The Already Dead Family Reunion is only one week away! For me, this is by far the most magical music experience of the year and I’m incredibly excited to share it with all of you! In the next few days, you’ll be seeing posts from several DIT writers about the Family Reunion, what it means to them and what they’re looking forward to this year. Seeing as how I am the one booking the festival, I’m gonna start by sharing my perspective and hopefully encouraging you to join us on September 24th – 28th!

Over the past couple years of booking this annual event, I’ve had a number of people tell me it is best festival they’ve ever been to. I’ve also heard folks say that they’ve never seen this big a lineup without any filler acts or that they’ve never been so consistently blown away by this many new bands. Very high praise and I do not take it lightly!

The Family Reunion is a deeply important experience for me and I take great pains to ensure it is the best event I can possibly put together. I carefully pick bands that are creative, challenging, passionate and inspiring. I’m not concerned with booking artists that have been hyped on Pitchfork or can draw a big crowd. Instead, I want this to be a special experience for all playing and attending. You may not know all the performers ahead of time, but I guarantee that if you have an open mind, you will enjoy every minute of it!

For those not familiar, here is a quick bio on what the ADFR is and what you need to know about this year:

The Already Dead Family Reunion is an annual music festival based around the label Already Dead Tapes & Records which was founded by Josh Tabbia and myself (Sean Hartman) in late 2009. The first Reunion was a one day event in the Fall of 2011. We wanted to put together an event that allowed label bands from across the country to meet and collaborate. We wanted to inspire local creativity by bringing in fresh and forward thinking artists. Most of all, we wanted to build a festival where people attend because of the event’s reputation, not just because their favorite band is playing. Every year it has grown both in scope and attendance. This year includes 36 bands from all over the country playing at 4 different venues over the course of 5 days!

A lot of amazing acts have played the Reunion over the past three years and I wholly believe this year is the best lineup yet!

We’ve got some heavy hitters from previous Reunions –
(About A Million, Grow Fangs, Problems That Fix Themselves, The New Diet, Spelling Bee, U.S. Tribes, Morseville Bridge, AM Stations)

Newer label bands making their Kalamazoo debut –
(Shitstorm, Ant’lrd, Silence Dogood, Yeesh, Miami Dolphins, Watermelon, Kyle Kaos)

Locals bands –
(The Reptilian, Forget The Times, Boring People, Vermillion Father, Boron Nuzzle, Guppy, Anybody But The Cops, Axel Quinlan, Dumbelievers, ARGERN, M. Sord)

Plus fan favorites, label associates and friends in the making – (Child Bite, Cheer-Accident, Cellular Choas, Chris Brokaw, Spanyurd, Regular Fucked Up People, Victoria Blade, Comfort Food, Law$suits)

We’ve even got a special event at the Alamo Drafthouse where a few hand picked musicians will be improvising a live soundtrack to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari!

For more info on what these bands sound like, when and where they’re playing and how you can get tickets, go to http://familyreunion.alreadydeadtapes.com/
You can also find a Facebook event here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/339291699560446/

I’ll leave you now with a few videos of the bands playing. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you next week!

– Sean Hartman