Evart band ‘Edge’ gets a taste of fame

While some bands would be edgy opening for major headliners, Evart’s local five-man band ‘Edge’ seemed right at home on the main stage.

“We weren’t nervous at all,” said Eric Schmidt, Edge’s lead singer. “As soon as the first notes came out, I saw the smiles and cheers from the audience and people who came out from my hometown, and I knew I was meant to be there.

“I thought, ‘This is big time guys.’”

The self-described modern/alternative rock and roll band opened for star performers like Grand Funk Railroad, Third Eye Blind, Saliva and Deep Purple at the Mountain Rock Music Festival in Farwell on July 21.

“Knowing that we were stepping on the stage with big names was probably one of the biggest moments,” Schmidt said.

And the band members got an even bigger bite of fame when they were asked to autograph about 40 T-shirts, including one man’s arm.

With backstage passes, Edge was able to mingle and make contacts with other bands that played at the festival.

Edge talked with the band ‘The Flask’, whose guitar player Kenny Olsen used to play for Kid Rock and whose lead singer was a judge at the live battle of the bands. And to learn about how to “get into the industry,” the Evart band hopes to use their contact with the Grand Rapids band ‘Pop Evil,’ who has been the opening act for headliners like American Idol’s Chris Daughtry and Puddle of Mudd.

“For me, it’s knowing we could be equals and how to be equals (with big bands),” said Schmidt, regarding a main reason why it’s important to make contacts with other bands. “It’s all who you know.”

Edge is currently looking for management and will be calling radio stations “to keep the hype up.” Edge is excited they can now put Mountain Rock Music Festival on their resume, “because other places will look at that and say, ‘They’re really good,’” Schmidt said.

Along with Schmidt, other band members are Jason Hardy, bass guitar; Dave Armentrout, lead guitar; Dan David, drummer; Dave Johnson, rhythm guitar. The band’s stagehands at the festival were Matt Johnson of Evart and Mike Sylvester of Muskegon.

Edge’s new CD “Catch of the Day” should be out by December and will be available on their Web site at www.edgerocks.com.

To hear the band or to buy their first album and merchandise, check out their Web site.

kkiley@cadillacnews.com | (231) 775-NEWS (6397)