A festival right here in New York state that I have yet to attend happens in Hunter Mountain, NY. Mountain Jam is the festival and it will be taking place from June 4-7, 2015. This year, we are excited to be making the trek to the mountain to take part in what looks like an amazing festival and time.
With performers like Rusted Root, Michael Franti and Spearhead, The Black Keys, Alabama Shakes, Gov’t Mule, Grace Potter and Robert Plant to name a few, this year’s lineup might be the most exciting yet.
We spoke to promoter and organizer Gary Chetkof about the diversity of this year’s lineup and talked about what improvements fans can expect at this year’s festival. We talked about how the festival has grown over the past 11 years to become one of the most talked about festivals on the east coast.
A great conversation with a guy who is all about being hands on. You don’t see many organizers who are right in there getting their hands dirty, so to speak. Gary is that guy. Lets enjoy a candid conversation with promoter and organizer Gary Chetkof.
BA: Tell us about your relationship with Warren Haynes and how the idea of Mountain jam originated?
Gary:Radio Woodstock, a station that I purchased in 1993, was having a 25th year anniversary in 2005 and I wanted to throw a big outdoor concert. We found Hunter Mountain and we booked four (4) bands for the day. Gov’t Mule immediately signed on as our headliner. After the one-day festival was over, I was inundated with people who encouraged me to make it an annual event. I had been attending music festivals and decided to turn it into one, so I expanded it with multiple days and camping. Warren was one of those encouraging people and he said that he wanted to be a co-presenter and play it every year.
BA: During the 11 years the festival has been in existence, in what areas did you make improvements on to give fans a better concert attending experience?
Gary: Every year we poured resources back into the festival to make it better. Every problem seemed to require a cash solution. We needed better infrastructure — signage, walkways, parking, lighting, staffing, food vending, carside camping — to better production — stage, sound, lights, video screens, catering — to a bigger talent budget to attract great artists.
BA: What do you look forward to the most when Mountain Jam arrives?
Gary:I look forward to seeing all the familiar faces. The fans, the staff, the artists. It has become a big part of my life and after 11 years, it really has become a family. Every year is exciting and different and I love to greet people and make sure they have a memorable time so the word spreads how special Mountain Jam is. I am always amazed at how beautiful the setting is at Hunter Mountain Spring in full bloom and the Catskill Mountains are an amazing backdrop. There are so many green rolling hills, streams and lakes. It is truly magnificent and very inspirational.
BA: The festival has always focused in on indie, jam bands, reggae and blues. Would it ever consider going outside to bring in different styles of music?
Gary: We have gone outside to bring in other types of music. Pretty Lights played an amazing late night set last year and Coheed & Cambria played a memorable set a few years back. We are known as a very diverse music festival as we cross musical boundaries with established artists and emerging artists, as well as with rock, blues, folk, Americana, funk, reggae, electronic, cajun, etc.
BA: How do you balance handling two major music festivals being the promoter of both Mountain Jam and Taste of Country at Hunter Mountain?
Gary: I have a lot of help these days thanks to my partnership with Townsquare Media. They really know the Country scene and handle most of the duties with that festival. I focus mainly on Mountain Jam and have their incredible team to support me. I also make sure that I am well rested and healthy going into the two weeks of running back-to-back festivals with very little sleep!
BA: Take us behind the scenes on how you pick the bands you want to play the festival and how you go about booking them?
Gary: I keep an ongoing list of bands that I think will fit into Mountain Jam. Since Radio Woodstock is such a great, eclectic station, I get a lot of my inspiration from them. But I also attend a lot of concerts in New York City and the Hudson Valley and I am online listening to emerging artists. My list is divided by categories: established vs emerging, musical genres, and artist fees. Mtn Jam is very musically diverse, so you need to put together a very well rounded lineup that appeals to many different people and age groups and you need to keep within a certain budget. It is very creative and challenging and it ultimately takes 7-8 months for it all to come together.
BA: I’m putting you on the spot. What band are you still hoping you can get to play Mountain Jam at some point and who was your favorite band to ever play Mountain Jam in the past 10 years?
Gary: I would love to see Pearl Jam and Eric Clapton at Mtn Jam one day. You never know! Some of my most memorable Mtn. Jam performances were the Allman Brothers last year playing one of their final shows, Phil Lesh & Friends in 2007 because it brought the festival to a new level, and the Levon Helm 70th birthday party that I organized with many special guests including Alison Krauss and Ray LaMontagne.
BA: I want to bring up a concern about the overzealous security the past few years and how you are being proactive and dealing with the matter for this year’s concert attendees. Can you tell us what will be in place to ensure attendees rights will be respected while attending this year’s festival?
Gary: We brought in a new security team and we weeded out the bad people from last year. We are having a special orientation program on the Wednesday before the festival starts and I will be addressing the team and making sure they understand how to treat our “guests.” I, along with some of my key staff, will make it a priority to be at the entrance gates to make sure that searches are conducted properly.
BA: You don’t see the actual organizer of a show or festival be hands on to ensure that things go smoothly. You are actively going to be at entrances making sure patrons are being searched but not hassled?
Gary:Yes, I have promised many people that things will be done properly at the gates so I want to be there personally to make sure that my personal commitment is fulfilled.
BA: I have to commend you on taking this stand. Many organizers would put their trust into others but you will be right there with them. I want to ask you about being the principal owner of Chet-5 Broadcasting. Are you involved in the day to day operations of Radio Woodstock 100.1?
Gary: I was actively involved in the day to day operations of Radio Woodstock as the General Manager for over 20 years. Last year, I decided to focus on expanding the company’s footprint into live events and digital and video services. So we are promoting our first Craft Beer Festival (The Craft Brew Boogaloo) on Memorial Day weekend and throwing a 35th anniversary one day music festival in September, which we plan to be an annual event. I am also focused on our You Tube channel and launching Woodstock TV online. And we produce a lot of concerts in the Hudson Valley at various theaters and venues.
BA: This will be our first time attending and covering the festival. We are definitely looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the time to talk to BackstageAxxesss and we hope to see you at the festival!
Gary: Thanks to you as well and as we say…”See you on the Mountain!”
We would like to thank Abbe Aronson of Abbe Does It for setting up the interview with Gary. For more ifnromation on Mountain Jam including purchasing tickets, please go to: Mountain Jam Tickets.
