Want to hear something new? How about something NUTUYU?
The first NUTUYU showcase is set to happen this August in the village of Amityville on Long Island’s south shore. With a long history of great music and great music venues, it seems only fitting to launch this new music venture inside the musical heart of the 110 corridor. Pronounced “new to you”, NUTUYU is exactly what it sounds like, even if its spelling leaves a little to be desired. The basic concept is simple- let us bring something new to you, in this case, new music. At last count, there were a reported 2 bazillion unsigned bands out there, and some of them are pretty good, and some of those are better than you think, and some of those bands are really, really amazing. And since what actually makes it to the masses these days seems to have less to do with talent than it does connections, controversy or animated ducks looking for grapes, you will probably never hear any music from any of these bands, and even if you did somehow hear music from a band based in, say, Atlantic City or Syracuse or Harrisburg or Boston or Philly, you’ll probably never get a chance to see them perform. Until now, that is.
NUTUYU is the result of months of brainstorming and planning by a handful of area regulars including members of REVEL 9, Axis Unknown and Finespun as well as music personality Radio J and local music scene promotion outfits 118 Miles, Gee Davey Productions and multi-media service providers GDA Media Group. The organizers of the showcase, as well as the participating bands, are trying to create something for everyone here. A truly regional festival, where the atmosphere is more like that of a social ‘mixer’ than a rock show, the organizers want to have shows all about exposure- exposure of the local fans to new music, exposure of the bands to new markets and exposure of the bands to each other. According to DJ Pearlman of Gee Davey Productions, one of the shows organizers, “Because we play so often around the northeast, we constantly see really great bands that we just know our fans would really love, but we know that they can’t travel 2, 3, 4 or more hours to see these shows. But if we bring the bands to them, I think our fans would come, just to see what we’ve been talking about, and they’d really dig it. So that’s the plan.” Although primarily built around the concept of importing regional bands, NUTUYU is also hoping to sponsor new local bands. “All good bands deserve a chance to be heard. You just never know where that next great band is going to pop up. Even the Beatles had to play their first show somewhere.”
The NUTUYU organizers and the bands on board for this first showcase are really banking on being able to break what seems to be the standard model recently here on Long Island: bands promoting themselves to their own fans, over and over again. “All bands want the same thing –more fans. And do you know what helps that? Another bands telling their fans how good you are, and maybe even posting a song or video of yours on their facebook wall so that their fans can hear you, and like you, and maybe even stick around to see you when you’re playing a show with that band that recommended you in the first place. Doesn’t everyone win then? The fans get to see two bands they like for the price of one and the bands stand to double their fan base or more, just like that. Simple, right? And that’s what we want here –massive cross promotion, and on a regional scale.”
With a wide network of bands and sponsors promoting the event and themselves, the organizers hope to create a network of familiarity between the bands and their fans that otherwise would take years of promoting and networking to achieve on their own. Adds Pearlman, “I honestly don’t know how many people around here have heard of Resident Stone or Just A Memory or Evileye, but by the time were done, every single REVEL 9 fan will have heard those names, and probably heard some music from each of these bands, and that’s not nothing.”
The first NUTUYU showcase is slated for Saturday, August 20th at Broadway in Amityville. Acts currently scheduled to perform include Resident Stone (Atlantic City, NJ), Just A Memory (Syracuse, NY), the newly revamped Evileye (Sound Beach, NY) and the brand new The Ascension (Huntington, NY) as well as the local host bands: REVEL 9 and Axis Unknown. More bands are expected to join the showcase soon so keep up to date on that and all the other NUTUYU happenings at NUTUYUmusic.com or find them on facebook.
Organizations looking to sponsor, or artists interested in performing in, this or future NUTUYU showcases, please contact the organizers at nutuyumusic@gmail.com or through the nutuyumusic.com website.
