Born out of the absence of music festivals in the dreary winter months, FRZN Fest aims to provide a much-needed three-day music experience at High Noon Saloon.
Founded by Madison music event and band promoter Tag Evers of True Endeavors, FRZN Fest brings together a variety of debut artists and bands of numerous genres at one event.
The Badger Herald talked to Evers about the birth and growth of this annual Madison festival.
The following interview was edited for style and clarity.
The Badger Herald: You’ve been with FRZN Fest since the beginning. How did you first come up with this idea and get involved?
Tag Evers: I started True Endeavors and I’ve been booking shows in Madison since the early ’90s. The idea was to do something in the middle of January, which is generally a dead time.
There’s another festival that’s always in the middle of January down in Chicago. It’s a multivenue festival called “Tomorrow Never Knows.” So we got the idea that we could essentially piggyback off of their bookings.
One of the big challenges of booking a festival like this is that if you want to book out-of-town bands that are not necessarily on tour, it’s more expensive because you have to pay for their travel costs. If they’re on tour, their travel costs are spread out over the entire tour. If they were already planning on going to Chicago for the festival [TNK], we figured we could get them.
So, we formed a relationship with the guys putting on that festival. That’s how it started out. These two ideas kind of conjoined — this was a dead time and we were looking to do something, and there was already this existing festival going on in the Midwest.
The exciting thing about this is some really big acts have played at our festival over the years at a time when many people didn’t know who they were. Chance the Rapper played at our festival, and now he’s huge. We’ve had a bunch of different acts over the years that have gone on to big things.
The idea is that over three nights there are 12 bands that will be playing. It’s a good guess that one or two of those bands are going to end up being pretty big. If you buy the three day pass, you’re paying $30 to see 12 bands for about $3 a band, which is a great deal if you’re into live music. It’s also a good cure for cabin fever. It gets you out during a time when everyone is feeling a little stir crazy.
BH: Can you tell me a bit about the headliners or other notable artists performing this year?
TE: This year, the biggest act we have booked is called NoName. NoName has already been on national television just recently with Chance the Rapper on Saturday Night Live, so she’s getting some exposure. This is a good chance for people to see an artist that folks are raving about. There are lots of different media, blogs, music blogs, etc. that pick NoName as one of their favorite debut artists of 2016. Also, Big Thief, who’s headlining Thursday night, got a lot of props for their new record that just came out in 2016. We feel good that we’ve offered a really good list for people to enjoy.
BH: FRZN Fest definitely has a huge focus on up-and-coming stars. Why do you think that’s important?
TE: Not every single artist that we’ve had has been, but it’s partly due to the fact that TNK has a similar focus on trying to find cutting edge new artists. Let’s also face it — artists on this level are a lot more affordable. We’re trying to find artists that are hungry, who are eager to get established in their career and who we believe are deserving of the attention that we’re going to focus on. That’s the story we’re trying to get out there, and we really appreciate hearing from you and whatever you can do to help. It’s sort of a signature event that we hope to keep going. So, as long as people keep showing up and supporting us, we’ll keep putting it out there.
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BH: Can you tell me a little bit more about the venue, the High Noon Saloon? Has the event always been held there?
TE: Yes, it’s always been held at the High Noon. We do a lot of our shows at High Noon and it annually gets voted Madison’s favorite live music venue. It’s a really artist- and audience-friendly venue. So, we’ve just formed a relationship. We started at High Noon and it’s thrived there, so we wanted to continue that. Maybe at some point we’ll expand and make it a multivenue festival. We’ll see — we’re open to that.
BH: Can you tell me a little bit about why the specific genres that are chosen for FRZN Fest are selected?
TE: It’s very much based on who’s available. This year, the first day is a little more indie, Friday is more punk or kind of metal (underground with a harder edge to it) and Saturday is hip-hop. It varies from year to year and on who’s available. We try to mix it up and we try to be inclusive. In terms of being inclusive, it’s nice to have artists like NoName, being female and an artist of color. It’s better than having just a bunch of white guys up there playing guitar. We don’t really set out “this is the way it has to be,” we let who’s available determine the theme. So every year the festival is a little different.
BH: Can you tell me a bit about the event’s sponsors?
TE: Our biggest sponsor is Heartland Credit Union. They’re a credit union that does a lot of business on the near east side of Madison and have been very much supportive of live music. We have Union Cab as a sponsor, WSUM is a media sponsor, as is Isthmus and WORT. There are several breweries that have gotten involved. Tomato Pies will be selling pizza by the slice at the event. Additionally, we’ll have a big container of hot chocolate that will be provided by Cargo Coffee, which will also be a part of a signature drink we have every year.
Then we also do other things, like we help the people who run the Wil-Mar Center to restock their food pantry. Food pantries tend to get depleted over the holidays and in the wintertime, so we try to help them out. So anybody who brings a canned good or a nonperishable item will get entry into a drawing, the grand prize of which is something we call a “golden ticket.” It is a pair of tickets to every True Endeavor show at High Noon for all of 2017. If you win, you can see dozens of concerts for free for the rest of the year.
BH: How many people on average attend FRZN Fest each year?
TE: Oh, it varies. This year for sure we’re going to sell out the NoName night. It depends on a lot of things, like if we have a football game to deal with. Generally, the shows do really well and we’re looking forward to that happening again.
BH: You somewhat mentioned this earlier, but how has FRZN Fest grown or evolved since its emergence in 2011? In what ways has it stayed the same?
TE: It’s getting the word out. It takes time for people to discover what you’re doing or who you are. It used to be years ago, but there used to be a lot more things to do in the wintertime. There were many events that came and then went, but FRZN Fest has stuck around. We’re in our sixth year, and we feel like it grows as people continue to find out about it and like the concept of it. The concept is getting to see artists that very likely are going to be, you know, tomorrow’s next big thing. These artists are exciting, talented and they’re worth people taking the time to check them out.
