Mo Wave Curates Queer Musicians For Upstream Festival

May 12, 2017• byMichael Strangeways

Mo Wave the queer music/arts group who have put together a few awesome festivals over the last few years is also involved in helping curate a stage at the inaugural Upstream Music Festival happening this weekend in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square neighborhood. Booker and herself a musician, Jodi Ecklund has put together a line-up of artists that include:

J GRGRY performs at Upstream Music Festival on May 12, 2017

6:00 PM
J GRGRY: J GRGRY is the culmination of lead singer Joe Gregory’s life long musical ambitions. Echoing with the Linn-drum-and-synthesizer songcraft of ’80s hitmakers like Peter Gabriel and Depeche Mode, their music is spun anew for the iPhone generation, infused equally with dark ambiance and hummable hooks. Featuring current and former members of The Drama, Dolour, Motopony, An Angle, Modest Mouse and more the band is riding high on stellar reviews of their debut EP, GOLD TEETH + GLASS EYES, as well as from breakout performances in Seattle, New York, and Los Angeles and a series of upcoming festival and tour dates.

7:15 PM

Dust Moth: Seattle “heavy gaze” quartet craft an amalgam of rhythmic brawn, mournful melodies, and dreamy atmospherics. Featuring current and former members of These Arms Are Snakes, Narrows, Giza, Erik Blood, and XVIII Eyes.

8:30 PM

High Praise: Members of Portland-based bands Gaytheist (Jason Rivera), Pure Country Gold (Jake Welliver) and Cougar (Barry Anderson).

9:45 PM

Sashay: Grindr-Core
Free People, Free Sex, Free Gender Identity, Free Food to those Who Need it, Free Music!

11:00 PM

Gazebos: Gazebos is motorized by the songwriting collaboration between singer Shannon Perry and guitarist TV Coahran, but in a reversal of the familiar cliché, their distinctive talents don’t coalesce into anything as cozy as a singular vision. Rather, they explode into a multiverse of sounds, styles, and sensibilities that make the band’s repertoire into a barrage of musical diversity whose focal point is Perry’s dazzlingly inventive verbal and melodic high-wire act—were she to fall, she’d land somewhere between Nina Hagen, David Byrne, and, hell, I don’t know, Rihanna? -Sean Nelson

The venue where this stage is located is in the Galvanize Building at 111 South Jackson Street. You do need to buy a day pass to attend. Go HERE to snag one. A day pass for today (Friday, May 12, 2017 is $65 but does give you access to many artists on stages all over the festival.

Gazebo perform at Upstream Music Festival on May 12, 2017

About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.