A traditional Thanksgiving meal is a feast for the stomach. Thanksgiving Throwdown is a feast for the ears.
Organized by Spokane pop punk band Free the Jester, the concert is in its ninth year of being a big, loud, welcoming communal gathering for emerging artists and veteran Spokane rockers alike. Typically occurring at the Knitting Factory, this year's lineup heads to the Big Dipper on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
Ahead of the show, we asked the bands and artists on the lineup what they're musically thankful for this year. Here's what they served up.
CAMERON MOORE
(FREE THE JESTER / CAMERXN /
THANKSGIVING THROWDOWN ORGANIZER)
I'm very musically thankful for a lot of things. Obviously, my brothers in my band — Free the Jester has been around for almost 10 years. I've been producing Thanksgiving Throwdown for the last nine years. It's been really cool to start this tradition. I'm just really thankful that we have the opportunity to build something in this town that people look forward to every year. I'm also thankful for all of the fans in this town that have stuck by our side for almost a decade and have literally grown with us.
It's the first year that we're not doing it at the Knitting Factory so it's a little more stripped and back to the basics. We're at the Big Dipper, which is one of my favorite clubs, and I love that Ryan Levy of Monumental is now running it. I'm so thankful for him. He's one of the biggest supporters and saviors of this scene. If it wasn't for Ryan, we wouldn't have much of a scene.
And I'm thankful that we're able to put on this show every year with our friends. I take pride in the lineups [that are] always built up of people that we are personally friends with. There are other people on the bill like Jimmy Nuge, who is playing an acoustic set, [and] who I've looked up to since before I even played music. Then I have my brother Kaleb J on the bill and Tre3zy. It's hard to start playing shows in this town as a new band, so we just took it upon ourselves to start this new thing, start a new scene and bring people together. It turns into one big family where we just keep bringing in new people. For example, Not For Nothing started like six months ago, and it's been great to see those guys grow. We've been trying to get The Pink Socks on the show for the last three years. I'm just thankful for this big family that has just grown immensely over the past 10 years.
NOT FOR NOTHING (COLLECTIVELY)
We decided as a group that we're thankful to Cameron from Free The Jester and Not.GreenDay for giving us the opportunity to play our first show back in April. We're so grateful that he's been giving us a call every time after that and extending more opportunities to us since then.
ALEX SHANNON (THE PINK SOCKS)
I'm thankful that music gives me an outlet. It gives me a chance to express myself and connect with the community. There's nothing like a crowd of people all jumping up and down, screaming the lyrics to an amazing song.
JARED CEREGHINO (THE PINK SOCKS)
I'm really grateful for growing up on pop-punk music. Blink-182 and Fenix TX; also Pennywise.
KALEB J
I'm thankful for local and live music as a whole. Especially within our scene and community. I grew up in our local live scene. I was born and raised in Spokane. So to be able to grow up watching so many different live acts and breakthrough acts from the Pacific Northwest as a kid — The Failsafe Project, The Nixon Rodeo, Myles Kennedy — and then be able to take part in something like that in this community is the most special thing to me. Then also the opportunity to still get to play these venues with some of these larger acts out of Spokane.
I'm also thankful for The Inlander, actually. I go out every Thursday, and I grab the newest copy. You guys do such a great job of keeping people informed. We constantly talk about the direct correlation between keeping our scene alive and having something like The Inlander to continually push local and live music.
JT STENBECK (THE PINK SOCKS)
I'm thankful for my family, Linzy, Grayson, and Hensley. I'm also thankful for my two cats, Mamba and Alley Oop, and my dogs, Dakota and Doyle (RIP Doyle). They are my inspiration for writing music.
NATHAN CHARTREY
I'm thankful for the music scene here in Spokane and the opportunity it's given me to meet cool people and to play around here for as long as I have. Free the Jester, Sovereign Citizen and Nixon Rodeo. All of those guys.
ERIC ACEBO
I would definitely say I'm thankful for the artists who came before me and have inspired me: Atmosphere, Murs, ¡Mayday!. Those are some of the top people that I like a lot and have definitely influenced my music. Also my family, they influence what I write more than anything. I have a whole song called "Letters to Bruno," and Bruno is my son. I talk a lot more about what I'm going through in life than just random things in my music, so I feel like they weigh what I'm writing about at the time.
I'm always thankful to Free the Jester and Cameron for always thinking about me and putting me on these things. I really love the culture they bring with the show.
LANE FLYNN (FREE THE JESTER / FLYNN)
I'm thankful for the rise of Ryan Levy. He's been so instrumental in the scene and in helping me plan out some big things I have in the works for next year.
JEREMY FAGAN (THE PINK SOCKS)
I'd say what I'm most thankful for this season is that no one, as of yet, is forcing me to listen to Mariah Carey... so still... she sleeps... but ever vigilant... ♦
Thanksgiving Throwdown: Free The Jester, The Pink Socks, Not For Nothing, Flynn, Camerxn, Willie Woo Styx, Nuge, Kaleb J, Chartrey, Tr3ezy, Eric Acebo • Wed, Nov. 22 at 5:30 pm • $10 • The Big Dipper • 171 S. Washington St. • thebigdipperspokane.com
