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Savoy headlines outdoor paint party
By John Benson
The world of electronic dance music can be summarized as one mind-blowing moment after another.
In concert, the experience is often heightened by special effects, but those effects don’t have to be state-of-the-art.
Take for instance the upcoming Life in Color: Unleash event happening Saturday outside at Covelli Centre. A precursor of sorts to Mother Nature’s fall color display, the upcoming concert acts as a summer-ending soiree providing vivid memories to concertgoers who are, well, doused nonstop with paint.
“It’s a crazy paint party,” said Mike Kelly of EDM group Savoy, which will be providing the soundtrack to the Youngstown show. “We’ve played a few of them before, and it’s just kind of a different experience and a different way to see music. Usually it’s a high-energy, kind of rave type atmosphere, and they just spray paint on everyone. It’s kind of crazy.”
Kind of crazy is the norm to Savoy, which actually started out a few years ago in Colorado as a jam band. Eventually, the act gravitated to the EDM world without ever leaving behind its rock roots.
Recently, Beatport described Savoy as “Daft Punk meets Metallica with a bottle of gin,” which explains why the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based trio is regarded as one of EDM’s rising outfits with mass appeal.
“We released a few singles for free download, and we toured our last full-length album,” Kelly said. “We make sure our fans get everything we put out for free at our website so there’s no risk. It’s all there, and we have a pretty diverse catalog that’s listenable. Some stuff is more club-ready. We try to create something that’s listenable but also can rage at the club and get people dancing.”
One single of note is the recently released “S.C.R.E.A.M. [w/ LoBounce & Bright Lights].” The ambient mid-tempo trip epitomizes Savoy’s penchant for exploring new soundscapes.
“LoBounce is a good friend of ours,” Kelly said. “He brings really gnarly sounds. He’s very unconventional. For us, it’s a cool way to work and have a different approach. The records he’s been on have this dark, unconventional layout, and his sound design is really cool.
“Also, we have a lot of stuff with Heather Light, also known as Bright Lights. She’s all over the electronic scene now, but we were lucky to have her featured on a bunch of our tracks.”
Kelly said those tracks, as well as material from Savoy’s new CD, “Self Predator,” will be heard at the Life in Color: Unleash gig.
Speaking of which, when attending a paint party, what are a few dos and don’ts?
“People really have to go into it like a war-zone mentality,” Kelly said. “They shouldn’t be wearing their nice shoes and new shirt they bought for a concert. It’s kind of like a hot and sweaty mess. It’s a blast, but you have to be ready for anything.” He quickly added: “You might want to bring a garbage bag.”