At Loufest, just like any other music festival, you come across many different types of people; the groupies, the observers, the vendors and occaisionally the bands themselves. To the bands, this is the life. This is what they want to do with their life and nothing could ever make them change their minds.

“There’s a feeling that you have when you play music that is just really hard to replicate anywhere else,” Dan Germain, drummer of the Pernikoff Brothers said.

For those whom are not musically inclined, there is a similar feeling of incomparability.

“Certain songs when you’re listening to them, there is no other music that is on.” Evan Sult, drummer of Sleepy Kitty said.

For Sult and Paige Brubeck, lead vocals, guitar and keys for Sleepy Kitty, the certain songs for them came from the 1990’s.

There was something about the ethos of music in the 90’s. There was something about the instruments. There was something about what people were trying to accomplish with a song that I feel that our music is trying to do that.”

For Cotton Mather’s Robert Harrison, that music came from the Forty Watt Club in Athens, Georgia while growing up.

“I heard a lot of great bands. That was in the mid to late 80’s. That was right when REM was coming up and all that stuff was happening, it was a very fertile time in terms of the scene in Athens and I was just this kid taking it all in.” Harrison said.

As an inspired kid, Harrison took to music like no other.

“When I was seventeen I did what every 17 year olds tried to do, so I tried to write a song that would bring peace to the entire world, but it didn’t work. And so then I realized that maybe I should write about things I know,” Harrison said.

The Pernikoff Brothers don’t try to convey peace or necessarily things that they know about in their music, but rather something else.

“Love is worth living even if it hurts. That’s what a lot of our songs are about,” Tom Pernikoff of the Pernikoff Brothers said.

Harrison believes a little bit differently than the Pernikoff Brothers on that subject.

“And every relationship should take a ten year break every now and then,” Harrison said.

Sults’ love affair with the 90’s sure didn’t take a ten year break, though.

“I feel like we both got excited about music in the 90’s and we’re still excited about music in the 90’s and of the 90’s,” Sults said.

That’s what moves Sleepy Kitty, but something a little different inspires Cotton Mather to play.

“If it moves me, I feel like maybe someone else might be moved by it. So I mean I’m an unusual guy but I feel like if something moves me it might move you,” Harrison said.

Moving the crowd isn’t an idea unique to Cotton Mather, but is a normal for most bands.

“The way I see it, you’re kind of asking people to kind of come in and suspend their own reality to listen to your music, you really need to give them that experience,” Germain said.

Whether it’s a lyric, a riff or a simple harmony, connecting to the crowd is something every musician must know how to do, especially when it doesn’t seem to be working.

“What you want to convey in a song is something that people will react to. And sometimes you don’t know what that is. Sometimes you think, wow, that was heavy, and no one else gets it,” said Harrison. “[So] when it’s working and they’re smiling and you’re connecting, it’s pretty beautiful.”

In many things, however, some of the best things can also be the worst.

“Being on stage, the funnest thing is realizing that you’re entertaining people, and that you’re succeeding at it. And consequently the worst part is when you realize you’re not entertaining people. That’s when you want to leave the stage,” said Harrison.

One of the big misconceptions about music is that older bands aren’t as good as the new, younger bands.

“So there was this myth about rock n roll that we can’t do it past 35 that started in the ‘60’s where all the guys were so drugged out that by the time they got to their mid-thirties that they were no longer worth a damn…Turns out that’s not true,” Harrison said.

With that daunting on artists, how do they stay inspired for so long?

“This is going to sound borderline too cute for school, but I get inspired watching Paige get excited about making music,” Sults said. “When she’s got new music that she starts playing me, and I get to join in, and I know that she’s already got harmonies in her head and she’s already got lyrics and everything, that makes me [really] excited”

With all that excitement, sometimes bands just lose control.

“I guess when you really feel that energy from everybody, it feels like the band just kind of takes off on its own, like on autopilot which is really cool,” Germain said. “One of my favorite things is being able to look out and into the crowd and seeing people respond to the music because that’s kind of what it’s all about. It’s all about the fan base and trying to give something real to people, something that they can connect with.”

In all that excitement, the artist has to connect with the music, not just the fans.

“It ends in the right place and so you give yourself over to this excitement and really the excitement is not about rocking, it’s about letting go of control,” Harrison said. “Letting go of control as an individual is one thing, but letting go as a community is really exciting.”

There’s more than just letting go to music, however. There are a few essentials you need besides letting go.

“Don’t give up, keep writing, find people that you love being around to be in a band with, and get a van,” Pernikoff said.