Can I ask you a question, do these concert scenarios sound familiar?

Mosh pits of shoulder-to-shoulder sweaty people, audio so bad it leaves your hearing impaired, or your vision blocked because your seat was right behind a cement pillar.

As a concert goer you expect to feeeeeel the music around you, not the people or the venue. A musical performance is an experience in more ways than one. Concerts are a platform for people of the community to come together and rally behind messages that are being played by the musician. Music is one of those things in life that is an indescribable feeling, and has you in a state of mind that can be simply described as pure happiness. Well, you’re in luck. A group of young music enthusiasts have come together in Indianapolis, and have listened to those suggestions about attending a unique concert experience by jump-starting the Indianapolis chapter of Sofar Sounds.

 

Sofar Sounds is a global community driven by the love for music in its purest form. Founded in 2009 in London, Sofar (SOFAR=Songs from a room) represents an unparalleled movement of concert going experiences that values intimate music and togetherness. There have been over 1,600 Sofar shows around the world in the 100+ host cities, and, as of May 3rd, Indianapolis is part of the family.

The Indianapolis Team

Matt Brooks, City Director and Day-of Emcee for the shows.

Kiefer Berry, Communications Ambassador in charge of our database of guests/bands, email communication, and show RSVPs.

Cavan McGinsie, Audio/Visual, he works with the videography and sound for the shows.

Steph Renner, Graphic Designer.

They expect this team to grow plenty in the coming months as they get a few shows under their belts. Sofar Sounds Indy is always open to others interested in helping out as well! if interested contact them at indianapolissofar@gmail.com.

Sofar Sounds Indy mission is to provide a music-listening experience that is lost in today’s society. “It is about finding a family and community that is, in my experience, too good to be true. Even though Sofar is growing more and more every day, the reality is that most people in this world don’t know exists, and that’s pretty cool to be a part of at this point,” said, City Director, Matt Brooks.

Brooks described how Sofar Sounds operates.

As for the events, no matter how many events Sofar Sounds Indianapolis has, they are secret to the public. If you apply for the global mailing list, (sofarsounds.com/signup), you will be able to learn the date and apply to be accepted. If you aren’t on that list, you aren’t going to see a Facebook event for it. That’s just how it works. That being said, Sofar Sounds Indianapolis is planning on hosting one show per month while building a following in the city. The June show date is set and will be revealed in the global email on the 1st of the month.

Connect with them.

Facebook: facebook.com/SofarSoundsIndianapolis

Twitter: @SofarIndy

Instagram: @Sofarsoundsindy

Email: indianapolissofar@gmail.com

The public can apply on a Google form to attend the show. Attendees are contacted one week before the show if they are accepted, and are given an address the day before. The names of the artists are never revealed and the concert is organized in sampler form with 3-5 artists playing a few songs each. The listeners can bring wine or beer to the venue, which can be anything as long as it’s a unique space, and the genres of the artists are greatly varied to provide a good experience for all music listeners. One of the common misconceptions about Sofar is that the artists are limited to folk and acoustic artist; however, this is not true at all. Genres can spread further than that to punk, rap, big band jazz, looping, spoken word, or nearly anything you can think of. The point is that, in the stripped down form and with limited equipment on the stage, this is a performance by artists that you will never seen done in this way ever again. The artists do this for free. They do it partially for the love of the experience, and partially for the produced video that Sofar Sounds posts on their global Youtube page, which currently has 64,621 subscribers.

So, for those of you who are looking for a whole new way of being intimate, specifically in your concert experiences, look to Sofar Sounds Indy for the solution.

Written by: Lawrence Don