Q&A with Steven Matrick, co-founder of the New Colossus Festival, taking place this week at East Village and Lower East Side music venues

Photos and interview by Stacie Joy 

Longtime Lower East Side resident Steven Matrick arrives at Pianos (158 Ludlow St.) excited to talk about music and bands — and I am excited to let him, as he details some acts he's especially keen on seeing (and hearing) at this year's New Colossus Festival.

Since he's the co-founder of the nearly weeklong event, which is rapidly approaching (today through Sunday), we take some photos at one of the fest's 11 venues and chat about the NYC music scene, what it takes to run a festival, and his favorite moments from previous ones.

What inspired you to start The New Colossus Festival, and how has it evolved since its inception? 

I was on a series of panels with the other bookers on the Lower East Side, and we kept talking about how much we all missed CMJ. This was in 2018. Festival Co-Founder Mike Bell approached me about the New Colossus Festival as the booker of Pianos, and then his partner quit, so we teamed up. He rightly pointed out the scattershot nature of bands coming to NYC on their way to SXSW and how we should centralize it in the neighborhood we love. We chose Lio Kanine from Kanine Records to help us with booking, as he always threw amazing parties at CMJ. 

We did a test run in 2018 on both floors at Pianos the week before SXSW, and it went extremely well, so we went full throttle in 2019. The festival lineup has gotten bigger (more bands) and better (more amazing bands) with each year. We’ve been able to rely on locals less and less with each edition, and our mission is to welcome international bands to NYC, so we’re very happy about this. We also have done 22 weeks of shows (with 5 bands at each one) at 18th Ward Brewery the last three years, so we’ve at this point worked with about 300 local bands and are able to figure out which ones we want to showcase every year. 

The festival name is derived from Emma Lazarus's poem about the Statue of Liberty. How does that symbolism influence the Festival’s identity? 

NYC has been one of the epicenters of music for a very long time, and we want to welcome artists from all over the world to play their first shows in March. This was Mike's idea, and I'm a very sentimental person, so I was and always have been really into it. 

It is really beautiful, and there is a way in which musical artists wash up to NYC looking to play: 

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she 

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, 

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, 

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

How do you see The New Colossus Festival contributing to NYC's cultural and artistic landscape? 

Well, we're an indie rock festival. The indie rock music scene started in the East Village with CBGB and Max's Kansas City, moved to the Lower East Side in the early 2000s (Mercury Lounge, Luna Lounge, Pianos, Cake Shop, Don Hills, etc.), moved to Williamsburg in the early 2010s, and then eastward to Bushwick. Now, there are a ton of venues in Ridgewood and BedStuy.

The move eastward has to do with artists finding affordable places to live. It is extremely important to us that we have this Festival in the Lower East Side/East Village to bring these kids back to playing in these historic venues. 

We're also functioning as an entry point for what will be 800 bands by the end of the Festival, and most of them gain a footing so that their next show in NYC has the capacity to have a good-sized audience at it. It's a wonderful thing.

Many artists are performing in New York City — or even the U.S. — for the first time. How does the Festival support them in making that leap? 

Well, when you go to SXSW, you're technically only supposed to play one show and certainly not more than one at night during official festival hours. This year, we’ve given all international bands two to three shows and many locals two shows. It is so excellent to provide multiple showcases for them during their trip. 

In the past, at Pianos, a band from Norway would showcase at 7 p.m., and sometimes the rooms were empty because nobody knew who they were yet. This is a much better way to play your first NYC shows. 

Are there any artists or performances you’re particularly excited about this year? 

Yes! I'm a punk rock guy and am throwing two label parties. All of the bands on those parties are amazing: Test Plan, Prostitute, Public Circuit, Peer Pleasure and Bucket (two bands I saw at Ireland Music Week), Joe & the Shitboys from the Faroe Islands, who are opening three shows for Iggy Pop soon, and some really excellent weird bands from Ohio: Big Fat Head, People in the Daytime and Touchdown Jesus, that Pons, who are on our label, sent over to me.

On the nonpunk front, I can't wait to see Prism Shores, You Said Strange, Delivery, Hachiku, Cusp, World News, Dictator, Dutch Mustard, Snoozer (Alex G's band), Wax Jaw, Bleary Eyed … and I can go on and on and on! 

Looking back, what are the festival moments that stand out for you?

1. Lowly (Denmark) at Pianos in 2019 completely blew our minds. Think Stereolab. 

2. Paul Jacobs (Montreal) blew us away at Pianos in 2022. 

3. GIFT (Brooklyn) played Berlin in 2022 and were so great I wound up managing them.

4. Ducks Ltd. (Toronto) blessed us with three shows last year. Their album Harm's Way was the theme album for the Festival, so I enjoyed every moment of all three shows—as did everyone else who was there! 

5. Roost.World (Vermont) closed out the Festival last year at Baker Falls on Saturday Night, and it was a full-on amazing dance party. 

What are your long-term goals for The New Colossus Festival, and are there any new elements or expansions you’re considering for future editions? 

We'd like to continue holding it in small venues to keep it manageable for everyone and evolve the number of people who come out for the week. This year, we did six shows with Super Bock, three shows with Groover, and, again, 22 weeks of shows at 18th Ward Brewery, so the Festival has become more of a year-round thing. 

We'd like to continue expanding who we partner with for shows and throw great shows throughout the year.

Find the entire schedule and band info at this link.

Here's the completed mural of Kobe and Gianna Bryant on the Lower East Side

After a week, Mark Paul Deren, aka Madsteez, has finished his tribute to Kobe and Gianna Bryant outside the complex that houses Sun Yat Sen Middle School and Emma Lazarus High School on Hester and Eldridge...



East Village Walls curates this space, and the students here reportedly voted on who they wanted a mural of outside their school.

The mural is based of a photo by Atiba Jefferson.

View this post on Instagram

WEEN legendary photograper @atibaphoto officially lets you use his @kobebryant x GiGi photo for reference. —————-> 📷 @just_a_spectator 📷 @smurffedout 🏛 @eastvillagewalls

A post shared by MARK PAUL DEREN (@madsteez) on Feb 26, 2020 at 2:01pm PST

Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed alongside seven other people on Jan. 26 when the helicopter they were in crashed in California.

There's a giant mural of Kobe and Gianna Bryant going up on the Lower East Side

Here's a WIP look at a tribute to Kobe and Gianna Bryant going up outside Emma Lazarus High School on Hester and Eldridge. The brightly-colored, large-scale mural is by Mark Paul Deren, aka Madsteez.

Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed alongside seven other people on Jan. 26 when the helicopter they were in crashed in California.

The David Bowie memorial on East 4th Street, now with Little Debbie Peanut Butter Crunch bars

Outside the New York Theatre Workshop on East Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery... where the David Bowie-created "Lazarus" is ending its already-extended (and sold out) run on Wednesday... (though $1,000 and $2,500 seats remain for the closing-night benefit)...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Meantime, the Post speculates whether "Lazarus" might be headed to Broadway...

[Updating] RIP David Bowie

#DavidBowie (1/8/47-1/10/16)

A photo posted by East Village Radio (@eastvillageradio) on Jan 10, 2016 at 11:27pm PST

As you may have heard late last night, David Bowie has died. He was 69.

January 10 2016 - David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle... https://t.co/ENRSiT43Zy

— David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) January 11, 2016

Here's one local connection. "Lazarus," which has been playing at the New York Theatre Workshop on East Fourth Street since Nov. 18, features songs that Bowie specially composed for the production as well as new arrangements of previously recorded songs.

"Lazarus," inspired by the 1963 novel "The Man Who Fell to Earth" by Walter Tevis, centers on the character of Thomas Newton (Michael C. Hall), which Bowie played in the 1976 film version. Bowie also co-wrote the adaptation with Enda Walsh.

The production is sold out through Jan. 19. There are tickets available for the previously announced final performance on Jan. 20, which is also a benefit for the theater. Tickets are $2,500 and $1,000. Details here.

Updated 8:30 a.m.



NBC 4 and NY1 were doing live remotes this morning from the New York Theatre Workshop, where there was one bundle of flowers left outside the front doors. (There was also an empty champagne bottle...)

Updated noon


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Updated 4:24 p.m.

An EVG reader said that these arrived overnight on East 12th Street at Second Avenue...



Updated 4:31 p.m.

The scene outside David Bowie's residence on Lafayette... photos via Steven...





Updated 1/12

The scene at 2 a.m. on Lafayette Street via EVG regular Peter Brownscombe...





Updated 8:30 a.m.

On the gate at The Immigrant on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



Updated 3:30 p.m.

Photos from Lafayette Street this afternoon via EVG regular peter radley...

What, pray tell, is this on Second Avenue?

And then there's this ... spotted by EVG reader David Kelly this morning on Second Avenue near East 10th Street...



Any ideas? What it is? Maybe a former Thirsty Scholar? Too many Pigs in a Blanket at Alder?

-----

And does it compare to the discovery of Pushcart Jesus St. Lazarus?

Images, 2010

A sampling, in no particular order...

• Too many fires, such as this one on 14th Street and Avenue A (photo by EV Grieve reader Sergey)

• RIP Michael Shenker

• Shepard Fairey



• A BP protest



• Sammy



• The year of the bedbug(s)



• A murder outside Sin Sin



• Smurfs, now and forever



• Saving Ray's



• Random street shot, Second Avenue



• Finding EV Lazarus



• World Cup fever



• The end of the Mars Bar?



• Random street shot, Third Avenue



• Loving and hating the new bike lanes



• Exit the Telephone Bar, enter the 13th Step



• Markey Hayden Bena, 1956-2010 (Photo by Bob Arihood)



• Just another Saturday night in the East Village



• A crash and chaos outside The Bean (Photo by Vautrin)



• A murder on Seventh Street



• Art Around the Park



• EVLambo, now and forever — Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' (Photo by EV Grieve reader Joe)

Where is EVLazarus?

There is also non-weather-related news today.

On Friday night, we last spotted Jesus St. Lazarus chained to the fence along Avenue B at 13th Street.

We know of two people who are interested in owning the St. Lazarus. However, we we returned to see what was what with EVLazarus, he was gone...

Having tried to pick this thing up, we can assure you that it weighs a good offensive line or two. He couldn't have gotten too far... If you see him, then please let us know. Unless, of course, the statue was returned to where it was stolen found.

Things that aren't Jesus: St. Lazarus of Avenue B

My apologies... yesterday (twice!) I misidentified this statute on Avenue B and 13 Street as Jesus. I didn't mean to be flip about this — I secretly thought this was a stunt for the spring/summer line from Freemans Sporting Club.



Anyway! Several readers have pointed out that this is Lazarus, aka Lazarus of Bethany, St. Lazarus, the skinny guy with the two dogs.



So it's St. Lazarus now chained to a fence on Avenue B. This is an obstacle on the sidewalk. I have informed the Community Board and DOT to have the statue fined.

[Image via. Interesting this item is sold out!]

[Updated] Jesus is now chained to a fence on Avenue B

Well, I did go back to Avenue B and 13th Street tonight to see if the statue of Jesus on the market for $50 (plus $5 delivery!) was still there...

He is... I thought he was there for the taking, but there is a thick chain and padlock holding him to the fence...

Updated: Per a reader:

"This isn't Jesus, folks. Most likely a statue connected to Santeria, not a Catholic icon. From a website describing important Santeria statuary: 
Babaluaye: Patron of the sick, especially diseases. Leprosy, gangrene and skin diseases. Saint Lazarus. White and purple beads. Old man on crutches accompanied by dogs."