Sunday, June 22, 2008

Despite weather, Furthermind blew minds

By Andrew Gaug

Blame it Rock N' Roll.

The weather was perfect for the second installment of the Furthermind Music Festival at the B & O Station. Mellower bands such as the Robbie Jay Band and The Sun Kings entertained the audience throughout the sunny Youngstown afternoon.

Then Akron rock band Tweaktronic took the stage. After they hit their first distortion-filled chord, the skies turned a dark shade of gray and the winds picked up. As the band continued, the weather turned apocalyptic with massive amounts of rain falling, the skies growing even darker and lightning serving the most amount of light in the place.

In the words of Tweaktronic lead singer Nathan Doutt, it was “the most metal moment ever.”

Luckily, a chaotic thunderstorm coupled with technical difficulties couldn't put the kibosh on the all-day music fest.

Much like Youngstown had a mix of almost every weather condition imaginable, the Furthermind Festival ran the gamut when it came to musical genres.

Hip-hop solo act S-Pomp was followed by southern rock-inspired band Robbie Jay Band, who preceded the reggae/funk group The Sun Kings.

Organizer Trevor Quillan had said he wanted to mix up every genre, as well as let artists collaborate throughout the day.

He got his wish as artists such as the female-fronted rock band The Kellys were joined on stage by Girard hip-hop duo DaBoondox for a song and the first performance of Golden Retriever, a band that includes Matt Palka, The Zou's Khaled and Quillan.

“I wanted this to be the essence of musicians getting together, and it definitely was,” Quillan said.

Despite Furthermind having an eclectic showcase of bands from Ohio and Pennslyvania, it was missing a key ingredient — a large audience.

“More people in Youngstown need to show up for regional shows,” Quillan said, “I'm happy that we got a lot of support from the people that are here, but more Youngstown people need to be here.”

Though the inclement weather may have been to blame, more people showed up after the rain left and night set in to see soul band Winslow and headliners Fourth River. Even with a small crowd both showed how to get an audience going with jams and covers including Michael Jackson and the Beastie Boys.

Quillan said he organized the Furthermind Music Festival to be a tribute to his late father, David Michael Murphy, who died last year of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a degenerative brain disorder. The festival was meant to honor his father's love of independent music, he said.

As Winslow got the crowd moving with its opening song and first single, “Move On,” and the audience rocked out along with The Kellys, it felt like a fitting memorial.

The crowd size may not have been what Quillan was originally hoping for, but he was glad the people who came enjoyed the day.

“I wish 3,000 people would have showed up,” he said, “But I'm glad the 200 people or so that came got it and what this whole thing was about.”