Every year Seattle Weekly invites dozens of the city's finest bands to participate in Seattle's largest all-local music festival. This year, we made a few changes: We added a poster show (in the Reverb galleria at Carter Subaru), consolidated venues, and we asked every artist performing to answer a few questions. Here, 20 years after debut albums from Nirvana and Pearl Jam introduced the word "grunge" to the pop music lexicon, (almost) every one of the 70 artists on the bill chime in on the Seattle sound of 2011 and how the scene is still feeling the aftershocks of 1991.
Sam Dawson
Seth Wonner
Red Jacket Mine plays the Tractor at 3 p.m.
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What's the Seattle Sound of 2011?
The Cops' Drew Church: "If there a new Seattle sound, it's folky. I'll always think of this town as a rock-and-roll town." The Cops (punk/sweat/beers) play the Tractor at 6 p.m. CHRIS KORNELIS
Curtains for You's Matt Gervais: "It's almost like the city made some tacit decision to turn the page on that particular sound [grunge] and see what else it might be able to come up with." Curtains for You (shiny/happy/people) plays the Tractor at 10 p.m. CK
Rebecca Ann Johnston: "Hipster-popsicle cover rock with a twist of tight pants and a garnish of melancholy." Johnston (classical guitar/songbird/punk rock) plays Conor Byrne at 6:30 p.m. GWENDOLYN ELLIOTT
Joseph Giant's Joe Syverson: "Crappy folk music." Joseph Giant (Ballard country/nu 206/pop) plays the Tractor at 8 p.m. CK
Lurrell Low: "There's not a narrow lane of creativity, whereas in other places it's not easy to present your art, and there isn't as decent of a community. I think it's innovative that labels like Sub Pop who don't generally dabble in hip-hop are open to back and support positive music." Low (hip-hop/chiefin'/neo-soul) plays the New York Fashion Academy at 7:30 p.m. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Manigua's Alberto Vega: "I get really bored with all the bands that want to sound like Modest Mouse or Death Cab for Cutie. They nailed it already. Make your own flavor and maybe you'll be next." Manigua (y mamba & the rumba & all things Latin-fusion) plays the Volterra Stage at 9:30 p.m. MA'CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Mark Pickerel: "Well, you can't [describe the Seattle sound]. You would have to include so many groups like Death Cab for Cutie and Modest Mouse to Arthur and Yu. In my opinion, there is not a Seattle sound. There's good music and bad music, and Seattle's capable of producing both." Pickerel (grunge's middle child/one-man band with pompadour/always good) plays Conor Byrne at 7:30 p.m. GE
Mash Hall's Larry Mizell, Jr.: "People in the hip-hop scene out here have long complained that our not having some codified sound has been a liability, but I think that's bullshit. The sound of Seattle now is a bunch of different parties cross-pollinating, and that's way more accurate to the spirit of the city as I see it today." Mash Hall (torch/bearing/rappers) plays the Sunset at 11 p.m. JULI MULLEN GORDON
McTuff's Joe D: "I'm personally not behind the mindset that 'Seattle music = grunge.' Not that '90s/grunge music isn't any good. But when I hear from others who equate Seattle to grunge music, I know right away they've missed or are missing quite a bit . . . and that's too bad." McTuff (Hammond-driven neo-Wheedle's Groove Central District strut-funk) plays the Volterra Stage at 8:30 p.m. MDL
Red Jacket Mine's Lincoln Barr: "While there seems to be an emphasis on kinder, gentler sounds right now, I think you can draw a pretty straight line (through Mr. Elliott Smith and a host of pretenders) back to the '91 sound. The melodies and rhythms are decidedly white, for the most part, and 'feelings' are still the primary lyrical focus. The '90s took the hump right out of rock, I'm afraid." Red Jacket Mine (rock/pop/modern oldies) plays the Tractor at 3 p.m. CK
Seapenny's Stella Hawthorne: " 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' dubstep." Seapenny (solo/teenager/not Seapony) plays the Salmon Bay Eagles at 3 p.m. EKT
Three Ninjas & Tangentbot's Jason J. Brunet: "If I ever hear another song about a goddamn cat, I am pulling the plug on the Seattle music scene. I'll just call the mayor. I know he'll be on my side. It'll be like Season 3 of Buffy." Three Ninjas & Tangetbot (gamer crunk & fandom wank rap) plays the 2 Bit Saloon at 3 p.m. DAVE LAKE
Tomten's Brian Noyeswatkins: "Earnest white man gazes longingly into the sunset but doesn't have the balls to kill himself like Ernest Hemingway." Tomten (rock/new vintage/Sound Off! champs) plays the Salmon Bay Eagles at 10 p.m. EKT
You.May.Die.In.The.Desert's Brandon Salter: "There is no 'Seattle sound,' in my opinion. The 'Seattle sound' is whatever critics pick up on and rave about in their periodicals, blogs, websites, or on TV. There is a ton of really cool music happening in Seattle right now, but most of the rest of the world sees us through the lens of 'indie folk.' " You.May.Die.In.The.Desert (prog/math/instrumental) plays the New York Fashion Academy at 6:30 p.m. EKT
