Veritas Community Church at 345 E. 2nd Ave. will host Steadfast Festival this Saturday. Credit: Courtesy of Samuel Taylor lll

Veritas Community Church at 345 E. 2nd Ave. will host Steadfast Festival this Saturday. Credit: Courtesy of Samuel Taylor lll

Columbus is set to play host to a new music festival that doesn’t discriminate when it comes to music genres.

Steadfast Festival is an all-day music event set to be held Saturday at Veritas Community Church in the Short North. The lineup includes 21 bands.

Getz, the creator of the event, assures there’s something for all music fans, from the fast tempos and guitar-shredding riffs of pop punk to traditional folk music with a rock twist.

Getz started his own blog, Tuned Up, on which he has been putting together one or two events per month for the past three years, and writing about local and national music.

After attending Audiofeed Music Festival in Illinois, Getz said he was was struck by the diversity of music as well as the attendees. He recalled seeing families with members of all ages, including grandparents and children there. He wondered what it would be like to hold his own flagship festival in Columbus.

After linking up with the church he attends, Veritas Community Church, Steadfast Festival was born. Getz said it was a good fit because the church had been wanting to expand into more mainstream events.

“We are trying to break the preconceived notions of what local music looks like,” Getz said.  “Generally when people book events, they play it safe and find their headliner band and all the supporting acts will be of the same genre or clique. Steadfast is an attempt at bringing together a mixture of regional and local bands from several different scenes that wouldn’t normally co-mingle.”

Getz also said when he books acts, he looks for a band touring that may typically go under the radar.

Bands like Author and Take One Car add headbanging-style music to the event as Getz described it as “loud, shredding and in your face.”

Columbus-based band Heroes Like Villians will also be performing at Steadfast Festival. The band’s goal is revive the pop punk music scene in Columbus, as its website features the phrase “punk is not dead” on the homepage.

The group agreed performing at Steadfast presents a great chance to grow their fanbase.

“It helps us expand our reach and our market to kids that aren’t really into the pop punk scene,” said Ryan Alderson, bassist for Heroes Like Villans.
Keeping the theme of a variety show of genres at the festival, Joseph Leppanen of local band Compass said the band utilizes simple chords, creating an alternative-rock sound with pop influences.

Along with featuring a wide genre spectrum, Steadfast will also include a few spoken-word performances as well as three local hip-hop acts.

While Getz doesn’t claim to be an expert of the entire music scene in Columbus, he said he does recognize certain marketers have their biases with music. When he and his co-producer, Matt Brooks, began planning this event, they wanted to think outside their own personal biases and create a new event.

“We fully believe in this lineup and that we don’t have any filler bands,” Getz said.

Doors are set to open at noon for the Steadfast Festival on Saturday at Veritas Community Church, 345 E. 2nd Ave. Tickets can be purchased online for $10 or at the door for $15.