EVERETT — Tessa Tasakos stood barefoot Thursday on a fake grass stage reminiscent of the classic Microsoft desktop background. In the crowd, she waved to her baby, who wore a pair of headphones wrapped around his head.
Tasakos, keyboardist for local band Narrow Tarot, performed on the first night of Everett Music Initiative’s 10th annual Fisherman’s Village Music Festival.
Local band Narrow Tarot perform as a crowd builds at Lucky Dime during the opening night of Fisherman’s Village on Thursday, May 18, 2023, in downtown Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
“Life has been really intense in the last couple years,” Tasakos said. “Coming back feels good. I feel like a kid.”
An estimated 10,000 fans are expected for the three-day event that features more than 40 local and national acts performing at five Everett music venues — including Lucky Dime, 1618 Hewitt Ave.; Black Lab, 1805 Hewitt Ave.; and Zamara Gallery, 293 Colby Ave.
Two more stages in the new Apex Art & Culture Center at 1611 Everett Ave will open for the festival Friday and Saturday: King’s Hall, which will act as the event’s main stage, and 1161, which is located downstairs.
From the alternative rap from Oblé Reed to the alt-country and Americana of Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, the festival will offer a wide array of musical genres.
Fisherman’s Village kicked off with a new event for this year — spoken word and acoustic artists at Zamarama Gallery at 2936 Colby Ave. Board member Devaney Robinett organized the event out of her love for Everett’s poetry community.
Ben West closes out his set at Zamarama Gallery during the opening night of Fisherman’s Village on Thursday, May 18, 2023, at in downtown Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
“The beautiful thing about poetry is that it has no rules,” Robinett said. “People who want to get up in front of a crowd and are nervous about that, the poetry scene is so tight and it’s so accepting. I don’t think there’s anything a person should be scared of sharing in front of this group of people.”
As the sun started to go down, performers took the stage at Lucky Dime and Black Lab.
Narrow Tarot, made up of four Lake Stevens friends, was back for the third time at the music festival. Influenced by bands like The B-52’s and Future Islands, the band members wouldn’t pin their sound to one genre, but landed on “psych, funky beach rock,” led by keys, bass, guitar and drums.
Narrow Tarot perform at Lucky Dime during the opening night of Fisherman’s Village on Thursday, May 18, 2023, in downtown Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
“I’m so excited to play this weekend,” bass player Trevor Fett said Thursday night. “It’s so much fun, and everybody’s so supportive, and a lot of people do come out! It’s a great scene.”
Fans and first-time listeners quickly filled the retro cafe, dancing and head-banging on the black-and-white checkered floor as the group played favorites from their 2019 album, “The Doctrine.”
On their way to the next venue, attendees Mariah Cornelson and Chhaylee Khat said they love seeing their hometown music scene grow with more shows, artists and music lovers.
“If I go to a show, this is what I want to be near,” Khat said, “because it’s so raw and so much emotion.”
Down the street, festival goers went to the upstairs bar at Black Lab to watch bands like Dead Energy, Lovely Colours and Telehealth.
A guitarist keeps rhythm during Lovely Colours’ set on the opening night of Fisherman’s Village on Thursday, May 18, 2023, at Black Lab in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
“I like being able to bop around to all the little dive bars,” said festival attendee Hannah Wehrheim. “It’s such a close-knit community; everywhere I go, I know someone.”
Just an hour before their performance, Seattle-based band Telehealth sat on a picnic table outside Black Lab, eating Filipino food and wearing matching green sunglasses. Keyboardist Kendra Cox described the group’s planned set for their performance as “bangers only.”
The band members describe their sound as 80s inspired, futuristic, synth-punk and pop, and heavy on a synthesizer keyboard that does “a lot of insane (expletive).”
The band members, all with previous experience from other bands, came together in July 2020. Cox said their close friendships with each other energize her to make music.
“The building of Telehealth felt really natural,” Cox said. “Building the band was like: ‘Who do I want to spend more time, with? Who do I want to have in my life more?’”
People begin to file into Lucky Dime during the early shows of opening night of Fisherman’s Village on Thursday, May 18, 2023, in downtown Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Around 9:30 p.m., late-night listeners rushed to the front at the Black Lab stage to feed off that energy.
Fisherman’s Village will continue through Saturday night.
The Night Market opens Friday at 5 p.m. and welcomes all comers, whether people hold a ticket or not. Vendors like German street food truck Das Bratmobile and Langostino Sushi Burritos will be at 2930 Wetmore Ave.
Remaining schedule for Fisherman’s Village
Friday
APEX: King’s Hall
11:30 p.m. Bass Drums of Death
10:00 p.m. Steel Beans
8:30 p.m. Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Lucky Dime (all ages)
11:00 p.m. Don Grey
9:45 p.m. Perry Porter
8:15 p.m. Oble Reed
7:30 p.m. RNNRS
Black Lab
12:15 a.m. Automatic (Late Night Friday)
10:45 p.m. Art Feynman
9:15 p.m. Reyna Tropical
7:45 p.m. Youth Do Choir
6:15 p.m. Edmund Wayne
Night Market
9:00 p.m. Cytrus
7:45 p.m. Spirit Award
6:30 p.m. King YoungBlood
5:00 p.m. Jaws of Brooklyn
Saturday
APEX: King’s Hall
11:30 p.m. DrugDealer
10:00 p.m. Shannon & The Clams
8:30 p.m. Adia Victoria
7:00 p.m. Sunny War
5:30 p.m. Karl Blau
1611
10:45 p.m. Mt St Helens Vietnam Band
9:15 p.m. Waylon Payne
8:00 p.m. Byland
6:30 p.m. Shannon Netemeyer
5:00 p.m. Alessandra Rose
Black Lab
12:30 a.m. Dougie Poole
11:00 p.m. Pure Bathing Culture
9:30 p.m. Spooky Mansion
8:00 p.m. Biblioteka
6:30 p.m. Clothing Optional
Lucky Dime (all ages)
11:15 p.m. Lord Lawrence
10:00 p.m. Zookraught
8:30 p.m. Flesh Produce
7:00 p.m. Beautiful Freaks
5:30 p.m. Jon Mercer
Night Market
8:30 p.m. The Little Lies
6:30 p.m. Road Trips
5:00 p.m. Cloud Cover
3:30 p.m. Moss
12:45 to 2 p.m. Diva Drag Brunch
Maya Tizon 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon
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