You might say EARMILK's had a bit of a crush on the people behind Mean Red for quite some time but promoters like Mean Red are few and far between in New York City. Their knack for booking the best underground and rising talent is top notch, not to mention their club policies at Output; no bottles, no photos. You know so you can really enjoy the music and savior the memories for yourself not for your Instagram?
These types of regulations are a huge draw for music lovers from all corners of the world who are there for a night to truly experience what a late night set is supposed to be, you know those kinds that take you on a journey from start to finish? Yeah those.
Or how about the time time they booked Disclosure back-to-back with Kaytranada, and Madonna showed up! The list goes on and on with what the people behind Mean Red have been able to do for the music landscape out in Brooklyn, which is why when they launched Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival with Good Peoples, they breathed a new life into the burgeoning city
Oh and did we mention it's run by two of the most kick ass women in the game, Jen Lyon and Katie Longmyer. Check out what Jen had to say about BEMF. Check out what she had to say about BEMF going on next weekend, November 7th-8th, and find out what else they have in store this year in music. Be sure to head on over to their website to grab your single or 2 day passes if you haven't already. See you there!
EARMILK: What is BEMF's mission statement?
Jen Lyon: Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival endeavors to create a weekend of Brooklyn experience, where you can experience as the best artists and venues connected to the Brooklyn electronic music scene.
EM: Tell us a little bit about your company MeanRed? How has it developed/evolved over the years?
JL: MeanRed started after my time working on the first year of the alternative venue Volume in Williamsburg. At Volume we would bring in installation style music events for example we premiered Dizzy Rascal in NYC by having him perform on a tricked out flatbed truck. After my experiences building out creative parties and shows there I fell in love with the adventures of creating events from scratch and threw a rooftop party at OfficeOps with Voxtrot for July 4th weekend in 2006. MeanRed has produced events in alternative space and traditional venues since then.
We ran a venue called BKLYN Yard for a handful of years which is where the first Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival was produced by the promoters Famous Friends. We helped them with the following year with venues and then after that we all teamed up on the festival together and a few years ago the festival ownership was transferred to Good Peoples and MeanRed.
EM: Are you guys working on anything new outside of BEMF?
JL: ALWAYS something new notably, MeanRed has a partnership this year and next with Villain to produce a handful of shows. Villain is a great warehouse space in the middle of Williamsburg. It's gone from underground to overground. We've been throwing parties there for years and looking forward to putting on proper Alt venue shows there regularly.
EM: With so much music to see, do you have any advice for first time BEMF'ers?
JL: One night try to get to all of the clubs and then next night pick 3 lineups that you want to spend time with.
EM: You have everyone from Machinedrum to Bookashade performing this year, if you could list your top 5 acts who would they be?
JL: I couldn't say that there's a "top" 5, because so many of the acts are just so spectacular, but I'm always most excited to see the acts I haven't worked with in the past including Alessandro Cortini, Pinch, Chris Malinchak, Little Boots, and I really look forward to rounding it all out on a late night dance floor with RINSED and Omar S.
EM: Any dream acts you wanted to book but couldn't make it?
JL: It's never such a linear plan, I wish it was!
We have long dialogues with artists and their teams to see what is of interest to them, is there a new or different way they want to take on Brooklyn.
EM: What's the most rewarding part about BEMF?
JL: The most rewarding part is wandering around Williamsburg and running into friends and talking about music. It seems simple, but usually we're all talking about work or Facebook statuses and I really enjoy talking about music with friends and artists I respect and I think as music fans we all don't' get that opportunity often during our busy lives.
EM: Who are some of your brand partners this year? How did you get linked up with them?
JL: This year we are partnering with Soundcloud, Novation, Sailor Jerry, Kinfolk and a few others. All of our partners are brands or entities that are part of our life in the business of music. We are very careful and slow to partner with brands and try to have those relationships develop organically. We're not sales people, we're music fans so we tend to find partners that at their core are exactly the same.
EM: How can we expect BEMF to develop over the years?
JL: We're growing annually with new venues, diverse talent and stronger audiences. I think in the future you'll see the neighborhoods broaden and also the productions get more complex in alternative spaces.
EM: Any last words of wisdom?
JL: Wear great shoes, both comfortable and noteworthy.
