Madison Long
Life Editor
With the hot blue and red lights pouring on his face, Jake Roecker, a second year Commercial Music student at ISU, is solely focused on the movements of his drumsticks. He’s keeping one ear open for his four bandmates, waiting for the perfect opportunity to play them up, emphasizing their talents.
He’s already performed at the Boise Treefort Music Festival in years prior, but now he’s bringing his college band to the big stage.
Roecker has to keep his head in the game, anticipating the well-welcomed adrenaline rush he gets from the spontaneous burst of energy. His heart is pounding, the crowd’s cheers, chants and shouts only further swelling his heart with gratitude. He’s exactly where he wants to be.
“There’s this air of appreciation for local and live music that just permeates the entire festival,” says Roecker. “It was very much a reaffirmation that the music we’re putting our hearts and souls into is working. People are enjoying it.”
Starting in 2012, the March 25-29 Boise Treefort Music Festival has grown into a five-day multi-disciplined festival with “forts” dedicated to live music, live art installations, film, drag, comedy, beer, tech, music lectures, podcasts, skateboarding and yoga.
The event is centered in downtown Boise, with the majority of Julia Davis Park sectioned into the “Fort Zone” for the free-to-enter events. The East side of the park is designated for the main stage – the “Wristband Zone” – for passholders to have access to the performing line-up.
Quotes from the Treefort Music Festival website call it “the festival we need, but don’t deserve,” (Northwest Music Scene), with “no scene, no pretense, no cool kids, or exclusionary vibe. Just nothing but goodness,” (UPROXX).
Oregon Music News says, “No one leaves Treefort disappointed, and everyone leaves with a new favorite artist.”
And among the over 500 artists performing, several ISU commercial music students took their talents to the stage.
The Ben Graham Group – Ben Graham (keys), Jake Roecker (drums), Reese Thompson (lead/rhythm guitar), Rowen Keith (lead/rhythm guitar) and James Brecker (bass) – performed Sunday March 29. Formed in 2025 after the group bonded over favorite metal, progressive rock and jazz groups, the Ben Graham Group blends jazz and fusion harmonies to create a captivating progressive metal sound.
Their first single, “Chrysalis,” was released earlier in 2026, with help from ISU Commercial Music faculty Jonathan Armstrong and Thom Hasenpflug.
Roecker’s second group, Khorvai, includes Keith on guitar, and performed Saturday, March 28. The two have five singles, and one eight-song album released between 2025 and 2026 with this doom metal project, that according to their Treefort Music Festival biography “leans into weight, atmosphere, and dissonance with no interest in genre boundaries.”
“(This) means everything to me. It’s why I came to school here at Idaho State University, to be a part of the Commercial Music Program,” says Roecker, who hopes to become a touring musician. “To be able to take two incredible groups with some of my best friends back to this festival that I’ve been loving as a spectator, there’s nothing like it.”
Next year’s festival will be held March 31-April 4, 2027, with more details available at https://treefortmusicfest.com.
