This Utica festival debuts in August with a music video premiere: Who's playing

When we last saw our intrepid hero Nick Vanderwood, he was preparing to release a brand-new music video to accompany his latest song.

Now, about a year and a half later, he’s once again preparing to release a brand-new music video to accompany his latest song – and this time he’s pulling out all the stops.

On Aug. 19, Vanderwood, now based in Los Angeles, will be returning to Utica for the premiere of his latest music video entitled “Shimmy."

The "Shimmy" music video premiere and Nick’s live performance will be the highlight of the opening ceremonies for the first annual Dreamland Theatre Music and Arts Festival at Sickenberger Lane, with doors opening at 5 p.m. The music video will premiere at 10 p.m. and the festival will also include an open mic and performances by Filled To The Brim, Sydney Irving and more. Tickets are $20.

The release of this video marks the second audio-visual joint venture between Nick and his life-long friend, Utica-born filmmaker, Lukas Sunderlin, who collaborated on Nick’s previous project. They have since consolidated their creative visions under their new media production label known as “Monomaniac."

Nick, who made a name locally fronting bands such as Glen Street and, more recently, Trampoline Jetstream, uses diverse influences to create a blend of rock, funk and psychedelic textures.

As with their last collaboration, the idea for the song preceded the concept for the video.

“It was a B-side to my debut album and I just so happened to play it for the first time in almost three years with Luke,” Nick recalls. “He had no idea that it was my song and began detailing a whole music video to it. He asked, ‘Whose song is this?’ And I perked up and said, ‘It’s mine.'”

And that initial concept remained throughout the project.

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“Honestly, the concept stayed true to its initial birth,” notes Nick. “The spontaneity of the moment when coming up with the idea was so genuine and natural that there was no question we had to run with it.”

Not that the video shoot, which took place at various locations through Utica, was all smooth sailing.

“To be truthful, the shooting process was intense, arduous, yet incredibly exciting. Seeing your imagination unfold right in front of you is incredible, especially for the director Luke Sunderlin,” says Vanderwood. “We had three days to shoot this thing. We actually drank more cups of coffee than the hours we slept through those three days.”

Now you can enjoy the fruits of that effort at the first annual Dreamland Theatre Music and Arts Festival, hosted by the Monomaniac team, in collaboration with Michelle Klosek, owner of Varick Restaurants Inc, and Vice President of UMN for the Arts.

If you can’t make it, the video and single will be out on Nick’s YouTube page Aug. 19 at 10:30 p.m., and you can stream his music on all streaming platforms.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Utica artists pair up on music video: Where to see it premiere