Summer in Pittsburgh is amazing. So much local awesomeness happens.
On Saturday July 12th – the day after the Gallery Crawl – the North Side of Pittsburgh will be host to a very unique event called the Deutschtown Music Festival.
According to the festival’s own website:
Over 90 Bands! 3 Outdoor Stages and 13 venues! Food trucks and artist’s market. And it’s FREE!
How cool is that?
The local music scene has a special place in my heart. I managed local bands for a while when I was in my late 20s and early 30s. I saw the music scene thrive during the 90s and early 2000s, die somewhat and then come back. Between bands like Meeting of Important People and Silencio, Pittsburgh has started making a name for itself in local music again.
Cody Walters and I have a lot in common. We remember bands like the Buzz Poets and Brownie Mary and simply love to support the local scene. I wanted to learn more about what drove him to start the festival so I reached out for a brief interview:
Do you have any history in local music? If so, who are your influences?
I do not have any real background in music other than a normal appreciation of live music.
How did you come up with the idea of the festival? The idea for the festival stemmed from the Deutschtown bar crawl, which I organized starting in 2010. It was just supposed to be a small group of friends going around to see bars in our neighborhood we had never been to. Just by word of mouth that first year had 75 people, the last two years have been around 250-300 people, again word of mouth and Facebook. It was a real success. People kept asking me to do another one in the spring or summer. I felt like I didn’t want to do the same thing. And with all the live music in the neighborhood already (Parkhouse, James Street Gastropub, and the Elks) a music festival was a natural fit.
Has the North Side been pretty receptive? Totally. I am very involved here and the neighbors have faith that I know what I am doing…well at least some of the time. But yeah, the overall reaction to last year’s festival was extremely positive.
How many requests do you get to perform? Well we currently have 101 bands or performers for the festival. We have been able to accommodate almost all of our requests, however we did have some last minute requests that we are just unable to fill. Basically we ran out of space.
Do you have any ultimate plans for the festival? Record label showcasing? Have any labels contacted you? As far as future plans….I’ll let you know after July 12th. But honestly, yeah I would like to continue to grow and expand, but what that looks like who knows. I’m sure we find somethings to change/adjust for years to come. Wild Kindness Records has asked to be on the list to curate a stage next year. But nothing other than that really.
I’ve personally seen the local music scene thrive – in the late 90s and early 2000s – and then die a little bit. It seems like it’s thriving again. What is your opinion? I would agree completely. I was in college during the time you are referring to. The Buzz Poets, Clarks, Rusted Root, Gathering Field, Yves Jean Band and so many more really rose to create a great local scene, that said, I think local music in Pittsburgh is even bigger now, and more diverse. Its also amazing to see how much collaboration there is among the bands and musicians. It seems every musician(well at least every drummer) is in 3 bands at least. No one seems to have an ego either and are happy in each others success. Its this sense of community among artist that I want to attract to the North Side.
What kind of cooperation are you getting from the city as a whole? It seems like this is a great time to be doing something like this in Pittsburgh with all the local businesses trying to help each other. The city has been as cooperative as we have needed them to be at this point, and as we grow and need more support I anticipate they will be just as helpful. Darlene Harris has been able to get us some funding in the past. And Mayor Peduto actually mentioned us in an interview with the Trib back in April. And he has become an Elks member and can be found here in Deutschtown on occational Wednesdays at the Elks for Banjo Club and then the Parkouse for Blue Grass Jam.
I’d like to thank Cody for taking the time to answer some questions as I know he’s really busy. Thank you to all the businesses – including local powerhouses Wigle Whiskey, The Andy Warhol Museum and WYEP- that are working with the festival to promote local music. Many more are helping and can be found on their website.
life in pittsburgh 