Get Outta Town: a Belmont student-filled music festival

Belmont students are coming together to play Get Outta Town, a music festival happening Oct. 25 in Franklin, Tenn.

Rand Walter, a sophomore, is using his parent’s property and its six acres as the festival’s location.

When his family bought the property a year ago, Walter decided it would be the perfect place for a music gathering.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this would be cool to have a huge show,’” Walter said. “But I didn’t really understand what that meant at all until I went to Belmont.”

He wanted to create something different from the normal house shows around Nashville. He wanted it to be bigger with more of a festival feel, Walter said.

He thought it over during the summer and when the year began, he decided to bring his idea to life.

Walter knew it would have been too difficult to do it alone, so he got in touch with Premier Booking enterprises and What’s Hubbin’.

“I had to find people to help me manage and produce it,” said Walter.

After Walter got started with the production process, he contacted the acts he wanted to be involved with the show.

KOA, The Case Study, Kel, Corey Kilgannon, The Pressure Kids, R&, The Red Headed Indian and The Tennessee Whalers are eight of the acts playing that have students from Belmont. The students performing are all friends and have played together in several shows before.

Caroline Kingsbury, a sophomore, is The Red Headed Indian. She will be performing songs from her recently released EP, Honey.

“My goal is to kick ass live and be better than my recording sounds,” Kingsbury said.

Charles Meyers, sophomore, plays for The Case Study as well as The Red Headed Indian.

“My goal is, since 90 percent of my band doesn’t go to Belmont, I want to involve them into the Belmont scene,” Meyers said. “And kick-ass live.”

The John Hancock Band and Chris Cron will be playing as well.

Another goal of Walter is to get the non-profit organization, Mocha Club, more of a Belmont presence.

“They’re not taking any money from the event, so the whole goal is to give them a platform to talk about what it’s about,” Walter said.

Mocha Club is a branch of African Leadership, a non-profit organization.

According to Mocha Club’s website, its vision is to provide a way for people who don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to make a difference in Africa.

“The challenges Africans face today are as diverse as HIV/AIDS, access to clean water, & the vulnerability of women. It’s commitment is to locally developed projects where the community identifies the needs and the response.”

Not only will the event showcase the bands, but an organization will be able to share its vision with the people that attend.

With the property’s six acres, Walter hopes to have as much as 300 people come out to the show.

“The goal is to get 300 kids. 300 would be great. I would be thrilled if we got that much or more,” Walter said.

“No matter how many people come it’s gonna be fun,” Kingsbury said.

Doors open at 1p.m. and the show starts at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10. There will be food provided at 5 p.m. and special giveaways.

In a couple of days, Walter will get to see his idea come to life.

“I’d love for it to be an experience that was fun and gave people a sense of community and overall a unique and meaningful experience,” Walter said.

This article was written by Jessica Johnson.

#Belmont #GetOuttaTown #RedHeadedIndian