When you think of heading out for a concert, you may immediately think of heading out to a big city like Los Angeles or San Francisco, but more and more events are popping up right here in your own backyard. San Luis Obispo has a bustling popular music scene with many venues for up and coming local artists in addition to more well known, touring performers.
Instead of fleeing SLO, music promoters have committed to building events locally. Stoke the World, Nightlife Savings and Life’s A Peach are music festivals launched by SubSessions, a local production company that’s at the forefront of the trend.
It all began with an event called iT, a music collective run by former Cal Poly students. “iT was a group of friends who wanted to create something that inspired true self expression,” said Wes Berger, SubSessions co-founder, creative director, and self-described visionary.
In the span of about ten days, they found a location in the Pozo hills and then promoted the event “by word of mouth, thought-provoking posts on social media and a location drop on the day of,” Berger said.
“More people than we expected, probably 100 people, showed up to the all-night-long ‘renegade,’” Berger said. He describes “renegade” events as outdoor, underground, free or donation-based with minimal promotion.
“The conversations and stories from after that magical weekend in May 2016 inspired us to try and repeat iT.”
In May 2017, the group hosted iT 2 at an abandoned mine shaft in a similar area. “The Mineshaft was a turning point for my own realizations that event production was something I wanted to put much more into,” Berger said.
It was through these events that Berger connected with the other co-founders, A.J. Absy, Austin Hanrath, Chrstian Panong and Kelly Riddler.
“Between the five of us, I felt like we had great chemistry, plus complementary interests and skills,” Berger said.
The first time all the founders got together was about two weeks before the first SubSession event.
“We then decided, in iT fashion, to do a last-minute event at the Mineshaft on October 21, 2017,” said Berger. “That was the original SubSession.”
The initially underground SubSessions has grown to around 60 members who call themselves “the family.” A board of more than 15 directors collaborate to put on new events. There’s a lot of internal management going on behind the scenes, Berger said.
Now the SubSessions group is doing events at established venues every few weeks. On the off weeks, they help with other organizations’ events in addition to attending and collaborating at friends’ events. They also put on two or three of their own outdoor festivals annually. These require them to build and bring everything including the infrastructure, stage and sound.
When asked how many events they put on, Berger’s response was, “As much as our bodies permit.”
“We all have different ideas,” said co-founder AJ Absy, who is also the group’s lead audio technician and production manager. “Everyone has a different skill set: environmental waste management, sculpture, lighting … . We all come to the table to decide ‘what story do we want to tell?’”
Absy’s personal mission is to provide people with an experience that helps them grow and live. “I want someone in a tough time to have our event allow them to get out,” he said. “I want our dream and vision to positively affect the world.”
“I think we’ve brought a lot of the community together,” Berger said. Upon moving to SLO in 2015, he had been blown away by the “unique and interesting things going on and the incredibly talented people that surrounded [him],” he said. “It just seemed like there wasn’t much direction or focus on the larger community that is SLO. Rather than getting held up in competition, we put our energy into collaboration.”
SubSessions will soon be expanding events into different venues in Downtown SLO, Berger said. His goal for SubSessions is to “not only be a centerpiece for SLO music, arts and events but to expand our skills and endeavors all over the world promoting collaboration, sustainability and community through the arts, expressions and events.”
SLOcal sounds 