Charlotte musician Phil Pucci has talked himself out of plenty of good ideas. Without the right motivation or push, moments of inspiration have fallen to the wayside, lost to a temporary lack of self-confidence, perhaps. Luckily for this introverted 28-year-old, he's been dating a woman for nearly two years who's willing to give him the loving shove he needs when the time's right.
So, when he tossed around the idea of starting a music festival, his girlfriend Shirley Griffith was encouraging. "Of course you can do that!" Pucci paused and thought, "Yeah ... maybe I can!" The two bounced around ideas that led Pucci to developing 2014's inaugural Reverb Fest. The May event held at the Neighborhood Theatre featured 10 local bands from a range of genres, benefitted the Chronic Illness Relief Fund and was tagged with a Best New Fest award from this paper's Best of Charlotte awards.
That success led to a six-band mini-fest this past January that actually ended up being a bigger event — in attendance and presentation — than the first. Now, with the second annual Reverb Fest returning to Neighborhood Theatre on May 16, Pucci hopes he's onto something the city can hang its hat on — a sought-after, multi-day music festival Charlotte hasn't had for years.
"I'd like it to get to be a weekend-long event that's not just at the Neighborhood Theatre," Pucci says. "I like a style of music that's different than a lot of the bigger shows that come to town. They are coming through, but maybe not enough. The more people try to pull in different types of bands, the better. How could that be a bad thing?"
Pucci's goal for the latest edition was simple — get at least one of his favorite bands booked and hope the rest of the cards fall into place. He spent weeks on the phone trying to get confirmations, but only got denials or a lack of response. In the days leading up to the scheduled April 1 announce date, Neighborhood Theatre general manager Alex Shaw texted Pucci asking if the show was going to happen or not. Pucci avoided replying. He just needed to get a headliner locked in.
"For the first two events, I booked bands I liked, but for this one, what could I dream up?" Pucci says. "I wanted a headliner that I loved, but as of March 25, I had zero bands booked. I had to ignore Alex's texts. Beach Fossils was a long back and forth, but when we worked it out, I had the other seven bands booked within two hours."
The finalized lineup — Beach Fossils, Elvis Depressedly, Yardwork, Jackson Scott, The Mineral Girls, Family Bike, Aggrocragg and Shell — is an off-the-radar gathering of locals and national lo-fi, indie-rock acts whom Pucci hopes people will start paying attention to.
"I want to book shows that excite me and hope that they excite everyone else," Pucci says. "I like that a lot of the bands that play Reverb Fest are younger. All the local bands, with the exception of Yardwork, are all in their early 20s. It's all really fresh."
THE INAUGURAL REVERB FEST in May 2014 garnered plenty of attention. The name comes from Pucci being a fan of reverberation as a guitarist, and his love of the old HBO concert series, Reverb. The festival was a perfect storm of young and established bands, raucous electric rock outfits and quirky solo acoustic performers. It might not have been a sold-out, or even packed, event, but there were plenty of "you should have been there" comments on social media afterward.
Pucci's favorite comment was one he saw on Instagram — This is the most Milestone thing I've ever seen in Noda. "That made my day," he says. "I don't even know exactly what that means, but they were saying it's cool. The fun part [of putting this together] is whenever I see people who are clearly having a good time. You can't beat that."
At the time, one of Charlotte's newest alt-rocker groups, Girl Pants, left a lasting mark with a high-energy, aggressive performance. Sinners & Saints had feet tapping near the smaller bar stage while Hectorina did its best effort to blow the doors off of the NoDa venue. Modern Moxie showcased pop-infused melodies while Pullman Strike splashed in its brand of alt-country... and that's only half of the inaugural lineup.
With initial success under his belt, Pucci worked on a mini-fest for January 2015 called Reverb Fest presents Eskimo Kisses. He again booked bands he liked, focusing again on locals with one big-name headliner. Performances by Charlotte bands Junior Astronomers, Museum Mouth, Serfs and Southern Femisphere — along with the debut of Bo White's Patois Counselors — all led up to a set by Diarrhea Planet that was highlighted by a snow machine creating a winter ambiance.
"The snow machine was really cool. We put it on the marquee so that snow came down as people walked into the show," Pucci says. "It snowed during Diarrhea Planet's set. That was a gimmick that I really liked. I have no idea what I'm going to do in a week and a half though. I want to have a basketball goal with plush basketballs. I want there to be goofy stuff happening — something cooler than a selfie station."
On the music side, Pucci worries about having too many locals on the bill because he knows that performing at a festival can take away from a band's ability to perform another show in town around the same time. He's also not afraid to dream big. Pucci mentions Deerhunter, Courtney Barnett and even Fleetwood Mac as bands he'd love to see headline Reverb Fest one day.
He also hopes he can plan events more often — though they might not tag other events outside of the big annual one with the Reverb Fest monicker. "It would be silly to call it all Reverb Fest if it happens more than two or three times a year," he says. "I want to start booking those bands more often. I have to figure out how to do one show to bankroll the next show so I don't have to worry about deposits."
The biggest time-consumer for a festival, assuming the booking goes well, is promoting. Pucci says he tries to give himself about two months to make sure he's done all he can with getting the word out. Of course, that does little to calm the day-of-show nerves when the doors open, and the anxiety doesn't dwindle until there are people crowding the stage or there's a line out the door.
For Pucci, it's all about getting people inside and raising money for charity. This year's Reverb Fest benefits the Humane Farming Association. Pucci, a vegetarian of roughly five years, decided on the charity after seeing how they treat animals.
A MUSICIAN SINCE his early teens, Pucci is still learning the business side of music. In addition to simple trial and error, he's getting assistance from his girlfriend and the Neighborhood Theatre's Shaw. He's also learned to ask for help. Most of Reverb Fest is his own doing, but he'll bounce questions off of people and doesn't hesitate when friends want to volunteer. He knows that's another sign he's doing something right.
"You can't do everything yourself," he says. "You have to delegate work to other people and take the whole burden off yourself. You have to know that other people want to help you. If this is cool, people will want to help me and I should welcome that help instead of trying to do everything on my own."
Shirley Griffith agrees and thinks it's always important when people push themselves to do new things or take risks. "I was so excited about the thought of all different genres playing the first Reverb Fest because it's all about community," she says. "Music is something Phil is clearly passionate about and with the lineup, he had cultivated this togetherness. Grassroots thoughts and ideas need to be nurtured because those tiny ideas turn into great things."
It's not that Charlotte hasn't had a variety of music festivals, but many of them have quietly been discontinued. Charlotte Center City Fest used to pull in big names but stopped after 2003. Recess Fest has worked hard to maintain its footing, but has failed to capitalize on its 2012 peak when Archers of Loaf headlined. Treasure Fest found a home in Plaza Midwood, but changes to that neighborhood — mainly apartment development — have led its founder, Self Aware Records owner Joshua Robbins, to end it in favor of Self Aware showcases.
"We are super happy that Phil is doing Reverb Fest. It came at the perfect time to pick up the torch for Treasure Fest," Robbins says. "I would assume Zach Reader of Recess Fest feels the same way. [Reverb Fest] brings some stellar acts and pairs them with amazing locals. I can't wait to see what they do next."
Pucci sees bigger and better things on the horizon, but he's content taking it slowly for now. He's got a full-time job working customer service in the healthcare industry, in addition to playing in three different bands — Aggrocragg, Serfs and Melt.
"Reverb Fest stands out because of the ambition of Phil and Shirley; their hard work makes it possible," Shaw says. "It's been successful because it's been carefully tended to, the scope of growth has been realistic, so it hasn't crashed and burned. Charlotte is a major city, with no major indie festival, like Hopscotch in Raleigh or Shaky Knees or A3C in Atlanta, so I can definitely see Reverb Fest filling that void."
The bands see the potential, too. Dylan Gilbert performed at the first Reverb Fest with his band Hectorina and was impressed at how well the event ran.
"It's put on by people who love music," Gilbert says. "Phil is somebody who knows how shows work and is smart enough to know how to make them run smoothly. It felt almost effortless, and most of the time festivals can feel stressful and rushed — at least for a performer. It's one of the only festivals in town I'd go to no matter who's on the bill."
REVERB RUNDOWN
- Beach Fossils
Festival organizer Phil Pucci offers his thoughts on each band in this year's lineup
Aggrocragg
"Aggrocragg is (a band I'm in). Justin [Brown]'s a great songwriter and he writes really chill songs."
Shell
"Their bass player Caiti [Mason] is one of my closest friends. What's booking a show if you can't have some of your friends play, too? They're fantastic. Their first show was at Snug Harbor one month ago and blew me away. They're a really good shoegaze-y kind of band."
Family Bike
"It's my friend Karl [Kuehn]'s band. He's in Museum Mouth too and another great songwriter. The thing I like the most is his songs are heartfelt and honest."
Mineral Girls
"They've been one of my favorite local bands for the last couple of years that they've been together. Brett [Green]'s a close friend of mine — he's their singer. I just love that there's a band in Charlotte that's doing what they're doing. They're not afraid to be called an emo band — that's cool because there's not much of a scene for that here."
Jackson Scott and Elvis Depressedly
"Both of them are random Spotify discoveries of mine from a few years ago. I always look at recommended music on there and Spotify has changed my life. I can listen to new music every day if I want to. Jackson Scott is really spooky and hazy. You feel like you're in a cloud of weed smoke when you're listening to him, but not in a hippie way. Elvis Depressedly used to be Coma Cinema, which got some buzz for a while. It's a great project where all the songs are straightforward and short."
Yardwork
"They've been on my radar since I was first starting playing in bands. I remember seeing their name all over the place in 2005 and 2006 when they were the new exciting local band. I took them for granted because I thought they'd always be around. Brett from the Mineral Girls suggested it on one of my Facebook posts. I shrugged it off, but texted Bo (White) and he said something along the lines of 'I think we could possibly do it.' That was exciting to get a reunion. They made great records and people with all different kinds of musical palates liked them. One of them is coming back from New York for it. They had an unceremonious breakup, so this will be great."
Beach Fossils
"I was hanging out at a friend's house and they were playing a Beach Fossils record. I thought they were playing a mix of stuff, so every song I kept asking who the band was and it was always Beach Fossils. That's when I was falling in love with that album. Every song seems half-baked but super catchy at the same time with smooth guitar melodies. You can really understand what he's singing, but it sounds cool."
