Sunstock Solar Festival brings sustainable jams

Gainesville will host a completely solar-powered music event called Sunstock Solar Festival on Friday night.

The idea for the sustainable festival was created by Los Angeles band Trapdoor Social, the event’s headlining band.

Trapdoor Social’s Skylar Funk met Merritt Graves while they both were studying environmental analysis at Pomona College in Southern California. The future band members bonded over a shared love of music and interest in sustainability, Funk, the group’s vocalist, said.

The band, which consists of Funk, Graves, Louie Gonzalez, Ben Ebert and Patrick Griffen, has made its mission to utilize alternative sources of energy, particularly solar energy, to power its tours.

Sunstock Solar Festival of Gainesville will be held at Swamp Head Brewery, the first solar-powered brewery in Florida, said Brandon Nappy, the brewery’s marketing director.

The brewery’s reputation for being a company committed to sustainability made it the perfect choice to host the music festival.

“When we see other people who are really trying to break the mold and trying to come up with innovative ideas…It’s important to us to be able to help get the message out,” Nappy said.

Trapdoor Social’s first Sunstock Solar Festival was in Los Angeles this past June. Now, the band is on tour doing solar-powered shows.

“We’re not the first people to do it,” Funk said, “but we don’t have very many models to follow, so we’re willing to pioneer this thing.”

Putting on these shows is all about creating a discussion for sustainability, Griffen, the band’s bassist, said.

“Generally we’re stronger in our numbers if everybody is kind of together on the same page,” he said. “That’s when things start to move a lot more quickly.”

Making connections with people is important to the band. These connections with other bands and “solar partners” help sponsor events and let Trapdoor Social put on bigger and better sustainable shows.

For this event, Re-Tech Repair Experts and Solar Impact are local partners. Griffen said one major Re-Tech-sponsored innovation at the festival will be solar-powered phone-charging stations.

The festival is more than just drinking beer and having a good time. While the band wants people to have fun and let loose, the members also want to create a dialogue about the need for sustainability in the fight against climate change.

“The main underlying message here is to promote environmental sustainability and to tell the world that solar power is ready,” Griffen said.

The Savants of Soul, Ceramicats, Duppies, Latchkey and The Forum will also play at the festival.

The Forum, an alternative rock band made up of current and former UF students, started writing and recording music in December 2015, said Michael Higgins, a 21-year-old UF telecommunication junior and the band’s guitarist and vocalist.

When Trapdoor Social asked Alex Klausner, the drummer of The Savants of Soul, to round up bands willing to play for the festival, little-known band The Forum made the list.

Higgins said he had never heard of a music festival being completely powered by the Sun, but he thought it would spark a lot of conversation among concertgoers.

“When people hear about that, I think it will kind of be intriguing,” he said. “It’s a cool way to get people interested in (sustainability).”

Funk said the more he studies the issues that are shaping our world, the more he is convinced of the need for a stronger movement for sustainability.

Bringing people together with music has been Trapdoor Social’s way of doing its part in the environmental movement.

“Our generation has a lot of work to do,” Funk said.

Sunstock Solar Festival will be held from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m at Swamp Head Brewery, located at 3650 SW 42nd Ave. The event is free and open to all ages.