Midwest Friends Fest is back for year two in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area. Once again taking over Southgate House Revival on May 28-30 (tickets), the festival brings together an incredible and diverse mix of national and regional acts for two days of loud guitars, DIY spirit, and the kind of community you only find in independent music scenes. With artists like Teens in Trouble, Little Low, The 1984 Draft and Tooth Lures a Fang joining dozens more across multiple stages, Midwest Friends Fest is shaping up to be another unforgettable weekend.
This year, MWFF is treating the lineup like a pack of trading cards where each band is its own collectible piece of the Midwest Friends Fest universe. In the lead-up to the festival, we’re spotlighting the artists one by one so you can get to know the players before the doors open. Next up in the set: Jacob Perez and the Boy Howdies.
For anyone discovering you for the first time… what should our readers know about Jacob Perez and the Boy Howdys? What’s one song in your catalog that feels most important to you personally or best displays your sound and voice, even if it isn’t the one people know best?
The Boy Howdies came together as my live band last year; after a few years of touring solo, I wanted to get a band together to capture the more rangy rock’n’roll sound that I was growing into on the records I was making. I think right now, my song “Bill Withers,” is kind of my calling card. I think what I was able to get across in 12 or 14 lines in that song is more deeply true to my experience than almost anything else I’ve written, even though that truth is communicated via the stories of other songwriters who’ve come before me.
You’re gearing up for Midwest Friends Fest. What does the festival circuit mean to artists like you right now… especially festivals that feel community-driven rather than industry-driven?
This is actually my first year playing any festivals. I feel really grateful to be on a fest like Midwest Friends Fest; Jared Bowers has such a genuine, community oriented approach to music & it really is kind of life-giving to be invited into that. I would much rather devote my time to shows and fests that prioritize community over the trappings of the music industry.
Living and creating in Cincinnati, how does the pace and character of that city influence the kinds of stories you’re drawn to tell?
Especially in my songs of late (the stuff I’ve written and recorded post “There’s So Many Ways to Live a Life”) I feel a sense of place beginning to take shape around my work that is kind of new for me. I’m not from Cincinnati, but I have lived here well over a decade and I’ve been in the same apartment in the same neighborhood for 7 years. I walk a lot, I spend a lot of time out in the city and I just see so much that sparks ideas for songs. My next record comes out this year and there’s a lot of vignettes in those songs that I wouldn’t have written if I wasn’t walking around this city, taking it all in.
Your songwriting has been described as “bookish” and rooted in American realist storytelling. When you’re writing, do you tend to think more like a musician or like a storyteller first?
I think my approach to songwriting is very literary. I am an avid listener of music, I listen to so much and so much inspires my sound, so I don’t want to discount that part of the process. But my songwriting practice is really centered around storytelling and trying to paint these characters whose lives mirror our own. As a songwriter, I find so much kinship with fiction writers. Songwriters like Craig Finn or Owen Ashworth really kind of inspire me in that way.
What’s something you’re still figuring out as an artist, and feel comfortable being honest about?
I think every year it feels like there’s new things to learn as an artist. When it comes to social media and content stuff, I think I’m not particularly adept at that. But I think I’ve tried to think of that sort of thing as its own creative practice. You’re curating an image or an aesthetic. For me, who’s out here using my real name and everything, it can get a little weird trying to market yourself. But I think I just want to use “marketing” in a grassroots, engaging way. To invite people into something, rather than trying to sell them something.
When it comes to live sets, what are you most excited to bring to the MWFF crowd? Ideally, what do you want people to say about your set when they’re driving home or texting friends who skipped it?
I think I am approaching our set like any show; I have 40 minutes or whatever to try and create a few moments of transcendence, for lack of a better term. As a songwriter, I am telling stories that I hope make the listener feel something. Feel seen, feel known, feel a little less alone in the world. Bill Callahan has a line in one of his songs: “it’s good to know that this life has been lived before.” That’s the feeling I want people to walk away from our sets with. Obviously we also want to get on stage and let it rip and have fun too. That’s all part of it. We’ll laugh, we’ll cry. Good art should do all of that.
Punk, ska, and indie scenes have long been leaders in inclusion and community, yet gatekeeping still creeps in. Why do you think these scenes can feel so welcoming on one hand and so closed-off on the other?
I chalk this up to the simple fact that people mostly just like doing things with their friends. I used to take it personally early on when I wouldn’t get certain opportunities or some of the “cool kids” of the scene wouldn’t give me the time of day. But ultimately, people are going to prioritize doing things with the people they know best. I realized that the best thing I could do is just starting forging genuine connections and after a while opportunities started coming my way. If you show up for your community, I can’t help but think your community will show up for you.
Everyone talks about “the scene”… what’s something the scene gets right right now, and what’s something you hope improves?
I think the scene in Cincy/NKY is flourishing right now. There is so much incredible art being made here and so many cool bands rolling through on tour. Any given night of the week I can go out and catch a great show. I honestly don’t have much in the way of feedback for the scene: I think we’re very community oriented & diverse & we’re making good art & we are encouraging a new generation of artists to get involved.
Midwest Friends Fest has a reputation for feeling intimate even as it grows. What makes a festival feel “right” to you as an artist?
Like I said earlier, I’m uninitiated when it comes to festivals. But I plan to get a few under my belt this year & even just in the lead up to MWFF, I’ve felt just really encouraged and supported by Jared and everyone else involved with the fest.
Hypothetically speaking… if you made a Midwest Friends Fest friendship bracelet, what word or phrase would it say this year?
I think my friendship bracelet might say something like, “Show up.” Showing up for your community is half the battle. Show up for yourself, for your art, for each other. Nothing good in life comes from passivity.
Post-show, stereotypically Midwestern empty field, questionable bonfire, everyone’s tired but happy… what song are you covering?
My bonfire song will probably be something by Lucinda Williams or Jason Molina. Last fall I was covering Songs:Ohia‘s “Just Be Simple”, on tour. So maybe that.
MWFF is stacked. Which bands are you most excited to see, and are there any you’re hoping to connect with offstage as well?
I really want to see Lung. I kind of can’t believe I’ve never seen them live, so that’ll be a priority for me. My friend Mitchell is Gloss Ave. and I’ve never seen one of his sets, so I’d love to catch that one. Also saw a band I didn’t know on the lineup called “Pacing” that describes themselves as anti-folk, so I’m stoked to see them live.
Once MWFF wraps up, what’s next for Jacob Perez and the Boy Howdys? New music, touring, a reset, or something unexpected?
So LP4 comes out in August. We’ll be gearing up to tour that. I also have another record’s worth of material that I want to flesh out as a band. These guys (Elijah Batson on guitar, Rhodes Vannasdall on bass & Eric Schepper on drums) have only been my live band for a short time and they’ve yet to join me in the studio. So with LP5, I really want to see what we can make together.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/