SAVAGE WEEKEND
FRIDAY, MAY 13–SATURDAY, MAY 14
NIGHTLIGHT, CHAPEL HILL
4:30 p.m. (Friday) & 4 p.m. (Saturday), $20
Ryan Martin does not seem to mind the logistics of booking ninety bands during two days. Instead, Martinas a musician, label head, and promoter, the area’s most steadfast experimental impresarioviews his Savage Weekend as an ad hoc family reunion for international power electronics powerhouses, harsh noise blasters, and drone sculptors. Martin’s sixth-annual symposium of abrasion gathers touring festival standbys, like the great Rat Bastard, with prime locals, including Lack and Housefire. Martin’s also recruited some of his more recent favorites, including the damaged blasts of Chicago’s HOGG. For more than ten hours each day, the acts cycle through quarter-hour sets, each reevaluating the day’s dynamic in real-time.
“People are vibing off of each other,” he says. “That’s one thing I appreciate across small music scenesthere are people encouraging in such a positive way. It’s a dialogue.”
