BRATTLEBORO — The inaugural LATCHfest - two days of music, art, and you - will be held on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9-10, at the Latchis Main Theatre.
Featuring 11 performers, including top area musicians in a staggering variety of styles, as well as visual artists, videographers, comedians and more, LATCHfest runs from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, and noon to 6 p.m., on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Among the featured performers on Friday are The Snaz, Brattleboro's teen rock prodigies who have already wowed local crowds as well as music fans far afield, including SXSW in Austin, Texas, and who will rock LATCHfest at 6 p.m. on Oct. 9.
Friday also features performances by Shamanic Sound Healing, HUMANwine (Holly Brewer of The Folks Below and Matthew McNiss), who recently dazzled crowds at the Keene Music Festival and will be featuring tracks from their soon-to-be-released four-disc set; Keene, N.H.-based rock/hard rock/punk/metal/alternative band Lobotomobile; and OutsideR, the solo acoustic guitar and vocals project of Latchis staff member and LATCHfest driving force Peetr Wilson.
“We have this beautiful theater, and we're opening the stage up for the local community to show us what they've got,” said Wilson, who hopes that LATCHfest will turn music fans on to these great local bands, introduce these musicians to the Brattleboro community, and be a good time for all.
On Saturday, music starts with Shamanic Sound Healing and continues with Alex Serrano, a talented 17-year-old girl armed with an acoustic guitar and a desire to play as many genres as possible.
She is followed by High Voltage, a three-piece blues, jam, Americana band; Kevin O'Rourke, a Northampton, Mass.,-based musician known for his work with Lo Fine as well as for being the drum technician for The Pixies; The Folks Below, with Holly Brewer on vocals, playing a style they call black grass and ritual folk; and the Chatfield Phoenix, a duo of Adam Phoenix and Seth Chatfield, whose acoustic, original songs tap into Americana, bluesy weirdness and space gypsy rhythms.
Many of the performers will be accompanied by video projections by Wilson, Nervous Relatives, and Kai on the big screen of the Latchis Main Theatre, and there will be performances by comedian Alex Passino and others and screenings of original, locally made indie films.
The work of local artists will be featured, including the wildly colorful, cartoony paintings of Mindy Fisher, whose work adorns the Main Theatre walls.
Other features of LATCHfest include an after-hours dance party on Friday night, beer and wine service on Friday - with more cool things added every day.
LATCHfest is for all ages and is designed to bring local artists and the people who love them together at the Latchis.