Michigan’s largest rock festival is right around the corner

I was granted the opportunity to speak with Matt Dalton, music producer out of Detroit and also festival coordinator for Dirt Fest.  Dirt Fest will be held on Saturday August 13th, 2016 on the Crowfoot festival grounds in Pontiac, MI. Gates open at 12:00 p.m. EDT. Tickets range from $37.00 (General Admission) to $99.00 (V.I.P). Tickets are also sold in four packs at a lower rate. Additionally, be sure to check with local bands on the lineup for discounted tickets.

What are some underrated/ new bands that concert goers should be looking out for this year at Dirt Fest?
“If I were to be putting my stamp on a few of them, I feel like I’d be giving all of them. I think people should definitely make it a point to check out Six Prong Paw and Saint Ridley as well”

How would you describe Six Prong Paws sound?
“Everyone’s got their own take on being a heavy band. Six Prong Paw is very interesting and takes things to kind of a psychopathic level, their music is very frantic and fast but at the same time very melodic and disturbing in some ways, I really get into them a lot.”

Recently a couple more bands including Born of Osiris and For the Fallen Dreams were added to the lineup, will you be continuing to add more bands leading up to the festival?
“Yeah, historically speaking we have always added bands leading up to the day. We continue to keep looking for bands that are interested. The lineup always tends to grow all the way up till about two weeks or so before the event, so we are always announcing new stuff.”

From last year to this year the location of the festival changed, is there a specific reason for that?
“Yeah, absolutely, there is now a car dealership where we used to hold Dirt Fest, so its physically impossible to do it on those grounds, and moving to Pontiac seemed like the best scenario for me considering I have a great relationship with the people at the Crowfoot, so it was an easy move”

Dirt Fest was a two-day event in 2015 and is now only one, what is the reason behind that?
“It was an experiment to see how well the market could hold a two-day event here. This year with moving locations we didn’t want to have too much on our plate, by having a location change and a two-day festival. So we went with one day to get our bearings. And if we look to grow in the future then I’m sure we may again, but right now we are going to concentrate on making this one day really great.”

Considering that Dirt Fest is a Michigan Festival only, in the future will it expand into other states?
“It’s not something that I can really predict, it’s something that I feel is very homegrown here, but as far as doing something that goes elsewhere, I don’t know if it feels right to me. This event is just very special to here.”

For more information check out the Dirt Fest official website.