Bass Jam combines live and electronic music, while attempting to take the typically outdoor festival vibe and move it indoors.
Bass Jam 4 is scheduled to take place 9 p.m. Friday at Skully’s Music-Diner, located at 1151 N. High St. The event will feature performances by Stephan Jacobs, Eumatik, Broccoli Samurai, Attack & Carma and Heady Ruxpin.
Jacobs, a dubstep DJ and headliner for the show, said Bass Jam will mark his first performance in and first visit to Ohio.
“I am really excited to play Columbus because I have heard that it is an exciting town to play,” Jacobs said.
He said he also enjoys remixes because they give him the opportunity to take something that caught his ear and turn it into something different. But he said he mostly plays his own original music, though, which he described as complex and bass heavy.
For Jacobs, life as a DJ began when he was 16 and playing hip-hop beats on his friends’ turntables.
Jacobs, 28, has played festivals such as Coachella the past three years and Lightning in a Bottle in 2011.
Describing his performances as very high energy, Jacobs said, “It (is) sensory overload, dancing and fun.”
Psychedelic electronica jam band from Cleveland, Broccoli Samurai, is scheduled to kick off Bass Jam.
Drummer Chris Walker said the band likes to switch up genres in its mostly improvised sets.
“We are 100 percent instrumental,” Walker said. “I would say that we are mostly electronic live dance music, but we do incorporate a lot of hip-hop and jazz.”
Broccoli Samurai got its name when the band booked its first gig, and an inside joke was created.
“We had an ongoing joke around the house about that Dana Carvey skit ‘Choppin the Broccoli’ (on Saturday Night Live),” Walker said. “I don’t really know how it morphed into Broccoli Samurai, but we figured it worked better than Cleveland Samurai.”
Broccoli Samurai draws inspiration from its band members’ different backgrounds and the varying genres of music they bring to the group, ranging from heavy metal to hip-hop.
“We definitely come from different backgrounds and you can tell that from our music, as we switch back and fourth between genres,” Walker said.
My Best Friend’s Party Productions (MBFP) co-founders Nick “Carma” Reed, Chad “Attack” Smith and art director Blake “Heady Ruxpin” Bower came up with the idea of Bass Jam to create a space that combines electronic and live music.
“We were kind of trying to merge the two teams because we were seeing a lot of the same people at shows,” Bower said. “We wanted to come up with a way that our shows could similarly bridge that gap and bring together different genres and groups of concert-goers,” Reed said.
The first Bass Jam festival was held at Skully’s on Jan. 6 and featured Jahman Brahman, Skeetones and Freekbot. Bass Jam 3 was held at Newport Music Hall May 5, and Smith said it was the best one yet.
“We had almost 800 people out and the Newport had great energy,” Reed said.
Bass Jam, like most MBFP events, also features an array of art forms such as hula-hoopers, live painting, poi (which involves swinging weights in varied geometric and rhythmic patterns), sculptors and more.
MBFP aims to create a rare experience with the art it provides.
“We try to incorporate visuals, high-end laser light (shows) and all of our dancers to really make Bass Jam a very special experience,” Smith said.
Reed said MBFP is looking forward to this edition’s lineup.
“We have been playing (Jacobs’) glitched-out bass tunes for years and are excited to bring him in from California,” Reed said.
Some band members said they see this as the best lineup they have had in terms of playing with rising stars such as Eumatik.
“I think that this one is going to be different,” Bower said. “I think that this is the most up-and-coming talent in this show.”
Tickets are $10 at the door the day of the show, and the event is 18 and older.
