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Photo Credit: Erick Buchholz
Who doesn’t want to hear the poppy goodness of Madonna, the soulful lyrics of Stevie Wonder, or the iconic music of Eminem all in one venue?
Metro Detroiters will have that opportunity as the Detroit by Detroit festival returns for its ninth straight year of local bands covering iconic Detroit artists. 15 acts ranging from The Fruits, to The Reefermen, to Jake Webb & The Commitments and more will perform three songs with Detroit ties. Festivities will take place at the Loving Touch starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 13.
Event organizer Melissa Rowe said that the event started as an April Fool’s Day joke and has grown into something truly special.
“Imagine a jukebox, filled only with artists that have ties to Detroit. It’s kind of like that, but live and in a room packed with people that share a passion for local music,” Rowe said “We have two stages, so the music never stops, and the energy at DETxDET is just incredible.”
Act Casual is one of the bands hitting the stage at this year’s event, and they’ll be covering Parliament Funkadelic. Guitarist Billy Richardson said that Parliament Funkadelic was their first choice and he’s excited for people to see how they cover the band’s funk sound.
“The process of figuring out if we want to do the cover complete justice or if we want to take it our own route has been a lot of fun,” Richardson said.
Richardson also said that he is excited to see what other local bands bring to the table, especially with all of the talent the Metro Detroit music scene produces.
“We play with jam bands from the area so it’s going to be cool to see bands that are in the same vein as us but we don’t play a lot of shows with,” Richardson said. “There isn’t one band that is covering a band that I don’t like, so I’m excited to see what those guys pump out.”
Dead in 5 is another band performing, and they’ll be covering the classic Lincoln Park band MC5. Bassist Dana Forrester said that the reason the band picked MC5 was because she was mentored by the band’s lead singer, Rob Tyner, when she was younger.
“Tyner taught me to fully ‘own the stage’ and ‘when you walk in the room, everyone should know you are in the band!’ That experience is one I will always cherish,” Forrester said. “It’s a huge honor to be able to pay tribute to Tyner and the MC5 all these years later with Dead in 5.”
Another great aspect of Detroit by Detroit is that proceeds for the event will once again go to a special scholarship at School of Rock. The school helps young rockers reach their full potential and the group from Rochester will also be performing as the Grand Funk Railroad.
Photo Credit: Erick Buchholz
Rowe believes in School of Rock’s mission and wants to help give a student the opportunity to attend that might not have been able to otherwise.
“DETxDET already celebrates Detroit’s musical past and present, through the performers and the artists they’re covering – but donating our proceeds to a special scholarship at School of Rock helps bring things full circle and gives to our musical future,” Rowe said.
You can see all the bands that will be on hand for this Saturday’s festivities on the event’s Facebook page. To keep up with everything School of Rock has coming up, be sure to visit their Facebook page.
