Futurebirds’ founders Daniel “Womz” Womack and Carter King gear up for their inaugural music festival called Highball on Oct. 21-22 in Atlanta.

 

Q: Word on the street is that Futurebirds is hosting a music festival in Atlanta. Can you tell me about Highball and how it came about?

Womack: I think we manifested it from our dreams, honestly. We’ve always wanted to throw a festival. We’ve always had a dream of hosting a big, sick festival. Rival Entertainment reached out and had the idea to throw a Futurebirds-curated festival in Atlanta during the fall. Honestly, it was like a dream come true.

 

Q: There are some notable artists out of Athens featured on the Highball lineup. Can you dive deeper into Futurebirds’ connections with them?

Womack: T. Hardy Morris is kind of like our big brother. He used to be in a band called Dead Confederate and we went on our first cross-country tour ever opening up for them. To even deepen that connection, it’s his brother that is now our manager. We’ve got Hotel Fiction from Athens because we know what it’s like being a young, upcoming band in Athens and we know how cool it is to play at a sick festival.  And of course, The Whigs! The Whigs are reuniting for Highball.

 

Q: How is the Classic City’s music scene extending nationally to big festivals such as this?

King: Being a band that is going out on tour, the Athens reputation is widespread across the country. Everyone knows those bands that came before us like R.E.M. and Widespread Panic. It’s just well known and there’s an added bit of respect. There’s a little mystic element when you say you’re from Athens. Everyone has an Athens story or people they know in Athens or a time they played in Athens, or they’ve never been and they really want to get there. It definitely helps having the town of Athens on your side as a band when you’re going out into the world.

 

Q: Are there any thoughts or whispers of a new album?

Womack: We’ve got a new record that we’ve pretty much finished that we’re gonna be releasing hopefully at the top of next year sometime. We’ve got a live record coming out that will hopefully be out very soon this year. Next year we’ve got a big tour lining up for the winter. We’re still kind of piecing it together but some key shows have been confirmed so we know it’s happening and we’re just gonna finish booking it.

 

Mia Fishman is a second-year majoring in journalism.