In the end of 2020, 18 St Louis musicians and a renowned local figure of old banded together to participate in Demo Fest, a collaborative project put forth by different members of the of the Montreal punk scene that invited everyone and anyone to submit fresh demos for a massive release in benefit of migrant justice. The local project that participated was recently featured in an article about Demo Fest written by Megan Gnanasihamany, which showcased the process and intentions of different artists that participated.
19 Names in a Plastic Cup is the brainchild of Simone Sparks, who banded almost 20 St Louis musicians together to form a band lottery that randomly selected 5 collaborative groups, each one of them tasked with producing one song to complete a 5 song demo named “1955” (the process is described neatly on the album art Jane Harms put together for it). This massive collaboration included members from several projects in St Louis music, and due to its nature varies greatly in sound from track to track.
Read the article that featured “1955” in its full length here
Follow Demo Fest on Instagram here, and browse their catalog of over 350 submitted demos here
Listen to “1955” via Bandcamp below
The St Louis Music Report 