This Friday, at Performance Square downtown, the first annual Quadratum Music Festival will be sure to rock the socks off all attendees. With live performances from four musical acts, all by Helena’s youth, this event will be one that downtown Helena will remember for a very long time. Featuring artists Area 66, Spank, Caleb Lay, and Blinded MT, the festival is guaranteed to entertain audiences well into the night. Many different genres of music will be represented at this phenomenal event, including EDM, Punk Rock, Pop, Metal, Alternative Rock, and Classic Rock. For well over four hours, music fans of all genres will be on there feet and on the dance floor.

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Lay will perform at 7:50 pm. Lay will debut his brand new EP Pieces live for audiences. He also will include unheard material and a few acoustic cover songs that are sure to tug at the listener’s heartstrings. If you have seen one of Caleb’s gigs in the past, you know just how talented this young man is. “I played at Night To Shine, and I’ve played around town all over the place,” Lay said. While his past performances may have been killer, his set list for the Quadratum Festival is sure to top all he’s done before. “I have my acoustic guitar and a loop pedal that I plug it into,” Lay said. Caleb is his own one-man-band, but has the genius and talent of an entire ensemble. His performance at the festival is sure to be one you won’t want to miss.

The group who started it all, Blinded MT, will be closing off the show with a gig starting at 8:30. Percussionist Ben Medina-Caplis and lead vocalist Spencer Nelson have been working endlessly to ensure this night will be epic. “What my plan is and what I’m really trying to do is bring together youth musicians as kind of a way for us to express our music and our emotions to people. It’s an outlet for these musicians to have,” Ben Medina-Caplis said on the matter. This is Blinded MT’s second gig at the Performance Square, but this is certainly their highest caliber performance downtown. Evan Wright, Spencer Nelson, and Ben Medina-Caplis will be proving once again that Blinded MT can put on a truly kick-ass show that audiences will love.

Newcomers to the music scene, Spank, a power trio, look to make their edgy band name one that will be talked about long after the festival. After many long years of struggling to gain momentum, many name changes, many genre changes, and many lineup changes, this group of outstanding musicians are planning on showcasing their abilities at 7:10 at the festival. “It’s myself, Chrissy boy (Shields) on bass, our buddy Aaron Burke on percussion, and the amazing Sam (Geary) on guitar. It’s a pretty stacked power trio if you ask me” Shields said. Each of these young gentlemen have played a variety of gigs individually, but this will be their first live show as a combined ensemble. “We’ve got some Classic Rock, and some 90’s Alt Rock, and possibly a few originals we might be throwing in there. Maybe some jam stuff too. Should be pretty cool,” Shields said. 

Area 66, an EDM artist at PAL, is looking forward to the opportunity to perform on Friday. This will be his first time disc jockeying in front of a crowd. He releases new music on Soundcloud almost every day to fill his musical appetite. He produces a wide number of genres but he will be performing only EDM for his first musical performance. Area 66 will open the festival at 6:30.

This bi-annual music festival will be one for the ages. The festival gives young musicians the opportunity to feel what it’s like to play on the big stage. All four artists in this upcoming event are looking forward to putting on a good show.