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Crucialfest: Required Listening

Crucialfest weaves metal and indie rock into the fabric of Salt Lake City

Written By Mitchell Reber

Crucialfest   |  Jarom Bischoff

The steady, continuous thump-thump-thump of a kick drum announces the beginning of the show. The crowd moves toward the stage with arms outstretched, slapping their hands together. A small army of percussionists. The volume of their claps slowly rising to match the volume of the drum, giving the crowd a heartbeat.

This is Crucialfest in Salt Lake City. Which brings together heavy metal fans from all around Utah and beyond. (Read: 10 Utah Music Festivals to Plan your Summer Around)

But it didn’t start out this way.

I can trace Crucialfest’s humble beginnings back to a husband and wife’s aspirations in 2010.

How It Started

Tiffany and Jarom Bischoff are the founders of Crucialfest, originally a metal-themed festival dating to 2010 with the ambitious goal to become a nationally recognized name-brand festival with deep local roots.

The couple experimented with different structures for the event, refining their approach. I spoke with the Salt Lake City-grown, now international band, SubRosa’s lead singer Rebecca Vernon on the topic. “It changes every year because Tiffany and Jarom are trying to find the perfect formula."

The X factor in this formula? Salt Lake music scene’s renaissance men Will Sartain and Lance Saunders.

Sartain and Saunders have long been an influential force in helping shape and develop Salt Lake City’s distinct music culture. Owners of the booking and promoting company S&S Presents, they also own and run three prominent venues in the city, Metro Music Hall, Kilby Court and The Urban Lounge, each offering its own distinct flavor.

The history of their first venue, Kilby Court, acts as a handy analog for illustrating Sartain and Saunders’ spirit and ethic, which draws from and feeds the city’s broader music community. Though the venue has been under their care for more than a decade, they weren’t the original owners. In fact, growing up, they had played shows and worked at Kilby.

The now former owner of Kilby approached Sartain and Saunders about buying the venue. He didn’t trust anyone else to run it. If they declined, the venue would be shut down.

Both in their early 20s, the two faced a difficult choice. Saunders said, “It wasn’t a money-making operation, [but] we didn’t want the demise of Kilby on our hands.” They took the plunge. “It was [and still is] a labor of love.”

As time went on, the duo found commercial success with Urban Lounge and, more recently, Metro Music Hall, booking national as well as local music acts. Their dedication and support weave the common but crucial fabric that makes up this city’s tight-knit music community.

The Bischoffs would eventually approach Sartain and Saunders and pitch the idea to team up. Sartain suggested that they “pump up the bands and make it huge and not...just a metal festival.” As the new team brainstormed, someone floated the idea to host it at The Gateway, a downtown shopping hub. 

Now hosted at the Metro Music Hall, the three-day event most recently welcomed headliners like Black Tusk, Mars Red Sky, Jaye Jayle, Gost, Frail Body, Midwife and The Well. And the heavy metal legacy lives on. 

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Mitchell Reber

About the Author – Mitchell Reber

Mitchell is a southern Utah native and desert rat. After a heartfelt but failed attempt at opening and running an all ages music venue in St. George, he moved to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah where he is currently finishing his Master’s in Communication.

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