Story & photos by Paul Silver
It’s Labor Day weekend! To most people that means
a day off work, maybe a picnic, or just catching up on things
at home. To the type of people who read Jersey Beat,
however, it can mean only one thing: it’s time
for Awesomefest! This year marks the eighth iteration of
this pop-punk gala, and the sixth time it’s been located
in sunny San Diego. Awesomefest is the time of year, also,
to not only listen to a lot of great bands, but it’s
the time of year to reunite with friends from around the
country and around the world, most of whom have only been
seen in the virtual world of the internet since the year
before.
This year, as with last year, I started my Awesomefest
experience a day early, with the annual pre-fest. There’s
two of these held every year: One at VLHS, Southern California’s
premier DIY venue, and one in San Diego. The San Diego pre-fest
this year featured some great sets by both local and visiting
bands, some of whom played sets at the main fest and many
who did not.
Homeless Sexuals
Grammatical B
DFMK
Shellshag
The Slow Death
The same two venues that host the nighttime Awesomefest shows,
Soda Bar and The Hideout, hosted the pre-fest shows. One highlight
of the night had to be DFMK, a band from Tijuana that’s
started to play north of the border and has begun to conquer
our local punk scene. They’re fast, tight and crunchy
as hell. Local San Diego band, GHETTO BLASTER, tore up the
Hideout with their machine gun music and the wild vocals and
wilder antics of front man Ryan Foxe. Touring bands that played
included THE WOLF and WARM SODA, from Austin, the former with
a hard rocking sound and the latter with a more indie rock
vibe, as well as bands playing the main fest, as well, such
as SHELLSHAG, THE SLOW DEATH, and TOO MANY DAVES, which, perhaps,
should change their name to Too Many Drunks. And, speaking
of drunks, I learned a hard lesson at last year’s pre-fest
that I did not repeat this year. Last year I started the party
way too hard that night, and paid the price the next day,
already severely hung over at the start of Awesomefest. This
year, I stopped drinking early enough that Friday morning
I awoke feeling refreshed. You can view Thursday night’s
pre-fest photos
here.
FRIDAY
Friday registration began at noon over at Soda Bar. Or, it
was supposed to. I volunteered again, this year, to help run
registration, but the packets with wrist bands, as well as
the pre-paid T-shirts, were all still up in Riverside. Everything
finally arrived around 3:30pm, and a massive on-rush of waiting
festers took about 45 minutes to clear out. With that, I headed
down to the official Awesomefest Happy Hour at Live Wire,
where the drafts were $3 all weekend for anyone with a wristband.
Given the great selection of beer there, it was a pretty “Awesome”
deal. Pizza and more beer at Luigi’s was next on the
agenda, and then it was down to the Hideout for the official
start of festivities. Wait – the Hideout? Yeah, what
used to be The Void (and before that was Bar Eleven) has changed
hands again, and names. And interior design. The owners decided
to dump a huge sum of money into the place to make it look
more like a downtown Gaslamp district club. They succeeded
in that, but I’m not so sure the investment will really
pay off. It’s not really the neighborhood for it.
Caskitt
Tom Grrl
The Raging Nathans
The Maxies
Varsity Drag
Friday night highlights included the Awesomefest debut
of locals CASKITT, whose huge sound belies their status
as a three-piece band. I’ve been lucky enough to see
them frequently in town, but for most fest-goers, this was
their first chance, and I think they’ve made a huge
impression, from the buzz I heard afterward. Friday night
also saw the return to Awesomefest of THE HADDONFIELDS,
the St. Louis pop punk band that I fell in love with way
back at one of the earlier fests I attended. TOM GRRRL was
a band I’d heard of but hadn’t seen. They’re
a two piece, guitar and drums, and the guitarist wears a
dress when playing. OK, that’s cool, but are they
any good? Hell yes! They have a great indie-punk sound.
VENA CAVA reunited again for this year’s festivities,
with their incredibly precise, yet easy post-punk sound.
FRENCH EXIT played one of the best sets I’ve ever
seen from them, and I’ve seen a lot of great sets
from them. The crowd really got into it, pressing forward
toward the stage, with lots of fist pumping, singing along,
and stage diving and crowd surfing galore. Also playing
were the bro’ band SUNNYSIDE (just kidding –
they had a review calling them that, but they’re anything
but, with a cool gruff pop-punk sound), THE MAXIES, everyone’s
favorite Greenlandic band (add a k to the end of that) that
had nothing but nice things to say about all the other bands,
and the band likely to be the most out of place this year,
but also one of the most interesting, VARSITY DRAG, featuring
Ben Deily, founding member of The Lemonheads. They play
an indie pop sound, rather than the usual pop punk from
the other bands, and Deily’s high-pitched vocals are
unique. It was a shame the crowd thinned out, because more
people need to be exposed to stuff like this. Check out
photos from Friday night’s Awesomefestivities here.
SATURDAY
Saturday began with the obligatory Awesomefest burrito; this
year it was an amazing broccoli, cauliflower, potato, and
cheese burrito from Ray’s. To be fair, living in San
Diego, I get more than my fair share of excellent burritos,
but they’re always more special when shared with friends
from around the country. Afternoon sets were, as usual, held
at U31 and The Office, and highlights included a bunch of
local SoCal bands, such as GENTLEMEN PREFER BLOOD, HANDS LIKE
BRICKS, and SQUARECROW. One highlight had to be the return
of THE BERTOS, who last played as a band a couple of years
ago. They came back with a vengeance, with the three-piece
(featuring stand-in drummer Ricky subbing for Jake, who broke
his hand a week earlier) tearing through their set as if they
had been practicing constantly for the past two years. Guitarist/vocalist
Mike Eckel was clearly having a great time, and his passion
flowed through the microphone and out into the PA system.
The last band to play the afternoon, though, proved to be
that one band for this year’s festivities. Every year,
there’s a band that I’ve never heard of that blows
me away, and this year it was TOY GUITAR, from Oakland, California.
They play a very tight garage-indie-punk sound that could
be described as sort of a more indie Marked Men. If you get
a chance to see them or pick up their music, I highly recommend
them. Take a look at my complete Facebook gallery of what
happened Saturday afternoon here.
The Half-Truths
Party Marty with Gentlemen Prefer Blood
The Bertos
After enjoying some slices and a draft from Sicilian Thing,
Saturday night moved back to The Hideout and Soda Bar. ADDER
kicked off the night with his underground hip-hop mixed
with punk, and his set included bass and drums provided
by Neil and Josh of Payoff, who had played earlier. I’ve
only had a chance to see Adder a couple of times before
this, but his mixing was over-the-top cool and creative
this night, and his rapping was on fire. Also playing incredible
sets this night were THE BLOODTYPES, with their quirky new-wave
punk and matching bloody white shirts, WHITE MURDER, who
play an intense post-punk sound with dueling female vocals,
and RUMSPRINGER, who are, hands down, one of my favorite
current bands. Playing only their third show ever was SHITTY
CHILDREN, featuring Sammy ThrashLife on vocals, Chris Spillane
on bass, Mike Duda on drums, and, umm… the unique
thing about Shitty Children is that they’ve had a
different guitarist for each of their shows. This time out,
it was Noelle of Rational Anthem who hastily learned the
songs earlier in the day. Probably my disappointment of
the night (and maybe the weekend) was the highly anticipated
performance from WINTER BREAK, which is the former SUMMER
VACATION minus one member. Summer vacation were always a
good band to see, at Awesomefest and elsewhere, but now
as a trio, Winter Break just seemed to sound a little thin
and a little less tight. Here's
my complete Facebook gallery from Saturday night:
Shitty Children
Peach Kelli Pop
The Bloodtypes
SUNDAY
Sunday began for me at U31, enjoying a veggie brunch burger
that was way better than I expected, with a veggie patty,
two fried eggs, avocado, and cheddar and jack cheese. But
my Sunday afternoon Awesomefest experience was abbreviated.
I only caught four of the bands before I did something I’ve
never done before – I left Awesomefest to go do something
else. WHAT? What could possibly be so important or interesting
that it would tear me away from the music? No, it wasn’t
going to the beach with friends, a common thing for fest-goers
to do. It was another band playing a special show in Balboa
Park. It was a little band called DRIVE LIKE JEHU. But I’m
getting ahead of myself. HATE YOUR FRIENDS from Denton, Texas
played some decidedly un-Denton-like pop punk that was really
tight and poppy. HILLARY CHILLTON were the most not punk band
of Awesomefest, playing a sort of white-boy funk rock disco
thing, but it was done really well. The other bands I caught
included local favorite AMERICAN LIES, and HI HO SILVER, AWAY.
My complete Facebook gallery of Sunday afternoon photos can
be found here.
Hate Your Friends
Hillary Chillton
DRIVE LIKE JEHU
OK, Jehu. Yeah, that band. The one that called it
quits nearly 20 years ago. The one that insisted they would
never reunite. They did. You see, John Reis’ partner
at Bar Pink, Dang Nguyen, recently joined the Spreckels Organ
Society Board of Trustees. There are regular free organ recitals
at the park, but the audience is small and aging. Nguyen had
an idea to bring a larger, younger crowd out, and discussed
the possibility of a Jehu reunion, playing a show –
with the organ as part of the band. The band members thought
the idea worthy enough to actually get together again, and
months of planning resulted in a hasty social media announcement
about a week or two before the show. The free outdoor show.
That thousands of people were expected to show up at. It was
scheduled to start at 6:45pm with a short organ recital, featuring
Dr. Carol Williams, the Spreckels organist. Following that
would be a 5-song, 40-minute show with the band and the organ.
I needed to be there, and I needed to be up front to catch
some photos. So I left Awesomefest about 4:20 and arrived
as the band was doing their sound check.
Remaining firmly in my spot, up front and center, at the
edge of the stage, I then patiently waited the hour and
three quarters for the show to begin. And after a 20-minute
performance by Dr. Williams that showcased that beautiful
and varied tones produced by the organ, Nguyen took the
stage to introduce the band. What happened next will become
the stuff of legend, as Drive Like Jehu spent the following
45 minutes or so demolishing the park. They opened with
“Do You Compute,” from the album, “Yank
Crimes.” The moment the opening repetitive tones came
out of Rick Froberg’s guitar, a rousing cheer rose
up from the crowd. From there, it only got better, with
“Super Unison” up next. You would hardly know
that it had been nearly 20 years since they last performed
as a band. Yeah, they all have visibly aged. But Rick Froberg,
John Reis, Mike Kennedy, and Mark Trombino play with the
same intensity as ever. While Froberg may have some doubts
about his ability to sing the same way he used to, he certainly
belted out the vocals pretty damn powerfully. The organ
added a new dimension to the songs, sometimes providing
a booming foundation, and other times adding a twittering
accompaniment to the fluttering guitars.
Drive Like Jehu
Rick Froberg
John Reis
DLJ's special guest Rob Crow
The other songs included “Sinews,” “If
It Kills You,” (the only song they played that wasn’t
from Yank Crimes), and finally a pounding, raucous rendition
of “Luau.” A “surprise” guest came
out to sing along to a certain part of the song. Rob Crow,
dressed in, what else? A suit. He stepped out of the shadows
and to the front of the stage and intoned the chorus, “Aloha,
Aloha, Suit up! Luau! Luau!” After way too short a
time, it seemed, they were done. They had to be done before
8pm, due to local noise ordinances, and couldn’t do
an encore, much to the dismay of the crowd. I feel very
lucky to have been there, and been so close. You can get
a taste via my photos here
and check out a really good video of the entire performance
here.
Sunday Night Finale
Getting back to North Park was a challenge, with the large
crowd trying to disperse. And, to be honest, I was wondering
to myself whether Awesomefest could even live up to what
I had just experienced. But return, I did. Sunday night
is often the best night, and this year was no exception.
Sadly, I missed a few of the opening bands, but arrived
in time to see the new line-up of HORROR SQUAD, with Jimmy
Gomez of Dudes Night replacing Tim Burkert on drums, and
Tim moving to guitar, replacing the departing Aaron Ohio.
Vocalist Damien Trimbach sings with intensity, making some
awesome faces in the process, and the sound has a garage
edge to it, thanks to the Aguilera brothers, Paul and Gabe.
STYMIE, from Texas, was up next. Another band I had seen
a couple of years earlier, it was great seeing them again.
Stalwarts, MADISON BLOODBATH, had The Hideout shaking and
rocking, with the crowd jumping and pumping their fists.
I finished the night over at Soda Bar, where the newly expanded
RATIONAL ANTHEM line-up (featuring a second guitar, courtesy
of Lipstick Homicide’s Kate Kane) played an incredibly
tight, fast pop-punk set, entertaining the packed house.
The final band of the night, bringing Awesomefest to a close,
was none other than LIPSTICK HOMICIDE, that Iowan trio that
has stolen the pop-punk scene for the past few years. Guitarist
Kate, Bassist Rachel Feldmann, and drummer Luke Ferguson
pump out some of the catchiest tunes west of the Mississippi,
and east of it, for that matter. Photos from Sunday night
are here.
Horror Squad
Madison Bloodbath
Lipstick Homicide
Rational Anthem
And with that, sadly, Awesomefest was over for 2014. It
seemed to go by much more quickly than in the past. It was
also smaller, because, for the first time, it didn’t
sell out. Awesomefest 4 was my first, and it sold out of
the 350 tickets available. 5 bumped things up to 400, and
6 and 7 were around 450 sold. This year, things shrank back
to around 350 people or so, which is unfortunate. It meant
no compilation CD was made. It did mean more room and less
chance that a club would reach capacity. I think part of
it was that, unlike previous years, there wasn’t a
“big name” band or high profile reunion set.
I think that will change next year. Until then, big thanks
and kudos for one of the most fun Awesomefests ever go out
to curators Adam Ali, Andy Godfrey, Marty Ploy, Davey Quinn,
and Christina Zamora. Thanks, too, to sponsors Razorcake,
Imprint, and ID Ink, as well as local businesses Luigi’s
Pizza, Sicilian Thing Pizza, and Live Wire for the weekend
specials. As always, thanks to the clubs, Soda Bar, The
Hideout, U31 and The Office, for allowing us to take over
their space for the weekend. You should come to San Diego
next year for this thing. “Come for the music, stay
for the memories.”
JerseyBeat.com
is an independently published music fanzine
covering punk, alternative, ska, techno and garage
music, focusing on New Jersey and the Tri-State
area. For the past 25 years, the Jersey Beat music
fanzine has been the authority on the latest upcoming
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