Snap, Crackle, Pop
Music festival founder Kevin Arnold talks about art, music and the importance of Noise Pop in the San Francisco music scene.
Snap, Crackle E, Pop!
We talk with the founder of San Francisco’s most beloved indie music festival, Noise Pop, about the ultra-symbiotic and important relationship between music and art.
“It’s amazing that it started 21 years ago and we never we never conceived to do more than one night, and it was sorta happenstance—a throw away night at this club that was open.”
—Kevin Arnold
Noise Pop has gone from a one night show to a weeklong celebration of art across a variety of mediums. Over the years, artists like White Stripes, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Bright Eyes, and Best Coast have all graced the Noise Pop stages. However, 21 years ago, it was one night, five bands, and a group of friends looking for a good time while supporting the local music scene.
“It’s amazing that it started 21 years ago and we never conceived to do more than one night, and it was sorta happenstance—a throw away night at this club that was open,” said Kevin Arnold, the original founder of Noise Pop. “It was nice because I was young and tour-managing bands, and booking bands on campus at Berkeley.”
At the time, Arnold was studying architecture, and was well on his way to having a career that very much didn’t center around music and art.
“Yes, I have an architecture degree, but I threw that away and followed something else I was into.”
A “super exciting time in the local music scene,” Arnold was hoping to highlight bands he loved, all of which seemed to personify the name “Noise Pop.”
“These bands that were very much melodic, but also kinda chaotic and loud, sorta this post grunge time period. It was harkening back to my favorite historic era in music this post 80’s American, independent music, Husker Du, The Replacements, that ilk of bands. And we called it a festival to make it a bigger deal. I made a poster in my garage and it ended up being this really fun, big thing.”
Thao Socialstudies “Artistically Abstracted, I Think That There’s This Sort of High Art and Low Art Dichotomy. It Certainly Exists in Music. ” —Kevin Arnold
On the art front, the festival has highlighted and legitimized poster art, working with a variety of artists including Shepard Fairey, Lil’ Tuffy, Thomas Campbell, Barry McGee, and others.
“I made the very first Noise Pop poster, and I was sort of ripping off this little box of fire works. At the time, there was very much this sort of pop and street art, weird and early and not totally defined at the time. I was really into Frank Kozic, who did the third year poster, the second year was a tattoo artist, so it was all very rock and roll driven art,” said Arnold. “As we went on we had a few comic artists, we had other guys, like Warret Sutton and these other guys who were sort of visual. And then more becoming into not just poster art but fine art, and that’s the interesting thing to me.”
When asked about what influence Noise Pop has had from an art perspective, Arnold says he’s proud of what the festival has accomplished.
“Artistically abstracted, I think that there’s this sort of high art and low art dichotomy. It certainly exists in music. Personally, me being a fan and supportive of these young, emerging underground bands. This whole world is the antithesis of to classical music, and ...because “It’s not as commercial it’s not as worthy,’ and that’s something I don’t believe in.”
