Brat-tober-fest creator Michael Alexander on Max Ink Radio

brought toberfest. It's happening September 20 through the 22nd at the crystal

grand theater in Wisconsin, Dells. And on the phone with us right now is the

music programmer for not only brought toberfest, but for brought fest. Michael

Alexander, welcome to maxing radio.

What's happening? How are you guys doing tonight? Oh, man, good to hear from

you tonight. Now we have the big show coming up next weekend. And I was

wondering if you could tell me a little bit about first the festival and then

and then why we're having this now out in September. Yeah, yeah, you bet. So a

little bit of backstory. We will start with why, right? Why don't we do that?

Okay. He was hungry for brats, Rucker. Yeah, I just, you know, I eat

brats. You're long. And I was like, how come I only can eat

brats? Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. Like I like to publicly eat

brats. And I just, you know, it feels weird at home, right? Right? Yeah.

Um, so, uh, we had rain out, right? Like we, we were facing a about a

$600,000 loss. We maneuvered some stuff and, uh, you know, uh, the

Metcalfs lost about 150,000 out of their own pocket. And, uh, you know,

they, uh, honestly, they're incredible human beings. And, uh, they've looked

out for me and I got to look out for them. So we're throwing an event at, uh, at

my venue at the crystal grand. And, uh, Tom and I are donating 100% of the

ticket sales and half of all of the beer sales, um, uh, two

broadcasts. And we're throwing a huge party, uh, Friday, Saturday, and

Sunday with, uh, we tried to get as many of the bands as we could that

were rained out because it's not just about raising money for the

charity. Um, it's also about, uh, you know, I get about a thousand

submissions every year for broadcast. And it's a big deal to get to play

broadcasts. Yeah. And so I didn't want all of those bands to be

disappointed. And, uh, it's also a pretty big deal to play the crystal

grand, you know, so it's a nice consolation prize to have all those

bands up here. Um, now we've added, uh, let's see, we added Montgomery

Gentry, uh, so for the, the headliners, I don't, everybody's excited about

iron plow, but there's other bands. Wait, we're not the headliner.

It's the first time hearing this. Yeah, yeah, I know that, uh, it's all about

iron plow, but there's other bands that are on the bill. Yeah, I saw Tantric. I'm

excited about them. Yeah, Hugo and I have been friends for many years.

It's nice to be working with him again. We had a, a following out

actually years ago after he didn't show up to a show. And I needed to

sing his set with his bass player in front of, uh, 5,000 people. Wow.

And, uh, let me tell you, when people come to see Tantric, they don't want to see

Michael Alexander front the band. Right. Right.

I mean, that's true. Sure it's fantastic. They got the, uh, the wish version

of Tantric that day. So, uh, we had a following out, but he's back, uh,

we're buddies again. Everything's all good. You know, sometimes, uh, you know,

uh, you know, there's, there's hiccups in the road, right? Um, but Tantric will be

there on Friday, uh, the headliners on Friday are, I'd

let's see Tantric, Bucky Covington, and Montgomery Gentry. Now Troy passed away

some years ago, but Eddie will still be here and it'll be all the hit songs from

Montgomery Gentry. They have like, not like 10 top 40 hits or something.

It's incredible. Um, Saturday, uh, sand, which is a band that I have, uh,

you know, been in for about 20 years, which makes me about 25, you know,

I sort of real. Yeah. Um, with sand, it's going to be the last show with weight. Um,

now I don't know if, uh, if I don't know if we'll keep doing stuff, you know,

I took 10 years off, right? So I don't know if we'll keep doing stuff, but, uh,

we know definitively that weight is moving and it'll be sand,

sand, sunspot, uh, boveflex, and, uh, wailin, all on, on that Saturday night. Wow.

Um, oh, come out and take a bite to, uh, Wade and, uh, you know, obviously boveflex and wailin

are bands that I've been touring with for many, many years. Uh, I have a side project with

Mitch and Phil. Um, actually we'll be out in a couple weeks again, or the three of us just, uh,

we play our songs and then a bunch of covers, uh, to, you know, a lot of fun, a lot of history

there. And then Sunday, um, the, it's mostly local, uh, it's mostly local acts on Sunday. So

I'm looking forward to that. It's actually free on, uh, Friday, um, so there's a, uh,

the show starts at five. There is stuff outside for free. So come and get a beer, you know,

get a broth. We're gonna have a jumbo tron, uh, showing music videos of the bands. Um,

there will be a beer 10 out front. All of that is free to come in after five. There is a,

it's a ticketed event. Everybody that buys a ticket on Friday, I'm offering a $5,500 gift card

to one person. You have to buy a ticket and show up on Friday and a $5,500 gift card on Saturday.

All you have to do is buy a ticket and then Tantric will pick the winner on Friday and

Wayland will pick the winner on Saturday. Wow. And, uh, it's tickets for an entire year. I just

want you guys to come out to support Brafess. Um, also giving away sign guitars. We're giving away

front row seats. Uh, we're throwing the house at this because I really just want Brafess to

keep going and we really need to raise money for the charity. Um, because Brafess means so much

to so many people. So essentially, Brafess is taking over the crystal grand for the weekend. Wow.

September 20 through the 22nd at the crystal grand theater in Wisconsin, Dells. It's

brought toberfest. I saw locals playing there, uh, like Power Take Off. That's with uh,

Paul Schluter, son, uh, Iron Plow, Sunspot, Mars Hall, Mickey Magnum, a ton of local bands,

but there's more info. Uh, Andy, I know that, uh, Andy Meyer, I hope that, yeah, some,

yeah, there's, uh, Anna is going to be playing. There's a ton of local bands. Uh, little side note,

I manage Power Take Off and, uh, we just got them signed to striker and virgin records worldwide.

You can see them on board, Delaware, Wisconsin. We're dropping their new record on the 27th. Uh,

they'll be here and, uh, yeah, that's exciting. It'll be the last, uh, show they play before

their new album, uh, drops with virgin records. Wow. Power Take Off and Scotty Tyson's in that band too,

right? Yeah. So it's Scotty Tyson, um, and Ethan, whose Paul Schluter's son, Scotty Tyson was

in the Wyzenheimers. Yeah. Go, go, go, go. He was my backup drummer for years. He and I are

dear friends. Uh, he reached out to me a couple of years ago. He had music. He had written. I've

kind of been coaching him quietly. Uh, we took him out to record with my buddies in Colorado. Uh,

Scott Wilson. Then we hooked him up with Kid Rocks, Matt Old Manager Steve, uh,

Hutton for a while. I didn't like how it was going. So I took it in house, uh, and then that was

probably a couple of months ago. And, uh, we, you know, I started chopping them and we, we got

on the old record deal and things are nice. Look, congratulations. Well, you can get more info at

brot dash tober dash fest dot com. That's brot dash tober dash fest dot com. And we've been

speaking with Oh, just go to crystal brand. Yeah, just go to crystal grand dot com or brot fest dot com.

Both of those will take you exactly where you need to go. The crystal grand dot com. You can

buy the tickets. Uh, that's probably a cleaner way to get there, you know, or even if you go to

brot fest dot com, you'll get hit with that splash page and it'll send you in the right direction.

Perfect. That's what we need to know. It is brot tober fest next weekend at the crystal grand

theater in Wisconsin, Delos. Michael, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us about

this great event that's happening next weekend. Yeah. And I'm at the venue right now, setting up for

tomorrow's card show, uh, first hundred people through the door, get free tickets to a show.

9 a.m. Come and join me. I'll probably be here for a few more hours because, uh, that's all I do is work.

Nice. So I appreciate you guys having me on. I'm looking forward to your set. Uh, honestly,

all, uh, I really enjoy the music and the iron plow stuff. So I'm excited to see it live in

in color. Nice. Thank you, Michael. Appreciate it. We'll see you next weekend.

Hey, great guys. Yeah. All right. Well, right now we're going to listen to actually a little bit of

Mickey Magnum. They're going to be playing there on Sunday. This is a throwback. This is gypsy lover.

Maxing radio. We are local music.