State Radio chosen to co-head this year’s Bumstock festival

By Joel Crabtree

Posted on March 23, 2006, at 12:00 a.m.

As in the past, this year’s Bumstock will be free for students. However, public admission will be $20, a $10 raise from last year’s cost. In addition, non-students will have to accompany a student if they wish to attend UMaine’s signature music festival, in an effort to cut back on the number of non-students in attendance, said Derek Mitchell, vice president of Student Entertainment. Each UMaine student is allowed to bring only one non-student guest.

Mitchell attributes the new rule to the effort to keep security risks under control and public safety costs down. He said that the goal for the show is to provide a venue to have fun and a relaxed atmosphere, and that the new rule is one of the initiatives they are taking in order to do that.

“It might not be a popular opinion, but at this point, it’s something that needs to be done,” Mitchell said. “We don’t want it to become some out of control secure event; we just want people to have fun.”

“[Non-student admission] is not a revenue builder. It doesn’t generate a whole lot of money,” said Andrew Gerke, this year’s Bumstock director.

Gerke said that he does not believe the new admission policy will affect attendance. Gerke said that the Bumstock committee is assuming that the show will be as well attended as it has been in past years.

The two bands who have officially been named to perform on April 22, along with Sophomore Owls Battle of the Bands winner Hour Past, will be State Radio and Boys Night Out. Mitchell said that they are also in negotiations with a couple of other bands, although he could not disclose who just yet.

Gerke said that the bands the committee has chosen this year represent the general idea of what college students listen to.

“What we heard from the students is that it didn’t introduce every aspect of every genre of music, because you’re trying to provide a concert for everyone,” Gerke said about Bumstock. “You look at State Radio, formerly Dispatch, they have the jam band-acoustic type of feel to them. Then Boys Night Out is the rock kind of heavy, raw material and Hour Past is more of an alternative, something you’d hear on CYY spinout.”

“It’s hard, because it’s something for everyone,” Gerke said. “It’s almost impossible to please everyone, so, I mean, that’s what we’re here for.”

Gerke said that for the next two acts, the committee is looking for bands that encompass two types of music not yet represented at Bumstock.