“I’ve been playing drums since I was seven. I’m 26 now, so it’s been my whole life,” says Marcus Ohanesian, local musician, manager, and festival entrepreneur, of his career is music. While his work has taken him through varying degrees of the business – performance, management, promotion, and design, to name a few – for Marcus, it’s always been about the music.
First starting a band at age 13, Marcus now plays drums in local band Miars. “It’s a funky rock group with a female singer, so we have that jazzy vocal, Ella Fitzgerald type of voice,” explains Marcus. “I prefer the fun, upbeat funk, and that’s what’s so fun about being in Miars – it’s groove-oriented rock.”
While he’s been playing music in his own groups and joining other bands for recording sessions for almost two decades, Marcus also delves into the business side of the music industry. Starting out by handling the bookings and promotion for his own band, Marcus took a liking to the process of setting up and promoting shows. Soon after other local bands began to ask Marcus to help them book their shows and Marcus formed Honor Roll Productions. “I gave it a name and it’s own identity, built a website and started booking shows for other bands in the Worcester area,” he says. “Now I book at three clubs: Tammany Hall, Ralph’s Diner, and Lucky Dog.”
Working with Honor Roll Productions Marcus enjoys working with many local bands rather than sticking to a set roster of performers. “As a promoter you like to stick with the bands that draw a lot of people, and obviously I have enjoy the music if I’m going to book them,” he laughs. “I’m going to be there at the show. I don’t want to sit there and listen to crappy bands.” Most recently Marcus headed out on the road with Worcester’s Herra Terra, an electro-pop group, traveling on a two-week tour to Austin for the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. “It’s my first tour and my first South by Southwest experience,” affirms Marcus, “I’m really excited to have that new experience and have that adventure: being stuck in a van with five other dudes.”
SXSW may be a new festival for Marcus, but he’s no stranger to epic music events. Last September Marcus hosted the inaugural Open Road Festival, a day-long event at Institute Park promoting environmental friendliness and, most importantly, great local music.
“The whole idea behind it is to have an awesome music festival based around the music. There are other features and elements and variables that go into it such as the vendors, the kids’ area, the painters, and all the other good stuff that’s fun when you’re there, but just like Honor Roll Productions it’s based around the music. I have to like the music, it has to be receptive to the people there and contribute to a fun, family-friendly Saturday afternoon.”
So, just how does one go about starting a festival from the ground up? Planning, lists, researching, organizing, phone calls, and plenty of support and suggestions from friends. “It was lots of time put into one day out of the whole year. It seems absurd to think about all that time and work for six months just leading up to one day,” admits Marcus. “I was telling people it was like having my baby – I was having my baby that day, and it was a good feeling to get it out.”
To Marcus, organizing an all-day event in a public park naturally requires eco-friendly choices. “Anyone could book an outdoor event or even a club show, but you have to think about it in a smart sense where what you’re doing has an impact, you know?” voices Marcus. To provide an eco-friendly atmosphere for the festival, Marcus obtained green certified porta-potties, recycled toilet paper, and a bio-diesel generator to power the entire festival. Additionally, all promotional items – from posters to tickets to t-shirts – were printed using organic and recycled materials.
This year Marcus is already planning to make the 2011 Open Road Festival bigger and better. Currently he and his partner John Galufo, Head of Production for the festival, are reviewing band, vendor and sponsorship submissions. Marcus explains the goal is to book all new acts and hopefully some new vendors, but to keep the musicians and businesses local. “That’s another overall theme [of the festival] besides being eco-friendly: promoting local,” he states, “We want to showcase a lot of the local businesses whether they’re a restaurant or food business or just someone in their house doing arts and crafts that wants to sell some goods.”
Of course the ultimate goal is getting more people to come to the actual event. As Marcus says, his first task is making people aware that something like his festival is happening. “In my view once you get people to that point of them knowing about the event, how can you not want to go?” he questions “To me it sounds like an awesome time – 10-plus bands, 30-plus vendors, live artwork and a kids’ area on a beautiful day in September? There’s nothing wrong with that. But I’m a little biased.”
With all the work put into this musical career, we’d be biased too.
Open Road Festival
September 10, 2011
11am – 6pm
Institute Park, Worcester
