EVERETT — What Scotty Smith of the Everett’s hometown favorite band Fauna Shade likes most about the annual Fisherman’s Village Music Festival is not necessarily the music.
“Yes, the festival will host a lot of good music. It’s very exciting,” said Smith, who grew up here. “But my favorite part is seeing downtown Everett filled with people of all ages going to festival shows.”
Fauna Shade and other local indie rock bands have been active in creating a music scene in Everett. May 20 through 22 marks the festival’s third outing, with nearly 80 bands set to perform at five different venues during the three-day fest. Fisherman’s Village organizer Ryan Crowther of Everett Music Initiative expects thousands of music fans from the region that extends from Portland to Vancouver, B.C.; to gather in Everett next weekend.
Fauna Shade, the darling of the Everett Music Initiative, won an Everett Mayor’s Arts Award in 2014, the same year the band won the Experience Music Project’s Sound Off! Competition in Seattle.
Earlier this spring, the three-man band released a four-track EP titled “Floral Hall” — a nod to the beautiful old wood hall at Forest Park in Everett and a play on the phrase “flora and fauna.”
Smith, 23, the band’s singer-songwriter-guitarist, drummer Richie Owen, 26, and bassist Derek Johnston, 28, sat down recently at Smith’s funky apartment/rehearsal space to talk about their recently released new music and the Fisherman’s Village Music Festival.
Their music is appreciated by fans across the country, thanks to positive reviews from the Chicago-based music website Consequence of Sound and locally because of the featured airplay on the radio station KEXP. The group is set to perform at the huge Sasquatch! Musical Festival during Memorial Day weekend at The Gorge.
Released less than a year after Fauna Shade’s debut LP “Baton Rouge,” the “Floral Hall” EP is available on iTunes.
The songs are “No Nostalgia,” “1973,” Bazzle Shabazz” and “P.S.,” which Smith says stands for “Perfect Symmetry.”
“Floral Hall has this wonderful wood dance floor,” Smith said. “It’s where my parents went for summer dances when they were students at Everett High. They fell in love there, listening to a band covering the Doors’ ‘Light My Fire.’ Floral Hall was the place to be. To imagine Everett like that is a beautiful thing.”
The experimental ballad “1973” romanticizes that same period in the lives of Smith’s parents. “No Nostalgia” has received a lot of attention. In it, the songwriter wonders how he will look back at today. “Bazzle Shabazz” is a band favorite because it is fun to play and “P.S.” is an acoustic piece.
Fauna Shade is scheduled to play at 8 p.m. May 21 at the festival’s outdoor stage on Colby Avenue.
“Everett Music Initiative and the festival have completely changed this city,” said Johnston. “They’ve brought in great bands from throughout the region and basically made Everett into a place that has a scene now. Everett has a growing cultural identity that young people appreciate.”
Smith agreed.
“Without EMI, I might not even be doing music,” he said.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
If you go
To buy a Fisherman’s Village Music Festival wrist band, go to www.thefishermansvillage.com. The third annual Fisherman’s Village festival is May 20 through 22 in downtown Everett
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