festival, which will be held May 13 and 14 in the heart of the loft district. The week of the festival, Birmingham Weekly will contain your essential guide to all of the cool stuff to be discovered, but for now we thought we’d drop another little taste of what’s to come into your opens mouths you hungry birdies, you. First off, in the very near future the Secret Stages website (secretstages.net) will unveil a social-media connected schedule of events that will allow you to easily browse through bands, even letting you listen to their music from the schedule itself. You will be able to pick which bands you are interested in seeing, instantly build a custom itinerary based on those picks, connect with friends who are also attending the festival and compare your schedules with theirs. There will be integration with Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Foursquare.
Once you’ve built your very own customized Secret Stages schedule, you will be able to use the Secret Stage app via your smart phones on the day of the festival to find your way around. You won’t be hung-up by any last-minute schedule changes, since any adjustments will be pushed immediately to your phone.
In the end, Secret Stages is all about the bands, and though we’ve covered a few of them in recent issues past, here are a few more brief profiles to whet your whistles:
The Love Language—Raleigh, NC
North Carolina native Stuart McLamb has channeled a history of rough times and discontent into a healthier, less-dangerous lifestyle. The resulting music, recorded largely on an ancient four-track, is upbeat, lo-fi indie pop that makes it hard not to smile.
Crooked Fingers—Asheville, NC Fronted by former Archers of Loaf singer Eric Bachmann, Crooked Fingers has spent a lot of time moving around. Based in Seattle, Atlanta and Denver before ending up in Asheville, their sound has taken a similarly circuitous route, ending up as comfortable singer-songwriter balladry.
Dylan LeBlanc—Muscle Shoals, AL
LeBlanc spent his impressionable years amongst the session musicians at Fame Studios, and was writing songs before he was a teenager and playing live before he turned 16. He employs a deft finger-picking style and pairs it with voice that conveys world-weariness even through his youth.
Brass Bed—Lafayette, LA
Don’t let the banjo fool you Brass Bed play dynamic rock-pop with lots of crunchy hooks to sink your ears into. They’ve got just enough throwback to make me nostalgic (for a time I never lived through, no less), but mix it up enough to keep me interested. Still, it gives me a chuckle every time I hear that twang filter through the rock-fuzz and harmony.
The Green Seed—Birmingham, AL
Resident hip-hoppers The Green Seed move away from typical rap subject matter, embracing video-game and comic book culture in their tunes, usually with steller beats by DJFX backing them up. These guys know how to rock a live show, so get ready!
For more information about Secret Stages, including audio and video of these bands and many more, visit www.secretstages.net.
Originally printed in Birmingham Weekly on April 21, 2011.