Themestock 14 - "Sizable"

A music collective's annual performance and love fest.

The Theme Music Collective was born one April night in 2012, when Matt Brown - best known as the leader of the venerable Atlanta band Uncle Green - invited a few dozen of his musician friends to a Facebook group he called Theme Music. "Once a week, I'm going to post a theme," he wrote, "And the idea is everyone records a song that fits the theme and posts it here. It can just be straight to your phone - the point is just to DO something, not perfection. The first theme is... Elvis Costello! Annnd... go!" To demonstrate, Matt sat on his bed with an acoustic guitar, the darkness somewhat concealing his nerves, and recorded a video of himself singing Costello's "Beyond Belief."

Matt's friends quickly warmed to the idea and started posting their own videos. Then they started inviting their friends. The group grew quickly, and soon everyone was obsessively watched each other's posts in support. Soon, people began collaborating on videos, often remotely, since the group now included people from all around the country and eventually Europe as well. Some folks were pro or former pro musicians, while some had never played in front of anyone else in their lives. Having the support and community inspired everyone to dream bigger, and inevitably, one of the group blurted out one day: "Wouldn't it be great if we could all get together and play a live show?"

The idea sounded crazy at first, but it slowly dawned on the Atlanta crew that the resources existed: two members had home studios suitable for rehearsing, a venue was secured, and thus Themestock was born. Themesters flew to Atlanta from L.A., Seattle, Minneapolis, New Jersey and more. A theme was chosen, and each member could choose one song to lead, and/or play on other members' songs. Many of the group were meeting in person for the first time. It was a magical weekend — so magical that everyone agreed it should become an annual tradition for as long as everyone wanted to do it. Over the years, Themesters have written songs together and made albums, met new best friends and even spouses, and become a true community.

Themestock is now happening for its 14th year. It was virtual for a couple of years during the pandemic, but otherwise it's been live in Atlanta. The theme for this year is "Sizeable" - songs about size, weights, volumes, and measurements. We hope you'll check it out and feel the love - we guarantee you haven't seen anything quite like it!