It’s time to get schooled in the Dallas music scene. Local Education Fest IV is Saturday at Three Links.
Yet another creation from the mind of King Camel’s Jeff Brown, Local Education Fest is the Dallas Observer Music Award-nominated festival that seeks to showcase the best of what Dallas bands have to offer.
In the span of just five hours, the festival crams in a lineup of eight Dallas bands from different genres of music on indoor and outdoor stages, all for the purpose of showing how special Dallas' music scene is.
Now in its fourth year, Local Education Fest began as a much smaller show when Brown started it in 2014.
“I just didn't see as much diversity as we have now and thought I could do something about it," Brown says of the inspiration for the festival.
Over the years, the show has grown from a few bands to its packed lineup today.
“I just thought it would be cool to turn the concept into a larger show bringing a more diverse crowd together to celebrate all the great artists we have in Denton, Dallas and Forth Worth," Brown says.
Keeping the festival diverse is exactly what Brown has in mind when crafting the lineup.“I just thought it would be cool to turn the concept into a larger show bringing a more diverse crowd together to celebrate all the great artists we have in Denton, Dallas and Forth Worth." – Jeff Brown
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“I always like to keep the bill diverse,” Brown says, “but I still have a nice flow to the entire concert. It keeps it as exciting as possible.”
Brown crafts the lineup based on his “ethereal feeling — the one you get when a show is just popping off and the hype builds artist to artist.”
Taking the stage Saturday will be shoegaze act Rei Clone, trap rock ‘n’ soul group Blu H3ron, synthwave group Polystarra, lo-fi punk band Lizzie Boredom, rock group Son of Stan, the booze-fueled metal of Duell, surf punk provided by Loafers and the unmistakeable alt-piano pop of Poppy Xander.
From its start time to its eclecticism, it is clear that Local Education Fest is not designed to be like most festivals that come around this season. While other festivals rely on padding the afternoon slots with lesser-known acts to make way for the rush of people coming in at primetime hours, at Local Education Fest, all of the bands are deserving of the primetime slot.
“They all freaking rule,” Brown says. “That's why I chose them.”
For Brown, giving equal time to these bands is exactly what the DFW music community is all about.
“I feel that with different types of artists coming together that have never played together before has brought us as a local music community closer. I also feel many of them were able to build up their fan base by the increased attention,” he says.
He may be right. Last year, the first year Local Education Fest received the Dallas Observer Music Awards nomination, Rosegarden Funeral Party took the opening slot and has since seen skyrocketing success.
Brown’s music savvy has certainly placed his festival on the same list as giants such as Homegrown, JMBLYA, Fortress Festival and Lights All Night.
“I was honestly really surprised [about the nomination last year],” he says. “I mean all the other nominations were really big festivals, and mine is just a tiny fest in comparison. I was very honored.”
Rather than relying on the anchor of nationally recognized acts, the thing that makes Local Education Fest so different and so much more meaningful for Brown is that “it's all home-based bands that come from so many different backgrounds that get together one night a year to blow our friggin’ minds."
If you’ve been wanting to get more informed on the local music scene, there really is no better time to learn.
Here is the schedule of events:
Oustide Stage:
Blu H3ron at 8:30 p.m.
Polystarra at 9:30 p.m.
Inside Stage:
Rei Clone at 8 p.m.
Lizzie Boredom at 10 p.m.
Duell at 10:45 p.m.
Son of Stan at 11:30 p.m.
Loafers at 12:15 p.m.
Poppy Xander at 1 a.m.
