PORTLAND, Oregon — A traveling music festival celebrating punk, rock and metal by Black artists will be shredding its way into Portland this weekend.
On April 6, the Black and Loud Festival will be at the Bossanova Ballroom with three stages and a special Jack Daniel's VIP tasting featuring Portland's very own, the Lance Randall Quartet, at 5 p.m. Doors will open at 6 p.m.
The Black and Loud Festival will feature many Black artists including Angelo Moore — known as Dr. Madd Vibe to many fans — the lead singer and saxophonist for the Los Angeles ska and funk metal band, Fishbone. Moore will perform alongside the Missin' Links.
Other featured artists include: King Youngblood, The OBCMS, Down North, Terra Nobody, Aaron Nicel Smith, Kingsley, Tahirah Memory, Splinterhead, and Crecc Wright.
Cameron Lavi-Jones, front man of King Youngblood, and Anthonye Briscoe, front man of Down North, stopped by the KGW studio to talk all things Black and Loud. They're both co-founders of the festival, which started in 2022 in their hometown of Seattle, Washington. They describe the festival as a celebration of Black bands that everyone is invited to.
"For us, we both had experienced so many different spaces where there weren't other Black folks on different festivals or different bills and we wanted to do something about it, especially in the Pacific Northwest with the history of it," Lavi-Jones said.
He added that Black musicians who create alternative music haven't always been given the proper spotlight or spaces to be able to do so.
"We wanted to show that Black and Loud Fest is not just the chance to show people that those misconceptions about what Black music is, is not only wrong but also invite them to discover the beauty and the diversity that is music," he said.
This is the first year that the festival will be held in Portland. Organizers hope to expand the event to major music meccas across the United States.
"Portland is our first time getting a chance to bring the festival across state lines which is really exciting for us but we're taking it to Brooklyn, Nashville, Atlanta. We're looking at how to really showcase these different spaces, the diversity that is alternative Black music." said Lavi-Jones said.
As for what attendees can expect to hear, the founders said it's a mosh pit of music.
"You're going to hear from punk to reggae, we also got a good hip hop cypher going on mixed with jazz," Briscoe said. "I mean, you got a very diverse thing of music that is gonna be a great night."