By Ally Morrison
When Bradley Metrock, a 1999 graduate of Vestavia Hills High School, moved back to the Birmingham area after living in Nashville for 20 years, he was faced with a twinge of loss. He missed City Stages.
So, Metrock meshed his love of music and technology together along with a dash of nostalgia to bring music back to the Magic City on Father’s Day weekend.
“I didn’t know if I would ever move back to Birmingham, but I always said if I did, I wanted to play a role in bringing City Stages back,” Metrock said. “City Stages ran from 1989 to 2009 and meant a lot to the city. Most of the time, with very rare exceptions, it took place on Father’s Day weekend. So there was a City Stages-sized hole in Birmingham. I wanted to play a role in bringing that back.”
The Euphonious festival, now in its second year, was his response.
The festival will take place June 17-19 at the Birmingham Zoo and will feature headliners such as Better Than Ezra, Maddie & Tae, Colbie Caillat and Collective Soul.
Metrock has a strategy when it comes to selecting artists to perform.
“Our lineup will always be a mix of genres,” Metrock said. “We’re not going to be put in a box. The primary criteria of the artists we select is that they sound good live and that they evoke some nostalgia. All of our openers are Birmingham acts, and we’ re excited to have them kick things off.”
Integrating Tech Talks
Euphonious, which means “pleasing to the ear,” combines music and tech into one festival.
This year, Metrock will be adding an executive lunch meeting for tech enthusiasts the day before the festival.
“The technology aspect of last year was pretty light,” Metrock said. “There were some tech companies that came because we invited them. Euphonious will always be a place where we invite tech companies to come and be our guests to enjoy Birmingham and our Southern hospitality.”
“This year, there’s another aspect of technology, which will be what we call Birmingham Tech Talks,” Metrock said. “Foresight Group, Shannon Waltchack, Deepgram and Intel will all speak briefly as part of the Tech Talks luncheon that will be catered by Taco Mama. The idea there is to acquaint people with these companies and serve as a gathering for the business community prior to Euphonious taking place.”
Birmingham Tech Talks will be free to attend, but registration is limited.
Metrock is CEO of a company called Project Voice, which does a lot to accelerate the adoption of voice technology in what is called conversational AI, or artificial intelligence.
“The most common example of (this) technology is Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri,” Metrock said. “One of the top uses for those technologies is to play music. Because of this, there was this opportunity to connect the dots with Birmingham back to a lot of the things my company does anyway.”
Metrock said the founding of Euphonious came naturally to him, explaining his love for both music and a career in technology.
“I’ve always been interested in music,” Metrock said. “I started a record label and am also a classically trained pianist. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial streak, as well, that stemmed from growing up around my grandfather’s business.”
Although VIP tickets and party squares are sold out, general admission tickets and more information are available on the Euphonious website, euphonious.ai.
