Brick City Sound Riot Ready to Make Some Noise

How hard is it to find a good rock show?

The days of CBGB's are long gone. For New Jerseyans, finding a good local rock scene is tougher than ever. Now, thanks to the Brick City Sound Riot Music and Arts festival, Newark has a whole weekend to rock out.

The Brick City Sound Riot is being held at Kilkenny's Ale House (27 Central Ave.) from noon to midnight Saturday and Sunday with more than 40 bands playing. The music is primarily rock with elements of punk, singer-songwriter and even a country act in the mix.

"Deep down, it's always been a goal of mine to do this, to do something like this, especially playing and being a musician myself," said William Acevedo, co-organizer of the festival and member of the band Invisible Lines. "It's really hard to get out there. We've been lucky enough to have been playing for a couple of years and we've met a lot of cool people and a lot of cool bands, so let's get them all together and get the community together."

After months of preparation, Acevedo (along with co-coordinators Al Vasquez, Randy Cangre, Jessica Miller, Eric Moeller and Ghost Train PR) was noticeably restless on the eve of such a huge undertaking. But he remained in good humor when explaining how the idea of the show came about.

"We just started talking about it and, like 'Wayne's World,' 'If you book them, they will come.' So, we were hoping and today's the big day," Acevedo said.

Rocker Tycoon music blogger, Zac Clark, who was especially excited to see the last show with Ben Franklin's original drummer, said, "I'm really psyched. I've been trying to do something positive for the rock community for the last five to seven years. And this is the first time when I've been able to find enough people who are also all about it to get together and to do it with me. So, it's pretty exciting."

Acevedo agreed that community was what really launched this project.

"Through the years. we've known a lot of local bands who are doing well for themselves so let’s get them all together because we know it'll bring a lot of people," he said. "Instead of going to see one good band, you're going to see 40 good bands. You might come to see one band but you're going to leave knowing 20 that are really doing their thing and they're all a lot different from each other. So, that's the goal. Try to make some noise basically, that’s where the riot comes in."

That sense of community was also part of the reason Acevedo wanted to hold the festival in Newark.

"Newark's come a long way. That's part of the reason why we named it the Brick City Sound Riot," he said. "Based on the riots and taking something so negative and coming such a long way from that. And since it's a city on the rise and we’re all bands on the rise, this is the city to do it."

Among the highlights for the weekend are the CD release party on Saturday for Those Mockingbirds and the Black Hollies headlining Sunday night's show.