PERU – A recent graduate of Dirigo High School will present a 12-hour music festival this weekend at the old Peru Elementary School that he hopes will “get things popping in P-Town.
Ben Hines said Peru Bummer Fe$t 2015: All Day Maine Weird Music Festival is “the yin to Peru Summerfest’s yang.”
The festival will run from noon to midnight Saturday, June 20, and feature between 10 and 20 bands playing punk rock, heavy metal, hip-hop, psychedelic rock and other experimental music. Most of the bands performing are from Maine, though hip-hop group AK_ILL is from Brooklyn, he said.
“I’ve organized shows at the Peru Elementary School before,” Hines said. “The bills always featured Rob Schmersal, my band with Nate Leavitt called Hopeless Losers, and Jesh Doyen and Dean Arsenault’s melodic punk duo, Buddusky. We performed our first shows there because we didn’t know where else to start, and the lack of local do-it-yourself shows was deemed by us as super bad for the coming generations in the River Valley area.”
Hines said his ultimate goal is to get people to “support local and nonlocal artists and save this town with the power of unity and creativity,” he said.
“Nick (Waugh, chairman of Friends of Peru Elementary School) thinks it’s rad that we throw shows there, and he’s always been a huge support,” Hines said.
“I’ve seen a lot of sick bands in Maine, and most of them are super easy to get ahold of,” Hines said. “This particular show is the first time that I’ve decided to organize a festival, and I wanted to do it pretty much out of boredom. Also, we owed some money to Nick due to a mishap at a previous show, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and pay him back, but at the same time, pay back my community in a way that I think is cool.”
Although Hines said he found enough bands to fill up the 12 hours, if musicians want to “come strut your stuff on some unplugged instruments by a stairway, or on a playground,” he would allow it in exchange for free entry.
“There’s probably some room for a couple of vendors,” Hines added. “I’ll charge about $10 for a spot.”
The entrance fee is $5 at the door.
For more information on the festival, visit the Peru Bummer Fe$t Facebook page.
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