Suburbs Fest and Chameleous are not what anyone anticipated
Suburbs Fest
As music festivals go, Suburbs Fest is flying a little under the radar, but that’s part of the charm.
Created as a component of the podcast “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” the event will be held Thursday-Saturday, July 30-Aug. 1. It includes a night of karaoke with live music provided by the band Frank Muffin; a night to meet with the “Suburbs” hosts Patrick Foster and Jim Lenahan and hang out with fellow fans and music lovers; a public recording of the podcast; and, finally, a concert night with Frank Muffin, Matty C and Knoxville’s own Quartjar. All events are free.
For more than a decade, the podcast based in Washington, D.C., has been sort of an oasis for older music nerds. It’s updated daily every Monday-Friday and features music discussions, recommendations, guests and just general nerding out. The music discussed can range from new discoveries to classic rock or jazz to music from the Civil War – really anything the hosts like or find interesting.
The decision to present the event in Knoxville seems a little odd considering that the podcast doesn’t have a lot of local listeners, and, overall, Lenahan and Foster are not even that familiar with the town.
“I’ve never been to Knoxville, and neither has Patrick,” says Lenahan via a phone call.
The connection actually goes back to before the show began. “Rockin’ the Suburbs” had a predecessor podcast called “Dad Rock,” which was an online feature at USA Today, the publication where Lenahan and Foster worked. For one episode, the hosts decided to ask unsigned bands to submit music for a chance to be featured on the show. One of the submissions was the song “Taming the Kraken” by Knoxville trio Quartjar. Lenahan and Foster loved it and featured it on the program.
When both Lenahan and Foster left USA Today, approximately 10 years ago, they decided to start a new podcast, which became “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” The show needed a theme song, so Lenahan contacted Quartjar vocalist/guitarist Randall Brown. Brown sent in a short piece of music that the band had been working on and that has been the theme song ever since.
The show slowly began catching on. After 2,000 or so episodes, “Rockin’ the Suburbs” has what Lenahan calls “a small but dedicated listenership.” “Dedicated” is the key word. Listeners developed a sort of a bond communicating with each other during the COVID pandemic, and after it was safe to hold public events again, Lenahan and Foster decided to hold an event that brought fans of the show together.
The first festival was held in Washington, D.C., in 2021, and fans came from across the U.S. to attend it. The vibe was good, and the decision was made to hold yearly festivals in different cities. Knoxville follows Chicago; Louisville, Kentucky; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Rockford, Illinois, in hosting Suburbs Fest.
“We knew we wanted to have Quartjar play one, and we figured the best way was to just bring the festival to them!” says Lenahan.
Lenahan says he and Foster don’t do the things that traditionally make podcasts grow or become more marketable, but that has never been the point.
“We don’t make any money off of the podcast,” says Lenahan. “We’d like to form a community rather than an ‘audience.’”
Listeners, he says, are the sort of people they like to hang out with.
“Most people age out of music,” says Lenahan. “You know: the stuff that they liked in their teens and 20s. And once they hit their 30s, they just stick to that. They don’t really keep up. This podcast has provided us with that link to people who have the same passion for music as we have. It’s music discovery, whether it’s new music or discovering artists that maybe you missed the first time around or going deeper on artists you like. If you’re the kind of person who still gets that thrill that you had as a kid when you hear something new that makes your ears perk up, right? Then this is for you,”
Suburbs Fest free events (all free):
- Musical meet and greet with Lenahan and Foster: Bring an instrument, make some music and mingle with music lovers. 5-9 p.m., Thursday, July 30, Hampton Inn Cedar Bluff.
- Live-band karaoke with Frank Muffin: Open signups for karaoke with live-band backup. 7-10:30 p.m., Friday, July 31, Tennessee Tap House.
- “Rockin’ the Suburbs” podcast recording and live performances: Lenahan and Foster interview Knoxville musicians Kukuly Uriarte, Shayla McDaniel, Jodie Manross and Alan Garcia (of Civil Strife), 3-5 p.m.; Quartjar, Frank Muffin, Matty C, 8-11 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 1, Corner Lounge.
Chameleous
Speaking of unexpected, given the backgrounds of the members of Chameleous, I never would’ve expected them to form a psychedelic/prog-rock/jam act … with steel guitar and keyboards. Lead guitarist Rich Adlin was half of the acoustic duo Adlin and Appleford, and lead singer/rhythm guitarist Mac Bartine had had a pretty straight-ahead rock/Americana group called Every Man a King about a decade ago.
Chameleous is sort of a flashback to the trippy music that evolved in the late 1960s and lasted until the late ‘70s. The group is mining some of the same musical veins as King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
I talked with Bartine, Adlin and steel-guitar player Brian Wooten about the group’s formation and the recently released debut album “Wicked Din.” The group will perform at Barley’s at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 25.
Adlin and Bartine had been casual friends for years before they decided to actually create a band together in 2024.
“I got bored playing acoustic,” says Adlin. “I started out on electric, and I wanted to get back into that.”
“I told Rich I’d always wanted to have lap steel and pedal steel in a rock band,” says Bartine. “My friend Brian [Wooten] played steel.”
“I played with Mac in Every Man a King,” says Wooten. “Pedal steel is something I’d just played around with.”
Adlin brought in bassist Heath Nicholls, drummer J Miller and keyboardist Jules Bryce, whom he’d been jamming with, not knowing exactly what would come out of the combination.
“We were having psychedelic jams, and I wanted more form and discipline,” says Adlin. “I wanted a project with a song format, and Mac was of a like mind, and I loved his songwriting.”
Bartine had a backlog of songs already written and brought them to the group to expand.
“You bring in the canvas – the lyrics and basic structure of the song,” recalls Adlin of Bartine’s contributions. “Then we get to fill it all in. Everybody gets to paint.”
Bartine says those first jams were “pure joy.”
“It was a big sound that I’d never been a part of before. I love those old ‘70s arena-rock bands. For me, it was a return to those sounds. And Rich is a really experimental lead-guitar player. He comes up with things I never would’ve been able to come up with.”
“My musical tastes are all over the place: experimental, avant garde … I bring that in whenever I can, but I still get to play some blues and get funky,” says Adlin.
The band’s first show was at the Old City Performing Arts Center for the Summer Experience Festival. The response was good and prompted the group to book more shows.
The album was recorded over a year and a half with veteran producer/engineer Seva. The release was celebrated with a show at the Pilot Light earlier this year. It’s now available for download at the band’s website chameleous.com and on Bandcamp.
The Chameleous members aren’t looking to get rich or famous from the band, but they’re definitely seeking out new listeners.
“I want to play more festivals,” says Bartine.
“Expand our reach,” says Adlin.
“Play more venues and open for fun bands that we like,” says Bartine. “We’ve all been playing music all of our adult lives. It’s fun to be part of a band that people like.”
