This week, I had the opportunity to head down to Austin with Loud Agency to photograph and cover the second-ever Restless Fest, hosted by Mike Ziemer and Third String Entertainment, based out of Flip A Switch Studios in Deep Ellum. After a wildly successful first event in January in Dallas, we could not be more excited to share that round two was a hit as well! 

Highlights included fan-favorites JELEEL! and Armani White, who both performed their new hit single GNARLY!, emotive and raw performances from GONER and Brennan Savage, among many other incredible and unique artists.

There’s something in the air at Restless Fest, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s unlike any festival I’ve ever photographed. Maybe it’s the fact that a  platform is being given to almost 40 up-and-coming hip-hop artists of all ages, or the star-studded headliner list, or the incredibly devoted team of individuals who worked so hard to put together this event. I am beyond inspired by Ziemer and his company, including support from Dylan Lueking and Alex Myles, with beats by Kyle Cannon on the main stage.

Dallas and Austin are just the beginning for Restless Fest, with lots more shows on the horizon in 2023 and beyond. I sat down with Dylan and Kyle to get more of an inside scoop on all that they offer. 

Dylan and Kyle, tell me more about Flip A Switch Studios and how you’re using that to grow within the Texas music industry.

• D: With the studio, we want to take a lot of artists, big or small, and give them an opportunity to really shine. We not only are doing studio time, we’re doing press, media, and artist management, so we look at the artists that are booking studio time with us first to add to the lineup for festivals like this.
• K: Flip A Switch are my PEOPLE. I love it. It’s the coolest headquarters, man. Like, you pull up there, the vibes are on 10 every time, like good people we’re always plotting on new different things.

What are you most looking forward to with Restless Fest in the coming months?

• D: I’m not going to release the location, but we do have a Restless Fest coming up in the next couple months in another Texas city. Keep looking out for that! And the more this grows, the better artists will be there and the smaller artists will be put on…  and the more exciting it’s gonna get. 
• K: I’m excited just to see how far it’s gonna go. Like we just did the first, like I told you earlier, we just did the Dallas one two months ago. We are already in Austin. And then I’m also excited to see different artists. It was so cool to see some really badass artists at the Dallas show. There were people that I saw perform that I was just like, “what the hell?” Then I got to see an artist today that I’ve been bumping for like two months now… anyways, very excited for the artists, the settings and just to see how far it’s gonna go, you know?

That’s incredible. I have a feeling it’s just the beginning of something incredibly amazing.

Special shoutout to Anna Barringer, Jacqueline Reagor and Jaron Cass for all their support this week too!