Chicks Rock Fest is the brain child of Jenny "Jem" Schmidt. A vocalist and strong scene supporter, Jenny has grown the concept over time. GoGirlsMusic.com recently had an opportunity to chat with Jenny and learn more about her cool fest.
GoGirlsMusic.com: How did the Chicks Rock Fest come about?
Jenny Schmidt: The Chicks Rockfest came about as a sort of joke actually. I was playing in a band and said, let's get some other girl bands together and call it the "1st Annual Chicks Rockfest". It was basically, just a gig with my old band (Tornado Green), The Fairmount Girls and Ruby Vileos.
GG: How did your idea go from a little event to a large one in such a short time?
JS: Last year was the first year I haven't been in a band and I was able to dedicate more time to the event and it turned into a 3-stage, 10-band event. This year, I don't think I even know what happened, but it's 30 bands, 3 stages and gettin' crazy! We had 132 submissions this year. How crazy is that? I'm certainly excited and slightly overwhelmed by the response. Next year we want it bigger and better once again, of course.
GG: Where do you find all the bands?
JS: Well, we had a lot of help. I just posted in as many different spots as I could think of. We had a lot of response by having a blurp up on Go Girls Music and Women Who Rock Magazine's website. We also have a continuously running submission page at Sonicbids website (www.sonicbids.com/chicksrockfest) that offers a discounted packages to bands that sign up through their site. Other random response came from advertisements or just hearsay.
GG: I noticed you have lots of GoGirls Elite members performing. Has GoGirls been a useful resource for you?
JS: Go Girls has been one of the best resources! I'm using it in the future to look at and discover new bands as well. I hope that we can remain a good relationship with this website because it is a fabulous resource for women as women and also people who just want to discover awesome chick bands. The logo "Because Chicks Rock" brings a tear of joy to my eye everytime I see it.
GG: What helpful do's and don'ts can you give us when submitting to Chicks Rock Fest as well as other showcase events?
JS: If you are submitting electronically, please make sure your sound clips work for all types of computers and programs. One of the most frustrating things was opening a bands EPK or website and not being able to hear the band. It knocked the band out of the running immediately. I dedicated myself to listen to all submissions and found that I just couldn't in some cases.
I can't stress the importance of getting a good recording of your bands songs as well. I know it can be costly, but the reward is so much more when you can find a great sound engineer that is willing to take the time to make your recording pristine (of course, I am a little biased being married to the most wonderful local sound engineer in the business).
If you are going to an area where festivals are held, be sure that you invite festival coordinators to your shows. I will pay to get in, just make sure we know about it. Live shows are so much more impactful than listening to MP3's and CD's. Submissions can be won and lost in a live performance.
Contact the festival coordinators from time to time. Don't harrass them, but it helps keep your name in our thoughts. Some festival coordinators may find this frustrating at times, but they'll be more likely to remember you during decision making time.
