Two founding members of the company that puts on Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest have parted ways with Transmission Events, leaving the future of the annual music festival up in the air.
Graham Williams and James Moody allowed real estate company Stratus Properties, a minority shareholder of Transmission, to buy them out. Williams is taking half of Transmission’s staff with him and launching his own production venture called Margin Walker Presents (named for https://youtu.be/1Qa2Z_gkpOk" target="_blank">a Fugazi song/EP). He plans for the company to focus less on corporate events and brand activations and more on producing live music performances in clubs and bars.
“We just decided to branch out," Williams says. "I think over time the company was going in two directions, one being what we founded the company as, which was live music, booking shows, that kind of stuff."
Williams says they'll also be putting together a new music fest.
“I would imagine it’s going to look almost exactly like Fun Fun Fun Fest…just because that’s the kind of stuff we do," he says. "The creative minds behind that are working on a new project, so if we’re doing that it’s probably going to shape up fairly similarly if I had to guess.”
James Moody, who owns the Mohawk, is not part of the new venture, though Williams said they’ll continue to work together in various ways. And for Transmission Events as it stands now, Williams said he wishes them “no ill will.”
“It was a handshake on the way out situation. We essentially divided into two camps and went our separate ways.”
Bobby Garza of Transmission Events said that while Graham’s spinoff will focus more on “club shows,” Transmission will continue to put on big festivals and brand activations. As for the future of Fun Fun Fun Fest, Garza was tight-lipped.
“We will have an announcement about Fun Fun Fun Fest in June,” he said.
