Guitars were plugged in, amps were turned on and band members stepped onto the stages at different venues across San Francisco. There were 110 bands from across the world squeezing into 15 small and mid-size clubs for the 16th annual Noise Pop music festival.

Noise Pop is an intimate sort of music festival, staying away from large tents and massive crowds to create an personal music experience for the fans of these indie rock bands by using some of San Francisco’s smaller music venues to host bands from Feb. 26 to March 2.

Co-founder of Noise Pop, Jordan Kurland, started the festival in 1993 with Kevin Arnold. It originally started as a one-day, single-venue concert to showcase small bands, according to Kurland. Now the event is also crossing over into teaching bands about the music industry as well as providing visual elements for the festival.

“Noise Pop provides the ability for fans and bands to connect, and for bands to network with other bands as well,” Kurland said.

This year Noise Pop provided an education session on March 1, a free event for bands and fans at the venue 12 Galaxies, to learn about the music industry and its inner workings, according to Kurland. Noise Pop is also promoting a ride-share for its first time, he said.

“We’re just doing our part in helping add to a sustainable environment,” Kurland said.

As the festival grew into its teen years, other elements of film and art were added. This year, rare photos of musician Elliott Smith, taken by Autumn de Wilde, went on display at the Queen’s Nalls Annex, located on Mission Street. De Wilde is known for her photographs of musical artists.

“The film and art of the festival is a parallel to the music, and the images tie in with the sounds of the Noise Pop scene,” Kurland said.

But the music remains the main reason for the festival. San Francisco’s own Film School, who is currently residing in Los Angeles, played at the Independent on Feb 29.

A rock band with a slightly psychedelic sound, Film School’s history in San Francisco extends back to the late 1990s, when lead singer Greg Bertens founded the band. Now, the band is returning to the city of its roots to play in what lead singer Bertens said he believes to be their sixth annual Noise Pop festival.

"[In small venues] you get that one-on-one feel with the audience, and there's an intensity of the music, [and] a lot of the time you can hear what the audience is hearing," Bertens said of playing at Noise Pop. "At a a big festival all you hear is your guitar amp and vocals through the monitor, and it's not as strong [a] connection to the audience."

As Film School's tours are now extending across the country and overseas, Bertens said it is still a special experience to play in the band's hometown, and that Film School is still finding new fans in San Francisco.

“We're always finding that new people are coming to our shows [in San Francisco] that didn't know about us before," Berterns said. "It doesn't seem like San Francisco is the biggest city, but people come up to us all the time and say they didn't know who we were."

Film School's plans after Noise Pop include playing at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas during March, before going on a nationwide tour with British Sea Power this summer.

SF State professor Dean Suzuki, who teaches rock history, said the music scene of San Francisco has changed over the years since Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane were notable city-based musicians.

“San Francisco has probably not again reached the heights of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but has had flashes of brilliance since.”

Mandy Smith, 23, a Noise Pop attendee and SF State student, said the bands that make up festivals like Noise Pop might end up defining this generation’s music scene in San Francisco, and across the country.

“Every generation has their own musical influences and bands. My parents had Woodstock, and future generations will have something else. I have different music festivals that spotlight small bands, like Coachella, Noise Pop and South by Sotuhwest.”

Music festivals like Coachella, in Southern California, and South by Southwest, are other music festivals besides Noise Pop for both small and well-known bands to play to their fans.

For Smith, a senior political science major, it doesn’t seem that one particular band or style of music will define the San Francisco music scene for this generation, she said.

“Maybe what will define San Francisco’s music scene for the 20-somethings will be many, small and mid-sized bands that each have their own edge and sound,” Smith said.

Noise Pop may be over for this year, but to find out more information about any of the 110 bands that played this year, or to find out about the future of Noise Pop, check out the festival's Web site: www.noisepop.com.