Introducing Northwest Music Month 2016
Here at NorthWest Music Scene, we find it’s not only our intention but also our responsibility to turn you onto the most cutting-edge and meritorious bands in our region. Whether it’s highlighting locally-grown concerts or reviewing 100 local bands’ albums in less than half a year, we pride ourselves on our extensive and detailed coverage of local music. One of our most well-received outlets for this spotlighting is our annual “x Bands in x Days” series, where we take a certain stretch of days and talk about one local artist a day, trying our best to entice you to check out their work and perhaps become their next biggest fan. 2011 was our first tip-toe into this series, when we rolled out our humble “22 Bands in 22 Days” series, during which we featured such acts as Syztem7 and Tyrannosaurus Grace.
2014 saw us rolling out 75 Bands in 75 Days, where we bid farewell to the year with a daily countdown of some of the best acts in the Pacific Northwest, from mid-October to the very end of the year. It was a unique array of bands, certainly, among them Vancouver’s //zoo and prolific Portlander Vektroid. Last year, we decided to keep the tradition up, instead keeping it at a more concise 50 Bands in 50 Days, which proved to be our most popular and well-received series to date. This year, we’re planning a pretty intense outing of this annual tradition that we’re pretty sure no one else around here has or will be able to top. But before we announce this big showstopper, we’d like to formally introduce our warm-up.
Welcome to Northwest Music Month 2016, where all throughout the month of June, we’re highlighting one local artist a day. As always with our “x Bands in x Days” series, all genres are welcome, as are musicians from any part of the Pacific Northwest. (Bands will be considered regardless of if they’re from Seattle or Skykomish) Whether you’re a fan of local rock, electronic, hip-hop, and various other styles of music, you can expect to find something for you in this segment. Consider this segment our teaser for the festivities we have coming down the pipeline.
As with 50 Bands in 50 Days, this year we’re teaming up with GigTown, the must-have music app. GigTown is a phone/tablet app where bands and fans alike can be immediately tapped into a music scene around them. Are you a passionate music fan that’s just moved into a new city and you don’t know where to start with going to shows and getting connected? GigTown is for you. Are you a band looking for a designated platform to share your music, book local gigs, and meet other local bands with which to play shows? GigTown is for you.
Like 2015, this segment is entirely driven by band submissions. The only requirement is that the bands sign up at GigTown, using our special referral code, “NWMS”. You can find full details on how and why you should sign up for GigTown here. After you sign up for GigTown, send your submission to NorthWestMusicScene@gmail.com starting with the subject line “Northwest Music Month:…” Please include any important links, social media pages, website, places where we can stream/embed your music (Bandcamp, Soundcloud, etc.), along with a short bio and a photo of the band, album cover, or some kind of graphic we can use in the article. Your chances of being featured will be greatly increased if you provide this information, as it will be much easier to turn our readers onto your band if you’re easily searchable/identifiable. Recorded music readily available for listening online is required. In the event that your band is already signed up at GigTown, make sure to say so in your email.
And, as an added bonus, GigTown is giving away a $100 gift certificate to American Music to a winner, selected at random from the 30 bands featured throughout June.
But wait, there’s more! When you’re listening to these great bands on GigTown, make sure you’re getting the full experience! We all know your cell phone speakers suck, but there’s still hope! American Music is proud to offer a pair of Shure SE315 headphones to make sure your phone or mobile device sounds like a live performance. The winner of this will also be chosen at random from the 30 featured bands.
If the GigTown requirement gives you pause and sounds like a caveat, keep in mind that the mission statement of “x Bands in x Days” has always been to give unfairly unrecognized local bands the much-needed love and attention they deserve, and factoring that in, a locals-first project like GigTown is the perfect choice for a tie-in. Whether you live in the Pacific Northwest, the mid-west, the East Coast, or somewhere far, far away from the Americas, local music is what keeps your city’s blood flowing; it’s what makes you thankful to live where you do.
We’ll be kicking the segment off on June 1st, and you can expect to see great locals every day throughout the month. Stay tuned!