A better way to festival: Ricardo Baca’s guide to enjoying the Underground Music Showcase

Go to enough festivals, and you pick up a few things. For one, who you know (the bouncer, the tour manager) is always much more useful than what you know (the schedule, the location of the bar). For another, being hungover won’t ever make you as late as being hung up in traffic. That’s what Ricardo Baca regrettably found out at last year’s Sasquatch Festival in Washington, and one of the things that he warns about for this year’s Underground Music Showcase. (A better tip: “I’d encourage people to park over off Lincoln instead of Broadway,” he says, “because everyone tries to park off Broadway.”) His advice doesn’t go without some knowing: He’s the founder of the UMS and is a bit of a music nomad, having logged miles from Coachella and Noise Pop to South By Southwest and back. Before this year’s UMS, going down this weekend at various venues on South Broadway, Baca provided The A.V. Club with his own personal compendium of knowledge, gleaned from years of traveling the festival circuit.

1. It’s a music festival, not a runway
Ricardo Baca: It doesn’t really matter what you look like. I was growing my hair out a little bit [in 2003 during Coachella], and I had a lot of weird, random people coming up and telling me, “Oh, wow, you look like Jack White.” Or asking me if I was Jack White, which was insane. But it was purely because it was so hot out there—it’s like 95, 100 degrees, depending on the day—and I would constantly go over to the water station and stick my head under the water. You come out and you’re drenched and you look like a wet dog and you’re a mess. But, point being, it doesn’t matter—you have to take care of yourself.

2. It’s a music festival, not last week’s rock show
RB: It’s easy if you’re going to a music festival to just say, “Oh, I love this band. Let’s go see them.” But music festivals are the place of discovery, and you really should get out of your comfort zone. See the band you’ve heard about or the band you’ve never heard of—oftentimes it can be an incredibly rewarding experience.

AVC: What do you recommend on this year’s UMS lineup?

RB: Candy Claws is getting its due—they’re just a blast live. And China Venture, they just changed their name again, but I think they’re a great band. And also Caleb Slade—it’s interesting that Isaac from The Fray has a little brother who’s a singer-songwriter himself and doing good work.

3. Make nice with the performers
RB: Artists don’t get nearly the praise and the pay that they deserve, and that’s so much the reason why we do [the UMS]. We want to get them seen. Whether it’s a big festival or a small festival, I think an artist almost always appreciates a thoughtful comment or a thoughtful hello, even a question. That makes an artist’s day sometimes.

4. Breakfast is the most important (and oftentimes only) meal of the festival day
RB: Festivals take a lot out of you. They’re brutal. You’re on your on feet for the most part all day. And chances are that once you get into the swing of the festival, whether you’re drinking or whether you’re not, you’re not going to take the opportunity to have a solid dinner. It’s a slice of Famous pizza. It’s a quick corndog from Sputnik, if you can even wait for that. Last year [during the UMS], I tried to have breakfast every day at the Irish Rover.

5. Backpacking rules apply
RB: It’s two things for me: One is sustenance, the other is basic care. I always have sunscreen, and I’m always giving sunscreen to my friends. And I also have those Nature Valley granola bars—you’ll go through a couple boxes in the course of a weekend.

AVC: Anything for sleep deprivation?

RB: I’ve been sleeping in more and more [during the UMS], especially the last couple of years since we introduced after-hours parties. That’s just brutal. And to be honest, I was a wimp last year. I didn’t last nearly as late as I usually do. This year, my goal is to make it until close, which is 4 or 5 a.m. all three nights. We’ll see if that happens.

AVC: The UMS seems to get bigger and longer every year.

RB: I know! Last year, we went out to four days and there was definitely concern that it was too much. But we found out that Denver is totally ready for it.

6. More than anything, know your limits
RB: I was on a three-day train to get [to the Blues At Bridgetown Festival in Australia] from Sydney, so not only was I completely exhausted, but I was also utterly ramped up to spend time with people because I had been on a train by myself for three days. I definitely didn’t know my limits there. I went overboard without paying attention to food and sleep, and did not have my granola bars and did not have my sunscreen. It didn’t ruin the festival for me, but it definitely hindered the day. As they say, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.