How many bands play in NE PopFest?
For each of the festivals, we have had 18 bands,
6 per night, playing full sets (about 40-45 minutes).
In the past the festival has been at the dearly departed Abbey Lounge, but
beginning in 2011 it is being held at
The Rosebud Bar & Grill.
What is Random Rogue and who is actually organizing this festival?
Random Rogue is
the umbrella name for various projects of
Roy Rubinstein.
NE PopFest is being organized by Roy with a little help from his friends.
Are the bands paid to play this festival?
In the past, the bands have always been paid for playing NE PopFest.
Starting with the 2011 festival, the proceeds are being donated to
various nonprofit organizations, and the bands are not being paid for
donating their services.
The bands do, however, get to sell their CD's, T-shirts, etc., and they get free
beer.
The bands were given full details of this prior to their agreement to play the festival,
and there is no application fee.
The organizers have lost money on this each year.
What nonprofit organizations were the beneficiaries
of the 2011 festival?
If the organizers are losing money on the festival, why are you doing it?
That's a question I keep asking myself. :-)
What it comes down to is the music, the musicians, and the music fans.
One of the main motivations I had for putting this together was to give some
more exposure to some relatively unknown bands. I know some local bands
that are good, but aren't known, so they can't get gigs or, when they do get them,
they don't draw enough people to get asked back. In addition, I'm sure there are
lots of good bands all around New England that we in the Boston area simply don't
know about, and they can't get a foot in the door around here. By having a festival
of pop bands, people will come to see bands they know and in the process
become familiar with bands they never heard of but will probably like. This is good
for the bands and the people attending, since the bands will now get some more
people who know them coming to their shows, and the people attending know about
more bands they like. And if a band goes over well at The Rosebud, even if they didn't
draw the people, they may get to play there again. And the publicity will help them, too.
With out-of-town bands playing, Boston-area bands may get connections to be able
to play out of town more easily, and the out-of-town bands may get connections
to play in town more easily. I think that this will be good for the music community
in general.
Additionally, this year various charities will benefit from the festival.
Plus I get to hear lots of good bands.
What is The Rosebud's part in this?
The Rosebud Bar & Grill
has graciously allowed us to hold NE PopFest at their club.
They are not, however, the organizers and do not make the decisions about
which bands play, the schedule or similar matters.
Please direct all questions about this festival to us, not to The Rosebud.
Is The New England PopFest related to the
International Pop Overthrow,
Boston Pop Underground, the Indiepop-List Popfests, or any
other organization or festival?
No. NE PopFest is run by different people with a slightly different slant.
NE PopFest is designed to showcase New England bands (as opposed to
bringing in many bands) and allows band to play full sets.
NE PopFest is intended to complement other festivals, not compete with them.
Note: As with most current FAQ's, these are not really frequently asked questions.
They are, however, questions that we suspect would be frequently asked were
they not preemptively answered here.