Scene Point Blank: One of the amazing things I think Fest has done is that you’ve stayed relevant and keep getting young bands. All music scenes have generation gaps and cycle through. You’ve kept it going pretty steadily…
Tony Weinbender: Gainesville surprises the shit out of me sometimes. There is a young band of high school kids, I have yet to see them live but everybody was talking about them, “Check out this band Boat Stuff.” That’s a funny name. I listened to their recordings; they are great. I’m trying to do an all local (free for the community) [stage] this year, as part of the Fest. I asked them: “I’m thinking of having you around 4pm on a Friday. Are you in high school? Is that going to fuck you up?” “No, we all graduate this year so by October we’ll be out of high school.” That’s rad. I remember being in that band in high school at 16, 17, 18. They might be the youngest band playing Fest.
Scene Point Blank: What do you think keeps Fest relevant, not just a thing for people in their forties?
Tony Weinbender: I don’t know if we do. [Laughs.] I don’t know if the youth feels that Fest is relevant because when I look around at Fest I do see a cross section of age, but I feel like it’s all 30+ sometimes. Maybe because some of the bands I go to see are around my age it feels that way at shows. But then I look around, especially with volunteer signups. Man, I’m 47 and all the people in this crowd look 12. I know they’re in college, I’m just used to being around people with gray hair and beer guts now.
Like you were saying, trying to get new bands and just paying attention and listening. Randy plays in Dikembe and is on tour a lot. He always has good insight on younger bands. He suggested Michael Cera Palin this year. I remember them applying last year or the year before and it didn’t work out. And just listening to new music and having an open ear. Giving people a shot, I think, helps. I think the coolest thing is getting a band early on. You like them and you get to tell thousands of people that like your music festival to check this band out. They play, have a killer show. In then the next year they’ve grown. Wow, we have to put them in a bigger room. Then the next year they grow a little more and you put them in a bigger space or outside. It’s rad to see that. Now I can go see certain bands and they are just crushing it and sometimes they’re too big for Fest now and I feel like a proud papa or older brother in a way. Wow, I’m stoked we were able to help a little bit in your success, hopefully.
Scene Point Blank: I’m not sure how many Fests I’ve attended now -- a dozen plus. It’s fun to see somebody at Durty Nelly’s one year, High Dive the next, and to watch them grow.
Tony Weinbender: It’s not that many bands that played Fest back in the day where it’s, “Oh my god, I can’t believe they used to play Fest. But it’s still really cool that Gaslight Anthem and Front Bottoms and Menzingers are really big bands now. When we first booked Matt & Kim, back in the day, they were a small DIY band. They would come and play the old CMC and house shows. They haven’t played in so long. We asked and they were very excited to play again this year and they are one of our headliners now. They’re not playing some stage that was made out of pallets -- they did when they played last time. It’s a big bump up and it’s nice that they personally reached out and are excited about this.
Scene Point Blank: I’m sure it’s rewarding to hear that from bands. On tour most bands experience all types of personalities from people putting on events.
Tony Weinbender: I think a lot of bands want to play Fest is because it feels very organic. Our crew and team, especially the volunteers, are there to help. They’re not jaded and grumpy. Also, it’s humbling for a lot of bands. Everybody is treated the same. We don’t do specific riders for bands, there are no deli trays in your back room. There is no back room.
There is a little backstage area at Bo Diddley but, even in that sense, it’s very communal . All the bands have to hang out together -- unless you want to dip out and go back to your hotel room, which some people do. As you’re at Fest you will find yourself at a show and you look over and, oh shit that‘s BlahBlahBlah from Blahblah.
Scene Point Blank: Earlier, you mentioned the city’s stamp of approval (which may be a stretch). When I first came to Fest, Gainesville didn’t seem to know it was even happening other than the big line outside of Holiday Inn. Now you take over a big plaza downtown. How did that come about, getting the city involvement and cooperation?
Tony Weinbender: Since Fest 2 or 3 we’ve always been in touch with Gainesville Police Department. It’s something I always wanted to do to make sure the cops knew it’s happening. Punks are not what you probably think punks are. It’s not an ‘80s movie where they’re spray painting and destroying things (or they shouldn’t be). We’ve got it. If we need your help we’ll holler at you. You don’t need to interfere. Everything will be chill. They respected that we were up front with them…
After FEST 10, the mayor at the time was, “This seems like a big deal. Why aren’t we paying attention to it?” He did a survey of downtown businesses: how do you feel about Fest, is it a positive thing and does it have appositive economic impact for you. And everybody downtown except for this one bougie restaurant was very positive. At FEST 10 we were using a space, the Florida Theatre. It’s been abandoned for years. I don’t even remember the last entity. It was a large venue that was mostly a dance club. We would have to do everything and every year it would change ownership. But we were able to hold 1,000+ people in it. One year it was run by crazy, straight-up drug dealers. Then there were these two sketchy guys that we had to deal with who, a week before the festival that year, said, “We don’t have enough money to pay for the liquor to serve to your attendees. If you want this to happen, you have to loan us money so we can buy liquor to operate.” It was sketchy shit like that and I’d had enough. They had me by the balls. They did pay us back and after that, and I said we will never use this venue again. I hope it burns to the ground. I’m over dealing with the sketchiness of it.
So I went to the city. At the time we had a really good Assistant City Manager. I told them, if I don’t use this venue I have to make Fest smaller and I don’t think Gainesville wants us to make Fest smeller. We don’t want to make Fest smaller. We want to make it bigger. I want a venue where I can put the headliners in with a large enough capacity that everybody at Fest can go and see this great band. You have this park here, it is underutilized. You do have bands play there with Free Fridays where somebody will have a Jethro Tull cover band or something. Let us run it, let us do everything. Let us pay for the fencing and the GPD, the port a potty, the sound. Let us build this thing with your approval. Let’s work together and make it right. So the Assistant City Manager talked to the City Manager who talked to the Mayor. City Council people got involved and finally approved it. That was a big step for us. It was a lot of production. That’s when the volunteer numbers jumped to 500+ because the city just turns on the power for us and they clean the two bathrooms in the back. We do everything else. We make something out of nothing. Which I said before, I feel like we’re really good at.
I think the coolest thing is getting a band early on. You like them and you get to tell thousands of people that like your music festival to check this band out.
We’ve set this precedent at Bo Diddley where we can do this and run it. It’s a great feat and I think, at times, we have a great relationship with the city and sometimes I feel like they’re taking for granted how much work we put into this. I hope they understand as we go on further. I know the Fest isn’t the only thing the city has to worry about -- there are a billion larger issues -- but it is frustrating that some people who work for the city are very supportive and very gracious and some feel like, oh this is a way to make some money and charge them more. That is a kick in the dick. Technically we are giving you all this shit for free. [Laughs.] If you think about the amount of people that come to Gainesville, the amount of tax that is collected, the amount spent at local hotels and restaurants…But I‘m not taking it away from our hometown and bringing it to another town and they know that…I could get on a tirade that I don’t want to be on. I want to be positive.
The majority is really supportive. People with boots on the ground that are helping us, like the GPD and the Fire and Rescue and the Park Department that we work directly with, are wonderful. It’s when something goes weird and you have to talk to a city attorney and they treat you like a child. Whoa, hold on. You guys fucked this up and you are definitely at fault for this situation and you’re telling me to suck it. “Lawyer up and sue us.” What!? Why would I want to sue my city?
Scene Point Blank: Nobody wins from that.
Tony Weinbender: Nobody wins from that situation. How are you going to let me do Fest in Bo Diddley Plaza if I sue you?
Scene Point Blank: I’m sure you foresaw this with your experience in event planning. Bo Diddley itself adds a lot of perks, but one to me is that it really cuts down lines at the second largest venues. Back around FEST 10 if you wanted to see Iron Chic or somebody, word on the street was to go three bands early. That dynamic has really shifted. There are still lines but you can run around and catch everybody a lot better.
Tony Weinbender: The best year was the year after COVID when we came back. A lot of people still felt Florida was sketchy and didn’t feel comfortable at the last minute -- we get it, we told you we would give you a refund -- like a third of the attendees didn’t come that year. It was chill. [Laughs.] You could get in and out of everywhere real easy.
That’s also the thing about booking. The majority of bands don’t come here on a regular basis to play. If I go off what a booking agent says, it’s going to be wrong every single time. A booking agent tells you, “This band is amazing. They draw 500 people.” Well, if I put them in the 500 person room, I bet it will be 100 in there. But sometimes we’re wrong. It’s often with the bands that don’t have booking agents. It’s a band that has toured really well and has made a lot of connections and played 30+ cities in the US. Out of those 30 cities, there are 5 or 10 people from those cities at Fest. “Hey, that band was super cool or super fun, let’s go see them play.” They might be in a 200-250 cap room and we’re like, whoops, “We booked too small of a room.” But we booked them in January. They worked their asses off all year. This is proof this band is good. When we have them back next year we try to bump them up to a larger space so more attendees can enjoy them.
That was definitely the plan I was talking about earlier. We want everyone to be comfortable in a place to see bands. I feel like Bo Diddley, the way we build it out, is perfectly sized for a show. We cap it at 4,000 people. It’s rare this happens during Fest but, when 4,000 are in there, it feels like a lot of people. But if you go to a larger music festival, 4,000 is a kick in the bucket for a lot of these places. I personally don’t want to be in a space with more than 4,000 people. I just feel weird. I don’t even go to large super events anymore.
Scene Point Blank: I appreciate that. I’m sure there are a lot of festivals out there who book so every room is full so, even though in theory you can jump around, you can’t.
Tony Weinbender: I could have easily added 1,000 or so tickets and sold them. But then nobody would have that great of an experience. That’s not what it’s about. Years ago, we went down to Fort Lauderrdale to see the Descendents play. We’re in this venue -- it was so oversold we could not even get beyond the hall to get into the room to see the band play. And this is a huge venue, like 3,000 capacity. We walked out and went to a bar and didn’t get to see the band at all…it was gross. That’s just greed. There are too many people that are promoters and that’s all they really care about. I think that’s what makes us different. Technically I’ve been promoting punk shows since I was 16, but I’ve never considered myself a promoter. I just help bands, whether in a house, my house, a coffee shop, a music venue, or in general. My goal has always been to help bands. When it becomes a pain in the ass and not fun any more and I’m not helping. that’s when I’ll step down and do something else in my life. Luckily it hasn’t come to that and I still really enjoy being a part of this and feeling like we’re helping this small nugget of music.
Scene Point Blank: How has Fest been for you as a father this past couple of years?
Tony Weinbender: My son is 2 now, so this Fest he’ll be closer to 3. It’s harder because I miss him when I’m away from him -- I stay downtown, I don’t stay at home. But my wife is cool about bringing him out. Now that he’s older he’ll get to come out a little more. That first year he was just a little guy. He came to Depot Park. He comes to registration. And his little cousin comes down from New Jersey too, so it’s like a family event where they can walk around. Then the moms and dads get sitters and go out in the nighttime. During the day they try to bring the kids out. I think this year, during the day, he’ll really enjoy it because when we get a chance to see bands, in general, he loves it. He’s a little people person.
I’m hoping it will be good. I just feel really bad when Fest is over and I come back home. It’s the happiest thing to see him and he’s so excited but I just want to go to bed. [Laughs.] It’s indescribable, the feeling of being able to appreciate him and do all this stuff. I try to work a little harder so I can get things done earlier and have time with him.
A perk of having my own business (and being that it’s Fest, having ups and downs of business), I am able to have time with him. I don’t have to kiss him on the forehead when I leave for work at 6 in the morning and commute somewhere and then commute back to see him go to bed. I know a lot of parents have to do that, and I feel that for the hard work I’ve put in the last 20 years, I’m going to be able to watch him grow up a lot more. I’m very lucky in the fact that the work has paid off. Punk rock has taken care of me in that way.
