Five bands come together to promote local music in free show

The Big Idea will play out for all to see, free of charge.

The group will be among five local bands to perform Saturday night at Mixing 10, in an event geared to promote original music in Cape Girardeau.

The five-hour event will begin at 8 p.m. and include Tim Godlove, BEEF, The Scatterguns and Guy Morgan and The FT Crew.

The no-charge idea is based on simple economics.

"We wanted the maximum amount of people to be enticed to go," said Josh Tomlin, guitarist and lead singer with The Scatterguns. "If something's free, more people will be likely to come in and check it out."

What Tomlin and the rest of the musicians want the public to encounter is the original music being created and performed on the local level.

The music on the docket will range from the acoustic indie folk of Godlove to the punk rock of Guy Morgan. In between will be the Americana and bluegrass of The Big Idea, the country rock of BEEF and the Southern rock of The Scatterguns.

"We'd like to see more original music in Cape," Tomlin said. "We all have that in common. We all play our own stuff. We write these songs, we created these songs and we're proud of these songs."

It's a free night of music, much like the one some of the participants put on in 2011. Tomlin played in that four-band event with The Biggest Car in the County, as well as Morgan and The Big Idea.

"We had a great time, and we said, 'Maybe we should try to do this again,'" Tomlin said.

The event was suggested in August, giving the groups time to coordinate their schedules to accommodate the date.

The program calls for 40-minute sets for each band, with 20-minute changeovers allowing for a new band to hit the stage at the top of each hour.

Tomlin said its difficult for bands in the area because most venues don't provide sound equipment and lighting. That means long days setting up and breaking down equipment.

Bands that play original music also confront the considerable task of filling four hours of music, something most cannot do without resorting to cover songs.

Mixing 10 owner Justin Aden has helped on both fronts in providing a stage with all the trimmings as well as being willing to make a night of it with a variety of genres.

"He's been gracious enough to let us use that equipment, let us use the lights and let us take the stage," Tomlin said.

The groups also have received sponsorship for the event from eight local businesses, funding both the promotion and a sound technician.

It's a unified front Tomlin, along with the other musicians, hope will propel the original-music scene.

"It's been great working with all these guys," Tomlin said. "We all need to work together, even though our genres don't really fit each other, our goal is the same, and that is to promote original music."

jbreer@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3629