“Surely there has to be a dark side? He can’t be all laughs and good times.”
My editors were pressing me for something a little more … dramatic about Urian Hackney for this issue’s cover story. To be clear, they wanted the facts, but they were concerned — perhaps understandably so — that I might be basically hanging with a pal rather than asking the tough questions. While I never managed to make Hackney sob like a baby or admit to having a secret feud with Rusty “the Logger” DeWees, I wasn’t serving up softballs, I swear.
The fact is, Hackney is a pretty good-natured dude. And when he does shit-talk, he’s smart enough to look at me and say, “Off the record.”
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There was one point he didn’t shy away from, however: the woefulness of Vermont’s hard-rock scene.
“It fucking bums me out, man,” he told me as he flew back to Burlington from Nashville after a summer tour with post-punk chaos agents the Armed. The band has been blowing up, showing up on the covers of magazines such as Kerrang! and getting features in the New York Times and the Guardian ahead of the release of its album Perfect Saviors.
“I was hanging backstage the other night with Jay and Theo,” Hackney told me, very casually mentioning his hang with Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg and Queens of the Stone Age drummer Jon Theodore. “I kept telling them to come play in Vermont, and Jay wasn’t sure how it would go. I’m like, Shit — Slipknot has played festivals with bigger audiences than Vermont’s entire population.”
While I’m pretty sure a Slipknot show would sell out, I do get Hackney’s point. You don’t see many big rock shows in Vermont these days. That’s partly due to the venues available: It’s hard to picture a metal show at Shelburne Museum or on the Burlington waterfront (though I would be very down to be proved wrong — nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
Having imbibed a few mimosas from the airport bar at that point, Hackney started planning his own Burlington rock fest.
“I think I could make it happen,” he said. “I do! What if I asked the Armed and Queens, or we tried to get Iggy Pop to play the waterfront? Why not?
“It’s the way music in this town is booked,” he went on. “It’s just a bunch of bros trying to stick jam bands down our fucking throats or one of the thousand folk bands who come through. There’s nothing wrong with that stuff, but it’s all we get now, and I’m so over it.”
While he’s quick to shout out his love for everything the Waking Windows crew does, Hackney feels that the hard-rock/metal/punk community never recovered after 242 Main shut down along with Memorial Auditorium in 2016.
“We’re back to being a community where hardcore bands play in people’s basements,” he said. “I love a basement show, but they’re supposed to supplement the scene. And it’s going to take cops shutting down all these shows until someone figures out we need an all-ages venue again. And we need some big rock bands to come here.”
While I’m by and large an optimist when it comes to music, I wouldn’t hold my breath for Hackney to put together a giant rock fest anytime soon. Between Death and Rough Francis putting out new music this year, his touring schedule with the Armed, and all the production work he does at his studio, the Box, I’m not sure where he’s going to find the time to become a festival organizer.
That said, if anyone just might do it, it’s Hackney.
In the meantime, there is in fact a great collection of Vermont rock bands playing an upcoming big show. The folks at What Doth Life are gearing up for their fourth annual What Doth Life DIY Music Festival on Saturday, September 9, at the Windsor Exchange. While it’s a bit of a drive for the Burlington set, it’s worth the gas to catch some of southern Vermont’s best bands.
Featuring 17 Vermont and New England acts, including alt-rockers the Pilgrims, New Hampshire crew Chodus, ska band McAsh and Royalton singer-songwriter Ali T, the fest is jam-packed with original music, most of it loud, sweet rock and roll.
Truly DIY, the What Doth Life fest is a free event that eschews big corporate sponsors in favor of community-donated resources, including the venue itself. Vendors are small, local spots such as the Short & Sweet bakery and What’s Missing Records, a pop-up record shop collaboration of the folks at What Doth Life with indie record label the Case of the Missing Records.
The fest does accept donations, all of which go directly to the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont. The nonprofit has set up a Farmer Emergency Fund to help certified organic farms recover from the damage of this summer’s flooding.
What Doth Life is a great chance to check out a section of the Vermont music scene that sometimes feels cut off from things in Burlington. Maybe some of their rock will rub off on us? Eww. You know what I mean.
And who knows — keep your eyes peeled for news. If you learn about Hackney Fest bringing some proper heaviness to the city, remember: You technically heard it here first.
This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2023.
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