Features
International Artists To Take Over NYC For Colossus Festival
– New Colossus
A new event, The New Colossus Festival is set to take over six independent music venues on New York City’s Lower East Side and East Village March 7-10. The Natvral, Thick, Pom Pom Squad, Tallies, Wooing, Das Body, and Ramona Flowers are among the artists slated to perform.
The event takes place around the same time as SXSW (March 8-18) in Austin, and is organized around the idea of breaking international talent in the U.S. It is being promoted by Mike Bell of Lorimer Beacon, Lio Kanine of Kanine Records, Steven Matrick of Kepler Events/Pianos.
Co-founder Mike Bell said of the event: “SXSW is great and attracts amazing bands from all corners of the world. They all want to play there. What international bands don’t necessarily get is that SXSW is very competitive and it can be quite expensive. With so much going on all day and night, it’s challenging to be seen and heard there especially if you’re relatively unknown in the U.S.”
Participating venues include Berlin, Coney Island Baby, Pianos, Bowery Electric, Arlene’s Grocery, and The Delancey.
Co-founder Lio Kanine said another key element that led to the festival was the end of CMJ Music Marathon in 2015.
“I looked forward to CMJ each year as it provided me with a way to network with music-minded people from all over the world. Being from an independent record label, we don’t always have the time and money to constantly travel to various countries around the world,” Kanine said. “So when bands can come to NYC to all play together, it creates the perfect environment to meet new music industry people, and see tons of great new bands. I had been going to CMJ since 2003, and every year I would find at least one band that I wanted to sign, so it was an amazing A&R source that needs to be recreated.”
New Colossus is the latest event targeting independent venues and artists. Earlier this year, Independent Venue Week, which was founded in the U.K. in 2014, came over to the U.S. with a resoundingly success first edition. The event is scheduled to return next year and is currently accepting applications for participants.