The Catskill Chronicle

MazFest 2012 kicks off tomorrow afternoon, running August 3 – 5.

Story & Photos by Jason Dole

LIVINGSTON MANOR/ROSCOE, NY (August 2, 2012) – As the late ‘Nineties’ became the early ‘Aughts,’ a network of young local rock bands sprung up in Sullivan County. It was a thin scene spread over the expanse of hills and valleys. It waxed and waned, it struggled, but never died out. A few key bands kept it going, like Livingston Manor’s own Mazmyth.

The group formed around multi-instrumentalist Matt Smith. Even before they morphed Matt’s name into their current moniker, they were already “Mazmyth” – Matt Smith on lead guitar and electronics, his brother Dan Smith on drums, rhythm guitarist Steve DeFreitas, bassist Jordan DuMond, Joe Papp on keys, and James Havelock handling vocals (not an easy task in a largely instrumental outfit).

Together, they lay down a unique blend of rock – sometimes progressive, often funky, always grand. Mazmyth so impressed the judges at the 2010 Break Contest that they won a place at the Bamboozle festival despite coming in second. They returned to Break in 2011 and took first place. But as far as they get musically, the boys from the Manor stay together, and they stay local. These days, Dan Smith even teaches music at LMCS.

Mazmyth long ago graduated from organizing high school battles of the bands to organizing its own annual three-day rock festival in Roscoe. Now in its third official year, MazFest brings local, regional, and national acts together for an electric and eclectic weekend. It’s a natural progression for a band that keeps looking forward, but never forgets where it came from.

MazFest 2012 kicks off tomorrow afternoon, running August 3 – 5. I spoke to Jordan DuMond last week about MazFest, making music, and the state of rock and roll.

Q: How do you describe the music at MazFest? What’s the musical flavor?

It’s a melting pot of music. We have everything form pop acts to progressive and everything in between – rap, folk… weird things like rap-rock that’s called “hood metal.”

MazFest isn’t Bamboozle, but it’s not Bonnaroo, either. It’s not just selective to the hippies or the preppies, we’ve got everything in between. There’s something for everyone.

Q: MazFest seems like a natural extension of what you guys have been doing from the beginning: influencing young musicians and bringing them together.

We try to get as many local acts as possible. Why? Because there’s nothing in Sullivan County. You have to travel to Nyack or Poughkeepsie to get a show, get a stage. We don’t have any stages in Sullivan County. You’ve got to do something because Sullivan County is so dead and in the three counties around us it’s so selective.

So, we’re just trying to put the festival together and gather all these bands. Get ’em to realize why their in a band: to do it, to get recognized, to go somewhere with their music and create a culture for people to enjoy.

Q: So who do you have for local bands, apart from Mazmyth?

We have Avente Gorz, they’re progressive rock and venture into avant-garde sometimes. Then and we have Richard and the Secular Sextet. They play simplistic minimalist rock, and they do some other stuff like that.

Q: Richard and those guys are doing this whole conceptual thing…

Yeah, they’re, you know… they’re secular. [laughs] They’re really good guys!

We’ve also got Sean Zigmund, who owns Root n Roost Farm in White Sulphur Springs. He’s going to be down there vending, representing organic local farms. Part of the other culture that lives in Sullivan County is the organic-ness of it. You have to support the farmers around here. Without fresh food, man, this world is going to go to waste.

 

Q: And what other bands do you have?

Tell a Tall Tale is from the Washingtonville area, Cosmo is from NYC. We have a couple of bands from Jersey and PA. There’s just so much out there.

The main headliner is O’Ddeath, which opened up for Les Claypool in 2009. It’s a folk-rock act. They’re more electric than acoustic but their music is based around folk. Consider the Source is prog, indie, and rock fusion, three piece with a phenomenal bass player.

And then there’s Dopapod, which is the new upstate regional band, kind of going national. They played Coachella and Bonnaroo and they’ve done some stuff in between. Like Phish, they’re a progressive jam band but they’ll cover Led Zeppelin or Queen.

Q: And America thinks rock is dead, right?

It’s not dead, but it’s come to a stand still, being that pop and rap pretty much control the market. And if you’re into country, that’s this whole other market. They’re the only ones selling CDs…

Q: Yeah, but here you are listing all these bands. They’re doing it.

The underground is just like any time in music history. Right now everything in this scene is underground.

I go out and see Lady Gaga, and it’s not entertaining. It’s the most boring drab I’ve ever seen. Or Electric Six, one of my most favorite current bands, they’re so boring to watch live!

But to see a band live – like Frank Zappa, who can do that live, who has these musicians on point, at his command, free to change whatever he wanted to in music, that’s what you do.

Q: Maybe the common thread between bands at Mazfest isn’t genre, but musicianship.

Yes, absolutely. People are there to make this stuff, and without people you can’t make music.

Q: So, Auto Tune is a big thing at Mazfest?

[Laughs] I’m not auto-tuned! And our singer certainly isn’t auto-tuned.

Q: What is it like putting on a festival in the communities where you grew up?

It’s a lot of politics. I can only imagine what the guys at Woodstock did, how much politics they went through. But that’s part of it. I have to include everybody in the towns and make everybody feel like part of it. Because if you don’t, who’s going to come? If the local people don’t feel the love and affection that they should from the band, who else is going to believe in the band?

It’s everything, down to the Town of Rockland Board. Mr. Ellison [Town Planning Board Chair Tom Ellison] and Mr. Irace [Code Enforcement Officer Charles Irace] have been helping out as much as they can. And our Town Judge, Mr. Feinberg [Hon. Peter Feinberg, Justice Court], he’s going to be down there doing EMT staffing with another person just in case someone goes down from heat exhaustion or something.

WP: There’s so much that goes into producing a music festival. What would you tell any kid who thinks they want to do this?

I would tell a 14, 15 year old boy out of Roscoe or Livingston Manor: if you want to put on a music festival in your home town, you better do everything that you can, because it’s so hard to get everybody motivated behind you without having a problem.

It’s so much work. You better work every moment that you’re not working or at school or whatever endeavor or hobby you have on the side. You better keep working.

MazFest 2012 takes place at the Roscoe Fireman’s Field, rain or shine. For more info, including a full list of performers, visit www.mazmyth.com