Tag: electric forest
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Electric Forest 2016: Kyle Hollingsworth x Vinyl Mag
Known for his magical keys, creative brews, and having a thing for cats, Kyle Hollingsworth, keyboardist for The String Cheese Incident, is one of our absolute favorite musicians today. With his quirky personality mixed with his many talents, Hollingsworth isn’t afraid of taking risks, especially when it comes to his music or his beer. This year at Electric Forest we sat down and had a chat about the multitude of facets that make of the world of Kyle Hollingsworth, including new Kyle SCI music, the expansion and evolution of Electric Forest, and cat flavored beer?
Vinyl Mag: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today. I would love to start off by asking you how the whole cat craze began?
Kyle Hollingsworth: Am I allowed to talk about the ‘cat craze?’ I don’t know…I started wearing cat shirts…I’m not sure why. Actually, I do know why, I just can’t tell you why. It’s a secret. But, I starting wearing them everyday on a tour; that was my theme and this summer’s theme is ‘Nothing but Flowers;’ so I’m doing the whole Talking Heads’ ‘Nothing but flowers…’ So two years ago was ‘Nothing but Cats’ and people started thinking I liked cats; which I’m actually not that fond of them. So then all of a sudden people started bringing me cat shirts and thinking ‘Oh my God, he loves cats!’ I think the original conception was from a bad post on Facebook where I posted a meme about cats, so then I felt like I had to make up for it and I started wearing cat shirts all the time. And then people forgot about the Facebook post and said, ‘He loves cats.’
VM: And I guess the cat story is history from there! So with this whole cat theme, obviously you’re going for a floral theme this weekend and for the rest of summer tour…With your beer Hoopla, it’s hooper themed and ties back into Cheese, do you think you will or have any plans to put in production a new feline themed beer?
KH: Gosh, I love that. Cat flavored beer…
VM: Maybe not cat flavored beer…
(Laughing)
KH: I love that, let’s quote that, ‘Cat flavored beer.’ Yes I’m working on that…No. I don’t know, but I love that idea. I definitely tie it into whatever I’m doing and cats have become a thing for me. So whenever I can, I brand something in a way that’s feline related. What about ‘Feline Good IPA’ or something like that?
VM: That could definitely be a great beer! Speaking of Hoopla, what do you personally like to pair with it?
KH: I’ve made over 28 collaborative beers all over the country, and Hoopla just happened to be one of them that I have in production in addition to two others. I have one with Stone Brewery and Alice Cooper’s guitar player Keri Kelli (Stone Collectrive Distrortion IPA) and one with Cigar City (Happening Now Session IPA) and they’re all connected to my last solo release where I made three singles and then paired three beers for them, and made three beers to release with the singles. So Hoopla, I was thinking when I was making it, it’s a summer sessional type of IPA so the whole concept was that if I wanted to go see Phish, or the Grateful Dead, or Widespread Panic, or go to Bonnaroo, in the blazing sun and have a good tasting beer that’s also sessional. So that was the idea, I think it goes best with festivals. In fact, we were going to call it an FPA, “Festival Pale Ale.” So we were thinking festivals, summertime, hoola hooping, and camping.
And then food wise, watermelon, anything summery.
VM: So anything summery and I have to say that music goes best paired with Hoopla.
KH: Yes, absolutely. Music goes best paired with Hoopla.
VM: With all of those 28 plus beers, and you just did a collaboration with Odd13 for your Brew Fest coming up in Colorado, and those two other beers in production, your brewing started at home. How did the crossover from home-brew to production occur for you?
KH: It all started home. I started home brewing probably when I was eighteen. So that was like three years ago since I just turned 21 last week..Ha no…I’ve been home brewing for quite awhile, but I made the connection in the last 5-6 years to my creative process, similar to making music on stage, the risk I take, the accidental surprises that happen in improvisational music can also happen in how I brew. Sometimes the best brew you can make is the one you kind of mess up the recipe, but you don’t know how you did it. Like the best jam you make is from taking chances.
VM: I also think it boils down to allowing your creativity to expand and you have to be very inventive when it comes to both music and brewing. And you can take it wherever you want to go.
KH: And I think it’s the same with cooking also. Even though I’m not huge on cooking. I love eating, just not cooking. I brew.
VM: I did bring up your brew that you are currently working on for your Brew Fest with Odd13, and you just have so much going on with other Brew Fests, festivals, touring, producing, writing…how do you manage your time?
KH: It has been challenging and the wife has found it challenging as well. I was having a conversation with my father-in-law last night about how being a part of modern media is having an awareness and presence in multiple circles from Facebook to all the different outlets you can do. So keeping part of what my job is now, is to be relevant in different creative spaces. Whether it’s brewing, or music, producing too, I’ve also been thinking about writing a book, so I’m trying to tell my wife and my family that this is part of my work, ‘I swear to God I have to go in the backyard and dress up in a cat shirt and make a silly video.’ And she’s like, ‘Really?’ So part of it I think is that my presence is important in my career and as part of my job, but I also have fun. I’m a goofy guy so I like doing weird and goofy stuff. So when I find the time, I make the time.
VM: We’re currently at Electric Forest and it’s been a couple of years now for the festival with Cheese playing every year. The festival has changed quite a bit over the years, do you have any favorite aspects of the festival that you have seen change/grow/get added?
KH: Two things: Obviously the forest within itself is evolving. Andy [Carroll], our good friend, has been making the forest more unique every year. I went to see it for a moment this year, and heard it’s the best ever. So I’m going to go out tonight and explore. The other aspect I think, which I like from Jeremy Stein who puts on the festival, is that the last couple of years I’ve been noticing the addition of artists that are not just DJs, more real bands occurring with real instruments. I have nothing against DJs at all, I actually think they are super great producers, but I also do miss, and I’m glad it’s coming back, is definitely live performance bands. I think that is something as we all evolve our musical taste, and we come back and play more. Even if it’s just like Big Gigantic style with drums and sax player. To me, that’s more exciting than just having a DJ.
VM: I definitely agree, and I enjoy seeing those live electronic acts get added to the lineup.
KH: So I have been noticing that, and I hope those artists continue to be added and evolve. Community wise, I went to another festival recently and the spirit of the festival was missing and I feel like Electric Forest has a spirit that people respect. I feel like the community respects the Forest and each other, and I see that growing every year.
VM: I’ve seen that grow as well in the EF community and it’s a really beautiful thing. You don’t find that at many festivals.
KH: Exactly.
VM: Going back to what you said about Stein bringing in more live bands, over the years with your performances at Electric Forest, seeing new acts, and collaborating with artists you may not perform with on a normal basis…
KH: Skrillex for example…
VM: Yes, exactly. Do you and the other members of the band ever see your music influenced or evolving from music you have seen and interacted with here?
KH: That’s a really good point I should have brought up. Absolutely. We have done a lot of collaborations here over the last few years. From Lauren Hill to Skrillex, things like that. For me it feels a little like, in music you work with the same five people, when your brewing you’re working with same five friends you brew with all the time, and when you step a little bit outside your circle and invite someone else in, it changes the formula from five to six. Now, everything has changed. And by default, having that extra person on stage is going to influence you and it’s going to change the music. And once again, just like brewing it can be better or for worse. But generally I think having someone else and bringing new energy on stage is always for the better. And then you learn, even if it’s a bad experience you learn, ‘Let’s not do that again.’
VM: I think it’s also great to surprise the audience as well. Like last year with Skrillex on the guitar. That was a collaboration that caught a good amount of people off guard, but it worked. As an audience member I thought it worked.
KH: It did and it worked great!
VM: And it was fun to see him not behind a booth and just on a guitar playing off of you guys.
KH: We are definitely working on some other stuff like that for this year, so we’ll see what happens.
VM: Well I know we can’t wait to see what SCI has in store for us this year.
VM: We’ve talked about your beers, and Electric Forest, let’s get into the new music SCI is releasing through the Sound Lab. That first release definitely surprised a lot of people. I know I was sitting on my computer and I was like, ‘ Wait a minute, What is this?!’ Very excited.
KH: I’m really glad it came across that way. We were all like, ‘Did anybody even notice?’
VM: Yes, trust me, we noticed! It was just the surprise of the drop that I think got everyone excited.
KH: Good, good, good!
VM: So, I know you guys will be releasing new music, when will we be hearing a new Kyle tune?
KH: I wrote a new SCI tune with Bonnie from Elephant Revival called “My One and Only.” She and I co-wrote the tune that we recorded and it should be coming out in the next couple of weeks. It’s more of a mellow song, kind of goes from the Elephant Revival perspective so it’s more acoustic type Cheese and then ramps up into more of a Mumford alto singing. Then there’s a couple of other ones. I’m releasing, somehow it always happens, but I have an overflowing amount of songs, and I went into the Lab myself, so I’m going to release two of my solo songs in July with my solo project all through the Lab. All of us are taking our solo projects in as well, and the Lab is a place where we can creatively examine. So I have a couple of tunes coming out in a few weeks, but we’re trying to make sure the String Cheese songs come out first, but mine might come out a little sooner. In addition to the song with Elephant Revival, there will be new music from Kyle, it will be on the SCI website but it wont be from SCI specific.
Vinyl Mag would like to thank Kyle Hollingsworth for taking the time to chat with us at this year’s Electric Forest!
You can catch The String Cheese Incident on tour now:
Red Rocks AmphitheatreMorrison, CO |
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Red Rocks AmphitheatreMorrison, CO |
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Red Rocks AmphitheatreMorrison, CO |
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Big Sky Brewing CompanyMissoula, MT |
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Big Sky Brewing CompanyMissoula, MT |
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Big Sky Brewing CompanyMissoula, MT |
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Marymoor AmphitheaterRedmond, WA |
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Cuthbert AmphitheaterEugene, OR |
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Cuthbert AmphitheaterEugene, OR |
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The Peach Music FestivalScranton, PA |
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Kings TheatreBrooklyn, NY |
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Kings TheatreBrooklyn, NY |
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Suwannee HulaweenLive Oak, FL |
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Suwannee HulaweenLive Oak, FL |
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Suwannee HulaweenLive Oak, FL |
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1STBANK CenterBroomfield , CO |
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1STBANK CenterBroomfield , CO |
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1STBANK CenterBroomfield , CO |
Vinyl Mag’s Favorite Moments of Electric Forest 2015
There is really no other way to put it…every return to Electric Forest feels like coming home. The Forest is a place where attendees come to be themselves, leave the outside world for a couple of days, become part of a family and be free.
In its fifth year known as Electric Forest, the festival set out to make 2015 its biggest year yet. With a venue expansion and a noticeable increase in capacity, the demand for admittance into these hallowed festival grounds was immense with an estimated attendance of over 45,000, compared to that of 35,000 in 2014. While the overcrowding, overlooked camping logistics, and other issues of the weekend created somewhat of a challenge to many, Electric Forest was still “home” and we were able to share four magical days with our Forest Family.
No two experiences at Electric Forest are a like. Each person comes to the Forest with varying expectations, seeking different experiences, and ultimately walking away with memories of a weekend that was unique to them. Days after we have departed the Double J Ranch, leaving our friends and just our footprints, we are still taking in every aspect of our Forest adventure.
While we could talk about Electric Forest for days, it still wouldn’t be enough to fully describe our festival experience. We may only be scratching the surface here, but we’ve comprised a list of Vinyl Mag’s favorite Electric Forest moments of 2015.
Unexpected Collaborations: Friday night near the close of The String Cheese Incident’s second set, we received a Snapchat of Skrillex (Sonny Moore) backstage at the Ranch Arena with guitar in hand. Could it be true? Was Skrillex going to come out with Cheese and not womp-out on a collaboration? Sure enough, encore time comes and Moore walks out on stage with that guitar and Cheese begins to jam out to The Doors’ “Break On Through.” The song feeds into “L.A Woman” where Moore shares vocals with Bill Nershi (SCI) and then rounding back out again into “Break On Through.” Are we really surprised about the song selection? Not really, considering Moore worked with the remaining members of The Doors on a collaboration project and documentary called Re:Generation. We were surprisingly impressed at witnessing Moore’s musical talents and grateful for his thank-you shoutout at the end of the performance, thanking everyone from the fans, to The String Cheese Incident, to security, and even the people who clean the bathrooms.
While there were other collaborations like Dominic Lalli of Big Gigantic playing sax with Cheese on Sunday, Macy Gray fronting Galactic, Michael Kang sitting in with Bassnectar for “Dubuasca,” and Big Gigantic raging with Cherub during a surprise sunrise set ontop of an RV in GA Camping, Skrillex busting out a guitar and jamming out with Cheese was definitely our favorite collaboration of the weekend.
The Forest: One of the best pastimes of Electric Forest is wandering and getting lost within Sherwood Forest. In it’s own right, the Forest is a festival headliner. Whether day or night, the Forest provides hidden treasures and experiences at every turn. As the festival grew in attendance and size this year, along with it grew Sherwood Forest. The Forest’s expansion created more secret spaces and surprises to discover. While wandering around the general store, we stumbled upon a small mailbox that was simply placed outside of the rustic structure. Next to letterbox was a bunch of blank postcards inviting attendees to write a message to their future selves. Electric Forest would provide the postage and after placing the postcard in the Forest Mailbox your future self would receive your message someday. This was just one of the many things we happened upon in the Forest that made us smile.
Hammock Zones: If you have attended Electric Forest in past years, especially in 2014, you know just how crowded Sherwood Forest became with hammocks; so much so it became almost impossible to navigate through the Forest at times. This year EF Headquarters implemented a roll out of Hammock Etiquette and Hammock Zones. While this was met with some grumblings, during the festival majority of people seemed to respect the new guidelines. EF Headquarters continued to stress that Hammocks are part of the soul of Electric Forest, and they are not going away. This new plan for 2015 was to create Hammock Zones in restful areas to help solve traffic problems, and to give some of the beloved pines in Sherwood a chance to rest. From what we saw, these zones did in fact help with traffic issues, but still allowed for hammocks to be a major part of festival.
The Hanger: The Hanger is one of our absolute favorite additions to the Forest. The Hanger, resembling a 1940s aircraft hanger, became a place to take a break from the rest of the festival, enjoy a quality cocktail (I mean, Moscow Mules with Titos, who knew that was our favorite?), and interact with a variety of characters who were keeping up with the 1940s theme.
In addition to a main craft beer and cocktail bar and a main stage area, The Hanger was home to a massage lounge with a 40s mechanic theme where you could get “buffed out” by pin-up girls, an actual barber shop, tattoo parlor (fake tattoos of course), a cuban style bar/lounge and many more surprises. Professional dancers, Cigarette Girls and Candy Dolls walking around with neck strap trays, and stilt walkers were all seen under the massive vaulted ceiling of The Hanger throughout the weekend.
From The String Cheese Incident’s infamous Saturday set, to exhilarating covers by various artists, to the mystical Tripolee stage, to Bluegrass Sunday, to the new circus tent that is Jubilee…the list of unforgettable moments and sights at Electric Forest 2015 is endless. Once again, Vinyl Mag is so grateful to have been a part of such a magical weekend.
Rise To The Challenge: Electric Forest’s Electricology Program
Festival sustainability does not start with being handed a garbage bag upon your arrival at the campgrounds. While that supplied garbage bag plays a vital role in encouraging all attendees to pick up after themselves at their campsites, efforts to make Electric Forest the cleanest and greenest it has ever been starts long before attendees walk through the festival gates.
Making the choice to reduce one’s waste footprint starts days and weeks prior to the festival with environmentally conscious purchasing and packing, but it also begins with education. The driving force behind necessary “eco-cation” (ecology education) prior to the start of this year’s EF has been the unique and very successful sustainability program Electricology.
Returning for its fourth year, Electricology is back with greater opportunities than ever before to get more attendees involved and make an even larger positive impact.
Last year Vinyl Mag not only highlighted the program in an interview with Rachel Wells, representative of Electricology and The High Five Program, but we actively participated in the program by bringing our recycling and trash to designated EcoZones throughout the grounds of Electric Forest, earned EcoPoints from our participation, and eventually redeemed our points by visiting one of the Electricology Stores.
As an active participant, the program seemed to make an impact on the festival as a whole. With our return to the Forest this year, we caught up with our good friend Rachel Wells to talk about the successes of Electricology 2014, new and exciting additions to the program, packing tips, green education, and glitter. Yes, glitter.
“Last year was extremely successful and we are growing along with the festival,” Wells said. “The festival has expanded its footprint over the years and we are going to keep growing to accommodate the congestion and waste produced by 40,000+ festival attendees.”
At EF 2014, the Electricology team helped collect 22 tons of compost, 8 tons of cardboard, 125 tons of recycling and 19 tons of steel and aluminum.
“People started organically creating piles of broken EZ ups, tents, and chairs on their own and that is a huge part of our labor, gathering that up. We collected and recycled over 20 tons of that stuff, so to have campers build these massive 30 foot mounds on their own on Sunday was really awesome.”
Everyday of EF there will be people on site working the fields and grounds picking up litter; but just because there are volunteers in place to pick up the trash, that doesn’t mean attendees can’t do their part in the clean-up process.
“If every person who attends Electric Forest leaves their waste tied up, in the appropriate bags, just sitting there in a nice little pile at their campsite, we could be out of there in 24-48 hours. We really could. That is our goal,” said Wells. “Everything we’re trying to do here is to cut down that cleanup. Not because we want to get done early, but because it’s going to save money for the festival and in return invest in other amazing opportunities for people to participate and it’s really going to make a statement to the community that we care and we want to come back every year.”
While one of Electricology’s goals for 2015 is to significantly cut the cleanup, the program also hopes to increase participation and educate all while having fun.
“This year our message is a little stronger,” Wells said. “The message is Rise to the Challenge. We feel like we’ve had a few years, so we know we’ll be having a lot of attendees who will be returning to the festival and I feel like this message will help EF veterans to teach the younger generation coming in and new attendees, and I think we can really make an impact. I think it’s absolutely possible to engage everyone and get everybody to set a standard for how we leave a music festival.”
Electricology started setting the eco-standard for this year’s EF by taking over the festival’s Facebook and Twitter pages one month out from the event. In addition to providing EcoTips, Electricology also talked about some of this year’s program engagements. Electricology is always experimenting with new ways to encourage participation and distribute prizes to increasing amounts of supporters. Each contest has hidden goals to increase waste diversion or reduce the post festival cleanup time, while still being a fun activity for guests.
Returning to the program is the Electricology Leaderboard Contest where EF’s top EcoPoint earners will compete for secret prizes and two tickets to next year’s festival. Additionally, Electricology has instated the Electricology Prize Cart, a mobile solution to crowd litter and instant gratification for the masses. The Prize Cart will circulate the entire festival footprint, inspiring random mass litter pickups wherever it goes, in exchange for a variety of instant prizes.
“Basically if you see our prize cart, they’ll be in areas where there is the most litter and we’re going to be inspiring these flash mobs for litter picking up and anyone who participates will get instant prizes,” Wells said. “So, for example, we might say that the first five people who can help us pick up an area by the food court will win an awesome cool prize and we might even end up taking them on our cart with us and head off to some place awesome!”
Also, for the first time this year, Bell’s Brewery will present the EcoPoints Party for top participants with pizza from Spicy Pie. The EcoPoints Party will include a special performance by the winner of Plug In’s Instrumental Forester Competition, KC Roberts & The Live Revolution. This invite-only party will take place on Sunday, to celebrate the greatest contributors to Forest Greening.
During our chat, we also asked Wells if she had any tips for this year’s festival and if she had any suggestions for things we should just leave at home.
“As renewable energy becomes more and more available and affordable, I would love to see people using LED flashlights, and coming up with some different kinds of reusable chargers and batteries. It would be great to see some alternative energies being used.”
Wells once again stressed the importance of leaving packaging home. Bought new camping gear? Unwrap it and take it out of its cardboard box, and recycle the packaging at home. Ultimately, leaving the packaging at home isn’t just going to cut down the clean-up time, it’s also going to cut down on the labor. As Wells explained last year, “Sometimes, there’s a few extra days of post production clean-up there that could have been cut if people had just left some of that stuff at home.”
In addition to items attendees should think twice about bringing, one surprise is glitter. While Wells would never tell anyone they can’t bring glitter to the festival she did explain how the Electricology team takes care in cleaning up all the leftover glitter found on site.
“Glitter is extremely hard to pick up and it goes everywhere, and there is only so much we can do to pick it up. We go around to where the campsites used to be and we’ll use a Shop-Vac to vacuum up the leftover glitter piles. Sometimes we’ll actually have to shovel out a part of that dirt and throw it away. All year round horses roam in the field where the GA camping is, so it’s important to us, that even those tiny little pieces of glitter get picked up. Within a month after the festival a horse is going to be grazing over that area and it’s very import that all those tiny little details are taken care of. Every little speck of glitter means just as much as the giant tents left behind.”
Wells also suggested leaving home plastic water bottles and bringing reusable water bottles. Hydration is a hot topic at this year’s EF and the festival will be installing 20 water stations throughout the Forest.
Festival sustainability starts and ends with each attendee. In order to keep our Forest clean and thriving, we must all be responsible with the things that we bring with us. Through Electricology, it is possible to inspire and motivate people to do the right thing and Rise To The Challenge. Of course the prizes and incentives are great, but as Wells stated, “It’s not just about getting a prize, it’s about doing what you’re supposed to be doing at Electric Forest and that’s something we’re abiding by. If you’re member of the Forest Family then this is something that you do.”
No Room For Hate When You Give Back: Electric Forces at Electric Forest 2015
“Do not be afraid to live and smile more. Life is too short.”
“I remember how I felt, and I remember how beautiful everybody was and how I literally had gone from seeing existence as a curse to realizing it’s the most incredible gift that we have.”
It was in this moment at Electric Forest 2012 when Pat Hawco began his mental healing process.
On his final patrol as a minesweeper in Afghanistan, Hawco stepped on a land mine and lost his leg. Like a lot of veterans, he returned home with an anger that surrounded the fact that he would be handicapped for the rest of his life; a hurdle unto itself. While recovering from his injury in Southern California, Hawco had the opportunity to attend a music festival that boasted a lineup with some of the biggest names in electronic music today. From this experience, Hawco ended up falling in love with the electronic scene and the people he met, and he began using this music to replace his anger.
“Even before the military I was an angry person,” Hawco said. “I remember the years leading up to going into the military, I was this rotten angry person and I had never really given myself a chance to smile and be a happy person. There was some kind of block I had towards the ‘it’s better to be positive’ attitude.”
Hawco was still caught up in the mindset of Afghanistan, the ethos of the Marine Corps, and his own resentment when he accepted an invitation to join his friends at Electric Forest in 2012.
“I didn’t know what to expect. I showed up and literally those four days changed my life. It turned the entire idea I had towards humanity on its head. I entered with the anger and hate and left with love and compassion. It also showed me the appreciation for life that I was looking for.”
This self-realization, along with a chance encounter and interview with a reporter the following year at Electric Forest in 2013, opened the doors to the creation of Electric Forest’s Electric Forces Program. A collaborative effort, the Electric Forces Program is inspired and led by veterans with the support of members of the Electric Forest production team and the Electric Forest family. Launched in 2014, the program is a unique onsite festival activation where U.S. Military Veterans and Electric Forest festival-goers shared their stories of transformation and community in music.
When Hawco’s interview started gaining attention and made its way back to the Forest HQ, the team knew they wanted to do more for veterans.
“From the beginning, we got in contact with Pat and asked ‘what can we do?’” explained Electric Forest’s Plug In Program Director Lia Holland. “His reply was that he and his fellow veterans wanted to serve the community, and we were taken aback that they flipped our question on its head and wanted to know what they could do for us! Since then, we’ve been challenging our internal teams to find places for as many veterans as possible to join us to build and run the festival. This is a collaboration – as much as possible, we encourage veterans to speak for and represent themselves in their work on the event with the Electric Forces Story Project.”
The Electric Forces Story Sharing Initiative is returning for its second year and invites the Forest Family to share their tales of change and renewal through the festival experience on camera. This year, StoryCorps, a nonprofit that has created the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered, will make all stories available to be digitally shared with friends, family, and the future. These stories will also be preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The dream of Hawco and StoryCorps is to capture the collective wisdom of humanity through this creation of oral history.
“Last year, it was more about me telling my story. This year, my goal is to let everyone else tell their story,” explained Hawco. “There is this big lesson you can learn from everybody and I want to take those lessons and transfer them to real life.”
While the festival activation itself is based on individuals and their stories, this year, in collaboration with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the program includes two new additional opportunities to involve even more veterans: The Electric Forces Workshop Program and The Electric Forces Veterans Building Crew. The workshop program invites veterans to share the inspirations and interests that have helped them in their healing process. From yoga to sustainable agriculture, a wide variety of interests are combining to offer opportunities for service and learning to all. A team of veterans will be of service behind the scenes of the festival as The Electric Forces Build Crew and they will join the Electric Forest community as builders and creators.
“The program has grown much larger in its first year than we ever imagined,” said Holland. “We received over 100 applications, and our crews scrambled to find more work with the festival so that we could invite every single veteran who applied to join a team. After a huge effort on the part of our operations crew, we sent out job offers to all of the veterans to join everything from the medical staff to campground hosts. During this process, it was jaw dropping how skilled our veteran applicants are – I think we’re going to have the best crew ever this year with them on it!”
Through these activations, Electric Forces aims to coordinate community building and bridge the gap between veterans and civilians through healing. “I want to melt the gap between everybody,” Hawco said. “I don’t want there to be anymore groups, especially veterans and nonveterans. I don’t want anyone to think about it like that anymore. I know there is that separation, but I feel like there doesn’t need to be as much as one as there is.”
“With each interaction that takes place between military and non-military Forest Family, so-called ‘veterans issues’ become problems that we share, and that we face together. We want to create as many opportunities for that connection as possible,” Holland explained.
Over the course of the festival weekend, Electric Forces will bring people together from all walks of life. Although these connections, along with all of the other opportunities for veterans and civilians, are the main focuses of the program, something greater is at work here. Beyond these new connections, beyond the collecting of stories, beyond the employment opportunities, this program will not only provide life lessons, but Electric Forces will ultimately change lives.
“The greatest lesson from this program is a lesson that life teaches every time you learn deeply about someone different from you – don’t make assumptions about people, their motivations, or their circumstances. Each person is unique, and what is healing for one may seem strange to another. We all have to find our own paths toward healing and happiness, and embrace our differences on that journey,” shares Holland.
Every single person has their own struggles. We all have our individual paths to walk down and we must find our own ways to discover healing and happiness. Hawco’s mental healing process began and continues at this music festival. It was here that his perspective on life changed and where he began to view his situation as a gift rather than a detriment. His work with Electric Forces has been an outlet for his own personal healing and he shared the insight that, “There is no room for hate when you give back.”
From a person full of anger and rage to an individual that loves life and has compassion, Hawco’s transformative story is one of hope. For anyone still searching for their new beginning in life, Hawco offer’s these simple words, “Do not be afraid to live and smile more. Life is too short.” While this may be easier said than done for some, participation in this year’s Electric Forces has the ability to open the doors to personal healing.
Over the years, many Electric Forest attendees have experienced the pure magic of this festival; they have found comfort, healing, and protection within the Sherwood Forest, they have received unconditional acceptance from the Forest Family, and they have never been freer to be themselves. With Hawco has an incredible example, many who have walked through those festival gates have rediscovered their true selves and have been able to begin their own personal journeys towards healing from their festival experience.
Through her work with the festival, Holland has been fortunate to see how Electric Forest has evolved into not only one of the best music festivals in the country, but a place of healing: “Electric Forest has become a place of healing through the intentions of everyone who is involved with the event. Once a space is created to encourage strangers who share a love of music and art and life to slow down and find each other, relationships blossom. When that seed of connection was planted, and the space was created, the Forest Family itself became the greatest curator of the festival’s capacity to be a place of healing and inspiration. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve had the fortune to see.”
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Vinyl Mag would like to take this moment to thank and recognize all who have served our country. We honor the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in order to preserve our freedom and our way of life.
Electric Forest 2014 Survival Guide
I remember my first time. A little nervous, a bit of uncertainty and a natural high off of the excitement and anticipation. My mind was consumed with what I was about to experience and with questions about whether or not I was really prepared. Ready or not, we had arrived.
After a good 12 hours and two days on the road, we were finally creeping through the organized sea of cars entering the Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury, MI. The energy, the happiness and the pure bliss of everyone arriving at Electric Forest that day is nearly indescribable. Leading up to this weekend attending my first music festival – let alone my first Electric Forest – many friends found it hard to fully describe the Electric Forest experience. The most common depiction was always something along the lines of, “Just wait. You’ll see.”
During my initial walk-through of Sherwood Forest, it hit me. I remember turning to my best friend and with the biggest smile on my face just stating, “I get it. I finally understand.” In that moment, I understood why this festival is so special and why those who attend make the effort to return year after year.There’s something magical and freeing about being at Electric Forest that can only be fully appreciated after experiencing this festival first hand.
This year I’m returning to the forest and thought I’d share my own take on surviving Electric Forest for the first time.
AS A DISCLAIMER- This is in no way a complete or even necessary guide for all. I will be the first to admit I am a creature of comfort, and many of my suggestions will reflect that. I also encourage anyone to feel free to share their own suggestions.
GENERAL FESTIVAL TIPS
Expect Nothing and Be Surprised: Do not set expectations for yourself. Do not go in telling yourself this will be the best weekend of your life. Just let it happen, because it will naturally happen on its own. It’s good to keep a schedule in mind for what artists you want to see, but don’t follow it too strictly. You never know what you might experience or who you will meet by just going with the flow and not following a fully scheduled-out day.
Take Care of Each Other: Hopefully you are going with friends you can count on. Keep an eye on each other, know your own limits and know when to step in if you think someone is in need, whether it be friend or someone else at the festival. The med tent is your friend, and without sounding too mom-ish, it’s better to get help before it’s too late. Stay safe out there!
Water: Drink it. You do not realize how dehydrated you can become between all the walking you’ll be doing, all the sun you’ll be basking in and all the alcohol you probably will be consuming. My best advice: buy yourself a CamelBack or some other hydration pack. Having such a pack is easy to carry, and you’ll have water that’s easily accessible throughout the day. Electric Forest provides water refill stations throughout the campgrounds and within the festival venue.
Hammocks: Bring one or you’ll be disappointed you didn’t. ENO Hammocks are my preferred go-to, and if you forget, I’m sure reps will be on site and ever-willing to sell you one.
Cellphone Charging: Although there is a booth where you can charge your phone, for a fee, an external battery wouldn’t hurt to bring along.
Headlamp/Flashlight: Comes in handy for those walks at night back to your campsite or some adventures into the Porta Potties at night.
Gas & Jumper Cables: Make sure your tank is close to full before entering the festival and someone in your group has jumper cables. You do not want to be stranded when it comes time to leave the festival because of an empty tank or a dead battery.
CAMPING GUIDE
Camping With Your Friends: If you are meeting friends, and you all drove in separate cars, meet up before getting to the festival so you all drive in together. If you are not together when you enter, it will be extremely difficult (if not impossible) for you to camp next to each other.
Porta Potties: As a girl and first timer, I just did not think I would be able to survive an entire four days using such a facility. Trust me – you will survive. Electric Forest is one of those festivals that does a great job of scheduling regular cleanings for them, but the best time to go would be early morning right after they do the first cleaning of the day. Also, BRING YOUR OWN TOILET PAPER. I really cannot stress that enough.
Showers: Some people can go the four days without water and/or soap touching their bodies. I am not one of those people. In general camping, there will be shower trailers available, and many take advantage of going to the Gold Rush Water Park located at Double JJ ($20 per visit, includes shuttle to and from, a towel, and a shower). For a more personal experience and to avoid leaving your campsite, I suggest a camping shower. Also, wet wipes/ baby wipes can really come in handy.
Food: Electric Forest has great food options (delish taco truck, I’m lookin’ at you!). However, in the interest of keeping costs down, I’ve found that bringing a camping grill and splitting some food costs with friends is the way to go. Our food of choices are usually of the breakfast variety and easy to make such as quesadillas and brats. An awesome breakfast saved many of us some days.
Garbage: It’s quite appalling the amount of trash left behind by festival attendees at a camping festival. Don’t be one of those camps to leave tents, trash, etc. just because you know someone else will come along and clean up the mess you left. Electric Forest has been striving to become greener by supplying garbage bags and recycling options. Take advantage of the festival’s green efforts. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to leave the fireworks and Chinese/Prayer lanterns at home. Those beautiful lanterns that light up the night’s sky do not disappear and usually end up on properties outside of the festival grounds.
Electric Forest 2014: The Revivalists x Vinyl Mag
As we get prepared to make the pilgrimage to Rothbury, MI, for, in our opinion, one of the best music festivals in the country, we called up George Gekas (bassist) of The Revivalists to hear what he had to say about their upcoming performance at this year’s Electric Forest and what he believes makes this, and so many other festivals and venues, so special and universally cherished by music fans and performers alike.
Vinyl Mag: What do you consider to be some of The Revivalists’ key elements to a live performance?
GEORGE GEKAS: I’d probably have to say energy. A lot of people say we give off a high level of energy, and it’s just because we love to do what we do. We’re the kind of band that, the more people we are in front of, the more energy we are going to give off. We love to have crowd participation at 100 percent if possible, and the best way to do that is to show that we’re up there having a good time and giving it our all.
VM: If you could describe The Revivalist’s music in one word, what would you use?
GG: One word is tough…soulful-rock. I know that sounds kind of generic, but we’re a rock band.
VM: Who/what would you say have been the band’s biggest influences?
GG: We all come from incredibly different musical backgrounds. Obviously, you have your standards – like some of the guys come from rock worlds, and guys that come from classical worlds, and jazz worlds, guys that grew up playing in church and stuff like that, but obviously bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and all kinds of classic rock. There are some people out there now doing stuff we like, but I guess it’s easy to say The Beatles and Led Zeppelin overall, as the two biggest influences. But we have so many guys that listen to so many different things. It’s actually really hard for all seven of us to genuinely enjoy.
VM: What are you looking forward to the most about your upcoming performance at Electric Forest?
GG: I have been hearing about this place for years now. I remember when that first Rothbury lineup dropped, and after that happened people were just saying how amazing the festival grounds are. We are very fortunate that our booking agent has a stake in this, Electric Forest and Madison House, and a lot of people there told us that it’s worth it alone just to walk through the forest with all those crazy art instillations and the lighting rigs that are set up. It just seems like an amazing time. Not to mention, there are so many great bands, and there are so many of our friends that are playing, which is cool. It will be nice to have four days just to chill with people in a really cool setting with a lot of great music.
VM: Can we expect to see any collaborations or sit-ins?
GG: I would not be pressed to say there would be a high possibility of something like that happening.
VM: Are there any bands/artists you are particularly excited to see at EF this year?
GM: I’m excited to see Lauryn Hill. I’ve never seen her live before, which should be really cool. I’m familiar with Zeds Dead, but not a lot of Zeds’ solo stuff, and I’ve been listening to some of his acoustic stuff, and it sounds really cool. There are so many artists from so many genres. Umphrey’s should be fun…but definitely excited to see Lauryn Hill live, and I hope she brings a band.
VM: What do you believe makes this festival so unique and special? Is there any in particular about EF that makes you excited to just get there?
GM: Not to sound too earthy and hippity-dippity…there is a reason why people have these massive gatherings in certain places, almost like a certain vibration that pulls people in, and there’s kind of like this sixth sense going on where people can feel an energy surrounding a place – a place like [Electric Forest}, or Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, FL, or Red Rocks and the Gorge. There are certain places that people gather, and there’s no real reason why it starts happening, but everyone knows these places are special. We love that we are going to be a part of something like that, and there’s a really sick line-up. It’s a great four day festival.
Like I said before, the best part about doing this stuff is just getting to hang with your friends. We’re lucky enough to be Madison House artists, so we’re going to get to see all of those people from Colorado there, and I could go down the lineup, but there’s going to be at least 10 bands there who are our friends, and we rarely get to see for more than a day, and we’re going to get to all chill. Besides the fact we’re playing – playing is the obvious give in. Getting to play is awesome, but it’s all the little perks you don’t see once we get off the stage.