Dedric Moore talks about spacing out Psych Fest

Dedric Moore started Kansas City’s Psych Fest small. In 2012, its first year, the event spread mostly local bands over two nights at the DIY arts space FOKL, then three nights at RecordBar. This year’s version has moved to the Riot Room — and expanded into a three-month series. Instead of a 72-hour overload of the finest psychedelic rock that Kansas City has to offer, Moore is booking what he says is one major event apiece in August, September and October.

Ahead of the first 2015 Psych Fest event Saturday, August 1, at the Riot Room (featuring sets by Ancient River, Mysterious Clouds, HMPH, Psychotic Reaction, Drugs & Attics, and DJ Ray Velasquez), I chatted with Moore about his grand plans.

The Pitch: Tell me about the decision to change the format of Psych Fest from a three-day weekend to three separate events.

Moore: I think it turned out to be more seeing these opportunities that we were missing by seeing bands that we liked coming to town and not having them be part of our fest, just because their schedules didn’t line up. So we started thinking: What if we spent some time promoting things that were happening in the city rather than doing things on our own? What if we turned these things into bigger events than just two bands doing their own thing on a stage?

If something cool is coming to town, we try to find out how we can be a part of helping people show up for it. We really want to go forward with promoting without being a promoter. I love when bands send me an e-mail saying, “Hey, can you help?” I want Psych Fest to continue being this community outlet.

When you talk about the “we” planning Psych Fest events, who do you mean?

We have committees for each event.
Brenton [Cook, Haymaker Records] helps quite a bit. Also, we try to have someone from the venue hosting involved with decisions. We will also poll the local bands from past events. It’s part of our mantra to be inclusive.

Can you break down the three events planned as part of this year’s Psych Fest?

The August show is two touring acts, Ancient River and Psychotic Reaction, and then it’s Mysterious Clouds, HMPH and Drugs & Attics. DJ Ray Velasquez will be doing his Mod Professor set, which is more rock-oriented stuff.

On September 12, we’re partnering with the Crossroads Music Fest, and we’re hosting a stage at the Mod Gallery. We’re doing that just to get the name out there a little more. I like the communal spirit [of Crossroads Music Fest], and having opportunities to partner with other people is more exciting than doing other things on our own. We’re currently lining up the bands for that date.

We’ve also got an event in October. It’ll be at the RecordBar as part of its 10th anniversary. We’re going to put together at least one night for that, but we don’t know the bands for it yet — there are a couple out-of-town acts we’re trying to get in.

I find it interesting that you haven’t changed the name of Psych Fest or done some rebranding to match the restructuring.

There’s a lot of discussion growing around that at the moment. Right now, we’re still using it as the umbrella just because people know about it. But it might transition into something else. I’ve been following Austin’s Psych Fest for years, and they’re not Psych Fest anymore — that’s the parent organization — and their annual festival is now called Levitation, and all their events are called Levitation events. Maybe we’ll have a new name next year.

It sounds like your goals for Psych Fest are not as humble as they once were.

The whole point, originally, of Psych Fest was to showcase bands that weren’t getting attention at bars and clubs, etcetera, and try to find people doing experimental, challenging music — something out of the ordinary. But after a couple years, most of our bands were accepted into the community and playing the bars in town. And then the idea of having a three-day event…. There are so many festivals going on, and we’re trying to see what we can do to not be that same thing every year and get stagnant.

Just to have a fest that was just once a year kind of felt like an old model. As I see it, this is a new way for us to keep growing and doing more things throughout the year, rather than spending all this time doing one thing that only happens for those three days. And the idea of a three-day fest actually wears on people’s minds now, like, “That’s too much. I can go to one night.” Maybe this new structure will bring good, healthy doses of psychedelic music all year round.