Sondra Freeman breaks down MidCoast Takeover’s SXSW import-export business

There would be quite a few more bands sticking around Kansas City in mid-March during Austin’s South by Southwest if it weren’t for Sondra Freeman and her fellow Midwest Music Foundation staffers.

Freeman, MMF’s director of promotions, has had a hand in organizing the MidCoast Takeover showcase since its inception in 2009. In those six years, the unofficial SXSW showcase has featured some of Kansas City’s finest musical talent.

“It just started as a group of people, including the founders of Midwest Music Foundation, wanting to represent Kansas City at the country’s largest music gathering,” Freeman tells The Pitch. “Being in a flyover state in the Midwest, sometimes it’s difficult for our artists to be heard. So that’s what it’s about: Getting us out there and getting Kansas City heard for its musical talents.”

Ahead of Saturday’s MidCoast Takeover fundraiser at Knuckleheads Saloon, Freeman explained what the showcase means for KC musicians.

The Pitch: Why do you feel it’s important to do MidCoast Takeover year after year?

Freeman: We started with just two days and a few bands, and now we’re up to four days and two stages and over a hundred acts in that time. It’s important for the bands that play it just because it is, essentially, a national stage. Last year, half a million people went through Austin, Texas, and our venue is one-in-one-out at capacity most of the time. Bands that might not otherwise have the opportunity to play for hundreds of people at a time have that chance at MidCoast Takeover, and that’s super-important.

And, on a personal note, all of us made our own little promises to Abby [Henderson, MMF co-founder] before she left us, and MidCoast was my promise. So this was extremely important to Abby, and it’s very personally important on that level. I burst into tears every year when it’s over, just from the sheer accomplishment of it all. Last year, of course, was our first year without Abby, so it was a little more emotional than normal.

The MidCoast Takeover is an unofficial showcase, but it’s still a huge opportunity for local artists. I imagine that you get a ton of applications. How do you go about selecting the bands for the bill?

This year, we had over 160 applications with a very limited amount of spots. The way we do it is that you go online and apply, and we send that list out to a panel of everyone involved in the music scene in Kansas City, to venue owners and the media, and we get those votes back and we tally them. The top people with the most votes, that’s how we choose.

Once they’re selected, we encourage them to find shows on the way down and on the way home, and scour the Internet and do whatever they possibly can to play other places while they’re there because they have to pay their own way down. It really gives you a good idea about who’s serious about their music and who has it together enough to get all that sorted and go down there. Once they’re selected, it’s their responsibility to get themselves there.

What are some of the most rewarding moments that stand out for you?

One of my favorite things is that the club is 21-and-over [for entry], and the Beautiful Bodies have a very big fanbase that isn’t over 21. So last year or the year before, I got an amazing picture of a bunch of teenagers literally hanging on the fence looking over so they could see the Beautiful Bodies.

Also, having Radkey there every year for the past three years has been awesome. They also tend to bring a lot of press in. The New York Times came and interviewed them there at our venue last year. I also particularly loved the looks on everyone’s faces when Drop a Grand came onstage because they’re such a bizarre act with their ski masks and everything, and Austin’s motto is “Keep Austin weird,” and I felt like we’ve got a little weird of our own. And then Betse Ellis joined them for a song, and they’re just a strange, bizarre, fun band, and then there’s Betse playing fiddle with them.

This will be the second year that Federation of Horsepower closes the whole thing on Saturday night. They’ll be the last act that goes on. Last year was the first year that they were able to come, and I put them on last on purpose because they’re just a loud rock band. [Lead singer] Gregg Todt took the stage, and just before the band started playing, he screamed out, “Abby, this is for you!” And I really hope that becomes a tradition.

The Knuckleheads show Saturday is the third of four MidCoast Takeover fundraising concerts that you’ve organized. The monetary value of these shows is likely a small percentage of the showcase’s budget. So what other purpose do these shows serve leading up to South by Southwest?

More important than the money, it keeps Kansas City as a community involved in what we’re doing down there. And people love it. The last show that we do before we leave, it’s like people act like we’re going to be gone for six months. They’re so excited to send their friends off and show them off to the world. Without that support and the engagement of community, there’s no way we can do what we do down there.