{"id":49322,"date":"2015-05-14T18:38:49","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T23:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49322"},"modified":"2015-05-14T18:38:49","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T23:38:49","slug":"interview-with-mark-squiggy-digiacomo-producer-founder-of-crazy-daves-music-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/interview-with-mark-squiggy-digiacomo-producer-founder-of-crazy-daves-music-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Crazy Dave\u2019s Music Experience delivers The Student Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Steve Patrick<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Crazy Dave\u2019s Music Experience tent is a staple at every major rock festival in the U.S. and is a must-visit location for any musician or music fan. <\/p>\n

The Crazy Dave’s Music Experience powered by Musicians Institute is a free, traveling interactive exhibit where fans are treated like rock stars and get hands-on interaction with tons of musical equipment–much of which is used by their favorite artists–participate in Meet and Greets with some of their favorite band members, attend clinics, check out acoustic sets, win prizes, and more. The exhibit is designed to tell the iconic stories of the music brands that helped build the industry. Thousands of festival attendees visit The Crazy Dave’s Music Experience each year.<\/p>\n

The Crazy Dave\u2019s Music Experience kicked off their 2015 music festival season April 25 & 26 at Florida\u2019s biggest rock festival–Monster Energy Welcome To Rockville–in Jacksonville. The Experience was also present at Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion (May 2 & 3 in Concord, NC) and will be on location at Rock On The Range (May 15, 16 & 17 in Columbus, OH). All three festivals are part of the World\u2019s Loudest Month.<\/p>\n

An important element of The Crazy Dave\u2019s Music Experience that will be expanded at each festival this year is The Student Experience. The Student Experience is a community outreach program for aspiring young musicians created by The Crazy Dave’s Music Experience and supported by their partner, Musicians Institute. It\u2019s a special opportunity for students enrolled in music-related academic programs–and their educators–to receive access to The Crazy Dave’s Music Experience before the festival gates open, and receive behind-the-scenes access throughout the day. Participating students will gain a valuable perspective on the wide array of opportunities within the music industry. Participants will meet with band members, sound and lighting engineers, guitar techs, production staff, and representatives from instrument manufacturers.<\/p>\n

In advance of Rock on the Range 2015, Hardrock Haven had the opportunity to chat with event producer and founder Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo about what Crazy Dave\u2019s Music Experience is bringing to the festival this year and all of the learning opportunities that The Student Experience has to offer:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

HRH: What does Crazy Dave\u2019 Music Experience have in store for this year\u2019s ROTR?<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: Well, our footprint has doubled, so we\u2019re really excited about that. Last year our tent was 30\u2019 x 60\u2019 and this year it\u2019s gonna be 60\u2019 x 90\u2019, so our tent has grown exponentially. We have a lot more artists that are gonna be coming over. We have some more manufacturers that weren\u2019t there last year that have kind of come aboard. Got some really good legacy brands like Marshall Amps \u2026 is a part of us now and so is Fender, so it\u2019s grown man and it\u2019s going to be wild.<\/p>\n

HRH: Can you share with us who some of the artists are that will be visiting the tent for signings?<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: Yeah, so what we\u2019re doing this year is kind of taking the artist meet and greet thing to a new level\u2026we\u2019re going to provide some experiences that attendees could not have had otherwise. For example, we do a \u201c30 Seconds to Shred\u201d contest where the people have 30 seconds to literally play their heart out, then we pick a winner, and that winner wins a guitar. Well for this year at ROTR, the winner\u2019s going to be able to watch Slash from the side of the stage. So that\u2019s pretty big.
\nWe\u2019re got a Jim Root (Slipknot) mask contest that\u2019s going to be done through social media and our partnership with Dunlop when anyone will be able to make a Jim Root mask, upload it to the Experience Facebook page, and then Jim will actually pick the top 13 finalists. Then those 13 kids will wear those masks to ROTR to the Experience and Jim will come over, pick the winner, sign all the masks, and then the winner and their friend will be able to watch Slipknot from the side of the stage.
\nSo we\u2019ve got things like that happening that are just full-on experiences that will hopefully blow some kids\u2019 minds away. Hopefully we\u2019re gonna have the guys from Judas Priest over, which is big\u2026yeah man, it\u2019s just constantly growing and evolving. It\u2019s really exciting.<\/p>\n

HRH: Another huge part of the Crazy Dave\u2019s Music Experience is The Student Experience where music students get a close up look at not only the musicians at ROTR, but also the inner workings of the music industry. Where did The Student Experience idea come from?<\/p>\n

\"TheMark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: Well, you know, music education is a pretty deep passion for me personally and our partnership with Musicians Institute has really given us a lot of \u2026 I don\u2019t want to say legitimacy, but it definitely helps when you have somebody like a Musicians Institute behind you to help you navigate those educational waters. They\u2019re our big partner this year also, so now we\u2019re powered by Musicians Institute.
\nSo now kids get to know why instruments are made the way they are\u2026for example, why do some companies use rosewood fretboards while others use maple? So a lot these kids \u2026 they\u2019re not getting answers like that anywhere because of budget cuts where music\u2019s being pulled out of schools or for whatever reason these stories aren\u2019t being told, so we want to teach these kids when they\u2019re young why these things are made this way because I think that\u2019s as important as anything else that they\u2019d learn.<\/p>\n

HRH: That\u2019s really great. What are the benefits to having a program like this on-site at a festival like ROTR?<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: The thing that the festival space allows us to do is it allows me to do backstage tours as well, so another thing that we want to tell the kids that even if you can\u2019t be Zakk Wylde or Slash or whoever up on the stage \u2026 if you can\u2019t be the talent or artist on stage, you know for every artist on stage there\u2019s like 5-6 people backstage that actually make this whole thing happen, so it\u2019s important to me to have them talk to front of house engineers, or lighting designers, or tour managers, or just techs. You know\u2026to let them to know that, even if you can\u2019t be onstage, you can still be a part of this machine \u2026 and this dream\u2026and this lifestyle. So the festival grounds allow us to do that and it also allows me to have the rock stars come over and talk to the kids. So the festival grounds are a really important space for The Student Experience. <\/p>\n

HRH: What artists have really gone above and beyond with participating in The Student Experience?<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: John 5 has been great. Mark Tremonti has been great. You know, I got to say man, when it comes to kids the artists have all been so over accommodating and for me it\u2019s really good to see that we value our musical youth. So whether you\u2019re John 5 or you\u2019re Squiggy trying to put together a place for inspiration \u2026 kids are still important. And I have to say, I know that sounds like kind of a clich\u00e9 answer man, but I\u2019ve just been taken back by everybody\u2019s commitment to the youth. One thing that John 5 does that I think is incredible is when you\u2019re in a meet-and-greet with him or an artist signing, if you\u2019re a kid he gives you a pick. But he only does it for kids which is awesome. That\u2019s fucking awesome. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

HRH: That\u2019s the kind of thing that those kids will remember forever.<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: Exactly man. I\u2019ve seen him give picks to kids in line and you can see the kid just instantly light up. You know? There was just a memory created and this kid\u2019s going to tell this story for the rest of his life. <\/p>\n

HRH: Well it really is great what you\u2019re doing with The Student Experience. I know it\u2019s a free program for music students\u2026how do educators reach out to get signed up?<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: They can do it through our Facebook page, but we also just launched a website called thestudentexp.com<\/a>. A woman named Sarah Hernandez and she actually runs The Student Experience for me. She\u2019s actually my rockstar. So right through thestudentexp.com they can sign up \u2026 or Sarah also monitors the Facebook page, so they can e-mail through the Facebook page. She also sends out e-mails to all the local academic programs.<\/p>\n

HRH: Oh so you\u2019re actively seeking out students in the area in advance? That\u2019s pretty cool.<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: Oh yeah man. Our biggest hurdle with The Student Experience is that people\u2026the teachers or schools themselves \u2026 they don\u2019t believe it, they think it\u2019s too good to be true. You know? They think there\u2019s a catch, but there really isn\u2019t. We\u2019re not really trying to do anything sideways. We\u2019re just there to promote inspiration.<\/p>\n

HRH: Well Squiggy, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cSquiggy\u201d DiGiacomo: No problem man, thank you!<\/p>\n

For more information on The Student Experience, please visit www.thestudentexp.com<\/a>.
\nFor more information on Crazy Dave\u2019s Music Experience, please visit www.crazydavesmusic.com<\/a> or www.facebook.com\/CrazyDavesMusicExperience<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Steve Patrick – Senior Columnist — The Crazy Dave\u2019s Music Experience tent is a staple at every major rock festival in the U.S. and is a must-visit location for any musician or music fan. […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12393],"tags":[11217,11219,223,11218],"class_list":{"0":"post-49322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcint2015","8":"tag-crazy-daves-music-experience","9":"tag-mark-squiggy-digiacomo","10":"tag-rock-on-the-range","11":"tag-the-student-experience"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}