When this site launched in 2010, one of the key features was a local music database. The information had been culled from personal knowledge, user submissions, defunct sites, show listings, and many other sources. Eventually, the original tool used to build the database no longer functioned and the information fell out of date.
Today we’re happy to announce that the database is back! With almost 500 listings, it’s by far the most comprehensive listing of Maine-connected artists. Does that mean the work is done? No, not at all. We need your help to keep the list growing! If you see someone missing or information that needs to be updated, feel free to fill out our contact form. Additionally, we have a queue of more artists to be added soon!
The list is meant to be a bit curated and we try to look for bands and performers who have made an impact; someone who has played shows in Maine in established or known DIY venues, released albums, played festivals, or received media attention. Please be aware this list can never cover all musicians in the state. There may be gaps in genres, time periods, and more, but we’ll do our best to continue building out this frequently requested resource.
Thanks to a partnership with Knack Factory, Holly Nunan and the Newz by the Nunz music listing blog have now joined Factory Portland.
Holly Nunan is a musician, promotions director for radio stations WFNK, WTHT and WHXR in Portland, and an on-air personality at 107.5 Frank FM. She is also a regular contributor to WCSH 6’s Morning Report and a former host of the local music-focused Music from 207 on 98.9 WCLZ. She has written about Maine’s music scene since 2011 for Dispatch Magazine, Maine Today Media, and Knack Factory.
According to Knack Factory co-founder Alex Steed: “When Holly’s former publisher cut their funding for bloggers, we wanted to keep her voice alive so we hired her and featured her blog on our site. Local music is one of the things about Portland that makes it so special. We look forward to continuing to support Holly’s endeavors, and partnering with Factory Portland to give her a more relevant venue for her work and voice.”
Factory Portland was started by Stephen Quirk in 2010 as a service to aid musicians with photography, design, web, and social media needs. While those services are no longer offered, the site publishes interviews with local and non-local musicians and reviews of area music events.
Knack Factory, a content and strategy firm based in Portland, Maine, provides video, photography, and social media services. The company was started in Portland, Maine in 2012 by Alex Steed, Kurt Graser, and Zack Bowen.
PLEASE NOTE: Newz by The Nunz ceased posting in 2017
2011 was a year filled with projects and collaborations with several Maine artists…
Earlier this year, we added the Maine music video page to the website. There are currently 114 videos spotlighting the amazing talent of Maine’s music scene.
We created a “Music from the State of Maine” group on Soundcloud, which is open for any Maine artist to submit their work.
We designed the packaging layout for The Cool, a cover band comprised of adults with developmental disabilities and mental health challenges from Momentum. The cover artwork was designed by one of the band members, recorded, mixed and mastered by Shaun Curran at Napoleon Complex of Somerville, MA and organized by Oscar Romero (Gully, Foam Castles, Endless Jags). You can learn more on their Bandcamp page.
We have worked extensively with José Ayerve (Spouse, Bullyclub) on his latest project, A Severe Joy. This new material moves away from his normal guitar-driven, 80s influenced rock and focuses on something closer to indie electronic pop. Along with this new sound, he wanted a new look, which includes masks and lights in his live shows. To accentuate this idea, we tried to be a bit experimental with the packaging for the debut album. We used vellum letter envelopes, a single folded sheet of paper and writing done in his own hand. We also collaborated with [dog]+[pony] on a video for his song ‘Catapult.’
As for 2012…
A Severe Joy plexi-disc No. 1
We have begun work on a series of 10 limited edition A Severe Joy plexi-disc releases. The project presented some unique challenges, including a short turnaround time to complete the concept and design, a unique 8.5 inch size and setting the look and tone for the other nine releases. The first one is available for pre-order from Bandcamp.
A full aseverejoy.com website is nearly complets, and will be going live soon.
Etheria Sparrow’s debut “Journey to Etheria” will be released later this year and features another Factory Portland designed album cover.
Stephen served on the nomination committee for the New England Music Awards, listening to the music of 150+ area musicians over a couple of weeks and submitting ranked choices. The awards will be presented March 9, 2012 at Hard Rock Café Boston and feature performances from Ron Noyes Band, Jen Kearney, Frank Viele and The Manhatten Project, Mission Hill, and Twin Berlin.
Lastly, our merch shop launched at the beginning of 2012 and features items from A Severe Joy, Spouse, Bullyclub, and Factory Portland. We’ll announce any deals or new items on Facebook and Twitter. Send us your thoughts on additional items you’d like to see added to the store.
Thanks for following our progress as we continue to assist artists with their contributions to the Maine music scene. We’re looking forward to an exciting 2012!
Factory Portland is pleased to announce the addition of a new resource on factoryportland.com. Last month, Portland Music Foundation held a training session entitled “Making Music Videos on a Budget” (excellent job on the new website, btw). The panel included Krister Rollins and Nick Poulin from [dog] and [pony], Adam Flaherty and Spose. As videos were presented on YouTube and Vimeo, I realized there was no single place to view all of the excellent videos from Maine. I spent the days following the PMF lecture trying to find just the right tool to display the videos.
The next task was more time consuming – finding the videos. Some were easy, some I’d seen, many I had not. After the search, I’d gathered 102 conceptual and performance, high quality videos. That being said, there are already more to add! A great feature of the tool being used is that they’re still hosted on YouTube and Vimeo, meaning the musician still gets a hit for every view and all videos retain their copyright. We’re considering this an extension of our already existing musician and business databases.
We hope that you’ll take a look and enjoy what you see and hear in the Maine Music Video gallery. Please use our contact form if you have any additions to list or feedback. We’ll take a look and make sure they meet our standards.
Welcome to Factory Portland, a new service to Portland, Maine’s music scene. Factory Potland combines a couple of concepts that have been pet projects of its creator, Stephen Quirk.
In 1997, Stephen began photographing and assisting Bullyclub (then known as Bully Pulpit), eventually providing imagery for their albums, ‘Tenure’ and ‘likesongs’. Over the next thirteen years, Stephen would work with New England musicians Elli Gray, Spouse/José Ayerve, Strause & Company, The No. 9, Gully and Bilvox. Eventually, Stephen’s collaborations would grow to include help with websites, social networks and album release.
The other portion of Factory Portland is the searchable database of area musicians and music related businesses. Though there are some finishing touches (a last name here, an address there), there are 378 bands, past and present. These tools could be used for booking a band, finding the latest project of a favorite musician or finding the right person to work on your band’s next album. There are bound to be bands that have been forgotten and names misspelled, so please use our additions + corrections page as you see fit.
We hope that you’ll find this site a useful addition to Portland’s creative community and welcome any feedback you may have.
Factory Portland is pleased to announce the addition of a new resource on