21 August 2013 - 0 Comments

September means SwampFest, and its well on its way to becoming 'Palmerston North Music Month'. To perform at SwampFest bands must play original music and have grown up or lived in the Manawatu. This year features X factor finalist, Benny Tipene. “Benny opened the big Regent Theatre Show last year, and he went out of his way to make sure he could be at the Regent show this year” says Stomach Manager, Craig Black. “Benny is a great example of how solid the original scene is here, and of course there is a ton of other local music for people to discover”

Keeping the event fresh and interesting is one of the key goals for Mr. Black. “Different and alternative venues, mixing up the genres, showing off the variety, thats what keeps it interesting and cool for me and the audience”. Previous years have seen visuals take a strong place in SwampFest. “This year, we're doing some very cool projector mapping and video installation stuff at the new Darkroom, the kind of stuff thats not really been seen in Palmerston North before”. The event known as 'BeatTapeProjector' features four live electronic musicians, and two DJ's alongside the visual aspect. “Theres a big live electronic scene here, a mix of laptop and hardware based artists, playing beats, hip hop, esoteric downtempo and wonky dancehall, when you see and hear them play and also see the visuals, it'll be next level”

For the 2013 edition, festival curators The Stomach have partnered with a widening group of like minded folk. Student radio station Radio Control are key sponsors, and the local arm of Creative Communities NZ are funders. Harry Lilley will host one of his Guerilla Sessions under the SwampFest banner, and Palmerston Norths single biggest original music event, Tankapalooza is not seen as a competitor but an event with parallel goals. Dick Tracy were 2012's winner of a Stomach sponsored recording prize awarded at Tankapalooza and this year they will open the Regent Theatre show.

Celebrating its 25^th anniversary as part of SwampFest, The Stomach is Palmerston Norths well known all ages music facility. All of SwampFest 2013's events are all ages, and thanks to sponsorship and funding, door charges are kept to a minimum. Mr. Black explains “A core aim of The Stomach is accessibility, we have free events, other shows are $10, The Regent Theatre show is $15, a SwampFest everything pass is $25, and any local original musicians can get a SwampFest Pass for $15”.

Details of of all events and performing artists can be found at SwampFestNZ on Facebook.

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