Hello, My Name Is Mike
Mike Simons of David Singer’s Sweet Science is an organizer of this summer’s Intonation Festival on June 24th & 25th in Chicago’s Union Park (1501 W. Randolph). The lineup features The Streets, Bloc Party, Rhymefest, Lupe Fiasco, High On Fire, Robert Pollard, Annie, and more. For lineup and ticket info, visit www.intonationmusicfest.com.
IE: What is your role/position/title/tax address regarding Intonation Festival?
Mike Simons: I am one of the founding partners of the festival with Jon Singer and David Singer as well. He’s managing production for the festival, too.
IE: David Singer of Sweet Science fame?
MS: Yes, David Singer of the Sweet Science. In which band I play as well.
IE: The fraternal society of Chicago rock is far-reaching, isn’t it?
MS: It’s true.
IE: How come there are separate Intonation and Pitchfork festivals this year?
MS: Well, we chose Pitchfork as our curator last year. Essentially their role was to give us a wishlist of bands and then generate a buzz around the festival. That was the limit of their role. I think they wanted to do something where they had complete, creative control of the event. It gave us an opportunity also to move in a different direction for this. [Vice Records curates this year.]
IE: Were there any bands you couldn’t get that you wanted?
MS: We did go out to Leonard Cohen. We just kind of went with our wishlist and put it out there. We got a lot of the acts that we wanted to book for the festival.
IE: How do approach Roky Erickson — someone who rarely performs?
MS: We were really interested in putting together an event that wasn’t strictly a concert but was also something with some kind of cultural and historical significance. We wanted to make sure we went out to a couple of acts like Blue Cheer, Roky Erickson, Jon Brion, for instance, to kind of achieve that.
IE: Anyone you’re excited to see?
MS: More than any band specifically, it’s kind of the format I’m excited about. It’s kind of butting up these really vital acts from different genres one against the other. Going from Roky Erickson straight into The Boredoms straight into Ghostface straight into Lady Sovereign. I am very excited about Chromeo.
