Cry & Roar: Our annual celebration of experimental music and community at the Racer Sessions

Each year towards the end of January, the Racer Sessions hosts Cry & Roar, a 3-day celebration of the current experimental music sounds heard at the Racer Sessions. Founded in 2012 as a two-year anniversary party for the Sessions, Cry & Roar features longtime Racer Session participants and newcomers to the weekly series alike. Each year of Cry & Roar is a new opportunity for community members to gather together in celebration of our shared love for experimental music and the people that create it.

Initially, the anniversary of the session was celebrated informally. In 2013, after the tragic passing of Seattle musician and Racer Sessions musician Andrew Carrico the season before, we renamed the annual festival in his honor. A fierce saxophonist and kind-hearted soul, Andrew described his sound as “somewhere between a cry and a roar.” We felt that Andrew’s spirit represented so much of what we aspire to cultivate at the Racer Sessions—dedication to fringe music, a love and respect for one another, and a willingness to collaborate with musicians of all levels of ability. Cry & Roar continues each January in the very space in which it was born, Seattle’s Cafe Racer.