TREMOLO Shoegaze Music Festival 2024 // An Interview with Heart and Minds of Seattle’s TREMOLO FEST

• Thanks so much for the interview. First, can you tell us a little about the collective behind Tremolo and how it all started?

Chris: I’ve had a vision to bring a Shoegaze Festival to Seattle since 2009, motivated by seeing the earliest stages of what is seen as the “shoegaze revival” with little Slowdive-related gigs and one-off reunions happening in the UK in the mid-late 00s that I ambitiously wanted to see happen in Seattle. That vision initially turned into my label Neon Sigh, which began producing releases and events in 2012, including a shoegaze festival I co-created in Chicago that year. By 2015 and 2016 Jim and I were really eager to get something like Tremolo going, but we really felt like we needed a group like what we have now to put all the pieces together. When numerous discussions about these ideas found overlap with Julie and Owen, over time Tremolo just made sense and came together quite naturally. When Josh started getting involved in the Pacific Northwest scene as well, it was clear how he also fit so well ideologically with what we want to do.

Owen: I was invited in by Julie, Chris and Jim early on. Now they’ll tell you it was because I’m handsome and funny, but I think it was because I’m also smart. Kidding aside (groan), the collective came together to foster community within a scene of like-minded artists and fans and with our combined powers we’d RULE THE WORLD.

Julie: We wanted to increase the opportunities for Shoegaze-related bands – increase the size of the scene, foster friendships, and do it all in a really organized, transparent, and drama-free manner

Owen: Josh joined a few years later when it was clear that he had the gumption and moxie to do what needed to be done.

• Clearly, Seattle is synonymous with Grunge, how has Shoegaze fit into The Emerald City over the years?
  

Jim: It’s been hanging on in the background since the 90s… bands like Swoon 23, Voyager One and Jessamine, to name but a few, that go back a ways. The Dandys down in PDX are as close as PNW Gaze got to the center spotlight, but there’s long been an active scene.

Josh: You guys can answer this being here way longer than me, but it just seems that the genre gravitates here to the region. So many gaze bands between here and Portland. Some may say Philly or LA but I believe the PNW is the mecca for Shoegaze in the States.

Julie: The music scene in Seattle is enormous and wide-reaching, so it’s no surprise that there are a fair amount of shoegaze-type bands up here.

• How do you approach putting together a lineup for the Fest?

Owen: First and foremost, asking bands we love to play. Dear God, the list is long. We’ve been lucky enough to have artists from all over the country come for the fest and in doing so have made great friends. From The Veldt (NYC/NY), to Karate, Guns and Tanning (Indianapolis), to Deserta (Los Angeles) and on and on it’s been incredible.

Josh: For me, I like to find newer bands we haven’t heard of yet that are up and coming while mixing in the best local bands.

Julie: We try to get a mix of local and non-local bands, although it can be a heavy lift for some small bands to make their way to our little corner of the country.

• What are the best moments you have taken away from the experience so far?
  

Josh: Meeting new bands and building relationships in the scene.

Julie: One of my favorites was having all the bands do a gaze-related cover song from 1992 for Tremolo:1992. It was really amazing to see what everyone came up with!

Josh: What was fun indeed. I saw it in Oly when I first met you.

Owen: Deserta’s cover of an MBV song is the first thing that comes to mind for me, but also the friendships within the Tremolo group and with the artists, as well.

Jim: Just the shared experience with us behind the scenes as well as the bands, and making new friends, for sure

Chris: My happiest times are when love and community intersect with quality music, like with Tremolo.

• Are there any specific records and gigs that have radically marked and changed your perception of rock music?
  

Julie: A couple of big ones for me were the Psychedelic Furs‘ 1980 first s/t album, which sounded like nothing I’d heard before at the time and really blew my perceptions open. And Sonic Youth‘s “Daydream Nation”, which perfectly straddled the line between weird/off-kilter/artiness and catchy rock.

Owen: I saw an Engelbert Humperdinck impersonator cover Kraftwerk in a mountain hut near the flats of Topeka once. Total game changer. I kid. Not really shoegaze-related but seeing Flour, with Steve Albini on bass and members of Arcwelder backing Pete Conway up was an incredible, unique experience as they really elevated the songs as a collective. The list of records (or songs) that have blown me away is long but some that stand include MBV’s “Only Shallow,” Ride’s “Drive Blind,” Lush “Sweetness and Light,” and Swervedriver’s song “Rave Down.”

Jim: Two kinds of pivotal moments for me… the first was discovering U2 back in the early 80s. I wasn’t even particularly interested in music before that; after that, I was obsessed. The second came when I heard “All I Need” from MBV‘s “Isn’t Anything”. I had never heard anything quite like it, just a swirling miasma of sound. I didn’t know music could sound like that, and once I found out, everything changed for me.

Chris: Starflyer 59: “Gold”, “Americana”, and “The Fashion Focus” for being perfect and helping to identify my musical core. Also The Cure: “Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me” and Pixies: “Bossanova”, just because they kind of were first at changing my whole musical trajectory. Watching Jarvis Cocker live is a religious experience.

• Let’s talk about this year’s line-up…
  

Josh: I like how there’s this sort of Post-Punk lineup on the first night. And the two Cali bands coming up on Saturday. Looking forward to seeing them live. No Floor crushes it every time, so that’s always a treat for Friday.

Owen: A lot of the bands are ones I fell in love with while hearing them on the radio via KEXP or DKFM. Great songwriters push the genre which truly excites me, and the best part is the feeling one gets when enveloped in their sound during a performance. Let’s go!

Jim: For me it’s like a perfect mix of bands I know and bands I don’t, which is always an ideal situation to me. There’s something there I already know will sound great and some newer stuff that I get to experience for the first time live, which is always exciting.

Chris: Like we always hope, I think it’s a good mix of familiar friends, friends new to Tremolo, and friends new to Seattle, and while Shoegaze is my first true love, we’ll see elements of all my favorite genres, I think.

• In the 90s Shoegaze, except maybe for MBV, was certainly not among the most celebrated genres, especially with the specialized press, even if things have changed over time, as I would guess you’re aficionados from day one, what are your thoughts and impressions on this matter?
  

Josh: I’m probably too young to really answer this. I just wish it lasted longer I guess or leaked more into states as it was happening. But it has definitely had a resurgence since 2010 with a new wave of big name bands like Nothing, Ringo Deathstarr and DIIV to carry the torch now. There are so many new shoegaze bands popping up every month. Also, it’s amazing that Slowdive is more famous now than they ever were in the 90’s. So that says something about how far the genre has come since the late 80s/early 90s.

Owen: I love that there are new artists pushing the genre forward, and it’s what I aspire to do with New Age Healers. From the lush, cinematic landscape painted by Deserta to the pure power of Film School, there are a lot of people making inspired sounds that push us forward.

Jim: You really had to work to find Shoegaze bands back in the ’90s, at least here in the States, but now there’s a plethora of new bands that work in and around the style, which is cool because it makes it easier to find good stuff. The wheat-to-chaff ratio isn’t always great, but with so much to choose from, you can always find good new things.

Chris: It never really went away for me because I got REALLY into it just as it was ending and picked up anything I could find between ’95 and ’05 when it was at its most forgotten point, in particular Clairecords and Burnt Hair which were almost single-handedly keeping it all going for a while. I echo Josh where I’ve seen lots of friends and bands I’ve adored not get their due and it’s good in a sense to see some finally resonate strongly in the way I think they should.

• Within the upcoming lineup, are there any acts you are particularly proud of or close with?

Owen: I’m proud to be associated with the peeps behind Tremolo; Julie from Guest Directors, Jim from Black Nite Crash, Josh from Waves Crashing, and Chris from Neon Sigh as they each bring something special and unique to the venture and are 100% about fostering community via music.

Jim: I’m proud to be part of the Tremolo team, they are, indeed, great peeps. And among the other bands, I go way back to Fotoform and Ten Million Lights, who have both been cranking out great music for a long time.

Chris: Planning even a modest fest like ours is a major undertaking with many challenges, I’m just eternally grateful for the rest of the team who have each done a ton of work, and for all the artists being willing to take part!

Josh: I was thrilled when I was asked to join this great Tremolo team. To see all their bands in action is a treat too as they are all really good. We’ve all played shows together. As far as other acts in the lineup, I’ve had the honor to spend a weekender tour with 10ML last year and it’s been great to now call them friends. It’s really a good feeling when you work with stellar people. Warms my heart.

• Any young bands you would like to draw our attention to?

Josh: Sparkler (SD) and Supergloom (LA)

Owen: So many great new bands. Pure Hex, and Pink Breath or Heaven out of SF. Chime School is more jangle but wow what a songwriter. Mo Dotti out of L.A., Lumari out of MPLS. Damn, I’m forgetting a bunch.

Jim: Black Nite Crash! 🙂

Julie: We had No Floor fill in last year for a late cancellation due to sickness, and they blew everyone away. Looking forward to seeing them again!

• Which bands that you have not had the opportunity to work with so far would you like to host?

Josh: Glimmer (NY), Old Coke (Chi), Bad Bloom (NY), Planet Loser (FL).

Owen: Film School, Drop Nineteens, you know, all the Gregs. :).

Jim: My Bloody Valentine, Ride, The Jesus and Mary Chain… Mom always said, ‘Dream big’.

Chris: Starflyer 59 (Riverside, CA) because they are the reason I got into this whole thing and, Lifetime, I have listened to them twice as much as any other artist on the planet.

• Who are you listening to at the moment?
  

Julie: Shoegaze-related, I’ve been listening to Mo Dotti, DIIV, and somesurprises.

Josh: “Fully Beat” by Aluminum, “Dripping Only Black” by Painted Vein, “I wish I was a rat” by Spiral XP.

Owen: The morning show on KEXP, Chime School, and always Film School.

Jim: The Soundcarriers. English Teacher. Beak>.

Julie: Oh man, I just discovered English Teacher this week. So good!

Chris: new The Cure album, new Starflyer album, Loretta Lynn, Yumi Yano, Roxy Music, Motown, Prince, Mioko Yamaguchi, Carlos Toshiki and Omega Tribe.

• What’s your take on the current state of the Shoegaze alternative international scene? Its positive and negative aspects. Who is pushing the boundaries of the genre?
  

Josh: It is bleeding more into the indie pop world. A good example is Softcult. Blending genres and pushing the boundaries of Shoegaze and its subgenres. Another example is Soccer Mommy which gets played on DKFM, but is it Shoegaze?? So we have bands like that pushing the boundaries but overall is a good thing as it will expose those sounds and hopefully get more folks interested in listening to other bands.

Chris: It’s often just really super electronic-based or else more on the psychedelic side. I see these things as both positive AND negative aspects, which I guess comes down to the style or song. I tend to not love a lot of electronic sounds mixed in, but I’ve always loved DEAD, from Rennes, France. Adiós Cometa stand out to me too, they sometimes remind me of Crescendo, who put out one of the five best shoegaze records ever made. I’ve released a couple of international groups who I love, such as the legendary Telescopes and Rev Rev Rev.

• What are some of the most significant Festivals you have attended over the years that have perhaps become a source of inspiration for Tremolo?

Josh: Dreamgaze PDX, Slide Away Festival, South Sound Block Party.

Julie: Locally, Freakout Fest is a great source of inspiration. They are years ahead of us, and honestly much bigger than I’d want to organize, but they have really good name-recognition and do a fantastic job of supporting the local music scene, while welcoming in bands from other places.

Owen: I was at Woodstock 99 as a member of the media. It was the breast of times, it was the Fred Durst of times. Don’t do that. Any of it.

Jim: Dreamgaze PDX was very inspirational this year…

Chris: The last Austin Psych Fest before they moved it to the ranch (2012) was amazing fun. I loved the setup, the lineup, the people and everything. Locally, Substrata Festival curated by Rafael Anton Irisarri was one-of-a-kind. No alcohol, no sponsors, no BS. VERY intentional and we should all aspire to its mission statement.

Guest Directors (photo courtesy of Hardly Raining)

• How do you think Tremolo Fest has evolved over its lifespan and where do you see it going in the future?

Julie: We’ve been slowly expanding (1 night to 2 nights, to 3 nights), and we’d love to coordinate with another city (PDX is the obvious choice) in the future. Hopefully, that would help us get more touring acts since we could set them up with a show in each city.

Josh: Being only a part of it for 2 iterations, I have seen the growth and I think it’s only going to continue to get even better as we go.

Owen: I dream of having two stages and being able to double the acts do EVERYONE is included.

Julie: Yes, I would love a 2-stage setup!

Chris: Bigger but not too big. The important thing is purpose and intention.

• Any parting words?
  

Owen: No matter where you go, there ya are. Oh, and you’re welcome, world.

Chris: Vote. Always.

Julie: Support your local music scene!

Josh: Cheers to Tremolo 2024. See you at the Central this weekend!