Bands For Badges: Makes Miracles Out Of Music

By CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN

Want to witness the power of music? Attend next month’s Bands for Badges concert during Labor Day weekend at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds.

There, you’ll enjoy a lineup of local, regional and national acts, all performing for a greater cause—to help raise funds to provide emergency financial assistance for first responders, military personnel and their families on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard who are facing a sudden catastrophic event in their lives.

What makes the concert so special, said Entrain drummer Tom Major, is, “it’s for an amazing cause. …Festivals like this are important, especially if we can help spread some love and help people in need. We can afford to do that. It’s good for us as well. It’s all about the positive energy.”

Started in 2019, the one-day event celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2024–it was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19. It’s a fundraiser, family-friendly music festival and celebration of community, all wrapped in one.

“We’re delighted to be able to help people when they need it,” said Boyd DeMello, vice president of the nonprofit. “It feels good to give back to those who help our community. Firefighters and police officers are humble and often don’t ask for help.”

DeMello should know. He’s a fire inspector for the Town of Falmouth and has worked with the Falmouth Fire Rescue Department since 1987.

While it may be difficult for first responders, those serving in the military, and their families to seek out help, DeMello said, knowing that there is an organization like Bands for Badges is comforting. “We’re available if people need us,” he said. “And sometimes it takes a little nudging on our part to get people to apply for help. Generally, our professions don’t ask for it.”

DeMello, who is one of the co-founders of the nonprofit along with Tim Smith and Don Cross, spoke about the impact it has had since its inception.

The organization paid for a monthly mortgage payment for a Cape family in financial need. It covered the costs of rehabbing the home of a retired firefighter who had suffered a serious injury. And gift cards to Stop & Shop and Walmart are given to assist families at Joint Base Cape Cod.

“We’re trying to make miracles out of music,” DeMello said. “That’s what we do every year.”  

While still a relatively young organization, it has experienced significant growth since its inception. The first year, it was held at the Falmouth Music and Arts Pavilion at Falmouth Harbor. The second year, it moved to the fairgrounds to attract regional and national acts and draw larger audiences.

There have been two mainstays over the past five years—the Black Dog has served as its major corporate sponsor and Entrain has made the annual trek from its hometown on Martha’s Vineyard to perform on the mainland.

“They really treat the bands well, and the audiences love it,” Major said. “They’ve got a good vibe there all around and it’s a first-class production. They know how to do it right and don’t scrimp at all.”

Major, who founded Entrain 30 years ago, understands how music festivals like this can serve as a catalyst for positive change. “When people connect and are dancing around together, it multiplies. That’s why it’s so infectious and such an important part of life,” he said. “Music nourishes the soul, feeds the soul and exercises the body—there is no better activity humans can do, personally.”

Mix in charity and you get an event like Bands for Badges, which, Major said, “is a top-notch, first-class event. They’ve been bringing in great bands, and the crowds have been getting bigger and bigger. They’ve got a nice little foothold in the festival scene on Cape Cod.”

Kicking off last  year’s concert was Cape Codder Monica Rizzio. “It was a really beautiful day, and they had professional sound, staging, and treated us really nicely,” she said.

As one who knows what goes into organizing an event like this—Rizzio and her husband, Pete Fasano, have put together the Vinegrass Music Festival since 2014 to raise funds for music scholarships, programs and instruments for children—she was impressed with the size and scope of Bands for Badges. “They put on a heck of a festival, and I felt proud to be a part of that event for sure,” she said. “It feels good to know as an artist that I’m there to perform and that is my contribution to such an important cause.”

Rizzio was followed by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, which scored the soundtrack to the 1983 film “Eddie & The Cruisers,” which featured the hit song “On the Dark Side.” The band has been a familiar face at Bands for Badges, performing at the first concert in 2019.

The South Shore’s Aldous Collins Band, Magnolia Boulevard of Lexington, Kentucky, and Cowboy Mouth of New Orleans, added to the impressive lineup, which was headlined by Scott Stapp, the front man for the band Creed.

“Every year we’re trying to grow this,” said DeMello, who hinted at expanding it into a two-day festival at some point in the future. “We took a step this year with Scott Stapp. …We’re definitely trying to expand and get better acts and bigger acts, but we want to make sure it fits the flavor of what we want to do.”

With Coast-Fest, which is organized by and features Falmouth’s own Crooked Coast; Beach Road Weekend, which has drawn major acts, including Mumford & Sons, Beck, and Bon Iver, to the Vineyard in recent years; and Bands for Badges, this section of the Cape has become a hotbed for fans of live music (and music festivals) every August.

“I don’t know if people realize there are three big music festivals in this area within weeks of each other every summer,” said DeMello. “We’re growing each year and we’re always looking at doing something that didn’t work one year to maybe try something different this time.”

Organizers start looking for ways to top last year’s festival almost right away. “We ran the concert and took a week off and then we’re right back into the booking stage,” DeMello said. “It is a year-long job for the board of directors. Some days, it feels like a full-time job, but we’re more than happy to do it.”