Music scene ready for Darrington Meltdown
Published 5:27 pm Wednesday, August 7, 2013
It started as a private party for a local band.
Today, after 13 years, Summer Meltdown is still a party, but a lot less private.
Thousands show up for the four-day music festival in Darrington to watch bands from all over perform throughout the night.
More than 50 bands are on this year’s bill, including indie rockers Minus the Bear.
It’s the band’s first time at the festival and, for some of its Seattle-based members, to Darrington.
“I’m excited for the surprise,” bassist Cory Murchy said.
Murchy said live shows give Minus the Bear fans an opportunity to experience their music in a different way.
“Playing live is a real treat. It kind of explains the song in a better — or different — light,” he said. “Fans and listeners can take something away from live shows they don’t necessarily get with recordings.”
The band’s festival set will include an all-electric mix of songs from Minus the Bear’s nearly 13-year run, but nothing from its upcoming album “Acoustics II.”
They’ll save that for when they return to Seattle on their fall tour on Nov. 8.
Minus the Bear will perform at 11:05 p.m. Friday on the Meltdown Stage.
They’ve played Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Ultra and Rothbury, and now Indiana-born band Lotus will add Summer Meltdown to its music festival passport.
“Lotus’ festival sets are pretty high-energy and dance oriented,” bassist and sampler Jesse Miller said. “For people who’ve never seen Lotus before, it’s definitely something you don’t really understand until you see the band live.
“We sort of get lumped in with a lot of different things that don’t really say anything about our music.”
They play with a full band: drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion and a sampler to bring in sounds they can’t perform live on stage, like horns and guest vocals.
The band doesn’t have a set list planned for the festival, but Miller said fans can expect a little bit of everything Lotus does. And that covers quite a bit.
The band’s most recent album Build was released earlier this year.
“It’s all-instrumental, electronic-focused and dance-forward with a lot of synth,” Miller said.
Lotus will perform at 11 p.m. Saturday on the Meltdown Stage.
Xavier Rudd, The Cave Singers and Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk will also be at the festival, which starts Thursday night and continues through Sunday.
Three-day weekend passes including tent camping are $150. One-day passes are $65 for Friday and Saturday and $50 for Sunday. Passes for kids and limited car or RV campsites are available.
Tickets are available at Sno-Isle Co-Op, 2804 Grand Ave., Everett, and Bigfoot Music, 3405 172nd St. NE, Arlington, and online at www.summermeltdown.com.
Ashley Stewart: 425-339-3037; astewart@heraldnet.com.
