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Photo courtesy of David Smith/dsmithscenes.com.

Photo courtesy of Karen Utz.

Photo courtesy of Karen Utz.

Photo courtesy of Karen Utz.

Courtesy of artsBHAM

Birmingham’s latest summer music festival returns this July to a popular city landmark — and a local band will find itself in the spotlight during the weekend’s performances.

The Sloss Music & Arts Festival returns to Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark on July 16-17. During its inaugural run last year, the two-day event showcased 33 bands and drew about 25,000. This year’s event will highlight an eclectic mix of 31 acts on three stages. 

The festival also will include iron-pouring demonstrations by Sloss Metal Arts Program, an exhibit of music posters by the American Poster Institute and a variety of art vendors. Craft beer will be available at the Piggly Wiggly Craftly Beerly Garden and Starr Hill All Access Area.

A local up-and-coming highlight will be The Burning Peppermints, composed of 2015 Hoover High School graduates Jake Wittig and Daniel Powers, along with Ryan Colebeck and Ahmad Farzad, owner and producer at the recording studio King of the Jungle Productions in Vestavia Hills. They were an opening act at Birmingham’s 2015 Secret Stages, a festival that showcases rising bands from across the country.

Wittig formed The Burning Peppermints in 2013, and the band evolved during his high school years. “We shifted gears,” he said. “We started moving in a faster, darker, frenzied and psychotic direction,” one he said was inspired by West Coast garage bands.

Eventually, the band began playing under the name The Burning Peppermints and adopted the band’s signature fashion statement. 

“In tribute to bands like The Animals, The Beatles, The Kinks and more, we started wearing suits like those bands would on their TV performances,” Wittig says. “It was for fun, but we soon realized that the suits had almost magical powers: They prepared everyone for a show, turned heads and helped people give us a chance and take us seriously.”

Things started taking off in summer 2014. “Suddenly, as high schoolers, we were getting the opportunity to have our music played on Birmingham Mountain Radio and being asked to play shows instead of having to hunt them down,” Wittig said. “Then, at the beginning of 2015, we met Ahmad Farzad. He was extremely interested in working with the band and recording our album. Early that year, we recorded our debut album, ‘Dirty Rainbow!!’”

As is often the case in emerging bands, members departed and new ones joined. But the current foursome of Wittig, Powers, Farzad and Colebeck recorded The Burning Peppermints’ second album, “Witch Mountain.”

“We definitely draw from an upbeat, raw West Coast psychedelic punk vibe,” Farzad said. “But the material from ‘Witch Mountain’ is a little darker, more lyrically emotional, and the music has more Southern grit — pun intended — in it.” 

Wittig echoes this description. “The direction we’re currently moving in is a darker one, with more psychedelic themes and lyrics,” he said. “At first, my goal was to get people moving, to make music the audience could dance to and go crazy to. But, as I began the journey into the follow-up to ‘Dirty Rainbow!!,’ I wanted to make an album that was as cerebrally stimulating as it was physically stimulating, music that not only makes your blood pump, but takes you to another place entirely.” 

What’s up next for The Burning Peppermints?

“We’ve got the follow-up to ‘Witch Mountain’ almost written and seven albums in conceptual stages,” Wittig said. “We’re also working on a very special concert experience with all new music. We’ve all got so much music we want to make and play for people. I’m excited to continue to do that, especially for the crowd at Sloss Fest.”

But music fans have much more to look forward to at Sloss Fest. Headlining the festival is North Carolina native and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Ryan Adams and his band, The Shining. Sloss Fest’s 2016 lineup also features Death Cab for Cutie, Ray Lamontagne, The Flaming Lips, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals and many other performers. 

The SlossFest app for Apple and Android devices includes the full band lineup and helps you create your own festival schedule, among other features.

Editor’s note: This article was produced in partnership with artsBHAM. To learn more about them, visit artsbham.com.

Sloss Music & Arts Festival

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