Blockout Bash spreads its wings in year two

When Joel Chastain launched Blockout Bash as a two-day event at Spacebar in 2023, he already had designs on something larger, envisioning the music festival as a more diverse affair staged at the handful of venues clustered together on the same block of High Street in Old North. 

This year, that dream has become a reality, with Blockout stretching to take over five more venues and businesses in addition to Spacebar: Ace of Cups, Records Per Minute, Dirty Dungarees, Bossy Grrl’s Pin-Up Joint and Old North Arcade. As a result of this increased real estate, Chastain and his collaborators were also able to expand on the musical offerings, folding in DJs, genre-blurring goth artists (Kali Dreamer), punk brutalists (Pickpocket), experimental noisemakers (Fatal Gaze) and more.

“We definitely spread our wings and diversified the performers,” Chastain said. “I refer to last year as our pilot program, where we were testing to see if there was interest in doing this. And afterwards, people kept coming up to me and asking, ‘Are you going to do it again?’ … And of course I was going to do it again. Why wouldn’t I?”

In building out the lineup aside people such as Brian Ostrander, Brian Baker, James Garcia and others, Chastain said the organizers leaned into the unique settings and vibes afforded by the participating venues. The shows at Dirty Dungarees, for instance, draw heavily from the thriving local hardcore scene, which has long been centralized within the laundromat-slash-music dive. 

“And then Bossy Grrl’s, outside of playing shows there, I started working the door, and in getting acquainted with the performers and staff and nature of the place, I knew I wanted to keep it LQBTQ friendly and woman forward,” Chastain said. “We really wanted to keep things true to what I perceive their identity to be, not that I’m trying to speak for anybody else. … But we were looking at that and looking at their relationship with Cora’s Curiosities next door, and we knew we wanted to keep it cool and we wanted to keep it weird.”

For Chastain, Blockout Bash began with a series of endings, the idea taking root in the disappointment he experienced when Independents’ Day called it a day following a 10-year run. He felt a similar sadness when festivals such as Fourth and Fourth and the Parking Lot Blowout ended their runs, and again when ComFest did away with the Off Ramp stage, which had developed into a vital haven within the community festival for some of the city’s louder and more experimental bands.

“I miss those things,” Chastain said in 2023, and then pivoted to the neighborhood that had renewed his sense of hope. “But then I look at the Old North … and we have Spacebar, Ace of Cups, RPM (Records Per Minute), Old North Arcade and Bossy Grrl’s. … Then there’s the rise of the scene at Dirty Dungarees and the community that people worked really hard to create there. And that started the gears turning.”

While Chastain started comparatively small in 2023, packing 14 bands into two nights at Spacebar, this year’s event is closer to his initial vision. Of course, this has also required more work, and in the weeks leading up to the festival Chastain said he was still stressing over a number of details, from wondering if people would show up to band guest lists and where people would go to collect their wristbands, which grant entry to all six locations. (The answer: Will call at Spacebar.)

“I’ll have days where I’m like, ‘This is awesome,’ and we’re already talking about next year. And then the next day I’m like, ‘This is terrible. I don’t know how much more I can do,’” Chastain said, and laughed. 

And yet, he’s already deep into 2025 considerations, weighing how he can again expand on the concept. He said he’s in talks to erect an outdoor stage in the Ace of Cups parking lot, and he’d love to add another adjacent to Ace Hardware. He also wants to continue to diversify, adding hip-hop and comedy and an area for local arts vendors. 

“It would be really cool, one day, just to have all these nooks and crannies and parking lots going,” Chastain said. “You’d have all these 10’ by 10’ easy-up tents and bands just raging.”

Blockout Bash 2024 performer schedule

Old North Arcade

Rip Roarin’ Lauren – 2:30 p.m.

DJ Dynamo and Mimi Dromette – 3:30 p.m.

Citizen Dorian S – 4:30 p.m.

Halcyon (DJ Uncle Moze/DJ D’Arcy) 5:30 p.m.

RPM

Marvin the Robot – 4 p.m.

Dvvid Watson – 4:45 p.m.

Sam Stansfield – 5:30 p.m.

Fatal Gaze – 6:15 p.m.

Sean Gardner – 7 p.m.

Bossy Grrl’s

Leechwife – 5 p.m.

Jacoti Sommes – 5:45 p.m.

Kali Dreamer – 6:30 p.m.

Seagull Died on Impact – 7:15 p.m.

Electro Cult Circus – 8 p.m.

Dirty Dungarees

Pickpocket – 6 p.m.

Feed – 6:45 p.m.

Goblin Smut – 7:30 p.m.

Such Fuss – 8:15 p.m.

Pillärs – 9 p.m.

Spacebar

Neil – 7 p.m.

Aaron, Plain and Tall – 7:45 p.m.

The Most Falcons – 8:30 p.m.

Surfer – 9:15 p.m.

Pale Grey Lore – 10 p.m.

Ace of Cups

Skin Diet – 8 p.m.

Mezclado – 8:45 p.m.

Wax Teeth – 9:30 p.m.

Friendship Commanders – 10:15 p.m.

Brujas Del Sol – 11 p.m.