The heavy music celebration that is the RPM Fest returns to the Millers Falls Rod & Gun Club on Labor Day weekend (Sept. 4 to 6), featuring more than 40 rock, punk and metal bands, along with all kinds of entertainment, food and craft beer.
Entertainment includes professional wrestling, burlesque performers, heavy metal trivia, horror movie screenings, metal yoga and more.
The festival began when Brian Westbrook, owner and audio engineer of PDP Productions, joined forces with John Gulow of Promotorhead Entertainment and decided to throw an end-of-summer party. They didn’t have many options in terms of locations, so they settled on the backyard of Westbrook’s parent’s house in Greenfield.
The inaugural festival took place in 2014. By 2016, it was clear that the fest had become too big (and too noisy) to be a backyard festival. They took a year off to relocate and, in 2017, relaunched at the Millers Falls Rod & Gun Club.
RPM Fest has become a much-anticipated underground festival over the years. Run entirely by volunteers, it expects to draw 1,500 attendees this year and will feature bands from many locales. This year’s headliners include Monolord, from Gothenburg, Sweden; High on Fire, from Oakland, California; Dwarves, from Chicago; and Khemmis, from Denver.
The Pioneer Valley has a vibrant heavy music scene of its own, and RPM Fest highlights some of the local bands. Western Massacre, from Florence, mixes death metal, thrash and heavy power groove. Problem with Dragons, of Easthampton, blends grunge, classic rock, metal and more.
Rock Shop, made up of students from Matt Kim’s Academy of Rock in Greenfield, performs at the festival every year, with students showing off what they learned at the academy’s summer rock camp.
Then there is The Prozacs, the long-running punk band from Westfield. Led by Jay Gauvin (stage name J Prozac), the band celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. While it has experienced its share of lineup changes, The Prozacs released numerous full-lengths, EPs and compilation albums. The band has toured all over the U.S. and Europe, but despite all its achievements, it has never played at RPM Fest.
“Yeah, it’s been a long time coming for an RPM appearance,” Gauvin said. “I had another band called Stiletto Bomb (that featured some members of The Prozacs) that played RPM in 2015 or so.”
Playing RPM Fest is a perfect way for the bandmates to mark 25 years together, and you can see them perform on Sunday.
“I don’t have anything specifically planned for the anniversary, but we have two festival appearances scheduled and a couple of really great shows to be announced soon that are all in September and October,” Gauvin said. “We are going to have a new 7-inch vinyl release before the year’s end. I did have anniversary shirts made, though!”
Even with all this music and entertainment, what really makes RPM Fest is the community that comes together to share their love of this music and all the volunteers who make the event happen.
“RPM Fest is more than just a music festival — it’s a community,” Westbrook said in a statement. “Western Massachusetts may be rural, but it’s home to an incredibly passionate network of musicians, fans, artists and volunteers who make this event possible. Every year hundreds of people come together to create something truly special.”
If you love heavy music, RPM Fest is the place to be.
You can get weekend and single-day tickets at rpmfest.org or buy them at the gate. Tent camping comes with your ticket, and vehicle camping passes are nearly gone. RV camping is already sold out.
Mr. Sun at the Whately Town Hall
If you enjoy acoustic string music, you might already know the members of the supergroup Mr. Sun. The band features well-known fiddler Darol Anger, guitarist Grant Gordy, Scottish bassist Aidan O’Donnell and mandolinist Joe K. Walsh.
The four musicians have performed together as Mr. Sun since 2016. They have visited the valley often, especially for the Watermelon Wednesday series in Whately. Their next show there is Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at Whately Town Hall.
Here’s a look at these talented musicians: Walsh toured for years with the bluegrass band the Gibson Brothers before starting his solo career. Gordy was a member of the well-known David Grisman Quintet for six years and O’Donnell has worked with Maeve Gilchrist and many other jazz and roots musicians.
Anger, a legend in today’s acoustic music scene, was a founding member of the Dave Grisman Quintet and co-founded the Turtle Island Quartet. He is also professor emeritus at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Anger and Walsh first met when Walsh was a student at Berklee. Anger was impressed by his talent and they played some informal gigs together in the Northeast. They later met Gordy on the festival circuit and decided to form a trio, which worked right away. After finding their first bassist, Mr. Sun was formed.
Their upcoming show in Whately on Wednesday will be their first show after releasing their new album “The Idea Guys” on Sept. 4. It’s their fourth album, with the band members writing all but one song and handling all the arrangements. As usual, you will hear bluegrass, jazz, folk and more. This album follows the 2023 release “Mr. Sun Plays Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite.” The group regularly presents that album during the holiday season and performed it in Whately last December.
If you want to hear inventive string music and great musicianship, Mr. Sun is the band to see.
Tickets cost $25 and are available at watermelonwednesdays.com.
1794 Meetinghouse wraps up its 2026 summer season
The 1794 Meetinghouse in New Salem will say goodbye to summer with its last two shows of the season this weekend. Hildaland, the Celtic-American folk duo of singer Louise Bichan from Orkney, Scotland, and mandolinist Ethan Setiawan from Goshen, Indiana, will perform on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. They draw on their different musical backgrounds to play instrumentals and sing both original and traditional songs.
On Sunday, Sept. 6, at 4 p.m., the Elm Chamber Ensemble (piano, violin, cello) will perform. This group features versatile musicians who play masterworks for duos, string trios, piano trios and piano quartets.
Tickets are available at 1794meetinghouse.org. Ages 12 and under are admitted for free.
Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at soundslocal@yahoo.com.