ArtsQuest Nowadays - Indie Rock Fest

Nowadays - Indie Rock Fest

March 30-31, 2012 ~ 4pm-1am (Concerts start at 5pm)

ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks Campus - Bethlehem, PA | Directions

2 days. 20 bands. All sorts of awesome.

Lineup

March 30

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

11pm

12am

Musikfest Cafe presented by Yuengling

Frank Banko Alehouse Cinema

HoneyHoney 5:20pm-6:10pm

Sun Airway 6:30pm-7:30pm

Caveman 7:50pm-8:50pm

Jukebox The Ghost 9:15pm-10:30pm

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 11-12:30am

Scott Pine & the Conifers 5pm-5:45pm

Great White Caps 6pm-7pm

ARMS 7:20pm-8:20pm

Buried Beds 8:40pm-9:40pm

Xylos 10:10pm-11:30pm

March 31

5pm

6pm

7pm

8pm

9pm

10pm

11pm

12am

Musikfest Cafe presented by Yuengling

Frank Banko Alehouse Cinema

Strand of Oaks 5:20pm-6:10pm

Night Beats 6:30pm-7:30pm

Maps & Atlases 7:50pm-8:50pm

We Are Scientists 9:15pm-10:30pm

RJD2 11-12:30am

XVSK 5pm-5:45pm

Mean Lady 6pm-7pm

Toy Soldiers 7:20pm-8:20pm

Bleeding Rainbow 8:40pm-9:40pm

Ambassadors 10:10pm-11:30pm

Playing in the Capital BlueCross Creativity Commons from 5-6pm on 3/31 is The Lesson Center.

DJing on the Sands Deck Friday 3/30 and Saturday 3/31 6-11pm is Suga Shay.

Playing in the Capital BlueCross Creativity Commons from 8-11pm: Food Will Win the War (3/30) and Lunic (3/31).

Performer Bios

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr is a Detroit-based based recording and songwriting project created by Josh Epstein and Daniel Zott. Their first recording, "The Horse Power EP," was released in July 2010 by Quite Scientific Records. The EP drew instant praise from numerous outlets such as NPR, The Guardian, The New York Times and ever-pioneering US radio stations KCRW and KEXP. In the months that followed, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.'s sound came to be described as everything from 'psych-retro pop' to 'an inspired mix of hip-hop and folk' to 'minimalist alterna-pop' to 'beach wave.'
artist website

RJD2

Born Ramble John "RJ" Krohn in Eugene Ore., RJD2 grew up in Ohio, getting his start with the Columbus-based Hip-Hop and rap group MHz. After releasing his first solo album, "Dead Ringer," in 2002, he embarked on his first world tour. Over the years, RJD2 has worked with a diverse range of artists including Mos Def, Polyphonic Spree, Tweet, Fallout Boy and more. He also created the theme for the television show Mad Men, earning him a coveted ASCAP Award for Best TV Theme, and his music was featured in a 2002 Saturn commercial.
artist website

We Are Scientists (W.A.S.)

We Are Scientists (W.A.S.), features Keith Murray on guitar and lead vocals and Chris Cain on bass guitar and backup vocals. W.A.S. was established in a California college dorm in 1997 and relocated from Los Angeles to New York in the summer of 2001. It sold 100,000 copies of its second album, "With Love and Squalor," within the first six months of its release and snagged the No. 11 spot on the UK charts with its fourth album, "Brain Thrust Mastery," which featured the top 40 singles "After Hours" and "Chick Lit."
artist website

Ambassadors

Ambassadors are a soul-infected indie rock group based out of Brooklyn, NY. Since 2008, the 4-piece has quickly proved themselves to be an powerful addition to New York's ever-evolving music scene. Their music is a dynamic blend of R&B/soul, Beach Boys chamber-pop, dark electronica, and heavy, hip-hop infused beats; all brought together by a strong pop-sensibility and a dramatic flair.

artist website

Xylos

One of L Magazine's '8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear' in 2009... Xylos is charming indie pop from the Big Apple. Its dance beats, subtle darkness and epic vocals that create a sonic-trapper keeper of synth-fueled pop.

artist website

Jukebox The Ghost

The appeal of a modern, on the rise indie band like Jukebox the Ghost is simple: They write catchy songs. On top of that, they're dynamic, skilled musicians. The band's records are carefully structured, yet wildly diverse affairs. And the live show? This Philly-trio is aptly described as energetic, crowd-pleasing, cathartic.
artist website

Toy Soldiers

Toy Soldiers is a rowdy, hard-working bunch who spent most of 2011 playing 120+ shows across the east coast and southern U.S. tearing through everything from tiny dive bars to festival stages to big theaters with a brand of soulful rock n' roll music that takes it's roots, puts it in a blender and pours out that good old feeling made for today.

artist website

Buried Beds

Formed as a warehouse duo in 2003 by old friends Eliza Jones and Brandon Beaver, "Buried Beds" grew over several years into a chamber group of banjos, string quartets, electric guitars, broken glass, and aching harmonies. With members who are deeply embedded in the Philadelphia music scene, Buried Beds has won accolades from NPR (song of the day, 11/23/11), The Onion and WXPN.
artist website

Honey Honey

Burlap and opals. Moonshine and macrobiotics. Shaken and soothed. How Suzanne Santo (vocals/banjo/violin) and Ben Jaffe (vocals/guitar) managed to reconcile not just polemics, but seemingly opposed realities for their sexually tinged, bruised knee honeysuckle take on roots music has to be heard to be understood.
artist website

Bleeding Rainbow

Philadelphia-based self-proclaimed "psychedelic shoepunk post-gaze" band, previously Reading Rainbow!!! Yes, it's the same exact band from before. Small in number, mighty in sound, Bleeding Rainbow rocks with metronomic drum beats and raucous guitars.

artist website

Strand Of Oaks

In 2003, Tim Showalter's house burned down, his fiancee left him, and he resorted to writing songs on an acoustic guitar while living on park benches in suburban Philadelphia. Those events informed the entirety of his arresting debut, Leave Ruin, an album about loss and brokenness and lack of faith. These days, Showalter is happily married and comfortably settled in Philadelphia, and he's staring down the release of his second record, Pope Killdragon, an album that's even stranger and more singular.

artist website

Sun Airway

The first time Sun Airway's crackling pop sounds made their way through our speakers, we heard what felt like the lost soundtrack to the next Sofia Coppola film; atmospheric yet catchy, hazy but somehow vital and immediate. Sun Airway has hit on the sweet spot where infectious hooks and cerebral electronic pop intersect, pulling textural sound and pop songcraft into one. It is hard to imagine namedropping both the Strokes and Animal Collective when describing a single band, but that is exactly what Pitchfork has done with Sun Airway.
artist website

Caveman

Caveman was born in New York in January of 2010, when a group of friends decided it was time to put aside their boyhood ways and start being men. The sound they crafted in that large, dark room is equal parts chamber pop, dreamscape, and horror film score. At a Caveman show you will hear four-part harmonies, spaced-out guitars, synths, and, yes, much drumming. This has been a gallant year for the band, as since their first birthday they have shared the stage with bands such as Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, White Rabbits, Here We Go Magic, Cursive, Amazing Baby, and Blue Oyster Cult.
artist website

ARMS

ARMS is what happens when the back burner bursts into flame. A one-time side project transformed into a full band, ARMS synthesizes Todd Goldstein's years of bedroom experimentation and sharpens them into a single bright blade. ARMS' full-band debut, Summer Skills, explodes the lo-fi pop of 2008's Kids Aflame into a widescreen epic, telling a fractured tale of love under supernatural circumstances. Sonically generous and emotionally raw, ARMS' Summer Skills lures listeners like a siren song and then pulls them into the deep.

artist website

Night Beats

Any number of bands cite 60's Texas psych as an influence, but rarely does a group actually capture what made those bands special. Following their debut EP, The Night Beats have expanded on the bedroom immediacy of their first recordings to create an LP that perfectly captures and modernizes the hallucinogenic and exhilaratingly demonic aura of bands like The 13th Floor Elevators and Golden Dawn.

artist website

Maps and Atlases

Abraham Lincoln once said, "I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back." The same holds true for fellow sons of the Prairie State, Maps & Atlases, who, despite a flurry of activity since their inception in 2006 are only now releasing their full-length debut. But it's been worth the wait: Not only is Perch Patchwork the Chicago quartet's first long player, it's also their first masterpiece - a beautiful suite of songs that should rightly place the band in indie rock's upper echelon.
artist website

XVSK

Working with the shorthand moniker XVSK, cellist Trevor Exter and percussionist John Kimock have a unique chemistry as musicians, wringing the depth of drums and cello. Following in the traditions of epic musical duos, like The Black Keys, the sum of XVSK is considerably greater than that of its parts. An intense, driving wall of sound, rooted in improvisation that bewilders the mind and pleases the soul, XVSK is not to be missed.
artist website

Scott Pine & The Conifers

Scott Pine and the Conifers were conceived when three high school students discovered Billy Weber's affinity for songwriting during a coffee-house performance at Liberty High School in Pennsylvania, where Billy taught English and Mike DeCrosta (guitar), Zack Biro (drums) and Erik Kelechava (bass) attended. The band independently released "Kissing in Brackets" on November 30, 2011.

artist website

Great White Caps

Bethlehem, PA's Great White Caps may hail from a landlocked city, but that doesn't stop them from cranking out the waves. They're sound is that of epic surf rock, skewed with a punk rock sensibility that creates an experience akin to a "science fiction super hero skinny dipping in the ocean." It's surf rcok from PA Dutch country.
artist website

Mean Lady

The word "eclectic" is thrown around a lot when describing bands... most of the time it's used as a security blanket, for people who don't know enough adjectives. For the band Mean Lady, however, the word eclectic is nothing short of apt. Mean Lady is a group of Pop/Hi Hop/Psychedelic musicians from Newark, DE.

artist website

Food Will Win the War

Food Will Win the War is accordion-infused, violin-tinged glockenspiel rock. Their new album, A False Sense of Warmth, was produced by Jeremy Sklarsky (Freelance Whales) and mastered by Sarah Register (The Shins, The Morning Benders). "Food Will Win the War explores a space Iargely unexplored even in Brooklyn's dense music scene. There's a delicate balance in this music between the fun of surrealist fantasy and the acceptance of life's realities." -The Deli Magazine
artist website

Lunic

Lunic is the music of songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Kaitee Page accompanied by electric midi violinist Megan Berson and oftentimes Nicholas Bryan on live drums.
artist website

The Lesson Center

Students from The Lesson Center present four bands featuring indie rock music from the past and present. Ranging in age from 11 to 18, the student musicians will offer up fresh takes on everything from Jesus and Mary Chain to The Killers.

Additional Programming & Attractions

Nowadays attendees can experience a variety of music, art and cultural programming and displays during the event. Normally a time for trips to the concession stand or the restrooms, set intermissions at Nowadays will be filled with amazing and awe-inspiring stunts performed by Philadelphia-based Phantasmagoria. Audiences will be delighted as they watch performers walk on nails, swallow swords, belly dance, juggle and engage in other awesome circus arts. Other highlights at Nowadays include the Tri State Indie Media Stage, where patrons can meet and interact with members of the indie rock website, as well as watch interviews being conducted with Nowadays performers; an interactive demonstration with artist Stephanie Smith, who will work with guests to create a mandala; Toil Rock Radio broadcasting live from the event; and a display by Weathervane Music, the nonprofit that produces the "Shaking Through" web series highlighting indie artists from around the country.

On March 30, guests can watch artist Nancy Yurkovich as she paints Nowadays artists while they perform on stage. Yurkovich's works of art will be available for purchase, making for a unique collectible from the event.

On March 31 at 4pm, the nonprofit Invisible Children will offer a screening of "Kony 2012," its documentary shedding light on the atrocities committed by Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his crimes against humanity. Following the presentation, the audience is invited to engage in a discussion and Q&A session with representatives from Invisible Children, an organization that focuses on social justice and youth empowerment through the use of media to get 13-25 year olds politically active and globally aware, specifically about the conflict in central Africa and rehabilitation in northern Uganda.

Food & Beverage

We've got two different menus for you to score some grub from whilst Nowadays-ing:

Mike & Ike Bistro (located on the first floor of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks)

View the Mike & Ike Bistro menu

Special Nowadays menu for the Musikfest CafÃ© presented by Yuengling (located on the third & fourth floor of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks).

Basket of Parmesan Garlic Fries - Tossed in parmesan, garlic and herb salt $7
Molten Steel Buffalo Wings - Hot or mild with creamy blue cheese and celery sticks $9
Margherita Flatbread Pizza - Crushed tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil and extra virgin olive oil $8
Musikfest Burger - Choice of bacon, Swiss, cheddar or blue, lettuce, tomato and onion $10
Grilled Chicken Club - Local tomatoes, apple wood smoked bacon, iceberg lettuce & chipotle mayonnaise on a griddled semolina roll $10
Flourless Chocolate Cake - Espresso crÃ¨me anglaise $6