The History of EarthQuaker Day
Malcolm X Abram
The Revenge of EarthQuaker Day is nigh!
On Saturday, August 6, at EarthQuaker Devices headquarters in the heart of Akron, Ohio, your friendly pedal builders will play host to pedal lovers, gear heads, and all curious community members. EarthQuaker Day is a full day of family-friendly fun that includes live music, clinics, tours of the EQD shop, a raffle, food trucks, and other activities, and you and all your friends are invited!
The festival will be the fifth iteration of EarthQuaker Day, which began way back in the pre-Covid year known as 2016. It's been a long and arduous two years for everyone since EarthQuaker Day v4 in 2019, so it's time to party!
Pedal people perusing the peculiar pigments of EarthQuaker Day exclusives. Photo by Tim Fitzwater.
EarthQuaker Day Origin Story
The concept of EarthQuaker Day came from the mind of Chief Operating Officer Luke Zollinger, who thought inviting the community to find out exactly what kind of Devices were being made and by whom would be an excellent form of outreach. The main shop had recently moved from its original cramped building (now the EQD studios) to its current spacious headquarters, and everyone wanted to show it off a little and let local folks know that home-grown industry was still alive and well in Akron, and welcoming to the community.
"We thought, ‘We have all this room, and this could be really fun,’" CEO Julie Robbins said. It was to be an open house and free community appreciation day. We had never been open to the public before, but we always got a lot of interest from people who wanted to see how we do what we do. So we thought this would be a good compromise. We could do shop tours, have performances, and just make it a fun, special free day," she said.
Julie Robbins, EQD CEO, at EarthQuaker Day 2019. Photo by Tim Fitzwater.
EQD founder, president and lead designer Jamie Stillman also thought the concept was a cool idea but admits he wasn't sure it could be done.
"Whenever things like that get presented to me, I'm always skeptical. Is it a thing that people want to do and like to do? Do I personally have the energy to do something like that? I don't know if we even have the bandwidth to do something like that. But Julie knows, and all the people on the EarthQuaker Day planning committee seem like they enjoy it," Stillman said.
So in August of 2016, the first EarthQuaker Day took place. More than 500 people dropped by throughout the day to find out what the pedal-producing people were doing, try out pedals, peruse and purchase arts and crafts made by employees and local artisans, and enjoy a hot summer's day filled with music and fun.
EarthQuaker Day v1 was a huge success, and it caught some folks by surprise, including the company's self-described "cranky by nature and probably born jaded" founder.
"My mind was kind of blown," Stillman said.
"I wasn't worried about it one way or the other. But after it was over, I was pleasantly shocked that people would like to come and hang out in our parking lot and play pedals in Ohio in August. It was cool to see people's reaction to it because for me, and I think a lot of other people, it's just the office we work in," he said.
Jamie Stillman (EQD President, Founder & Product Designer) performing with Joe Dennis (Assistant Production Manager) and Karl Vorndran (Sales Manager) at EarthQuaker Day 2017. Photo by Tim Fitzwater.
Luckily, most people don’t see EarthQuaker HQ as “just an office” and EarthQuaker Day was conceived as annual community festival, so the planning committee was ripe and ready to get started on v2.
"It went so well, and that's kind of how we do things. We're always thinking, `Well, next time we should do this, and since this worked well, we can try this next time, and we just keep trying to dial it in a little better each time," Robbins said.
So, after the initial success, EarthQuaker Day was quickly expanded to include EarthQuaker Day night on Saturday evening and eventually EarthQuaker Day Eve on the Friday night before the festival, offering up more live music from the many talented employees, and regional and national bands.
"We felt like we could make a weekend of it, and I think EarthQuaker's Eve has a nice ring to it, and there's no shortage of talented bands to book and put shows together with," Robbins said.
In the ensuing four years, EarthQuaker Day continued to grow in scope, attendance and reach, with folks coming from well beyond Northeast Ohio's regional borders to join in on the fun.
Mourning [A] BLKstar performing at EarthQuaker Day Eve 2019. Photo by Tim Fitzwater.
EarthQuaker Day Traditions
EarthQuaker Day has established a few traditions to look forward to, such as the pedal clinics and demos often led by guest artists.
"That's my and Jamie's brainchild. We think it's really fun to start out the day with some educational and informative performances and talks, and we really like highlighting non-traditional uses of pedals," Robbins said.
Stillman, who also leads a clinic each year, added that clinics and guest speakers bring something different to the festival and to all the music and gear fans.
"I especially like when we bring people in like [Racer X and Mars Volta bassist] Juan [Alderete] or [popular pedal demo YouTuber] Andy [Martin] from Reverb. It's not something that would typically happen around here in Akron. Having gear demos is something you would see more frequently at larger music stores in a more metropolitan area," Stillman said.
Andy Martin leading a pedal clinic at EarthQuaker Day 2019. Photo by Tim Fitzwater.
Another EarthQuaker Day tradition is that the live music lineup includes some employee-led bands and cover and tribute bands.
"The tribute bands really started with my selfish desire to see Crystal Visions [a Fleetwood Mac cover band that performed at a friend's wedding] again," Robbins laughed. And we wanted to give employee bands a chance to perform. So we've always opened it up for employees and local bands, and again, kind of selfishly, bands Jamie and I want to see. We also like to see an eclectic mix," she said.
By EarthQuaker Day v4 in 2019, the crowd had not only tripled to approximately 1500 visitors, but to many folks' surprise, festival goers were coming from well beyond Ohio to hang out in the EQD parking lot for a day.
"I did not anticipate people traveling from far away to come and see us, " Stillman said.
Unfortunately, as with everyone's plans for 2020, the pandemic squashed the original EarthQuaker Day v5. EarthQuaker Day 2021 was considered, then regrettably dropped as a safety measure.
"I remember sitting there on the day [of the festival] should've been happening and looking through old videos of EarthQuaker Days past and wishing we could all just be together," Robbins said.
Juan Alderete bass demo at EarthQuaker Day 2018.
The Revenge!
EarthQuaker Day v5 and its accompanying Eve and Night are all happening in 2022, as are its familiar traditions. There will be clinics with EQD artists and friends, including popular YouTube harpist and gear demonstrator Emily Hopkins, experimental audio/visual artist and modular synth maven Stephi Duckula, guitarist Shinichi Ito of the Japanese band Hinto, and of course, Jamie Stillman.
"I've grown more comfortable doing it over the years. I've worried I'm not that interesting when I do it, and I want to do something cooler this year. I've done a clinic at every EarthQuaker Day. Not because I've asked to do one, but because everyone thinks that I should do one," Stillman said of his past work as a clinician.
"Seeing as I'm the founder of the company and I design all the pedals, it does make sense that I would do something. I don't have anything planned yet, but I was thinking of just playing by myself for 20 minutes. I would explain what I'm doing and what I'm using,” he said.
Besides the opportunity to see an unfettered Stillman solo jam, there's also a packed lineup of cover, tribute, employee, and regional bands. There will also be the EarthQuaker Day Night reunion of beloved 90s Kent underground hardcore punk band Harriet The Spy, which conveniently consists of EQD employees, including the company founder on drums. Check out the full weekend lineup here.
The Future?
Barring another global kerfuffle, EarthQuaker Day is back on its annual schedule, the future is bright, and further expansion is possible as the EQD work family has expanded to include a third building. But both Robbins and Stillman say some things will probably never change.
"Hopefully, we can just keep building on the previous year and keep fine-tuning things and adapting to whatever the present challenges are," Robbins said.
"I really like having it at our headquarters, and I think getting food trucks is a great expansion. Maybe we could expand to the street in front of the shop, but right now, we're really happy with how it's going," she said.
Stillman agrees. "I'd like to have something at each EQD building, but I always want to have something at the [main] shop. I feel that a big part of it for people is getting to come and tour the shop. But I also think it would be cool to turn it into something a little bigger and a little bit more involved. Something for the general community and not just music."
Malcolm X Abram is a recovering reporter and music writer and a proud 40 year guitar noodler. He lives, works and plays in the bucolic dreamland of Akron, Ohio in an old house with two dogs who don’t really like each other and way too many spiders.
