After bringing bands together for a decade of music festivals, all for

By Kelton Sears • September 5, 2014 1:07 pm
The Helio Sequence is kicking off the last Noise for the Needy festival. Photo via Sub Pop Records
The Helio Sequence is kicking off the last Noise for the Needy festival. Photo via Sub Pop Records

After bringing bands together for a decade of music festivals, all for the purpose of benefitting local charities, Seattle’s Noise for the Needy concert series is calling this year its last. We checked in with founder Richard Green to tell us about his years of philanthropic face-melting, and why he’s saying goodbye.

SW:

What made you bring Noise for the Needy (NFTN) to Seattle?Green: NFTN in Seattle started 10 years ago with me and a couple of folks. My brother had done some NFTN benefit shows in California, and I really wanted to bring that up here. My brother had stopped doing the shows down there because the bands in the music community there were always bickering with each other. There was no sense of community. They always argued over which time slot they wanted. Being up here, after I moved, I realized how well the music community worked together. I thought if I could bring NFTN here, I knew we wouldn’t have those struggles. And suddenly, bands started coming out of nowhere saying they wanted to be involved.

Why are you letting it go after all these years?I think all of us who started this have gotten older and are in very different places in our lives now than we were 10 years ago. I didn’t have kids, I wasn’t married then, I didn’t have a job. We all didn’t want to completely let it slip by the wayside or have an event that fell apart, so we decided we would end strong this year and just close this thing out. It’s not that we don’t love doing these events, we’re just moving in different directions and we didn’t want to half-ass it.

What’s your favorite NFTN memory?The year we did the Black Angels, Talib Kweli, and Matt and Kim. It was one of the only times we did a Showbox show—the charity that year was Urban Rest Stop, and they got onstage with us and people from the audience started literally throwing money at the director. That was the year Kanye West took three hours to get onstage at Bonnaroo, which messed up so many band’s schedules, including Talib Kweli. We heard he was close by, but then he calls us and is like, “Hey, is Portland close to Seattle?” We were like, “No! Not it’s not.” And he was like, “Oh well, can someone come pick me up here?” Somehow, miraculously we pulled it off and were able to get him onstage on time. Noise For the Needy 2014 With Ivan and Alyosha, Ravenna Woods, Horde and the Harem, and more. Locations vary, noisefortheneedy.org. $12 for an all-show bracelet. Some shows all ages, some 21 and over. Fri., Sept. 12–Sat., Sept. 13.

ksears@seattleweekly.com