by Brad Rose

Dan Smith: The Neon Marshmallow Fest is going to be held The Viaduct Theater in Chicago on August 19-22. This venue has 2 stages, one of which is very unique. We have quite a few bands booked already including Astral Social Club, Emeralds, Carlos Giffoni, Telecult Powers, & Pedestrian Deposit just to name a few. I will do a Red Electric Rainbow set and Matt Kimmel will perform with either Sunglasses or Miami Beach. Its gonna be a great line up.

Matt Kimmel: The full line-up is posted on our website. Here are a few unannounced performances and surprise collaborations also. & yah.. Miami Beach reunion show.

DS: Generally everyone has been really excited about it around the Chicago noise scene. Its really exciting to see something happening this close to home. Chicago has a vast amount of summer events and this one is going to be really unique in comparison. It doesnt hurt that the owners of The Viaduct are really enthusiastic about it as well. They are taking a huge risk as well, so its great to see them be really behind us.

MK: Chicago-folks have been pretty supportive. We are happy to be able to bring so many people out to play for Chicagoans and most people seem to be pretty stoked.

DS: Well, Matt Kimmel is the man behind the Acid Marshmallow site and happenings and I have a small home based label called Neon Blossom. I was having a hard time coming up with something when Matt suggested we combine parts of our names. Neon Marshmallow sounded fun so we went with it.

DS: So far the tapes have been doing well. This is the first time I have done anything with tapes, especially on a larger level so I was a bit worried, even more so with who the first two releases were by. I didnt want to have a lot of unhappy customers so I did some research as to what would be the best way to do the dubs without having to do pro dubs. I have a friend, Zach Dierberg, doing custom spray paint artwork for the J-Cards to keep the costs down. The insane thing is all the money goes back to the bands on these. As far as future releases go, Im hoping there are going to be contributions from Telecult Powers, Fragments, The Caboladies, and possibly Government Alpha. Which would be amazing. I am also doing a small run of Wasteland Jazz Unit/Red Electric Rainbow c20 splits in which all the proceeds will go to the fest as well.

MK: Dan has done a killer job with these tapes... they look so good & he is really good about getting them mailed out on time.

DS: Right now it is hard to say. In my mind I would love to see that happen and watch it continue to grow but I dont wanna seem like I am living in a dream world as well. But I am going to put in my best effort to see this become successful.

MK: I hope this is something that can become a regular thing... right now it is one-fest-at-a-time in my opinion... but yah this would be a wonderful thing to have happen regularly. There are just too many great artists out there that need to be heard. You can't always rely on them to tour, so putting together a fest is really the best way to see artists that I'd otherwise never get a chance to see.

DS: So far the biggest challenge to me has been balancing it all. I work full-time, I am attending school, work on my own material, and making time for my fiance and my friends. So sleep is getting put on the back burner for a while.

MK: Airfare & travel expenses!

DS: To be honest, I am surprised how well people I have approached have responded. I sent Carlos an email asking for some advice and he was more than helpful. As far as booking bands, its usually an honor to get sought out, so its a huge compliment to the acts I have asked. They really can get a sense that their hard work is truly appreciated.

MK: It really is great that so many of my dream roster of artists have been enthusiastic about getting on board. It also is really great that so many people are planning on traveling to Chicago to check the fest out.

MK: Complete passes for the fest are on sale now.