Bringing Down the House: An Interview with Film Makers Jenna Misra and Olivia Lyons
Ask most touring artists out there what their favorite type of venue to play in is and I’d venture to guess that a high percentage of answers would be something like “an attentive listening crowd at a house concert”. More and more have been springing up in recent years and those that have been around for a long while are getting new light shone on them.
In this case it’s a documentary by film makers Jenna Misra and Olivia Lyons. Clocking in at just over 13 minutes, ‘The Unseen Music Scene‘ features some of the regions most successful and well respected house concert hosts. Friends from Billsville and Acousticool concert series’ are featured prominently and for those who have never experienced a house show, the interview portions intermingled with live performances gives you a taste of what you are missing out on.
We caught up with Jenna and Olivia to get their take on the feature and why they felt the need to shine a bit brighter of a light on these wonderful events.
Watch the documentary…read up on interview below.
Right from the off I knew that I wanted my culminating project at Champlain to be related to music. Olivia and I started off with the idea of doing a piece on the history of the music scene in Burlington, but quickly realized that the story was too broad for a 10-15 minute documentary. Once we heard about house concerts, we felt compelled to delve deeper into how it all works, and how the tight knit community offers an intimate and emotional setting to experience live music. When speaking to the attendees of the house concerts, we learned that these people had found something that they were missing in their lives. Music is something essential to all of us; it brings us together and breaks down our barriers. The capacity of a house concert to do this in unrivaled and way we witnessed this when filming and speaking with everyone present.
Many we spoke with described how they didn’t realize that something was missing from their lives until they attended a house concert. There was talk of a tangible feeling of connection between everyone in the room. Each person was there to really listen. At a large stadium or a typical venue concert, many people attend to have a good time. At a house show, it’s all about the music.
RLR:I feel as though Burlington is a pretty great city for art and artists in general. There are certainly a good number of venues hosting music on any night of the week (though many do suffer from other issues surrounding paying artists a guarantee vs tips based gigs, but perhaps that’s another documentary…). Being college students in Burlington, do you feel there is ample opportunity to go see music in a setting that is conducive to listening and enjoying the songs and the stories and the experience?
From our experiences, the music scene in Burlington is flourishing! There’s definitely a certain genre of music that prevails here, but there’s always a show to be seen. The small venues that exist in Burlington are, to us, what keep the music scene alive here. There’s a small venue on Pine st. called ArtsRiot, and they’ve never let us down — all the shows we’ve seen there have been wonderful. It’s intimate enough that you can get close to the artist and have a conversation with them, but professional as well. They have quality amplification, elegant lighting, and a cozy atmosphere. There are shows at coffee shops and lamp shops, which offer an even more intimate setting somewhat similar to an open mic night. Radio Bean or the Light Club Lamp shop are some great places to find local artists to support. Other than that, there’s also quite a robust basement scene in Burlington. Granted, I (Jenna) wouldn’t have known about many of the shows if it wasn’t for my friends being in bands that would play at bars or in basements. And through Jenna, I (Olivia) found out about venues and shows and began going. Supporting local artists is so important! The monetary aspect is significant but it also means a lot to have people come out to see you play. Aside from that, it’s guaranteed that you’ll have a new and exciting experience because you might end up loving their music and finding new friends. It’s also likely you’ll be led to other, similar artists that you can see in your area. Small shows are always happening, you’ve just got to ask around and do some research.
RLR:Did you go into this experience knowing about these house shows on an intimate level or was it more a clean slate situation?
We knew that house shows existed, but we didn’t realize how important the community was in the grand scheme of things. As we stated before, it’s all about people coming together to really listen to music and make connections with others that share an intense love for seeing live music. Without that community, house shows wouldn’t procure such an emotional reaction.
RLR: When you first set out to create the film what was your end game for it? What were you hoping to achieve and has that transformed or evolved over the time you were filming to now that it is out?
We had an idea of what we wanted to convey but much of what our story ended up being dependent on the people we interviewed and the music we saw. We didn’t have a clear endgame besides telling an honest story about these communities. As we met new people we learned new things and the story grew and changed — some things were scrapped and other things emerged that we hadn’t even thought about.
Our first interview before attending a show was with Don Sheldon. He painted us a picture of the house concert scene and told us of intimacy that is almost indescribable. I (Olivia) found it hard to believe switching up the setting could change the experience that drastically, but when we went to our first show in Canada, I got goosebumps. That was the moment I knew we needed to get this feeling across in our video.
The monetary value of each concert was something we never really thought about in the beginning. This was the portion of our documentary that evolved the most. We began with emphasizing the feeling and atmosphere but then realized the economic logistics of the house concert scene would be very intriguing to viewers.
RLR: Is there anything else you want folks to know either about your experiences creating this mini documentary or about the importance of these types of shows?
GO TO A HOUSE CONCERT, AND SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSICIANS! We cannot stress this enough. It doesn’t matter if you know the artist or not. It’s the perfect way to connect with people, to find new music, and have a generally lovely evening. Wherever you are, there are musicians playing shows at your local coffee shops and bars, at a mutual friend’s house, and in a basement somewhere: SEEK IT OUT!
RLR: Ok, last thing. If you could see ANY musician or artist in an intimate, house concert kind of atmosphere, who would it be and why?
My (Jenna) go to artist for the past two years has been Lady Lamb. Her music brings evokes a unique combination of warmth and tenderness that I’ve heard nowhere else. Her lyrics can make the mundane seem magnificent, and her words have a weight to them that makes those things shine a little brighter.
I (Olivia) am from Vermont, so Grace Potter has played a role in my life for many years. When she began playing small Vermont venues I was very young and did not know of her music. I have been to Grace Potter and Higher Ground’s Grand Point North festival and found her performance there absolutely captivating. Grace is an extremely talented singer and guitarist with an interesting story behind each song. I think having the opportunity to sit in a living room as she plays, among twenty or so others, would be the cherry on top to my house concert experience.
