The Fest IV

(Originally published at Jerseybeat.com)

How I survived The Fest IV (No really – I’m asking…)

I really can’t express how excited I was to go down to The Fest IV, the new holiday which has practically become a pilgrimage to those with any love of punk. For those who don’t know, The Fest is a combination of efforts from great folk like No Idea! Records, Razorcake, and was in fact officially sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon. Despite having never really done anything like it before, I was determined to make it this year. Just thinking about it, with three and a half days of watching some of the best punk bands around, and hanging out with friends, it wasn’t even a vacation so much as it was a brief time spent in a whole other world.

Pre-Fest Day

After arriving in Gainesville after my 22 hour bus ride (Which I don’t think there was any other way to describe it, other than “It was a 22 hour bus ride, in November”), I found a nice restaurant to get a vegetable gyro before settling into my hotel room and checking out the rest of the city. The first noticeable place is Wayward Council, a non-profit, punk run record store, staffed entirely by volunteers. I go in and look amongst racks of records and zines, and talk with the current worker, who tells me of the pre-show that will be going on later that night. At first I assume “later that night” means 7ish and she corrects me that it’s more like 10ish. I leave after buying some records, and a hand screened sweatshirt (I needed to buy some clothes for the weekend, since I didn’t pack much else other then what I wore on the trip).

Instantly donning my new garment I continued on, feeling like Lisa Simpson during her summer beach trip, gradually meeting new people and taking in everything else there was to do. Another place of interest was the Civic Media Center, a great alternative library with tons of zines. After reading for a while, and printing out some e-mails I needed (Yeah, they’ll let you do that there, they’re really nice like that), I eventually moved on, pretty much wandering around, finding all the clubs, and finally eating dinner at a nice pizza place where I thought the waitress was flirting with me until I went back to my hotel room and found I had an entire stalk of broccoli stuck in between my teeth.

I finally went back over to Wayward Council shortly before 10, where it was still a while before everything started. Apparently the majority of local businesses run on late schedules (Most of the stores I saw didn’t even open until noon at the earliest), so they hold shows or let bands practice once everything else is closed. People kept piling in, and the first band started around 11. They were called Environmental Youth Crunch, and I’d heard of them before from the internet. They were catchy, with some folk influences to them, and while I couldn’t be positive, they struck me as being very environmentally conscience (Which in hindsight, judging by their name, would probably make a lot of sense).

Initially, I was skeptical of the second band, Scouts Honor, since they were the only one I hadn’t heard of before. I was wrong. With just guitar and drums, they sounded like Against Me! during their more Fugazi-esque moments, and even got bluesy at times when the guitarist started playing with a slide. I was definitely won over by the end.

I’d wanted to see Glass and Ashes for a while, so I was excited to see them. As they finished setting up and began playing, it was really starting to hit me “It’s after midnight, and I’m miles away from home, rocking out to some awesome bands in the corner of a record store. This is AMAZING.” Glass and Ashes were simultaneously hardcore and post-hardcore at the same time. Another great set that I watched from about an inch away. The same went for Fiya, who were a little more straight forward and melodic. After everything finished up, I walked down the street to my hotel room, completely blown away, and things hadn’t even officially started yet.

Day 1

It was nice to have slept in a real bed again (and not while traveling 50-60 miles an hour, for that matter), but it wasn’t as nice getting woken up by the hotel staff at 10 AM. Unable to catch up on any more rest, I walked over and got all my Fest registration done early. Now I had a map, so I was able to find some new places, including another pizza place (I stuck with plain cheese this time, which at $2 for a huge slice won me over quick). While Gainesville had almost seemed abandoned the day before, you could practically watch new punks showing up every minute in preparation for everything. I spent some more time reading zines at the Civic Media Center (and donated one I’d made myself as well), and was walking around again when I ran into the first familiar faces outside of a now packed Wayward Council, Matt Army. We hung around outside, amongst everyone else, waiting for other people we knew to show up, including Bill Florio, and the mid-tour Ergs! A few of us left town for dinner, making it back just in time for the first official show of the Fest at Common Grounds.

We got into the club, which was a nice, medium sized club, and there were “notable punks” everywhere. As I walked closer to the stage Bent Outta Shape were just starting out, playing one of my favorite songs, which just confirmed that “I was in the exact right place in the entire world at that moment” feeling. They’ve been dubbed the new Replacements, but I also hear some Lookout!-era Green Day influence there as well. After closing with “Greyhound” (Which I was equally happy about), Sexy got up and started. I’d expected them to be much wilder after some of the stories I’d heard about them, but they were really calm while playing their fast, catchy songs (Though we heard later, they had a much crazier show the night before).
As the night went on I made my way around the club, meeting a number of people whom I’d talked to via e-mail, all incredibly friendly, all happy to be here for the weekend. I wasn’t as familiar with some of the next bands, first The Arrivals from Chicago, and The Cardinal Sin from Minneapolis. The former had a bit of a Bad Religion beat to them, and the later struck me as another post-hardcore band that was a bit more straight forward. All I knew was that I was eight bands into The Fest, and I had yet to see one that wasn’t good yet. Here’s where the first night got REALLY interesting, starting with Gainesville’s own Grabass Charlestons. They play creative pop-punk with more neck pickup than most bands, plus their drummer does the bulk of the singing while the other two of them start up with some crazy stage moves. I’d wanted to see them for a while, so a hometown show seemed like a pretty good start. Following soon after were San Pedro’s pop-punk weirdo’s Toys That Kill. By now I’d managed to get right next to the stage, getting a perfect view of the band, as well as everyone else that was going crazy in the room, which was everyone I could see.
From the reaction they got, you would’ve thought Toys That Kill were headlining, but there was still more, with a (unfortunately rare) set from Dillinger Four. You could feel the excitement in the room, especially with Paddy starting to disrobe almost immediately, proclaiming “This is not the Warped Tour nor Burger King, this is The Fest and is a SHIRTS OFF party so lets all get SEXY in here”. From the opening riff of “Mosh For Jesus”, it was everything you could hope for in a D4 show, as the stage kept getting filled with more and more people (just not their clothes). Even proclaiming that they hadn’t been together for a while, it was still an incredible show; with punk expert Todd Taylor of Razorcake saying that was one of the best times he’d seen them (who was amongst the very friendly people I’d met so far).
Things finished over a little early, so most of us headed over to the Side Bar (Which was just that, a small bar with an equally small stage) right around the corner to catch Vena Cava, a San Diego trio that also played pop punk, with a lot of diverse indie-rock and hardcore influence for good measure. Up until then, I’d stuck with my typical head-bobbing show behavior, but at this point, I lost it, and started wildly dancing and pogoing amongst all of my other friends. By the time they closed with “Existenceresistence”, people were again cheering for an encore, which was granted with a cover of X’s “We’re Desperate”. I couldn’t possibly move around much more after that, and after hanging out between the Side Bar and Common Grounds for a while amongst the hundreds of people on the street, I headed back to rest up for the next day.
Day 2

It was hard to believe that there was technically even more going on today; some debates ensued regarding if any of the bands (or any other Fest-ers for that matter) would try to specifically top Friday.

Things got started when we made our way over to a combination day show/barbeque at a punk house dubbed The Future House. There was good food for six dollars a plate, and there was music in the backyard, that was much mellower in hopes of keeping things from getting too crazy (Key words “in HOPES of”). It was warm and clear out, so it was a nice, relaxing way to spend the afternoon. We tried going over to catch the Pink Razors, but the club was full so we went back to the barbeque and pretty much hung out until the rest of The Unlovables arrived, where we kept hanging out until heading over to another show later that night.

As it started to get dark we headed back over to Common Grounds, getting inside just as The Beat Buttons were finishing up, who I thought were very Ted Leo inspired, and were enjoyable for the one song I heard. We WERE just in time to see The Urchin, all the way from Tokyo. There were some disagreements, but I thought they sounded like the Japanese Jawbreaker, even if a little more upbeat (Though you could probably switch the comparison to a number of different gritty vocal, melodic punk bands). They looked like they couldn’t be more excited to be playing, ending their sets with mid-riff somersaults. I was actually talking with Bill Florio beforehand about how of all of them, there was maybe one Japanese band that wasn’t great – and it wasn’t The Urchin.
The long running pop punk band J Church was next, though I hadn’t realized they’d gone back to a trio. It was rad watching another legendary band for the first time, and I think this lineup is just as strong as any. They played a lot of new songs from their upcoming album which was interesting, though I was hoping for at least one or two songs from “Society Is A Carnivorous Flower”, though they also played some much older songs from a record I’d actually found, which made me feel cool. Punk cartoonist extraordinaire and bass player Ben Snakepit broke a string towards the end of the set, so I don’t know if it was pre-calculated move, but the bass player from The Urchin came out, Ben stepped up front, freshly Fest-Hawked, and announced “Man, Misfits brand strings suck – their songs were ok though”, and proceeded to break out a cover of “Where Eagles Dare”, which again, was one of those moment you were glad to be at that exact place at that instant.
I stayed for the first few songs of the Radon reunion which was good, not to mention packed with air guitar by some dude who wouldn’t get off the stage. Even though it was really good, I still left early to go back over to the Side Bar, where I walked in during the middle of Sick Sick Birds. I put all my other stuff aside, in hopes of relaxing and enjoying myself again as opposed to my usual head bobbing. The little space in the club filled up quickly, and I saw some other friends of mine who were all psyched to see The Marked Men, who were pretty much straight up, trashy rock and roll. Again, lots of pogo dancing ensued.

The Unlovables began setting up, and I excitedly made my way to the front of the stage, since I’d missed their last Manhattan show (I’m now starting to realize how many bands I’m describing as pop punk). Their set was a little shorter than usual, but still just as good despite not having been able to practice much before coming down. I may or may NOT have jumped onstage and done the robot. Apparently The Unlovables attract the stoner rock crowd as well, as there were at least two dudes next to me, somewhat moving back and forth, despite looking completely blacked out.

The Ergs! had flown in for The Fest mid tour from Phoenix, so they were using borrowed gear that didn’t even need to be set up. As soon as The Unlovables finished up, people instantly started cheering “Ergs! Ergs! ERGS!” and “Nerds! Nerds! NERDS!” at the top of their lungs. A girl standing next to me looked over and happily exclaimed “This is the best band in the WORLD!” It seemed as if the entire club was yelling at them to start early. They tried putting it off, but they finally began a few minutes before their set time, opening with a brand new thrash number, and the place erupted. From there they played some of their more well known songs, and everyone was singing along as hard as they could. People were diving over each other, and onto the stage. It was unreal. I tried to pick up one of the mic stands that was knocked over, and was suddenly mortified as I realized I’d sent the rest toppling over, and I mean ALL of the rest (I was afraid to look back up and see Joe and Jeff bleeding from the face, spitting out teeth), but somehow it turned out ok. It was amazing just how excited everyone was over them, and nobody wanted them to leave, even some of the other bands offered to give up some of their time to them. They were getting the best response of any other band we’d seen so far, even if just for that moment, that girl was right, and they truly were the best band in the world.

We all stepped out onto the patio area for a little bit after that, we all needed it. At this point it seemed like The Side Bar HAD to be packed, as it took nearly ten minutes to walk the five foot distance, trying to get through everyone. We stayed outside in an attempt to cool off and relax, when I tried getting back inside for This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, another band who I’d been wanting to see for well over a year by now. We stayed toward the back, as the room was still packed, but it was fine since you could get a good view of the stage from anywhere. This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb play twangy, country punk, with both the guitar and bass players singing, and facing each other instead of the audience. It was a bit calmer watching from the back of the room, but we also got a perfect view of the disco ball getting kicked down out from the ceiling by a crowd surfer, and thrown around like a beach ball. Unsure of what the potential repercussions might be, we listened to the rest of the set from outside.

I went back inside for the last few songs of This Bike, going right back up next to the stage as Bloodbath and Beyond were supposed to come on. Now, it was less than five minutes before their set time, and they didn’t even have all of their own equipment, or even all of their members. That’s probably to be expected though, as they’re the new project of Ben Snakepit, Paddy from D4, Dave from Tiltwheel, and Mike Napkin of countless other bands. After finally getting everything they had set up (Ben couldn’t find a distortion pedal, so he just turned up his guitar all the way on the clean channel, and it still sounded pretty good), someone warned them “You only have 19 minutes left”, but was assured “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll be done LONG before that”. They play raucous blasts of songs about eating, drinking (and I think there was one about farting too). I was excited when they dedicated a song to Redd Foxx, and after whipping my head up and down like I was front row at an Iron Maiden concert, I’d realized that I was shirtless, as well as soaked in cheap beer.

Shortly after everything else finished up for the night, a bunch of us walked around for a while, coming across a house party with about 100 people outside. It was hard to tell what exactly was going on, but you could hear music coming from somewhere, and it sounded really good. It was too crowded though, and I went back after the long day before I passed out from exhaustion.
Day 3

It was a little sad knowing everything was almost over, but whatever; there was still a full day of festing to be done. I got up and going shortly before noon, giving me just enough time to check up on some stuff at home, and eat a quick breakfast before going over to another afternoon show. I started by going back over to Common Grounds where they were just starting another outdoor show, featuring a number of Plan-It-X artists. It started out on “The Porch”, but they moved it inside shortly after since it began to rain a little. It was another nice way to start things, as I watched sets from Liza Kate and Josh Small outside, moving inside for Erin Tobey and Madeline. I wanted to catch Ghost Mice as well, but I was getting hungry again, and had to get ready for some other things.

After stocking up on some new batteries, and two more slices of pizza, I came across some other friends and we went over to the Fat Tour show, as there was already a steady line building up. It was already known that None More Black would be playing in addition to the tour lineup, but on Friday it had come out that Dillinger Four would be opening with a quick set as well (It could be considered a “secret”, if they were named something other than “Dillinger Fart” on the schedule). We got inside in time for the D4 encore, which was good but mostly just the same songs from Friday and as Paddy said “This is the hangover set”. It was also pretty funny hearing that someone actually stole his underwear from Friday’s show.

None More Black played next; I believe one of their first shows with a new drummer. Normally they’re really great live, but unfortunately they got hit with some major technical problems, including some of the power going out, shutting off most of their amps mid-song. There was something about the sound in the club that wasn’t too great either, it almost seemed turned down. However, they still handled everything much better than a lot of other bands I’ve seen in those situations.

Next up were The Soviettes, another band I’d wanted to see since their first record came out. From what I’ve heard, they also fall into the “Much better in a smaller setting” category, as opposed to the 800 capacity “cavern” that we were in, but they were still able to overcome the less than perfect sound, and still put on a great, if still short set of female fronted poppy-punk.
At this point a couple of us walked back over to the Side Bar, just in time to catch ’77 enthusiasts The Briefs, who kept telling everyone to jump around and beat each other up. Keeping up with the streak of harder edged punk bands were Dukes of Hillsborough, who struck me as the kind of band you’d see on a bill with Filth at Gilman Street. For a second I actually thought this was another reunion that I wasn’t away of, but from what I could find I was wrong, which is good news.

By now everyone was tired, and around 800 of the 1000 plus Fest-ers were at the Fat Tour show, so the Side Bar wasn’t as packed as it was the previous night, but it was still heavily populated with a lot of “Punk celebs” who were all hanging out, catching up with each other, and casually watching the rest of the bands. I watched part of North Lincoln, who I believe are from the Midwest geographically speaking, but from Gainesville musically speaking.

Finally there was a short, also rare set from California’s Tiltwheel, who unfortunately only played maybe six or seven songs at the most. Often overlooked, Tiltwheel takes heavy inspiration from Jawbreaker, and within a minute into their set, everyone looked the same to me; shirtless. It didn’t take long for everyone to be storming the stage, singing along, and generally going crazy like they had been for so many other bands over the weekend. Afterwards, two of us tried walking over to catch Against Me! back at Abbey Road, but the club was at capacity. It didn’t stop us from seeing them play one older song, as there was a perfect angle from the parking lot to the stage through the entryway. Security closed the door moments later, but it was still fun to say we saw Against Me! play their hometown. We headed back where everyone was listening to Billy Reese Peters from outside, friends hanging out while they still could for the last bit of The Fest IV.
Epilogue

I woke up early Monday morning to make it over to the bus station, in time for my 23 hour bus ride home. The good thing is that it’s early, and it’s not crowded for the most part. It’s almost depressing to think about how different everything will be upon returning home, coming from the warm weather and friendly environment to the cold, dreary suburbs.

The more I thought about it though, I was ok with it. Throughout the weekend many people had asked me “So what do you think of everything so far?”, and as cheesy as I thought it was at the time, I have no problem saying this has been one of the greatest times of my life. Realistically, it wasn’t perfect by any means. I was tired, was stressed at times, and wasn’t able to see EVERYONE that I wanted (Modern Machines, Ted Leo, Loved Ones and Paint It Black specifically come to mind, just off the top of my head), but it still felt like the worst time there was better than a great time anywhere else. At this point, it felt like I was at a point that no matter what else happens, everything will still be pretty great once I get back. Granted, I won’t be spending every day at a different show, but that’s ok. This weekend was a reminder that no matter what, there’s always going to be more great bands to see, and more great people to meet. Even if The Fest only comes once a year, that’s not to say I can’t think of all the great times I had this weekend, and will hopefully see everyone I met or became closer with well before Fest time next year.