GTG Fest returns to The Avenue Café

Back in 2005, GTG Records pressed up its first release, The Plurals’ “A Very Good Thing” CD. Since then, the label, operated by The Plurals, has issued a tall stack of records, most recently the “Let The Revels Begin” 7-inch from Lansing’s A Rueful Noise. Running alongside the indie releases has been the label’s GTG Fest, a diverse annual showcase spotlighting the label artists and more. GTG co-founder Tommy McCord chatted with City Pulse about this year’s two-day festival happening this weekend at The Avenue Café.

How did GTG Fest first get started?
The label and fest have always been about celebrating DIY music and culture, so everything has always been a variation of that. The first few years, 2008-2010, were literal all-day parties out at my parent’s old property in Ionia. There have been many DIY venues along the way, and the main festival home has been The Avenue since 2013.

What bands are you looking forward to seeing this year?
She/Her/Hers released their new album on Don Giovanni Records the week before the fest, so I’m excited to see them for what’s a sort of unofficial record release. Ladyship Warship is a band everyone’s been talking about, and I still haven’t caught them live, so that’s another one I anticipate. Little Things, fronted by Tammy from Scary Women and Half Looking, is playing their first show ever at the fest. Beyond that, The Jackpine Snag will be playing their first show in nearly three years, which is very exciting. The opening set of the fest will be an extended Wild Honey Collective revue featuring guest spots by Matt Carlson from Harborcoat and Michael Boyes from Drinking Mercury.

Any changes for this year’s GTG Fest?
We’re back to doing two stages inside The Avenue, which we haven’t done since 2019 due to COVID restrictions. With this circumstance in mind, we focused on ensuring that we had two solid nights of music to spotlight DIY and independent musicians from the local and regional scenes.

Have any new GTG releases to report?
In the past 12 months, we’ve released new music by A Rueful Noise, Jeremy Porter and The Tucos, The Wild Honey Collective and Harborcoat. Soon, we’ll have the vinyl release of the second Wild Honey album. We also have music from Narc Out The Reds and the long-delayed Plurals EP collection, “BEES.”

Who is still involved in running GTG these days?
The core of GTG remains The Plurals (McCord, Nich Richard and Hattie Dandy), Loren Pudvay, Timmy Rodriguez and Michael Boyes. Everyone has different levels of involvement from year to year, depending on life, but we’re all still there. The label has always been somewhat cooperative, so Jeremy Porter has done quite a bit in recent years. We also have a great symbiotic thing going with (Lansing-based record labels) Phonophore Records, Silver Maple Kill Records and Bermuda Mohawk Productions. It’s one big label family.

GTG Fest sampler: gtgrecords.bandcamp.com
GTG Fest lineup: gtgrecords.net/gtgfest