Hector Perez

By Hector Perez

 

The music that filled the air, the crowds roaming the streets—if you quickly drove by Adams Hemphill Park last Saturday, you might have thought it was another college party.

 

A closer look would have told a different story.The trombones, trumpets, drums, adults and children created a unique buzz that none of the nearbyfraternity houses could produce.

 

It was an atmosphere characteristic ofHonk!TX, the annual music festival that has brought street bands from across the country to the Austin community since 2009. Tobin McCarron, who also came to the event with his family last year, said the uniqueness of the music is what attracts him.

 

“I think it’s the different type of music that’s played,” McCarron said. “Normally concerts and stuff are guitars, pianos, electric keyboards and stuff like that, and I think just with the different instruments it makes it really neat.”

 

The Honk!TX website describes it as “an array of genres ranging from European Klezmer and Balkan, to New Orleans second-line brass music,” but really, just imagine your high school marching band, add some crazy outfits, people of all ages, a lot of energy, and songs ranging from “When the Saints go Marching In” to Pitbull’s “Timber.” That’s what you hear at Honk!TX.

 

Among the festivalgoers was a Canadian woman named Maria Haubrich, who was in town for a conference and heard about the festival while eating at Kerbey Lane. When asked what her favorite band was, she smiled and pointed to a band across the street.

 

“I quite like those guys over there,” Haubrich said.‘They’ were covered in make-up that made them look like zombies. ‘They’ were the Dead Music Capital Band, one of the more than 20 bands that played during the three-day festival. Chris MacMillan, the band’s founder and self-proclaimed BDFL—benevolent dictator for life—said it’s their third Honk!TX.

 

“It’s a reclamation of our city space,” MacMillan said. “It’s amazing what you can see happen when you have a place like a city park or a street and you put a brass band there. People start coming out of their houses and they want to participate.”

 

The first Honk festival was founded by The Second Line Social Aid and Social Pleasure Band in Sommerville, Mass., in 2006. According to the Honk!TX website, the band envisioned an event that would celebrate the growth of activist marching bands and the union of art, activism, and music. Since then, similar events have spawned across the country, including cities like Seattle, Providence, New York City, and Brooklyn.

 

Today, the activist nature of the event remains intact. Percussionist Joshua Eddy, who played with Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band at the inaugural festival in Massachusetts, said the style of music played at Honk festivals has much to do with its activist roots.

 

“A lot of the music started as being activist street bands, so they go to protests to get the protesters excited,” Eddy said. “It’s music that designed to get people excited and engaged.”

 

Eddy also said that a large focus of thesefestivals is to connect activist bands from across the country with one another. Mike Smith, who plays trombone for Environmental Encroachment, said events such asHonk!TX are great for those types of connections.

 

“We share ideas about music, and how bands operate, and you know, just the functioning of what the band is,” Smith said. “It’s become a pretty massive kind of movement for everyone in our band. We really look forward to sharing and learning at these festivals.”

 

Community involvement still seems to be the main attraction of the festival. Before having his picture taken with the rest of his band, benevolent dictator MacMillan said the interaction between the people and the bands is what he thinks makes Honk!TX special.

 

“Because these are all acoustic, unamplified bands—the brass bands—that’s such a directional experience,” MacMillan said. “You could have someone playing in your face and you’re just right there with them and the audience is right there with you for that experience. It’s a great way to bring people together.”

 

The festival was capped off on Sunday with more performances and a parade in East Austin. When asked whether or not he’d be back next year, McCarron said his family was ready to do it all over again.

 

“Yeah we like it! We think it’s cool,” McCarron said. “And we live a quarter mile away, so that obviously helps us. We just walk over and enjoy it.”