Photo courtesy of Matt Wisnewski.
MAGGIE GILROY
Reverb Editor
August marks the expansion of Silver Creek’s Wild Wild Fest from a one-day event to a two-day festival. The musical lineup was announced Monday and will feature Baby Gramps, Armcannon, Well Worn Boot and Smackdab amongst others.
The expansion of the festival also marks the first year with a national headliner. Baby Gramps has opened for Phish and appeared on the David Letterman show. Local bands were chosen through a submission process that ended on March 13.
“A lot of festivals get pigeonholed into a certain type of genre, type of music,” festival founder Matt Wisnewski said. “With this one we were trying to book, more so than other events, a totally illogical amalgamation of genres. We’re attempting to try to run the gamut musically, more than other people — or at least that’s the intention.”
Wisnewski is a 2011 SUNY Fredonia graduate and is also collaborating with the upcoming FREDstock Music Festival ‘14 led by current Fredonia student Matthew Mincin, a senior business administration major. Several FREDstock bands are booked at the Wild Wild Fest; conversely several Wild Wild Fest bands are booked at FREDstock. In addition, both festivals are official sponsors of each other.
“FREDstock is obviously the end of their [Fredonia] semester festival,” Wisnewski said, “given the date of Wild Wild Fest being Aug. 29 and 30, which is usually the first week of school for Fredonia students, we hope that Wild Wild Fest can operate as a beginning of the semester festival.”
Wild Wild Fest is planning to attend FREDstock by administering a booth that will promote the event.
“Ultimately, we’re looking to do heavy promotion and there’s no way we can’t promote with each other,” Wisnewski said.
The festival intends to draw from the Fredonia campus, the Buffalo area and areas of Chautauqua County.
“Another motive of the festival is to bridge the gap between those three differing music scenes and hopefully build connections between people in the Buffalo music scene, the SUNY Fredonia campus and music scene, and the Greater Chautauqua County music scene,” Wisnewski said. “That is something we definitely value.”
Currently in its third year, Wisnewski credits the festival’s popularity to its “dedication to the absurdity.”
This “absurdity” is not limited to musical acts and includes Jesse Pace, an artist who creates 4’10 Nintendo sets out of cardboard.
“I feel like what makes it a successful event, what makes it different from some other festivals, is it’s kind of got its head on its shoulders in a different way,” Wisnewski said. “The festival’s got its tongue in its cheek, in a way.”
As it has transitioned from a one-day event to a two-day festival, this marks the first year featuring sponsorship, including sponsors Yeti Vape and Ultra Hoops. In addition, they have doubled their musical acts and are featuring side-show performances and artists.
The festival is booked by Wild Wild Fest and Bumrush Booking.
“From an entertainment standpoint, we hope to provide a twice-as-engaging product,” said Wisnewski.
The Wild Wild Fest will take place Aug. 29-30 at Willow Creek Winery on 2627 Chapin rd. in Silver Creek. Day passes are $20 and weekend passes are $30.
“People go to festivals to relax, to escape, to enjoy themselves, to socialize with people and to listen to good music,” Wisnewski said. “And I hope to do all of those things exceptionally. The Wild Wild Fest intends to do all of those things exceptionally.”