14 Highlights from Suburban Home’s 14th Anniversary weekend

Although there were more than 14 special moments that happened this weekend, I figured I would list 14 of my favorite highlights from Suburban Home’s 14th Anniversary weekend in no particular order. Please add your own thoughts/comments from the weekend. I would love to hear your personal highlights. Nine Bullets has their own recap here. (I stole the photo of myself with Bryan from Nine Bullets from his post)

1. On Friday night, one young patron came up to me and said, “You know, I was thinking about where I was when you started Suburban Home Records, I was in First Grade”. That floored me.
2. It is hard enough to get locals out to see our bands, so it really meant the world to me that people from all over the United States either flew out for the weekend or drove from out of state. In this economy, that is absolutely unbelievable. It felt like there were just as many out of towners as there were local folks.
3. Having Vanessa Speckman, Jana Miller, Vinnie Fasano, and Josh from Look Mexico show of their wares at the Art show in the basement. Next time, we will figure a better way to get people downstairs. You guys all rule.
4. Having Tim Barry who has put out albums on Lookout Records and Fat Wreck (with his band Avail) tell me that I have built something truly special with Suburban Home and that it’s a label he is proud to be on. Having Shane from Two Cow Garage tell me that ever since they started their band, they wanted their band to be part of a family and saying that they found that with Suburban Home.
5. At our garage sale, I had figured each of our artists would play sets, but instead, they passed the guitar around and took turns playing songs. This is what playing music is all about. It was amazing to see our bands taking turns singing their hearts out to each other. Seeing Tim Barry pass the guitar to Josh Small who passed it to Austin Lucas who passed it to Micah from Two Cow who passed it to Shane from Two Cow who passed it to Devon from The Takers who passed it to Andy Thomas and so on. Look Mexico later played an unplugged set that was just out of sight.
6. Seeing our bands play together made me a proud papa. Having Two Cow Garage back Austin Lucas was a holy shit moment, seeing them back Jon Snodgrass again was and is always a fantastic time. Seeing Austin share the stage with almost everyone was extra special. Austin Lucas played almost the entire set with Mike Hale and it sounded so good. Seeing Josh Small and Tim Barry share the stage is always something special.
7. The weather for our BBQ and Washer’s Tournament was perfect. I was concerned because the day before was cold and rainy. Washington park was beautiful and everyone had an amazing time. I cooked a rack of ribs that turned out just perfect and did a lot of grilling and beer drinking. Our friends, the Fogals, won the Washers Tournament. Congrats to them. And thanks for bringing Stump, people had a great time with that.
8. While everyone played incredibly, I think one of the highlights for me was Josh Small’s set. Since I first saw Josh jamming with Snodgrass and Tim Barry in Snod’s garage, to his performances this past weekend, he has really come into his own and the audience were so into it. You could see Josh smiling from ear to ear as he played because he was having so much fun. And Tim Barry’s sets are always powerful, but on this particular night, it was off the charts. He ended his set by unplugging his guitar, going into the audience, and singing with everyone in the crowd. It brought me to tears.
9. Having our newest bands pop their cherry at our 14th Anniversary: Look Mexico, In the Red, and The Takers. All played so well and seeing them all meet our other bands was really special.
10. All the great covers that were performed: Jr Juggernaut doing “Trouble” by Cat Stevens. Mike Hale doing “Skulls” by the Misfits, Chad Price doing “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin” by Journey. Ninja Gun doing “21st Century Boy” by T Rex and “Listen to Her Heart” by Tom Petty. Two Cow Garage doing “American Girl” by Tom Petty. Jon Snodgrass and Two Cow Garage doing “Dancing in the Moonlight” by Thin Lizzy and “Can’t Hardly Wait” by the Replacements. The Revenge doing “New Noise” by Refused.
11. Hearing from so many people that our little record label means the world to them. That they value our role in providing a soundtrack for their lives. In so many ways running a small, indie label is a labor of love and can be a thankless job. Hearing all the kind words makes me feel as though we are doing something great.
12. Suburban Home is a small label that doesn’t see a lot of sales in record stores or with distributors. This weekend made me re-realize that putting out music isn’t about record sales, it is about making a connection with my friends through music. I feel so fortunate to have so many friends through music who care about and support our little label.
13. When I think about my hopes and dreams with starting Suburban Home back in 1995, I could have never imagined accomplishing all that I have accomplished. I would have called you crazy that we would have been able to get people from all over the world to come out to support our 14th Anniversary. It is easy to overlook how far your experiences have taken you and take things for granted, but this weekend, I thought a lot about when I started Suburban Home in the closet of my college house.
14. Having members of the Gaslight Anthem and their crew come out for the 2nd night of our Anniversary. Somehow the stars aligned because it is rare for a tour to have a night off on a Saturday night and had they had a show that same night in Denver, it would have really hurt our show. Gaslight are just the greatest folks.
15. Having Matt Page come up to me and tell me that the our little record label brings together some of the most interesting, nice, and fun people from around the world. I never thought about it this way, but I could not agree more with Mr Page. Our friends through music tend to be friendly, like to party, and have many interests that extend beyond music. Knowing that our releases speak to the type of people I would want to be friends with really reinforces my signature, MY FRIENDS THROUGH MUSIC.

So yes, that was 15, but I could go on and on. From the very bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. Thank you for 14 years. Thanks for your support. Thanks for seeing our bands. Thanks for making our music the soundtrack to your night out. Thanks for coming out for our 14th Anniversary weekend. Next year is 15 years. Let’s figure out how we can top this year. I love every one of you.

Your Friend Through Music, Virgil Dickerson