A family affair
The event and overarching brand is the brainchild of local faves The Maine (alongside Psyko Steve Presents and the band's management team). Since its inception in 2017 (8123 runs biannually, FYI), the event has been a chance for the band to connect with their fans, celebrate great artists and affirm their place in local culture."I think the concept and the reason why we do this festival is the exact same as when we first started,” says cofounder Tim Kirch. “We're not trying to be the biggest festival in Arizona. It's really a celebration of our fans and friends and every artist we've put on the bill is somebody that we have a relationship with.”
While making money is integral to the long-term feasibility of any festival, 8123's organizers like to think they're different in some key regards.
"Most festivals are going through a lineup trying to figure out if these five artists might bring X amount of tickets and are trying to hit this number," Kirch says. "That's never really been a goal with this festival. If we wanted to sell more tickets or do something like that, we'd be spending more money on different artists and whatnot. Really, it's about a community and making sure fans are watching the first band until the last band."
Stephen Chilton, who owns Psyko Steve Presents, thinks that 8123 isn’t just a celebration but a novel way to approach the festival model.
"The curation side and the vision is entirely theirs, and helping produce this and make it happen is where we fit in," he says. "We work on booking the artists, but it's entirely driven by their feedback and their friends and who they want. Some things make it a lot easier, because it's all their friends and all their friends who want to play. From my end, one of the hardest parts of any festival is getting your headliner. With this festival, that's the one thing we start with. The hardest box is the one we check first."
As hinted at, the band are involved in every single aspect of the fest, and that includes even some of the so-called "grunt work" behind the scenes.
"The fest is difficult and it takes a lot of time, but it is the perfect time to show everyone's strength within the group," says bassist Garrett Nickelsen. "We're doing a big LED wall for the show, and normally people would hire some dude to make all the content and stuff. But me and (drummer Patrick Kirch), every day for the last few months, have been making all the content for every song. So not only are we learning 40 songs to play, but it's also, 'What do you want to visually show people to represent this song or whatever.'”
Nickelsen adds, "And Kennedy (Brock), our guitar player, is making props."
A working-class band
For those who work regularly with The Maine, this core attitude is vital to both the festival's success as well as how the band have kept going for nearly two decades."I think they are really humble people and they're a working-class band," Kirch says. "There's a lot of artists that are chasing just the stardom of it. The band's walking around the festival all day long, just experiencing stuff with their fans and really celebrating alongside them."
It's an approach and attitude that's rooted in a kind of problem-solving.
"Their overall success, I think, comes back to that idea that they're willing to do anything for a larger idea that's even beyond themselves," Kirch says. "We've self-released seven albums at this point. We have a digital subscription service that we launched for (other) artists to have fan clubs online. We've done a million different things that is very much like, 'We have an issue, let's try to solve it,' and everybody's down to roll their sleeves and do the work collectively."
It's that hands-on approach that even extends to 8123's curation. For The Maine, it's all deeply personal.
"It was hard to get the lineup we got," Nickelsen says. "Like, The Starting Line. If you'd told me that they'd be playing my birthday party, I would cry. They were such an important band for all of us; they're one of the reasons we're in a band. I think there's going to be a lot of people who know them. But a lot of our fans are younger, and so they'll know a couple of songs, but they're so incredible that I think they're going to gain a lot from just the show. We'll be backstage seeing their entire set for sure."
And that's just the stuff they can actually talk about regarding the lineup.
"We have some surprises that we're not talking about that," Nickelsen says. "I think it's going to be exciting and just bring this sense of, 'Oh my god, I can't believe what happened.'"
The fest, which also features performances from Bad Suns, Diva Bleach, Cliffdiver, Real Friends and Hellogoodbye, isn't just a celebration of the band's taste. It's also very much about the band reconnecting with their own music. The 2025 edition will see The Maine play two days: Day one features performances of 2015's "American Candy" and 2023's "The Maine" in full, followed by a career-spanning set on day two.
"That one's such a special record for us, because it kind of felt like a weird rebirth for us," says Nickelsen of "American Candy." He adds, "Like, we'd done four albums before, and for most bands, maybe you get four albums. It's something that we've played in sets ever since. It's a weird thing because it doesn't feel that old to me. Like, that somehow still feels new in this very weird way. It's a little bizarre, but I'm excited to play stuff we normally don't play. Like, 'I can't believe we wrote this, like this is such a strange song.'"
Bigger than the music
In the ways that matter most, 8123 is ultimately a giant party for fans of The Maine. But those involved think it's even bigger still, and that so many important connections have been forged through the event."We have so many fans that just have group chats with other people from around the world that they've become best friends with," Kirch says. "They might plan a vacation or something to see each other, but most of the time it's them coming out to Arizona to hang out with each other and other people at the festival itself. So I think we've seen so many people planning three or four days in addition to the festival — like, just to go on a road trip up to the Grand Canyon or just hang out in town at a hotel and connect with other people that are like-minded and share the same interests."
In fact, some attendees have "transcended" their fandom and see 8123 as a kind of semi-regular personal trek.
"There's thousands of people that would’ve probably never come to Arizona that now are coming here often," Kirch says. "We have fans that moved here after coming to the first festival. People have decided to switch schools in the middle of college because of their experience that they had out here. It's been really great to just welcome people into our hometown."
It's something that the band have noticed, too, and it's part of their continued desire to organize 8123 Fest.
"I felt that so much during the last fest," Nickelsen says. "People that were just as excited to see friends that they normally don't get to hang out with. But then also, 'I get to hear songs that I've loved for almost two decades.' It's such a dream to be a part of."
A cultural powerhouse
But the effect of 8123 Fest isn't just about forging lifelong friendships. It's had a huge influence on the arts and culture scene of the Valley as well."It's definitely one of the largest projects we work on," says Chilton. "Of the 10 largest shows I've ever done, four of them are 8123 Fest. So it has helped us grow. Each one has been bigger than the last one, and it's been very beneficial and it's definitely helped us grow as a company."
Kirch, meanwhile, sees 8123 as just another important contribution by The Maine, a trend he wished would land the band a bit more credit in the industry.
"I think a lot of things we've done across the band's entire career, if Taylor Swift would have done it, it would have been the talking point in the entire world," Kirch says. "We did a 25-day free tour across the U.S. in 2015. Every single show was free. If a larger artist would have done that, it would have been creating headlines."
Kirch adds, "I think seeing a band like The Maine do this, hopefully it inspires other local artists to have similar goals. They're constantly being emailed by other bands that have been inspired by them being so ambitious with some of these ideas. I think it's created a larger impact on the music scene. And we always try to give back with these vessels. If you look at the lineup, we've added six local bands to get them in front of a new audience that maybe they would’ve never played in front of."
For his part, Chilton thinks 8123 has helped facilitate a growing trend of artist-curated festivals.
"Their first one was in 2017, and that really was the start of a trend of artists doing these," Chilton says. "Now, you've even got Camp Flog Gnaw with Tyler the Creator, and Wilco has even done them (with Solid Sound). There's lots of artists that have done them successfully. The trend for the last five to 10 years has been away from the big mega-festivals and toward more boutique festivals. And I think one of the ways to do that is the artist-driven festival. It takes a certain kind of artist, and The Maine definitely put a lot more work into this. It is more time-consuming for their team than other things."
Once again, though, The Maine are doing things a little differently than some other bands/artists.
"I think there are a lot of artists that are doing these curated festivals that do a really great job at it," says Kirch. "I think there's other people that have caught on to the trend and are doing it for maybe the wrong reason. For us, it's not really about what other people are doing, but what our fans want to see from us, or what type of new experience we can surprise them with or shock them with that makes the band continue to be interesting."
Of course, The Maine aren't just doing this for the friendships and good vibes. The whole of 8123 has been massive for their career. Chilton, for example, points to the Sad Summer Festival, and how the band are co-owners for that traveling event.
"So, 8123 Fest is the proof of concept for that concept," says Chilton. "So what this has done for The Maine has completely changed their career in a positive way, even though it wasn't the biggest show and it was a small boutique thing. But I think it really changed a lot of people's perception of the band and proved like, 'Oh, wait, they're a headliner.' They were doing the numbers, just people didn't see it."
Chilton adds, "They're a band that used to have a hard time getting on major festivals. And now festival buyers and promoters see them as a festival band. And 10 years ago, other than Warped Tour, the band wasn't really perceived as a festival band. Even though they were bigger than ever, they were not necessarily perceived that way; now they totally are. You saw they just got announced (recently) for Boston Calling."
For the future
So, given the massive power attached to 8123 Fest, you'd expect the band want to grow the concept. But as both Chilton and Kirch explain, that's not necessarily as feasible. For one, the band doesn't play in Phoenix for a year before the fest; making it annual, then, would mean they could never play local shows, explains Chilton. Meanwhile, an annual event would likely be a strain for the bands' many fans."We have over 70 percent of people that are flying into Arizona for this," Kirch says. "The majority of their expenses are flights and hotels that we don't participate in. So I think it's a big ask to say, 'Hey, come every year.' And most of our fans probably would. We feel like the right thing to do on their behalf is, like, do it every other year."
That doesn't mean, however, that they don't want to extend the fest in other ways. Chilton says they've done similar "add-on" events in the past, like an 8123 Day in 2023. Nickelsen, meanwhile, says they've had conversations about "do you do it in Chicago or Philadelphia for a year? Just something/somewhere different?"
But even in a more abstract sort of way, The Maine are always trying to make 8123 a more exciting and inviting experience.
"It's about the strength of all of us figuring out what we're actually good at and making it happen so the experience is better for everyone attending," Nickelsen says. "It's like, 'OK, now we know we can do that. Next time, how do we even make it bigger?' It's that thing of just pushing yourself. We've done that with every aspect for 18 years, so why stop now?"
Even bigger still
That attitude perhaps speaks to the very core of 8123 Fest. It's done lots to build careers, further the local music scene, help The Maine become better artists and entrepreneurs, and generally been a model for modern music and fandom. But mostly, it's been a bastion for communing over great art and simply being a better person than before you walked in the doors."First off, it's a bunch of amazing bands who put on great shows," Nickelsen says. "You get to be around a big group of people with a similar thought process on what happiness or even what struggling is. It's a way for people to come and connect and meet new people and maybe you find someone there that just has a different thought on life that is exciting to you and now maybe you have a new friend forever. It's a little bit bigger than just a normal festival. It's a collection of people who believe in something."
8123 Fest 2025 is slated for January 17 and 18 at the Mesa Amphitheatre and Nile Theatre. For tickets and more info, head to 8123fest.com.
