fezmaster: DIY Festival Performer

The 16th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons will feature over 500 local creatives this year, from artisans, vintage vendors and craft foodies to youth entrepreneurs, STEM exhibitors and performers. Get a taste of what’s coming to the Utah State Fairpark this August in the following pages and get tickets to experience it yourself at craftlakecity.com. With a dog park, VIP lounge, a national headlining musician and brand-new DIY Fest After Dark programming, this year’s festival is not to be missed!

Jon Philpott, aka fezmaster, is a talented musician/computer nerd. Creating his own synthesizers and slinging his trusty trombone, fezmaster creates a unique musical set, and Salt Lake City is fortunate to have him rocking the music scene. He is constantly building his computers again and again, making sure they play along with his vision. Working hand-in-hand with his creation, he not only stimulates his audience’s ears, but also their sight with synchronized visuals.

When asked what feeling he wants to invoke in his audience, he replies, “nostalgi[a] for something you weren’t there for, a feeling of deja vu for something you don’t remember experiencing.”

If you were to try to categorize his music, it would be a blend of ambient lo-fi, hip-hop and drum and bass. fezmaster incorporates ‘90s rough-sounding electronics along with recordings from nature, such as bubbling rivers and birds. During his shows, he is the king of improvisation. His music and his sets are never exactly the same, setting him apart from other musicians. It keeps it unique for the audience as well as for fezmaster himself. “It definitely makes rehearsing interesting,” he says.

His favorite places to showcase his masterpieces are Salt Lake’s smaller venues; the intimate locations make it fun to get to know his audience. fezmaster is currently on a journey to learn about the Indian flute, as “the trombone is not an easy instrument to travel with,” he jokes. Give fezmaster a listen and indulge your senses by visiting his Instagram @fezmasterjon.

Read more interviews with local musicians:
Localized: Debrider
Localized: DiseNgaged