Movement is afoot to zap some life back into the local music scene.

Axis of Stevil — a local creative consulting firm that specializes in Web-site design, marketing, advertising and community service — is organizing the Greenville RiverRock Festival — a free, 10-hour music festival featuring eight bands — to be held Sept. 9 on the Town Common. The date was also chosen as to not interfere with an East Carolina University home football game.

Web photo (ENLARGE)

Cabert Woolard, above, and Eric Walls of Autumn Window will perform at the Sept. 9 RiverRock Festival. Walls is the manager of Expressions, which has partnered with RiverRock for two of its benefit shows.

"We used to have a pretty good local music scene," said RiverRock Director of Operations Nick Castillo. "We are hoping that we can bring back some of that local talent. Our mission is to promote live music, not just in Greenville but in eastern North Carolina, from all walks of life."

Axis of Stevil founder, Steven Maguire, formed an 11-member board for the RiverRock Festival to get the event off the ground.

"We have students, non-students, people who are in bands and those who are not," said board member Graham Hensley. "We need all the help we can get."

Through the board, they have enlisted a ton of local support from businesses including, Flint Printing, Swash Improv, Expressions and Joe Pecheles.

Even though RiverRock will be free to the public, there are still costs involved in putting on the festival, hence the getting sponsors and holding benefits shows to raise money.

Expressions, a downtown retail store, has partnered with RiverRock for two of its benefit concerts, the first of which was held July 22. Expressions manager Eric Walls, also a musician in the band Autumn Window, has a vested interest in promoting local live music.

Autumn Window will be one of the eight performers at the September festival.

The Red Rooster and Expressions will hold the fifth, and final benefit concert Sept. 2, a week before the festival.

The Phoenix Nightclub will hold a benefit show Aug. 10 at 10 p.m. and R.A. Fountain General Store in Fountain will hold a benefit at 1 p.m Aug. 19.

Another benefit show is booked for Aug. 24, but the venue has yet to be determined.

R.A. Fountain, the Red Rooster and The Phoenix, exemplify the variety of music RiverRock is trying to include.

The Phoenix is a downtown Greenville nightclub that plays a variety of Top 40, beach, classic rock and '80s music. R.A. Fountain General Store is located in Fountain and hosts bluegrass, gospel and acoustic concerts. The Red Rooster hosts a variety of music including hard-core punk and mellow acoustic.

Castillo said the purpose of the benefit shows is twofold: to raise money for the festival and give bands not in the festival an opportunity to perform live in Pitt County.

"We only had eight slots to fill for the festival," he said, "but we had more than 40 bands apply."

September's event will include acoustic, bluegrass, rock, metal, country and alternative music.

Cast Against Character band member Ryan Hart is as much a musician and as he is a consumer of live music. He recently attended this year's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, a four-day, multistage camping festival held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn., every June.

"I love going to shows as much as playing at shows," he said.

So even though his band will not perform at the festival he's excited about attending the festival in September.

"We are going to be setting up a booth outside to mix it up, hand out stickers and CDs," he said.

Cast Against Character played with two other bands at the first benefit show at the Red Rooster in July.

Other bands and local groups are invited to set up their own tables at the festival.

"We have invited all bands who are interested to come out and set up a booth or merchandise table to promote their music, hand out stickers, CDs, posters etc. As well as network with other bands, radio stations and venues free of charge," Maguire said.

Looking forward, the RiverRock board hopes this becomes a yearly event for Greenville.

"We want it to grow into receiving support from the local community," Castillo said.

RiverRock shows

The Greenville RiverRock festival will hold the following benefit shows this month:

n 10 p.m. Aug. 10: at the Phoenix Nightclub with Hollywood Cowboy, Brooks Wood Band and and third band.

n 1 p.m. Aug. 19: at R.A. Fountain General Store with Mark Wilson and FRAIL.

n 10 p.m. Aug. 24: location yet to be determined with Princess and the Criminals, Legion of Supervillians and Romeo is Bleeding.

All shows are $5. For more information about RiverRock, see pages 8-9 or visit www.riverrockfest.com.

Check out the bands on the web:

Brooks Wood Band: http://www.myspace.com/brookswoodband

Legion of Supervillians: http://www.myspace.com/legionofsupervillains

Hollywood Cowboy: http://www.myspace.com/hollywoodcowboyrocks

Romeo is Bleeding: http://www.myspace.com/romeoisbleedingnc

Princess and the Criminals: http://www.myspace.com/princessandthecriminals

FRAIL: www.frail.com and http://myspace.com/frailorig

The Sept. 9 Greenville RiverRock Festival bands

Katharsis: Rock-and-rollers from Greenville. A unique musical style, complete with vocals reminiscent of Alice in Chains, a melodic feel on par with A Perfect Circle and the overall catchiness of Incubus sets the stage for Katharsis' powerful positive message.

Dirty5Thirty: Organic hip hop group from Chapel Hill. They are proudly "multi-genred" and borrow liberally from influences in jazz, metal, funk, hip-hop and psychadelia.

Black Sky Radius: Metal Rockers from Greenville. Melodic riffs, heart pounding rhythms and aggressive vocals make their music large and in charge.

The Infamy: Christian Rock from Atlantic Beach. Their mission has never been to gather groups of young people together to tell them about Hell, fire and brimstone. The Infamy insists on loving their listeners and loving God, who makes everything they do possible.

Carolina Still: Carolina Still is an acoustic band from Washington, N.C., with a new sound. Drawing influences from blues, bluegrass, rock-n-roll and rag-time, Carolina Still produces a unique sound which has been described as "not your traditional bluegrass."

Autumn Window: Acoustic duo from Greenville. Two men, two guitars and a whole lot of heart. Capable of captivating audiences with their melodic lyrics and toe-tapping tunes, Autumn Window delivers grassroots entertainment.

Someone's Sister: Acoustic folk rock act from Greenville. Their music provides the perfect blending of rock and folk as each artist lends her own life experience to create music unlike any other.

The Lowlands: Alternative sensation from Winston Salem.

Contact Kelley Kirk-Swindell at 329-9596 or kkirkswindell@coxnc.com.