Spending a rainy night under Kellogg was fun for organizer Matthew Clagg.

The unexpected closing of a venue a few years ago at the last minute left Clagg and several local Wichita bands outside in a parking lot for the annual ICT Fest musical festival, until it started to rain. Surprisingly, that didn’t keep Clagg from having fun.  

ICT Fest is just one part of the greater Wichita music scene, which Clagg said is going places.

He described ICT Fest as “organizing all the chaos of Wichita’s music scene into one, three-day event.”

In its 11th year, the latest festival included 45 bands in genres ranging from noise rock, punk, hip-hop and electronic Thursday through Saturday at El Vaquero, a venue near downtown Wichita.

Animal Parade

The festival provides an opportunity for newer and younger musicians, such as Wichita State senior Taylor Harding, to get more exposure and experience.

Harding is studying to be a teacher, but he is also the drummer for his band, Animal Parade, which plays alternative and indie rock music. Although the band has only been together for about a year, they already have about 600 fans.

Animal Parade has been working on its first studio-recorded album. A CD release show is scheduled for 9 p.m. Saturday at Rock Island Live, 101 N. Rock Island.

“I want to play more shows around the Midwest,” Harding said, “Record some more, get out there more. We don’t want to be the next Foo Fighters, but I want to play more shows around the region.”

Faux Reality

Faux Reality played at ICT Fest last year. The band consists of twin brothers — WSU senior Thomas Hays and junior James Hays — and junior Garret Armstrong.

They have been together as a band for eight years and grew up and graduated together from El Dorado High School.  

Thomas said he thinks the beginning of the band was in middle school when he and James saw another student (Armstrong) wearing Chuck Taylor’s with flames on them. James walked up, put his arm around Armstrong and said, “We’re going to be best friends.”

The band started off as a Green Day cover band but now Thomas said their sound is mostly described as rock with some jazz, but they’re trying to experiment with everything.

“The sensation you get when you listen to the music is kind of like a dream,” Hays said. “You have little control over what happens.”

You can catch Faux Reality at their next show at 9 p.m. Oct. 30 at John Barleycorns, 608 E. Douglas, or visit fauxreality.org for more information.

LIMITS

Wichita State junior Nick Hale sings vocals for LIMITS, a metal-core band in Wichita. Hale juggles a part-time job, a full-time schedule at WSU, a married life, volunteering at a church and his time playing with the band.

“I do [all of it] because I love it,” he said.

Hale said LIMITS is supposed to be a positive influence in an otherwise dark genre.

LIMITS plays at 8 p.m. Thursday at The Rusty Needle, 1808 N. Plum St. in Hutchinson. The band will also play Nov. 17 and 23 at Rock Island Live in Old Town with Dance Gavin Dance and Hundredth.

“The (alternative) scene in Wichita is getting better, but it’s not good right now,” Hale said.

Hale, Thomas, Harding and Clagg were all in agreement: the alternative scene of music in Wichita is improving. Many bands can be found in Wichita at places like John Barleycorns, Rock Island Live, The Elbow Room, Brickyard and Lizards Lounge throughout the week.

Clagg said he’s at odds with the repeated saying, “There is nothing to do in Wichita.”

“If you don’t think something is going on,” he said, “no matter where you’re at, it’s because you’re not looking.”