by Amanda Davis

First started in 2010, AM/FM is a one day festival in Gainesville that celebrates local talent. An eclectic mix of acoustic, rock, electronic, and more, the event showcases the incredible musical diversity our town has to offer. This year’s performances—taking place at The Bull, How Bazar, and Loosey’s—offered a chance to discover new artists, jam out to some you already know and love, and soak up that Florida sun as you make your way between venues. At the end of the day, I had a chance to interview Marshal Patrick, one of the organizers of AM/FM…

Can you tell me a bit about how the event started?

AM/FM started in 2010…it was always meant to be free, local, independent, and have the diverse sections of Gainesville’s music scene to come together. It was very low budget, DIY… kind of a party. [Originally] it was held in a single venue, at what is now Vivid Music Hall. It was 08 Seconds then, and we did it there ‘cause we could get it for free. There were three organizers: myself, Jose Perierro, and Dante Lima. Dante graduated and moved to Orlando, got married, and it just kind of stopped. The reason we started doing it again is Brandon from Music GNV—who’s a great ambassador for Gainesville music—had a conversation with Danny Hughes [of Loosey’s Downtown], and somehow AM/FM came up. It intrigued him, so we had a meeting and we talked about it…like “yeah, this is what we did, these are the principles of it”…and we wanted to do it again.

When was the last one before this?

2012—that long ago. I mean 13 years, shit… So it’s really cool that we had some legacy people here—the people that played in Jordan Burchel’s band, and Ricky Kendall. Ricky played in multiple early AM/FMs.

Will there be another AM/FM next year?

I think so, with the way today went. We’ll probably tweak a couple things.

And it’s all local bands, right?

Always. All local, all independent, always free.

Do you have any favorite Gainesville bands or artists?

At this AM/FM, I really liked Quil, I liked Rugh, Jordan Burchel is always really great…and of course, that Marshal Patrick was amazing!

Anything else you’d like to say?

Hey, Gainesville—look how much fuckin’ talent is in this town! There’s always been and there always will be.

You can follow AM/FM on Instagram @amfmfestival to stay updated!