Saturday night, Brooklyn buzz band Beach Fossils played a gig at Wildfire Lounge on the Commons with support from Upstate New York locals Hotel Reverie. This succesful show was the product of skipster, a new music website and booking agency helmed by Ithaca College senior Scott Pollack and recent grad Michael Spreter. Beach Fossils marked the second official show for the duo, following a performance by singer/songwriter Marissa Nadler and Ithacan Emily Arin. Pollack sat down with The Sun to discuss the website’s role in Ithaca, the local music community and skipster’s myth of hipster-ness.

The Sun: Why did you see the need for skipster?

Scott Pollack: Well, there are so many blogs and music websites out there and there wasn’t really one that I could actively check that covered this region. There’s Brooklyn Vegan and Gorilla vs. Bear, but there is nothing distinctly for this area. So, having a passion for it and being part of the music community, I felt that I already did it on my own, so why not put it out there for other people and share the wealth.

Sun: How do you feel connected to the Ithaca music scene?

S.P.: Just the simple act of going to a local band’s show or telling friends about a friend of yours show is enough to make a dent on the community. On top of that, it’s a very small town, so it’s really easy to get to know people, like Ithaca Underground and Dan Smalls. Because it’s such a small place, everyone is really accessible. There’s a lot of room to collaborate.

Sun: In a community that already has groups like Ithaca Underground and Dan Smalls Presents, what do you see as skipster’s niche?

S.P.: Ithaca Underground has a range of genres they cover and same with Dan Smalls. When we try and book shows for someone if they don’t know the artist, we hope that we’re consistent with our taste and genre. For Beach Fossils, for example, maybe you haven’t heard of them, but the other shows we put on, you like that kind of music.

Sun: Who do you see as your target audience?

S.P.: Our target audience is people who are really into up and coming music, music that hasn’t hit mainstream yet. For the people who check Hype Machine and read Pitchfork everyday, we help localize that. It’s anyone from high school kids to the college crowd.

Sun: How do you find the acts that you book?

S.P.: It starts out with what we’re listening to at the moment. For example, with Beach Fossils me and Mike had been listening to them since last summer and we kept saying “this would be such a fun show in a college town like Ithaca.” One thing you’ll learn about the music industry is you might as well ask. It’s a very small network and the worst case senario is someone says “no.” So we just put ourselves out there  and do the whole booking routine. We just explain we’re two guys, we don’t have tons of money, but this is what we can offer. That’s our approach, and they’ll go to the band with our offer and if the band is interested we go from there.

Sun: How do you balance between your personal tastes and bringing bands an audience here would like?

S.P.: We definitely have to be passionate about it, because it does take a lot of work being just two people with very limited funds. We try and find a balance of someone we like that also has appeal to people in the area. So, we wouldn’t bring some super experimental band that only the two of us dig, becuase why waste our efforts and book a show, when we could have booked a show that other people would enjoy. In my mind that would truley be selfish.

Sun: What would your dream lineup be to bring to Ithaca?

S.P.: Honestly, if we had $2,000, without a doubt, we would book Sleigh Bells and Twin Sister. If we had an unlimited budget, we would totally bring Beach House and The National.

Sun: Do you see yourself working more with college groups like Cornell’s Fanclub Collective or Ithaca College’s B.O.C.?

S.P.: Yeah definitely, we’re always open for collaboration. People hear “skipster” and always say, “oh, does skipster derive from hipster?” and “you guys seem pretentious,” but it’s not that at all. We’re super down to earth, we like helping other people out. With that in mind, if B.O.C. or Fanclub were to approach us, we’d totally be down. We’re not our own entity and we like to be a part of the community.