Ann Arbor’s Far House plays host to local experiments
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Features Editor
Josh Hedges performs as Little Mac in the Far House basement.
Ann Arbor’s underground music scene has a home and a house full of friends at local concert venue and collective, The Far House.
Located at the corner of Packard and Stone School, the house has played host to a number of experimental performances and events since the collective was started in 2008.
The Far House’s mission has always been the same: to have a place where the minds of artists and intellectuals can meet without judgment or the constraints of a consumer-based society.
Founding resident Eric Stephenson, 30, has often found himself frustrated with what he sees as the elitist nature of his town’s local music scene, hoping that his home can be a public escape from it.
Fans dancing during a performance at the Jan. 14 concert.
“We want to create an environment where people are welcome to feel a part of the action,” Stephenson said. “I want them to come here and feel like they’re welcomed, not just another customer. They’re not patrons, they’re pals.”
Planning and organizing several concerts at the Far House throughout the year, Stephenson believes his selection of performers to be in line with the Far House’s stance against commercialism.
“The people who I choose to work with, and play shows with, are the people who actually do it because they like to, not to make a buck,” Stephenson said. “The people who have that integrity tend to get less exposure.”
Eric Stephenson resident of Far House succeded in raising $412 for his emergency dental work at a Far House event called ‘Tooth-a-palooza.’
The Far House’s donation-only events and fundraisers, including musical performances, art shows and movie nights, raise money to support the local acts performing in its underground sound stage in the house’s basement. All proceeds go to the bands.
“The money always goes to the bands,” Stephenson said. “We’ve never kept any money.”
Patrick Doyle, 22, has been journeying from West Sumter to perform at and enjoy many of the Far House’s shows over the past two years, citing the importance of independent music.
“I come here for the community. It’s a great place for friends to get together and listen to music,” Doyle said. “They’re very supportive of the underground music scene.”
Doyle enjoys the support his own independent record label, TF Records, has garnered within the walls of Far House, satisfied despite turning very little profit.
“Here, we have non-corporate musicians that are doing it just because they like to, not to line their pockets,” Doyle said. “Sure, it’s nice to make some money, but that’s just not a concrete reality these days.”
Adrienne Berry plays saxophone and sings for Troubajabamos as they perform at the Far House
Other residents at the Far House have begun to use the property to address other realities. One such inhabitant, Adrienne Berry, has found herself studying and developing environmental practices in the Far House’s backyard. With chickens, a greenhouse and even a worm bin for compost, Berry enjoys the freedom granted at the Far House for her endeavors.
“It’s a house for experimentation,” Berry said. “I’m glad to be able to experiment with sustainability. We’ve always tried to keep a self-sufficient ideology.”
The ideology of the Far House hasn’t only been embraced in Michigan. Twenty-five-year old Mike Taylor, of Chicago, has never felt more at home when traveling to Ann Arbor to perform his experimental electronic music under the name “KKrusty” at the Far House.
“I come up here whenever I get the chance. There’s nobody who appreciates what I do like the people here,” Taylor said.
Taylor cherishes the Far House and the surrounding music scene’s open-mindedness and diversity.
“Equal opportunity is the first thing that springs to mind,” Taylor said. “You can see anything out here.”
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