Grooveshark

So Jack and I just spoke with Megan McFann of Madison House Publicity about how Rothbury Music Festival is different from other run-of-the-mill music festivals. From remarkable sustainability to a totally different line-up, Rothbury definitely stands out from the haystack. The Rothbury Festival will take place from July 3-July 6 in Rothbury, Michigan and will feature bands ranging from Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer to Widespread Panic and Primus. For the full line-up, go here.

Grooveshark: What differentiates Rothbury from other festivals, like Bonnaroo or Langerado?

McFann: Well there are a couple different things that really set Rothbury apart. One of the things is outside lodging options, which really no other festivals offer, at least not to this extent. I mean, the festival site is the Double J[J] Ranch, which during the rest of the year is a working ranch and resort. And so there are options for log cabins for families to rent. There are bunk houses literally inside the middle of the festival grounds. There are a lot of on-site restaurants, bars and facilities, so there’s a certain infrastructure that doesn’t exist in, say, any of the other open-field festivals.

Grooveshark: Very cool!

McFann: In addition to that, Rothbury has worked very hard to make this a fully sustainable event. And while a lot of other festivals and shows are working to go green, it’s definitely this kind of “hip” thing to do, Rothbury is really working to set an example of what can be done. It’s definitely an involving art and it’s not a perfect system, but we’re just hoping that in years to come, maybe next year, there’s going be even more things to go even greener. But they’ve really actually committed more than any other festival that I can think of to go as fully green as possible from the very beginning with the carbon offsets. And really just promoting clean energy.

Grooveshark: I see. That’s great!

McFann: I think one of the cool things about what we’ve done with the greening is to get creative with it. And for carbon offset, instead of just writing a check, Rothbury has established the solar school program, where we will be donating a minimum of $50,000 to Shelby High school, in Shelby, Michigan, to build a solar panel system, so that will free up the funding for the school for educational programs instead of powered energy.

There are options for fans to actually help with that. There’s the green ticket, which is an additional $3 on the ticket price. And that goes to offset the travelers’ travel to Rothbury. So for the fans that traveled there. And then you could go even further, pay an extra $7, so $3 dollars to offset your carbon emissions and then donate $4 to the solar school program. So that’s another way that Rothbury is working to give back to the community and also promote green energy in the areas around Rothbury.

Grooveshark: That’s very cool. I think you covered like five of my questions in that.

McFann: Haha, I’m thinking maybe I went too far…

Grooveshark: No! It’s good! I don’t know if you saw the front page of Rolling Stone’s Web site today but they had a really big article about Radiohead and the concept of going green. They mentioned that fans actually cause most of the damage with places like Bonnaroo and the 8-hour waits to get inside. Considering the carbon emissions and stuff like that. But you guys have done the green ticket and whatnot, so I guess that cancels out that question.

McFann: Yeah, like I said it’s an involving thing, you know, we hope that next year there’ll be more opportunities to take, but yeah, it is hard when you draw all of these people to one place. There’s no denying the carbon footprint there.

Grooveshark: Yeah and are there major airports around Rothbury?

McFann: The major airports, Detroit and Chicago, are both about three hours away and then Grand Rapids is about maybe 45 minutes to an hour away. And there’s the Muskegan airport, but I wouldn’t call it a major airport.

Grooveshark: So just like a dirt runway?

McFann: [Laughs] That’s about what I hear…

Grooveshark: Yeah, sounds like the Gainesville airport. Well anyway, the next question is about Conscious Alliance. How did they get involved and what kind of presence will they have inside the festival?

McFann: The Conscious Alliance has been working with festivals for years and doing shows. I’m not sure how familiar you are with their work, but they’re going to be on site at Rothbury doing a food drive and also, I’m not sure if you’ve seen, but they’re going to be making a bid for the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest can sculpture.

Grooveshark: Yeah, Vilma was telling me about that.

McFann: Yeah, it’s pretty cool. They just partnered with Whole Foods Market, who’s going to be donating 40,000 cans of food. Different varieties of natural beans for the canned sculpture. And there’s actually going to be an adjudicator on site for the Guinness Book coming out to judge and oversee everything and will actually be making a judgment on site. The can sculpture will be available for attendees to come and check out all weekend. And then finally, they’re going to be donating the food to local food pantries in the Muskegon area.

Grooveshark: That’s very cool.

Grooveshark: Also, something that Vilma and I were talking about: What’s the selection process for bands at Rothbury? I was looking at it and it’s a pretty different line up than what has become kind of standard for the other 8,000 festivals this summer. Did you guys just pick bands that are more environmentally friendly or bands that weren’t playing the Coachellas and Bonnaroos?

McFann: I think it’s a variety of factors. AEG Live has done most of the booking with Madison House Presents and the goal was really quality over quantity. We wanted some great diverse bands that would reach a variety of different kinds of fans. You know, not just jam band fans but you know bands of all kinds of music. And in addition, we wanted to have not 120 bands but to have only 75 so they could have a little longer set time. So it’s not a 30 minute set and then done, you know?

Grooveshark: Yeah.

McFann: So that was a big goal with the line up, and we just wanted to make sure that Madison House Presents has a history with the JFC sisters and [to] stay true to that. And to also bring in some indie bands and a lot of cool, more mainstream bands and open it up for a great summer festival.

Grooveshark: Definitely. I like the whole concept of having people like John Mayer next to Widespread Panic and stuff like that.

McFann: Right. Well, it’s always exciting to go to festivals and to see bands that you’re like “eh, you know” maybe you weren’t even thinking you wanted to see a band, and then you walk away as a big fan. And I think a lot of people are going to stumble on some great artists at the show.

Grooveshark: Yeah. At Langerado actually, I rediscovered what I loved about REM, and I’ve been listening to them pretty much exclusively since.

McFann: [Laughs] That’s great. I saw a lot of good shows at Langerado.

Grooveshark: Yeah, it’s great. I waited for like 3 hours to be in the front row for REM, so if they sucked I would have been pissed.

McFann: Michael Stipe was going nuts for [Langerado]. He loved it.

Grooveshark: The whole Obama thing was really cool [Stipe ripped off his jacket to reveal an Obama t-shirt and then posed for photographers in a variety of poses]

Grooveshark: Anyway, for the last question, ideally what does Rothbury accomplish? What’s your overarching goal?

McFann: I think one of the biggest goals is, you know, the festival is an opportunity to have all these people together. And to be productive during this weekend of fun. And to have a great time but also to create awareness and have different sustainable technologies available. There’ll be a farmer’s market there with local farmers, and it’s really just to bring the community together and start discussing some of the questions about climate change and to provide alternatives and solutions.

So at the end of the weekend, Rothbury fans are going to go home and know how to take these solutions with them. And how to start implementing that and make change with clean energy and just to start thinking about how we behave in our everyday life and how we can make things better.

Grooveshark: That sounds awesome.

McFann: And the goal during this time is having a great weekend with music and fun and friends and camping and all of the above. It’s really good to walk away feeling you had a productive weekend and now you’ve got some real-life solutions.

Grooveshark: That’s pretty idealistic. I really hope you guys can pull it off. That’s awesome.

McFann: I hope so too. Looking at the schedule, I think it’s going to be really exciting and if people are willing to jump in and make the most of it, I think there will be a lot to be had at Rothbury.

• Posted in All of The Rest