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Melissa Auf der Maur Tells Us What To Expect At This Summer's Basilica Music Fest

Jen Carlson

Published Jun 27, 2012

Modified Jun 30, 2012

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Jen Carlson

Published Jun 27, 2012

Modified Jun 30, 2012

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Pretty nice venue!

Yesterday an announcement was made that New York would be getting a new music festival this summer, up in the gorgeous land of Hudson. The Basilica Music Festival (presented in association with Pitchfork) will take place August 10th and 11th, and cost a very reasonable $15 per day, or $25 for a weekend pass.

The two-day event will be held inside of a reclaimed 19th-century factory in Hudson, which is surrounded by sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains. The space is run by creative directors Melissa Auf der Maur (formerly of Hole) and filmmaker Tony Stone—they, along with Brandon Stosuy and Brian DeRan, got the festival together.

Parts of the lineup have already been announced—on Friday, there will be "Metal Machine Music" organized by Stosuy's Show No Mercy. That lineup will feature Liturgy, guitarist Mick Barr, Catskills-based artist Brian Dewan, C. Lavender, and a DJ set from Rainbow in the Dark. To accompany that, there will be a showing of Hudson artist/welder Kris Perry 's "MACHINES" musical sculpture exhibition. Saturday will be "Neidan!"—curated by Brian DeRan of Leg Up! Management/Gleam House. That lineup includes sets from Gang Gang Dance, Prince Rama, and other acts TBA, along with sculptures and paintings by William Stone, Pia Dehne, Jim Krewson, Todd Jordan, Sadie Laska, and more.

This afternoon Auf der Maur told us the full lineup is expected to be announced "by next week." She also answered some of our questions about what to expect at the fest—her suggestions are below:

HUDSON, NY
The atmosphere is the best of a picturesque historical antique town mixed with industrial wasteland, framed by Hudson river skies. It's a real urban mix set within a rural landscape, with a lot of Americana Lynch-ian charm. A cool melange of small town characters and big city visitors—totally nuts and beautiful. Best of all worlds combined!

ACCOMMODATIONS
We are hoping to be able to offer a camping option near by, and will announce with the final line up. This would be ideal for the full upstate immersion experience and also most affordable. Otherwise we will provide list of nearby motels in surrounding towns. In Hudson proper, there are lots of luxury B&Bs for those show want to go all out, and apparently there are more personal homes per capita to rent out via AirBnB than any other city.

TRAVEL
Train is the best way to travel here, as Basilica is 100 feet from the Hudson Amtrak station—however, they sell out fast and get expensive as availability runs out, so you must book ASAP!

Otherwise we highly recommend car pooling as fastest and most affordable. 4-5 to a car and plenty of parking up here. Become a Zip Car member!?

FOOD
Basilica will have food and juice bar trucks, including Hudson's coolest and finest "Truck Pizza." Also, Hudson is full of food, all within walking distance. From gourmet everything, to the world's first all Organic and Local diner, to taco trucks.

And about that 19th-century factory's cooling system? Auf der Maur says there's no air conditioning "but plenty of river side breezes and BIG industrial fans!"

This sounds out of the box enough from standard festival protocol that it could just escape the New York Festival Curse, which came down hard on the state last year. Stosuy tells us, "We approached this differently than a standard festival. Instead of piling on a ton of bands, we selected a few who connected in interesting ways. Not via genre, necessarily—we were aiming for other kinds of overlaps. We wanted it to feel like an actual organic show (and to avoid overload). The bands who're playing also tie directly into the art that's being shown." There will be a 1250 cap on tickets, and Stosuy added there are "plans to expand next year."

You can follow along on the fest's Twitter and Facebook for further announcements.

Tagged

Basilica Music Festival

hudson

Melissa Auf der Maur

music festival

Jen Carlson

Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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