Local Bands Compete for Wakarusa Set

Fayetteville music fans will get the chance to send a local band to Wakarusa during the Waka Winter Classic Feb. 6 at George’s Majestic Lounge.

As a part of a 20-date tour sponsored by Woodchuck Cider across the U.S., the Waka Winter Classic is a battle-of-the-bands type event. The grand prize includes one full set at Wakarusa, and access to the artists’ lounge and camping. How a band wins will depend on which band has the most crowd votes by the end of the night at 1:20 a.m.

Local bands The Galaxy Tour Guides, Vintage Pistol, Crazy Neighbor, The Irie Lions and Move Orchestra were selected out of several local bands who entered the competition.

“A lot of great bands submitted,” said Lyndsay Ryan, Waka Winter Classic manager. “The local venues helped pick some of the bands, too. The selections are based on if their recording sounds good, how many Facebook likes they have, if they’re obviously a well known band or if they’re just getting started. We like to help bands that are up and coming get established, too.”

Starting at 9 p.m. with The Galaxy Tour Guides, each band will perform for 40 minutes. Attendees will have the opportunity to enter into a drawing for some Wakarusa merchandise that will be announced at the end of the concert, as well as a tour-wide contest for two VIP tickets to Wakarusa announced at the end of the tour.

There’s also going to be an official photo booth with a step and repeat banner for attendees to get their photos taken.

Galaxy Tour Guides describe their sound as a funky mix of electronic dance, hip hop, rock, funk, and disco.

“It actually means the world to us. Playing the Waka Winter Classic has been a goal of ours since we became a band,” said Lucio, vocalist for the band. “We have lots of fun visuals that really set the mood to our live experience. Win or lose it will be be a great show with lots of great bands at one of the best venues around.”

Vintage Pistol, who go on at 9:55 p.m. are one of those bands that are relatively young in the music scene, with just five months under their belt. The band specializes in their own brand of blues rock.

Courtesy Photo
Foley’s Van, who specialize in progressive bluegrass, were the winners of the 2014 Waka Winter Classic. The photo is from the night the band won the Classic last year.

“It’s just such a great honor to be selected for the Waka Winter Classic,” said Garrett August, the band’s keyboardist. “We plan to leave every ounce of energy we got on stage when it’s all said and done and hopefully the people are feeling the vibes and diggin’ what we’re bringing to them on that Friday night.”

Next up at 10:50 p.m. will be Crazy Neighbor, a groovy jam rock band that’s also newer to the local scene.

“We plan to have a great time and bring the heat,” said Joey Farr, one of the guitarists in the band. “You can expect to hear all original music that showcases the songwriting of frontman Josh Richardson and the collective talent of the band.”

Closing out the night will be the indie-electronica band of brothers, Move Orchestra. Their set will begin at 12:40 a.m.

“I think it’s pretty cool to see that other people have taken notice of what we’re doing,” said Conor Brogan, a member of the band. “People at the show can expect to see us arranged in a circle, attached to a bunch of cables tangled up like that ball of Christmas lights from Christmas Vacation.”

Reggae-jam band The Irie Lions will hit the stage at 11:45 p.m. The band said they were excited about the opportunity to perform and get their mission out to the people.

“The audience can expect great vibes, great musicianship and and overall love and passion for the craft,” said the band in an email. “They can also expect to leave the show feeling positivity and love which they will want to share with everyone.”