The Story behind No Sleep Fest

My stomach released a muffled rumble with my assumption that it was louder than expected. Each individual within a 3- 5-foot radius of me was unable to hear it. In the moment, an ounce of care wasn’t present, therefore I didn’t acknowledge my awareness. Instead, I enjoyed the morning sun’s kisses, gently placed upon the back of my neck, through my straw cowboy hat. There wasn’t much of a wind factor but natural whistles tickled my ear like a hungry cat brushing against my ankles to notify me of the empty food bowl. It was just enough to make the collar on my blue, long-sleeved, button-down Wrangler shirt dance around my collarbone. The air feels different on Sundays in the fall season, air quality doesn’t seem as polluted compared to the beginning of the week. I found myself in an oddly comfortable, laidback position in an aluminum restaurant chair. Directly in front of me was Robert, the drummer of Soledad and Ballista and to his right was Pablo Solis, the founder of No Sleep Fest. A bit shorter than me with a pair of comfortable heather grey Nikes. Pablo’s Latino heritage was the first characteristic I recognized upon our first greeting. Jet black hair outlined his jaw and chin with a thinner layer covering his top lip. The majority of the hair on is head fell over to his left, an indication that his last haircut enabled a particular style. What presented itself to me above all is the creative aura that trailed behind him, similar to most people I remain in contact with. It was almost like I knew who he was before this day. Prior to this beautiful morning, I was unaware of Pablo and No Sleep Fest, it didn’t reach my radar until a week or two before. Pablo reached out to me via Instagram about meeting up and chatting about his festival. Not a second went by as I let out a positive response. With the good word from Robert, I was more than eager to find out more about No Sleep Fest and to see what I was able to help him with.

It was reaching closer to noon as I was observing my surroundings but I didn’t go as far as to look behind me. We were occupying the outside patio of the Vegan Food House; a turquoise house nestled off of West Davis Street with a modern, rustic interior, held up by wooden beams with a nice finish to it. The illusion on the establishment was a bit tricky to the eye; although it looks small on the outside, the inside looks incredibly spacious with a splash of high-end qualities that seems to cater to the bougie crowd. I wasn’t aware of this restaurant until Robert suggested it due to my questionable vegan lifestyle. Conversation with a bit of laughter and a couple of mimosas to myself held its place in time as we waited for our food to arrive. It wasn’t too long afterwards that our food arrived but an empty stomach will distort the perception on time. From the looks on our faces, body language and a tad bit of slowed speech indicated that not only was our food was good and hearty, it was also plentiful. Moments of silence commenced as we chowed down on our plates, eyes bigger than our stomachs. I felt full as full can be and I still had a little less than half on my plate, four more bites would’ve compelled me to take a nice afternoon nap but it wasn’t permissible. The day was beginning to get older and although I had no care in the world, we needed to accomplish the photo session and the interview process. After paying for the check and nonchalantly catching my breath, we made our way towards Downtown Dallas to get a few shots of Pablo before we began our interview.

On any given day, Downtown Dallas is infested with hourly or salary employees, tourists, business owners, pretentious residents, beautiful women, the cool kids and the homeless hiding in the corners of the towering skyscrapers. On this Sunday, I was traveling eastbound onto Main Street. The mid- afternoon was getting old quicker than I expected, and within a quick decision, I executed a U-turn to parallel park on the other side of the street, facing west of Main St. We hopped out of the truck and began walking westbound. There wasn’t any form of preparation, nor any plan of any sort in regards on this photo session, I wanted to use what we had and the environment. We began our session at the corner of Main and Ervay St, under the street sign and traffic lights. Afterwards we proceeded forward, taking portraits here and there with the preferred composition that incorporated Dallas’ modern architecture. Directly across the street was a conspicuous red chair meant to catch my peripheral. We quickly hopped over to the other side of the street so I can grab a few shots of Pablo looking cool and collected. The pink, blue, yellow striped shirt and the Kool- Red shorts combination spoke to me; just like Pablo, my sense of fashion is kind of wacky but the combination looked fun. I was a little envious about his Super Mario socks, reminiscent thoughts of the early Game Boy flashed through my memories for a brief moment. A feminine voice shouted from 7- 9 feet away to my right. It came from a middle age white woman, roughly 5’9 in height, 135-140 in weight. Her free and creative spirit betrayed her age, although her wrinkles told the story of an ambitious, heartbroken woman. Her slender figure was draped with a Cowboy jersey and sat right above her natural wide hips, hiding behind light blue jean shorts. Head full of grey and platinum blonde hair, wrapped in messy bun exposing her long chin and heart shaped face. She invited us into her suite by seducing us with contemporary art. She showed us around for a bit, sharing a bit of her story and explaining the origins of a few of her art pieces. Shortly afterwards, we made our exit as we continued to explore our surroundings a bit. The amount of right turns we continued to make as we walked, talked and stopped to take photos at random spots lead me to the swift conclusion that we made an entire circle, covering a large amount of ground and taking dope portraits. After ending up on St Paul, it was nothing but a hop and a skip away to reach the truck. We hopped in and headed back towards Robert’s house.

The portabella mushroom steak that I had earlier was weighing heavy on my mind, it was the best mushroom steak I ever had. The mashed potatoes were phenomenal, it was almost unreal how good it was. The spinach complemented the rest of the dish in ways I’m not able to explain. That was a God given meal if I didn’t know any better. With a quick mic check to make sure the audio was good to go on my phone, Pablo and I began out conversation to find out more about No Sleep Fest and the man behind it.

Humble Beginnings

From his adolescence, at the tender of age ten. Pablo was already neck deep into music. His father, a member of a mariachi band, taught Pablo how to play the violin, shortly afterwards playing the saxophone. He didn’t continue to play those instruments, in response to his rebellious nature and turning his ear to rock music. Although he has a general love for music, the noisy, heavier characteristics of rock music is what reeled him in. Fast forward to his teenage years in high school, he started attending shows at Walter’s in Houston, which is now closed. Pablo states that Walter’s was the heart of the Houston scene where you can watch bigger bands, just as much as smaller, touring bands. No barricades were present at Walter’s which promoted a more intimate setting, Walter’s was his primary source for discovering bands. He didn’t have much plans on being involved in the scene, as he describes the statement as “a little dream that you never thought much about.” After graduating, Pablo’s father owned an abandoned building he had planned on renovating to his business of selling instruments. This building was dubbed “The Clinic” by locals due to the fact that it was an old clinic. One day, someone needed help putting on a last-minute show and Pablo, along with father, agreed to lend the spot for the night. That was the beginning of Pablo’s involvement in the local scene.

After the first show, The Clinic was the next DIY spot promoters wanted to book shows but Pablo declined at first, simply because he didn’t know much of what he was doing. Shortly after, with the help of Chris Burgess, before he was the guitarist of I AM, on the sound, things were a bit more organized and Pablo felt more confident about hosting more shows there. Chris ended up running the sound at every show. Pablo was hesitant in being fully involved in curating shows due to the lack of experience but eventually artists and promoters urged Pablo to be more hands on. It was a bit of a struggle that put a damper on Pablo because at the time, Houston wasn’t big on allowing the infiltration of newcomers into the scene. It was difficult to acquire any information due to the closed minded mentality at the time. In every direction Pablo asked for help, he was met with closed doors. Criticism was another factor that crushed Pablo’s spirit but as he grew older, the thicker his skin became. From there, he acquired a small team of individuals that helped him book their own shows, while other promoters would come through and book their own events. Through trials and tribulations, 30 shows a month, gaining experience in curating shows and going through every mistake and hardship imaginable, the DIY spot reached an end. The Clinic only lasted for a year but within that time, what Pablo misses about The Clinic, many faces came and went that Pablo got to meet and network with. “We had our moment, came in, blazed up and went away, like a burning phoenix.” he says. The stress of financially keeping up with a DIY venue while having things going on in his personal life was a bit much, which ultimately lead to The Clinic shutting down.

The first No Sleep Fest

Initially, the first No Sleep Fest was an end of the year party that Pablo wanted to put together. His plan was to book all local bands. As word got out about the end of the year party, more bands wanted to join the lineup. This was the first time Pablo hired a graphic designer for the flyer. Along with an attractive flyer for promotion, day passes were made along with a compilation cd of all the bands performing the festival, strictly DIY. Pablo recalls a good handful of Dallas, Austin and Houston bands that performed the two-day festival. He mentions the bands Genesis Company and Way Under for being the first out of state band to give him and his venue a chance. Three months prior, both bands came to Houston to perform for the first time and loved it so much that they wanted to come back to perform again. Pablo champions the success of the first No Sleep Fest to word of mouth, as he and his small crew didn’t have much knowledge on how to run a festival. Pablo expresses his thought on the festival lineup as “weird”, further stating that during that time period in Houston, shows were strictly one genre shows, multi genre events were frowned upon. “I love Houston but back in day, it was all about cliques”, Pablo states, “and I don’t blame them, it’s comfortable being in your clique after meeting some questionable people”. No Sleep Fest had an awesome mixture of metalcore, hardcore, melodic hardcore, and pop punk bands. One of the hardest parts on managing the festival was parking. The Clinic had a very small parking lot and it was extremely difficult to get touring bands to squeeze into the space but they made it work, “If you were the first one there, you were the last to leave,” Pablo says. One of the main attractions at No Sleep Fest was the tacos, made by a guy his father knew. The taco man was present at every show at The Clinic, with his grill, making tacos. Everyone would swarm the grill to get some tacos and apparently they were extremely delicious.

No Sleep Fest 2

With The Clinic being shut down and touring bands continuing to reach out Pablo to book, The Clinic ending up becoming a booking agency. Pablo ending up booking shows at other venues instead of having his own venue. Too many headaches were involved trying to maintain a DIY venue. By this time, The Clinic was more than a venue or a community of people, it was looked at as more of a culture or a lifestyle. It got to a point to where anyone who would mock their shows were called “The Clinic kids”. It was a label that was given to all of the newcomers during that time. Although Pablo and his friends were constantly made jokes about No Sleep Fest 2, Pablo’s intention wasn’t to curate another one. After making the decision to curate NSF 2, one of the first struggles he came across was trying to make the lineup better than the last festival. along with booking for two days. His stubbornness to keep the event DIY and the struggle of finding the right venue were additional issues that formed. As the end result, NSF 2 ended up back at The Clinic, upon request. Pablo describes the line up at terrifying, due to the fact it was heavier than the prior NSF. This was also the first time hip hop was introduced to the fest, and ended up being a pretty good turnout. Pablo takes pride in the sense of community that was built with the festivals he curated. He states one of the things he loves about No Sleep is the level of inclusivity the participants share, being open to listen to every new artist they haven’t heard of before. Reminiscing on bands like Sledge, IAM, The Optimist and Ballista playing in such a small venue, Pablo revisited how terrifying the event was. The way Pablo describes how congested the space was with people spilling out of the door and standing closets sounded like hazard city. Nonetheless, it seemed to be another historical night.

No Sleep Fest 3

Two changes took place during the transition from No Sleep Fest 2 to No Sleep Fest 3: the fest usually happens in December but it was scheduled to happen in October and it was at a different venue. It was moved to October due to the struggle of finding available touring acts that he wanted to play, i.e, Kaonashi. He was adamant on the Philly quintet metalcore band to play; they have played at The Clinic a couple of times before and by association, people wanted to see them perform at NSF. Booking it in December was tough because it’s close to the holidays and a lot bands didn’t want to come to Texas. Instead of having the festival in Houston, it ended up being in Galveston, roughly 51 miles southeast of Houston. With the DIY spirit still intact, he found an affordable and eager VFW hall in Galveston that allowed to host NSF. The space was big enough to have two stages with all of the equipment already there and no barricade. NSF 3 ended up being more of a local festival, Pablo booked more Galveston bands instead of Houston bands. Pablo states that at the time, he felt criticism for catering to Galveston but he makes it point that it was giving Galveston a chance to shine. Considering the Galveston is a tourist town, a lot of Galveston showed up to pack the house. Despite the opinions, a good portion of Houston locals showed up as well. This was also the first festival that had an international band, Canadian band Mayfield. It held its similarities to the prior two: Dallas, Houston, Austin bands parading south to perform, with the addition of more hip hop acts. One of his goals for NSF is to bridge the gap between heavy music and hip-hop, as he mentions Houston artist Dende performing on the festival for the second time. What was lacking on the 3rd festival was the confidence in Pablo; he criticizes his lack of effort in promoting and held the assumption of a poor turnout. It was clear that his assumption was wrong; the word-of-mouth technique still held strong to the NSF tradition, therefore the turnout was better than expected.

Throughout the years was a huge learning experience for Pablo. Starting for the first NSF with a small handful of volunteers to acquiring a team on NSF 3, he experienced quite a bit of ups and down in event curating. From the beginning, Pablo’s confidence was absent. Although he admits it’s a bad trait to have, it kept him from being comfortable. Every NSF to date has been successful but it’s the smaller shows that kills his confidence. With the lack of attention due to personal life, he states that the shows he paid less attention to didn’t do well. Fortunately, every NSF proves him wrong.

No Sleep Fest 4

NSF 4 is one of Pablo’s favorite festivals because a good chuck of the lineup were strangers to the local scene, some of the bands never been to Houston. Bands like No Home, Post Profit, Rare Bloom, and hip-hop group named Family were newcomers to the annual NSF. Outlier, Ballista, Tooth & Nail, The Optimist were some of veteran bands that came back. The Callous Daoboys, Mock Love, Flagbearer and Bay Faction also showed up to play. The location was back at Galveston and yet again, another awesome turn out. “One thing about Galveston: it just feels like a party town down there.” Pablo says. “It was pretty awesome to see different genre of bands interact with each other as well”. He points out an observation that I assumed mid-way through our conversation; bands that played early NSF had a decent crowd, especially if they were newcomers. When those same bands come back to perform at the next NSF, their audience would significantly increase. From the way Pablo describes NSF 4, it was a true mixed genre event, not an event that only contained one other genre.

No Sleep Fest 5

It’s safe to say that just like everyone else, the massive level of uncertainty caused by the pandemic weighed heavy on Pablo. With the world in limbo, he wasn’t sure if he would curate another NSF. At this point, it seemed as if NSF was beginning to peak; bigger artists headlining, bigger audiences, a bigger crew of people to help put things together. During the pandemic a lot of Houston bands broke up, it created a damper on the scene. Pablo felt like Houston really needed NSF, worst case scenario he would just reschedule. As time passed, thoughts of putting on shows again were dwindling. Around May, Pablo decided to call a booking agent he knew personally, to catch up. A conversation took place about new artists on the agency and the possibility of curating events (vaccines were being distributed at this time, it created a sense of hope) and the big WHAT IF question popped up his mind. Ultimately, it was left up to him to make the decision to get it started again and he accepted the challenge. A couple of noticeable difference began to take place as opposed to the prior NSF; Pablo felt it was best to make it a one-day festival instead of two days and the booking for the bands began very early. Usually, NSF would book bands close to the date, it was easy that way considering most of the bands were locals. With more time, organization and preparation, riding off of the success of the last NSF, Pablo pushes for another successful night. Another contributing factor in NSF 5 is the finance. Throughout the pandemic, Pablo was constantly working to save up to contribute to the festival. Prior to this year, it was little to no money involved due to the lack of a money flow. Professionalism was one of the key factors that helped build the festival as well, from emails to business calls instead of text messages or DM’s. The fear of failing wasn’t much of a factor on this year’s NSF for Pablo, his experience throughout the years of being the forefront of the festival helped him learn a lot about the business aspect and himself. With this year’s NSF, Solis put in a lot ground work as far a promotion; reaching out to different outlets and traveling to different cities to talk about the festival. What caught Pablo by surprise was the amount of out of state tickets being sold, that pushed him to think on a bigger scale, “At first [ when putting together the fest] I would always cater to the Houston crowd, but now, I’m trying to attract more out of state people.” With this being the 5th year anniversary of NSF, the fest is finally receiving the proper energy and respect that it deserves, right along with the massive amount attention. Before, Pablo would reach out to booking agents and getting denied, now booking agents are reaching out to him. Houston locals are starting to catch on to the wave and are looking up to NSF and a huge organic festival to be a part of. Increased exposure on their social media accounts, higher budgets, legitimate venue, promotion, proper sound engineering are some of the factors that boosted Pablo’s confidence in this year’s NSF. It doesn’t take away from the flow of challenges but with the proper resources, it made the process of curating a bit easier for Pablo. Aside from giving local new comers a shot at performing in front of a large audience, one of Pablo’s goals for NSF is to become a festival to be as big and to be taken seriously as other national festivals like FYA Fest, Sound of Fury and other popular festivals. Pablo’s drive and work ethic gives me the full confidence to believe that No Sleep Fest will rise to the level and become the go to festival for Houston.

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