Spokane’s Tucker Miller brings new music festival – Boomjam – to life in East Central

This weekend, a new festival event looks to heighten Spokane’s musical connections after a long tenure of preparation.

Titled “Boomjam,” the event featuring an array of local artists as well as multiple out-of-towners will come to fruition Saturday – and it’s been a long time coming for creator Tucker Miller.

The 24-year-old Spokane native has been a music lover since he was a kid, renting as many CDs as local libraries would allow and playing as a teenager on the Lewis and Clark High School drumline.

Miller has since turned that love into a true lifestyle as an on-site coordinator at some of the industry’s biggest events. In the past year alone, Miller has worked to make sure the logistics and hospitality of Coachella, Stagecoach, Boise’s Treefort, Seattle’s Bumbershoot and various Gorge Amphitheatre events ran smoothly.

Being a jack of all trades is part of the job description, so last year he first put the idea of organizing his own event to the test.

In August 2023, Miller organized an event titled “Cosmic Picnic Festival” in Gardiner, Montana. Despite some relative inexperience, the event went well, and Miller was happy to learn.

Since Gardiner doesn’t have the audiences or creative diversity found in Spokane, Miller vowed to create a brand-new event back home.

Between permits, location logistics, safety measures, advertising and narrowing down more than 200 band applications to 14, Miller and his team have spent many “80-hour weeks” of pure planning. Yet, for a handful of reasons, he is ecstatic for the plan to finally come together.

Obviously, there’s the internal rewards of organizing an event with so many variables involved, but Miller believes Boomjam will create more opportunities for music and the city to connect.

For the local musicians, Miller wants nothing more than to give them further opportunities to play – those on the bill include Hayes Noble, Vika & The Velvets, Shady Angels and Mama Llama.

Miller also wants the people of Spokane, in particular the families within the city, to become more acquainted with the local scene.

“People with families have a really tricky time going out with their kiddos to do things, which is why all-ages is really important to me,” Miller said. “Once you start getting these bands playing venues that aren’t late at night when it wouldn’t really be appropriate or a pleasant experience to bring your kiddos out, but where you can roll up and see these bands play during the day, it’ll make those bands on the forefront of a more general Spokane audience.”

This also ties into a much broader idea at play.

Miller believes that Spokane simply isn’t seen as much of a music town or destination. He’s seen many artists leave for markets like Seattle and Portland as well as touring musicians of all sizes simply skip over Spokane time after time.

He believes there are many factors behind this; a key one being the general lack of community behind music in the city – something he hopes Boomjam can help change with time.

Miller compared his desires to that of local events like Pig Out in the Park.

“How do you create an environment in Spokane in which this event is just a ‘thing’ that people do?” Miller said. “But, I would prefer if that ‘thing’ has more emotion and gives rise to more emotional experiences, and that’s what I think music does.”

Tickets and a full scheduled for the Saturday event can be found at boomjamfest.com. Advanced tickets are $35 or $45 day-of.

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