Preview - Big Fam Music and Arts Festival 2024
Will Kriss
WIDR FM
09-21-24
After taking a year off in 2023, Big Fam Music and Arts Festival is set to return for its third installment early next month with a new location in South Central Michigan.
Previously, the Electronic and Jam festival was held in Lake Ann and Farwell, but will now be held in The Groves of Michigan, which is located in Brooklyn.
[Big Fam Lineup Photo - Image Courtesy Kat Fisher]
While the festival has historically taken place in late August or early September (with the second installment occurring on Labor Day Weekend), the third installment will mark its first time being held in October.
The festival will take place from Friday, October 4 - Sunday, October 6, and will include camping, multiple musical stages featuring both local and big-name artists, an extensive art gallery and much more.
Regardless of where it occurs, Big Fam is noteworthy for creating the feeling of being at a large-scale festival while remaining in a small-scale space.
Ahead of the event, I spoke with Kat Fisher, the visual artist behind KatFish EyeKandy and the curator of the Big Fam Bayou, to learn more about what to expect.
[Interview quotes edited for length and clarity].
“I’m excited that we were able to change the date this year, to accommodate our audience being able to go to Lost Lands, Wakaan, Wheatland and things like that,” Kat said in a phone interview. “We were on a really busy weekend before, so moving it makes it easier for us to be the final festival of the season. We ran into some issues having our festival on a holiday weekend previously, and it worked better for our crew to choose this date as well.
We love a fall festival, and it’s nice because Electric Forest this year was so hot. I just want people to feel comfortable - the air will be crisp and nice, you can wear a jacket or hoodie if you want to, there won’t be little gems melting off your face in the middle of the summer.”
According to an official website statement, the staff behind the festival believe that “when people come together to celebrate music and art, that magic will happen. We ask that you always keep an open mind and never be afraid to experience something new,” while also noting that the key word is “Big.”
Fisher echoed these ethos during the interview.
“As most people know, Big Fam refers to the friends that become your family, so that’s really what we’re referencing when we talk about Big Fam,” Kat said. “I’m excited to have an annual meeting place where everybody can come back and see all their friends that they haven’t in a long time, just share in the space and be able to communicate with each other and be like an end-of-the-season reunion. It’s really the family vibes that make it feel like a Big Fam reunion coming up in October, so that’s how I’m looking at it.”
The New Venue
I had never heard of The Groves of Michigan before Big Fam announced that it would be there, so I asked Kat for some insight.
Located directly behind the Michigan International Speedway, itself the host of many events, the property is no stranger to hosting large groups of people.
“This property has been an active campground in Brooklyn for several years,” Fisher said. “It has gone through a couple different changes in ownership, it used to be called Juniper Hills. But it’s located directly behind the MIS Speedway, where a lot of NASCAR races are held throughout the year. The MIS is also where the Faster Horses music festival is held every year.
So a lot of times, campers stay at this property to attend Faster Horses or the NASCAR races, so they are used to hosting a large number of people for the past several years. I talked to some people who said they've come out every year for more than 20 years, so there’s quite a history of people coming out to that campground.”
Kat also noted that the Groves fit the aesthetic of the festival, saying that the new Bayou area is especially wooded, which was part of why they selected that property.
But what IS The Bayou?
The Bayou is the centerpiece of Big Fam, which is the culmination of years of work between Kat and her husband Dave. The area is essentially a living interactive art exhibit, or “dreamscape,” and contains one of the festival music stages as well.
“The Bayou is an immersive dream, how I like to put it. We host one of the main stages, I don’t like calling us the second stage anymore, it’s really like we don’t have a main stage. Both Apogee and Bayou feel like main stages.
It’s tucked away; the Bayou has a little water feature where I can give people the vibes that they are in an enchanted fishing village. So that’s where the theme of the Bayou comes from, we have quite a few different installations that include boats, and we want people to feel like they’re in a completely different place.”
In previous years, the Bayou has had many different pieces that add to this theme, including water fountains, boat houses, mermaids, intricate lights, and even tea parties featuring Alice and the Mad Hatter.
As Kat described, it truly does feel like another world, in the sense of its immersiveness.
“The biggest takeaway for me is that it’s more symbolism that we all have an opportunity to begin, so I think this rendition of the bayou is going to be the best one yet,” Kat added. “The way the layout goes into the woods, you really walk in and feel like you’re transported to another place. You’re led along a trail that takes you through the boathouses and some of the installations before you even see the stage, so it’s kind of nice to go through the trails and discover those things. And then to walk into the stage and see this magnificent stage surrounded by light…we’re really excited to take people on a little journey through the Bayou.”
[Bayou Photo - Caption: A scene from The Bayou in 2022 - Photo by Will Kriss]
Kat also noted that it was very difficult moving all of the Bayou materials from the previous venue (Liberty Mountain in Farwell), but she is remaining optimistic with the new area.
“Even though it’s been a challenge to rebuild and to move again, what I really like to focus on is that we all have an opportunity to begin again,” Kat said. “Even when you think times are tough, you can always start over, you can always begin again. So that’s what I'm looking at this year coming back this October.”
The Musical Lineup
Since the festival was put on hold in 2023, a lineup had already been in the works for a while, much of which remains unchanged. Again, the lineup features many Michigan locals (in keeping with the “Big Fam” vibe), in addition to larger-name artists in the electronic and jam world.
While there will be multiple stages featuring a wide range of artists, Kat noted that the Bayou Stage lineup is curated for a very specific kind of sound.
“Especially in The Bayou, we like to focus on Psychedelic Bass as well as Instrumental Bass, or bass musicians that also play an instrument in their sets,” Kat explained. “We’re excited to have artists like Josh Teed come back and play the violin again, as well as Manthom Phenace and Dixon’s Violin.
Some of our more local performers are also bringing instruments to include, just to kind of stay with the vibes. We’ve also modified the way the stage looks this year to accommodate performers with instruments, so we’re really excited about that.”
The Bayou stage will also feature an actual band for the first time, which is the Detroit-based Opal. The stage includes platforms for fire and flow performers, but Kat said the stage could easily be used for a musical group.
“As soon as we started working with Opal, we knew that we wanted to have them in the Bayou. The way that the stage is set up, with one platform in the center and two on each side, we thought we could put a band there. When we first designed the Bayou stage, we never thought that we would host a band.
We always thought that we would have DJs and that would be it, but once we started toying around with the idea of hosting Opal, since it’s a three piece band, we figured we could have one member on each platform. They can spread out and have space to perform - we’re really excited to have them in the Bayou this year.”
Additionally, the Bayou stage has been slightly modified - the LED wall has been moved to the ceiling of the center platform, with the idea being that viewers can better see performers with instruments.
Headliners and Label Takeovers
The full lineup includes three different label takeovers, and I rapid-fired with Kat to get a quick idea of what to expect for each one.
“We have the Philos Records takeover on the Apogee stage, and we’re very excited to have Daily Bread back again. We see him as a rising star and we are so excited to have had him at our festival every year.”
“We also have the all:Lo takeover, which puts three of the all:Lo collective artists into the bayou on Saturday night, so we’re super excited for Parkbreezy, TF Marz, and Alex Unger.”
“We’re happy to have a fan favorite, The Widdler, come back. Part of that collective is a newer performer who we featured at one of our “Another Dimension” events in Detroit, Yoko.
Yoko is going to be on our Apogee stage this year as part of the Sub.mission takeover, and we’re excited to try to get her back for a Bayou stage performance next year.”
A Dream Come True
While Kat was excited to talk to me about all these artists, there was one in particular that she said really made the lineup for her - the Canadian downtempo artist ATTYA.
“We have ATTYA on Friday night, and to me, that tops everything,” Kat said. “I’ve dreamt for years about, if i were to throw a festival, who would i want to play in my space? ATTYA has always been at the top of my list, so to have ATTYA playing in the Bayou is a dream come true. I can’t wait for that moment.”
Interview with a Local Performer - Panther
Having spent many years living in Kalamazoo for work and school, I became quite familiar with the local electronic scene and its many artists, one being Norberto Birruete III, who spins under the name Panther.
[Photo - Panther - Photo by @aisnapped, courtesy Norberto Birruete III]
I first met Birruete in 2017 while writing an article about a Kalamazoo show featuring Antiserum, which he was preparing to open for. In more recent years, he has provided direct support for artists such as Minnesota, smith., and Zingara - all leading up to making his Big Fam debut.
Birruete has spun under the name Panther since 2010, but learned how to start DJing when he was 11 - a total of around 19 years.
“My cousin showed me how to mix, so I went from looking up to him and learning the very fundamentals, and then making it into something completely different when electronic music started to blow up,” Birruete said in an interview. “Early on, I didn’t learn about beat-matching, but now it’s about harmonics and different time signatures, just working with different aspects.”
When asked to describe his style, Birruete noted that he doesn’t necessarily like to put a label on it, but that there are notable aspects of his performances.
“It’s always hard to narrow my style down, I always say ‘to define is to limit,’ but definitely deep dubstep, lots of 140 BPM, as well as trap music and world sounds,” Birruete said. “World sounds is one of the things that I would definitely say I tailor to a lot of my sets. Whether or not I'm going for a more upbeat show, I’m still going to include some of those cultural and world sounds, whether it’s stuff from South America, Asia or the Middle East. All the harmonics from all the different instruments around the world are just beautiful when brought together.”
Even with some of his high-profile slots in recent years, Birruete said he’s been wanting to play at Big Fam since the first installment.
“Of course, Big Fam is the Big One I’ve been waiting for since year one, so it’s definitely just thrilling,” Birruete said. “I know tons of friends and family that go every year - it’s certainly one of my favorite festivals, so I’m sure you can only imagine how I feel about that.”
To prepare for his debut, Birruete added that he’s been collaborating with Kalamazoo-based visual artist Connor Ryan, whose artist name is Hawkkn.
“One of the things I can say is that this is the most A/V curation that I’ve put towards a set, where I actually have an idea I want to bring into fruition,” Birruete said. Given the insight as to things I try to tailor in my sets, like the world sounds, I really want to bring that vision to a visual aesthetic. In conversations with Conor, he and I plan to do just that. I’m thrilled people will be able to immerse themselves solely into the same vibe across the board. I’m thrilled to be working on an A/V set with Hawkkn for this one.”
To learn more about Panther, visit his Linktree by clicking here.
Further Information:
Again, the third Big Fam Music and Arts Festival will take place from Friday, October 4 through Sunday, October 6.
The Groves of Michigan is located at 13500 US-12, Brooklyn, MI 49230.
For more information on the event including tickets, visit the official website by clicking here.
For a daily lineup schedule, click here.
For my written reviews of the last two installments, visit the following links below:
Preview written by Will Kriss [DJWILLKILL]
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