Forty-eight hours to create a 20-minute set of two covers and one original song with three people he’d never worked with before — that was the test Henderson area guitarist Farmer Josh Reinitz and 22 other musicians were tasked with completing in the Minnesota Original Music Festival’s one-of-a-kind battle of the bands: the 48-Hour Band Challenge.
For the past three years, Reinitz has helped put on the Minnesota Original Music Festival’s calendar of live music performances, songwriting showcases and workshops for new and upcoming musicians, but this was his first time entering the St. Peter-based music festival’s signature challenge, which tests musicians on their ability to think on their feet and collaborate with complete strangers.
Hosts Cara Lucille and “Punk Rock” Tom Heffernan gathered 48-Hour Band Challenge participants at Paddlefish Brewing Co. on July 17 to announce that this year’s challenge would have the bands pay tribute to the great artists which came before them.
After they paired the contestants together in random groups of four or five, the hosts drew balls out of a bingo cage associated with famous artists like Madonna, The Beatles and Prince. Each band would be required to pay tribute to one of these artists by performing a cover of one of their songs, the song of another famous band chosen at random in their style and to create an original song based on the artist’s work that includes the word “Mom” in the lyrics.” For the live performance at Patrick’s on Third on Friday, the bands would also be required to come in costume and perform a costume change during their set.
Reinitz found himself in an interesting position, being in the only band which lacked a drummer. But with his new partners, Mankato area singer Peter Garner, Le Sueur guitarist Terry Stark and cellist Leah Johnson, he embraced the oppotunity to create a country-infused set based on the stylings of the legendary Dolly Parton.
Over the next 48 hours, the quartet devised a setlist including their own original song, a cover of Dolly Parton’s 1980 hit single “9 to 5” and a Parton-style cover of The Kinks’ 1964 proto-punk anthem “You Really Got Me.” Of course, without a drummer, the band couldn’t put together a traditional rock-and-roll sounding perfomance like the other competitors, so the band opted to go with a stripped-down acoustic approach that focused on the songwriting and having fun with the assignment.
That approach paid off on Friday when Dolly’s Angels went up against four other bands in front of a panel of judges and a packed house at Patrick’s on Third. The impromptu bands duked it out with mashups of The Rolling Stones and Queen, Prince and Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry and Johnny Cash and Madonn and the Beatles. But in the end it was Dolly’s Angels who took home the coveted first place trophy, with Garner also receiving the award for Best Vocalist and Reinitz tying with bassist Mark Krogrmann for the Krogmann Best Instrumentalist award.
Though Reinitz is a veteran musician with over 30 years of experience under his belt, he said going through the 48-Hour Band Challenge taught him important lessons on what it means to be a performer.
“It’s more about the energy you put forth to the audience than about what part you’re playing, or what kind of instruments you have, it’s really all about your attitude and the energy you give out,” said Reinitz. “That is very much a lesson that I learned as a musician and despite my career of doing music, I don’t know if I’ve really thought of it like that and I’m going to carry that lesson forward into my music career.”
Creating opportunities for musical growth through networking, workshops and unconventional challnges like the 48-Hour Band Challenge is what the Minnesota Original Music Festival is all about. Developed three years ago by festival head Eli Hoehn and a group of volunteers, MOMF aims to connect veteran musicians and give a leg up to new and upcoming artists to further the development of original music. Over the five day period between July 17 and July 21, the festival featured workshops where musicians could hone their songwriting craft and learn about the music industry as well as discussion forums with area songwriters and composers.
“It’s a great networking event. I met some potential new collaborators who were in other bands. Just by hanging out after the competition I met some kindred spirits,” said Reinitz. “And so connecting people and of the workshops that they do about songwriting and navigating the music industry is really important.”
The two-day concert series in Minnesota Square Park throughout Saturday and Sunday served a similar purpose in elevating emerging artists by having area bands like Waking Hours — a St. Peter-based indie-rock band led by a quartet of Gustavus students — performing on the same stage as nationally touring Minnesota rock jam band The Big Wu.
Hoehn said he’s observed an increasing level of attendance at the MOMF workshops at Paddlefish and Patrick’s over Thursday and Friday, which he partially credited to the decision to move the workshops from their previous location St. Peter High School, to the downtown establishments.
While Sunday morning’s thunderstorms dampened attendance during the early hours of the day, Hoehn noted that MOMF saw some of its biggest crowds yet when the Big Wu came out to perform as the day’s headliner.
After the rain and the Big Wu came in, we probably had the biggest turnout we ever had for years,” said Hoehn.
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