Local music magazine Tempe Starving Artist, which returned to publishing printed editions last month, has partnered with FMLY, a national touring and arts collective, to host an arts festival downtown Dec. 28.
Phoenix FMLY Fest will include more than 60 bands, live painting and spoken-word performances. It will be FMLY’s first Phoenix event, said Robbie Pfeffer, Tempe Starving Artist founder and editor.
Bands will perform on more than 10 stages in the front and back yards of businesses on Fifth Street between Roosevelt and McKinley streets.
“We’ve got bands from all over the country from a variety of different Venn diagrams and scenes that exist in this community,” Pfeffer said.
The festival includes local and national bands of genres ranging from psychedelic to rock.
Members of local band Dogbreth, vocalist and guitarist Paul “Tristan” Jemsek and bassist Erin Caldwell said they will be performing and are glad multiple genres will be represented.
“This fest has a lot of bands from a lot of scenes and cliques. It will be like a melting pot,” Jemsek said.
Caldwell said she hopes to strengthen connections with other local bands.
“It would be nice to have people realize other people that exist in their community,” Pfeffer said. “Just on the local level, some of these people just don’t even know each other.”
Because the groups aren’t big-name bands, Pfeffer said people should wander between different bands and genres.
Although Tempe Starving Artist is based in Tempe, Pfeffer said downtown was more appealing for the festival. Pfeffer said Fifth Street has many small sections zoned for living and work spaces, which allows for stages in the front and back of houses.
Bodega 420, a local grocery store on Roosevelt and Fifth streets, will be hosting bands. Adrian Fontes, one of the store owners, said he is considering using the building’s porch facing Roosevelt Street as a stage.
“This is going to be more intimate where you’ll be able to get really up close and personal with the bands,” Fontes said.
Fontes said he is not concerned about lots of foot traffic through the store during the event because he is used to large crowds during the First Fridays Art Walk. He is excited for the music festival and hopes there will be more in the future.
“I’d like Phoenix to be able to have an identity. I’m really hopeful that live music performance is a part of that identity,” Fontes said.
Pfeffer said the touring circuit is tight-knit and he knew members in various bands involved in FMLY. This summer, FMLY expanded from festivals into a nationwide tour. When the bands stopped in Phoenix, Pfeffer said, he asked FMLY to hold a festival in town.
“I thought it would be interesting to intermix what we have happening here and what’s going on with these national bands,” Pfeffer said.
The Los Angeles festival will follow Phoenix FMLY Fest on Dec. 29 and 30. Pfeffer said he planned the Phoenix festival the day before LA FMLY Fest because bands would already be in the region. Phoenix will provide bands with another venue, Pfeffer said.
Phx FMLY Fest will be one of Tempe Starving Artist’s first events since it has returned to print after a year-and-a-half hiatus.
When Tempe Starving Artist was not distributing a magazine, it still published content online and hosted events.
The magazine stopped printing when Pfeffer opened the Fixx Coffee Bar, a music venue in Tempe. Pfeffer said the venue consumed all of his time. The business closed after two years due to a lack of funding, he said.
Tempe Starving Artist started printing a magazine again in November. The magazine grew from one man working on his computer in 2009 to multiple writers covering a wide variety of bands and shows every night, Pfeffer said.
In its November issue, Tempe Starving Artist covered bands from Tempe, San Francisco and Greece.
Phoenix FMLY Fest will start at 1 p.m. and continue until 11 p.m. on Dec. 28. It will be free for all ages. An after party, located at Burnt Sky Studio on McKinley Street between Third and Fourth streets, will start at 10 p.m., and the last band, Dogbreth, will go on at 12:30 a.m.
“I just want people to be able to come out and experience sort of the joy that music really brings to a lot of folks,” Fontes said. “It’s really a moment to engage emotionally, not only with the performers but yourself with the audience.”
Contact the reporter at danika.worthington@asu.edu
