Information about the International Pop Overthrow  from Organizer David Bash: 

International Pop Overthrow is a pop music festival that will take place in Los Angeles and Orange County from August 21-30, 1998. IPO will be held in several different venues, and approximately 100 pop bands from all over the world have been invited to play. 

 The purpose of this festival is two-fold: one is to give every worthy band who'd like to play their music in a festival atmosphere the chance to do so, and the other purpose is to bring pop music the attention it so richly deserves, with  the hope that more mainstream listeners of music will attend the festival and hear some artists who otherwise have not had the opportunity to be heard. 

International Pop Overthrow comes on the heels of Poptopia, a similarly inclined festival that recently completed its third running. Poptopia has been geared a bit more to Los Angeles music (although it did feature several non-L.A. artists), so the hope is that by bringing in a much higher percentage of artists from outside of Los Angeles, International Pop Overthrow will augment the efforts of Poptopia, and the two festivals will create a symbiosis which will ultimately enable pop music to take its rightful place among the general public. 

  The venues at which IPO will take place are The El Rey Theatre, Jack's Sugar Shack,  Spaceland, The Martini Lounge, The Gig, The Mint and Fitzgerald's. There will also be an outdoor show, at The Garden Grove Festival Ampitheater.  

 As we get closer to the date all of the major newspapers will be contacted, as will radio stations, for the purposes of procuring advertisements and obtaining press coverage. It is our firm belief that if this festival is heavily advertised and covered in the mainstream media, it will pique the curiosity of the public, create awareness of pop music, and  increase the festival’s attendance. Once these people see the artists and hear the quality of their music they will wholeheartedly embrace it, and hopefully the labels will follow the public’s lead.