Story and photos by Paul Silver

When last I wrote about Awesomefest, it was the 5th edition, last year. And ever since, I’ve been looking forward to this weekend. It’s become something that a lot of people look forward to and consider the highlight of the year. Why? It’s an opportunity to hang out with friends from all around the country, and even all around the world, as was the case this year. It’s an opportunity for non-SoCal residents to feast on some of the best burritos in existence. It’s an opportunity to drink lots of beer. And, oh yes, it’s an opportunity to see some of the best bands playing punk music today.

When I first went to Awesomefest 4, two years ago, at the suggestion of our fearless editor, I didn’t know a soul there, save for said Jersey Beat boss. But he knew a lot of people there, some in bands, some who run record labels, and he introduced me to several. Last year, I was on my own, as Jim couldn’t make it out to the left coast. I remembered some of the people I had met, and some remembered me. I met some new people and had a good time. And I stayed in touch with some of these people through the power of social media on the Internet. And my circle of friends grew and grew, especially as I expanded the scope of my show attendance in SoCal, even venturing as far as Riverside and Hemet for shows (if you know the geography, you’ll know those are not the most fun places, though Riverside does have a thriving scene).

This year, again, sans editor-in-chief, I found I knew a shitload of people (damn, I’ve used that word a lot over the weekend!), and I finally got the full Awesomefest experience. It’s not so much a music festival as it is a massive family reunion. And not only did I get to see my friends and family who I hadn’t seen all year, and not only did I get to meet others in the flesh for the first time who I had been in contact with over the interwebs, but I met a whole bunch more friends I didn’t even know I had. It’s the magic of Awesomefest, where no one stays a stranger for long.

OK, it’s all gooey lovey dovey stuff, right? What is Awesomefest? It’s an annual event in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood, over Labor Day weekend. It’s hosted at four venues (day shows are at U-31 and the Office, night time shows are at Soda Bar and Bar Eleven). I think the count of bands featured this year was 69, and more local businesses offered special deals to Awesomefest attendees.

One bone I have to pick with the organizers is the scheduling. Last year, I was able to be nice and lazy, because most of the bands I wanted to see were playing at one venue during the afternoon or the night, and I didn’t have to do much running back and forth. I guess they decided I needed the exercise this year, though, because the schedule had me running back and forth much of the weekend. If not for all the beer and pizza I consumed, I might have actually lost some weight! I might have anyway, with all the sweating I was doing in the venues and running back and forth in the unusual San Diego heat.

Another thing I noticed this year was how packed the venues seemed almost all the time, especially in comparison to the previous two years. I asked one of the organizers whether they had significantly increased the number of passes sold, and the answer was that it was only up by 25. So perhaps the explanation is that more people were actually paying attention to the music, rather than hanging out outside the clubs. And that’s a good thing.

OK, so enough of the preliminaries. You want to know who played and whether they were good or they sucked. You want to know who to look out for when they come to your town and whose records to buy. I shall oblige you.

Joyce Manor

Friday Night, August 31st

After the official pre-Awesomefest Happy Hour at the Livewire, where co-organizer DJ Party Marty spun the punk hits, the festivities officially kicked off. I started at Soda Bar, where JOYCE MANOR played some great melodic punk that bordered on emo-ish, a blend I really love. Next, it was a dash down to Eleven to check out locals THE BERTOS. I’ve seen them several times, and each time they’ve grown tremendously. This set was, by far, their best I’ve seen, and I would recommend checking them out if you get a chance. I stuck around afterwards to check out BUMKLAATT, who play some excellent thrash style punk, something I normally haven’t been into since I was a lad, but this was well done. I next had to run over to Soda Bar again to catch BIG EYES, who played a garagey style of punk. I’m not sure if it was the mix, but they came off a bit muddy. The studio stuff I’ve heard from them is pretty good, though. Next up, in the same location, was TURKISH TECHNO, hailing from Riverside County, CA. One of the members, Casey, is trying to be the new Mikey Erg, because he played in two bands this weekend (the other being American Lies). Turkish Techno are crazy. Crazy fun and crazy good, edgy pop-punk, and they’re good people, too. But Casey has some catching up to do, because Mikey Erg played in at least three or four bands over the weekend, and that was a low count compared to previous years!

Nato Coles

Back to Eleven now, for NATO COLES & THE BLUE DIAMOND BAND. I was glad to see them back this year, because I loved their set last year. Nato is the consummate punk showman, and the band did not disappoint. Powerful melodic power pop garage punk. After Nato, LENGUAS LARGAS took the stage. They’re a band I’ve wanted to see for a while, but missed them the past couple of years due to conflicts with other bands I wanted to see. But this year I was determined not to miss them, and I am glad I didn’t! They play an intense music that’s varied, not stuck in one style. There are elements of psychedelic music in there, plenty of garage punk, hints of indie rock, and loads of talent. And two drummers! Next it was back to Soda Bar for TOO MANY DAVES. They were the first band of the weekend I caught that played anthemic sing-along pop-punk. This is a style that is loved by many, because it’s great for partying with your friends, all shouting and singing along, trying to get up on stage and sing with the band and all. It happened many times over the weekend. And Too Many Daves does it well. But this style tends to offer up songs that start to sound alike after awhile. After this, SASS DRAGONS played. And played is an apt term, because I describe what they play as being “a child’s garden of punk rock.” They play music that’s fast, furious, fun and simple. Of course, the topics are anything but appropriate for children! Cool stuff. Last band of the night, also at Soda Bar, was the MEAN JEANS. They offered up some more powerful anthemic punk music that was popular with the crowd. A few songs did sound a bit repetitive, though.


Vacation Bible School

Saturday Afternoon, September 1st

My Saturday afternoon began with perennial Awesomefest favorite VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL, at the Office. Actually, the sets started a bit earlier, but due to personal crap, I missed Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MgNuggits and The Strait A’s. That aside, VBS play some great Midwest pop-punk. MUHAMMADALI was up next, playing muddy rock music with an edge, albeit a slightly dull edge. A quick trot over to U-31 was in order next to catch KYLE KINANE’s stand-up comedy act. Saturday afternoon seems to always throw a curve ball to the Awesomefesters. Last year it was punk-folk band Greenland is Melting. This year it was Kinane’s stand-up comedy act. And this year’s curve ball was very well received by the crowd. Kinane offers up a raunchy sort of act. Think of it as punk stand-up. It was pretty fucking hilarious. Sticking with the line-up at U-31 this afternoon, I was able to see NEIGHBORHOOD BRATS, a band that plays old school punk rawk, fronted by a petite young lady covered in tats! She was extremely animated during the show, and the band rocked! CHINESE TELEPHONES are a band that play year after year at Awesomefest, and I had been told to catch them on numerous occasions, but other bands always seemed to get in the way. Not this year, as I stuck around to catch their great, very tight pop-punk. Finally! The afternoon finished with THE MARKED MEN, from Texas. I had heard the feature track posted on the Awesomefest website and was really looking forward to this band. I think it was a bit of a let-down seeing them live, though. The studio track featured fast, furious buzzsaw guitars and some great garage pop melodies. They were still good, but mainly played tight, mid-tempo anthemic pop-punk, though there was some faster, crunchier stuff toward the end of their set.

BUST!

Saturday Night, September 1st

After taking advantage of a local pizza joint’s special on slices and draft beers, I headed over to Bar Eleven for BOMBON, an all-female band that dresses up in period 60s dresses and plays 60s style garage-surf music. Over to Soda Bar next, and here’s the thing. Every year there’s one band. One band that stands out over all the others as sort of the new discovery. A band that I’ve not heard of before that just kills it and blows me away. At Awesomefest 4 it was Dead Mechanical. At Awesomefest 5 it was Lipstick Homicide (who made a return appearance this year and still ruled). And this year it was BUST! They played fast, tight, intense punk music – dare I call it – post-hardcore. They were incredible and I can’t recommend them enough. After Bust! came RAD COMPANY, exhibiting a bit of a split personality, and playing anthemic punk rock, muddy alt-rock, and muddy fast punk. A run down the street brought me back to Eleven to catch SUMMER VACATION. They offered up a post-emo melodic punk blend that was really nice. OK, quickly now, back to Soda Bar (man, am I ever getting my exercise this weekend!) for MADISON BLOODBATH. As befits the stature of their lead vocalist, Madison Bloodbath played pounding, thundering, melodic anthemic punk. FRENCH EXIT were up next, also in Soda Bar, allowing a breather from the sprints, and a breather from anthemic sing-along punk. They gave up a set of awesome melodic punk with hints of post-emo.

Low Culture

Another mad dash brought me back to Eleven for some of the most awesome moments of Awesomefest 666. LOW CULTURE, formed from the ashes of Shang-a-Lang, belted out some tight, fast punk music with a great edge. Going way beyond pop-punk, the set showed moments of sheer beauty, as well. Speaking of way beyond, SHARK PANTS were next, with their angular math-punk madness. Way cool stuff. This is another of the bands I had been wanting to see for some time, but each year the scheduling conflicts got in the way. I’m glad I was able to see them this year, and you should, too, should you get the chance. During their set, the crowd went mad, while I was up front trying to get some good photos, and eventually I was forced to get up on the stage and off to the side to avoid being rolled over by the crowd! I decided that it was safer there, and stayed for the last set at Eleven for the night, THE BANANAS. I don’t think the lead vocalist was too pleased that I was occupying the corner of the stage, because he was periodically backing into me, but I took it all in stride. The crowd loved this band, and so did I. They were crazy fun, and it was a crazy mess, with broken glass from a thrown glass, people falling over and ending up sitting on the stage, almost getting smacked in the face with the neck of a guitar – oh, and the music was great fast punk, with periodic hints of funk-punk thrown in. Before the night was totally over, though, I did manage to catch the very tail end of CHEAP GIRLS down at Soda Bar, and really enjoyed their edgy pop music with smooth vocals that reminded me a bit of mid-period Smoking Popes.

The Haddonfields


Sunday Afternoon September 2nd

Sunday afternoon was described to me by one attendee as “punks vs. hippies day,” and I told him I would steal that. It was sort of true, with the bands at U-31 being the punk bands and those at the Office being more emo-ish oriented. I must say, I did spend the bulk of the afternoon at U-31, but I did start out at the Office for BONSAI. I think they were in the wrong club, because they were more punk, playing fast, furious music with only hints of anthemic type music. This was the second time I’ve seen them (the first was on a bill up in Riverside), and I think the first time was a better performance. OK, over to U-31 for some punk! PU$$Y COW play some fun-ass punkabilly music and also channeled the Doors on a couple of numbers. What a blast they are! And I think I had an Elvis sighting! Lead singer Joe Dana toyed with the crowd, as well, stripping down to his undies on stage. THE HADDONFIELDS were next, and opened their set with a punk tune ripping off the old campaign folk song about getting Charlie off the MTA. They played a fast, bass-heavy sort of pop-punk, though the bass-heavy part may have been the poor sound at U-31. Back over to the Office for one more band there for the afternoon, AMERICAN LIES and their superb blend of emo, punk and pop.





The Unlovables

The rest of the afternoon was spent back over at U-31 with the punk crowd, and next was the UNLOVEABLES, with great pop-punk and a female lead vocalist who spent the whole set down in the crowd, singing her heart out. MASKED INTRUDER performed their shtick, wearing color coded ski masks and matching Chuck Taylor All Stars. Are they burn victims? Are they wanted fugitives? Are they embarrassed by what they do? Whatever, they played some great tight pop-punk. But they were special victims of the next band, the MAXIES. Let’s face it, the Maxies suck big time. They’re the worst band that keeps getting invited back every year so everyone can make fun of them. They think we’re laughing with them, but we’re all laughing at them. They ought to be sent back to Greenland for crimes against punk music and against the Voodoo Glow Skulls and their deli trays! HA! All kidding aside, the Maxies play some fun pop-punk, and insulting all the other bands is part of their routine. They’re a great bunch of guys, but I think there was something a little off today. I think they were trying out some new songs they hadn’t played very much, and maybe that’s why. Guys, a show is for entertaining, rehearsal time is for trying new songs. The final band of the afternoon was CHIXDIGGIT, which should have been renamed Dudesdiggit, because there wasn’t a chick in sight in the band. Let’s hear it for Chixdiggit! They played some nice, tight, poppy anthemic punk that really got the crowd going. Let’s hear it for the crowd! Let’s hear it for pop-punk!

Beside Myself


Sunday Night September 2nd

Sunday night is always bittersweet at Awesomefest. There’s always some more great music, of course, but it also means the end of the weekend. There were some special treats in store, too. I started Sunday evening at Eleven. I went there specifically because the band there was starting 20 minutes or so earlier than the sets over at Soda Bar, and also because of the beer selection. I wanted to have some of the Stone “Enjoy By” IPA that I had tried the night before and immensely enjoyed. Imagine my delight, as well, that BESIDE MYSELF was not playing anthemic sing-along pop-punk! Instead, they were playing decent dark power-pop with lots of modality (in other words, not quite major and not quite minor keys). It made for an interesting listen. I then ran over to Soda Bar for THE LAST YEARS. If you’re from Chicago and you remember WNUR’s punk show, Fast and Loud, that was this band! Well, I don’t mean they played there, but they played fast and loud punk – good, classic sounding stuff.




House Boat

HOUSE BOAT was up next, and they were a revelation – great, tight, varied punk, and popular with the kids! There was even a special appearance by Harry Jerkface on guitar toward the end of the set, the first nice surprise of the night. Iain Burgess may have defined the powerful wall of buzzsaw guitar crunch sound of Chicago post-punk, but DUDES NIGHT stole it for pop-punk! Great stuff! HORROR SQUAD followed and poured out a pounding, throbbing mass of punk music. Back over at Eleven, the other nice surprise of the night was about to come on. WORTHWHILE WAY travelled all the way from Japan to perform at Awesomefest! The served up some wonderful, bubbly pop-pop-pop-punk, and offered another nice surprise - some hand-made inspirational signs that revealed drawings of some of the more colorful characters at Awesomefest. Great, sweet moments! Back over the Soda Bar to close out the night, I caught the tail end of RATIONAL ANTHEM and enjoyed their well-executed, tight, fast pop-punk. I wish I could have caught more. Such is life at Awesomefest. You can’t really see everything (even though the organizers try to claim you can – at best you can catch parts of everything). My bestest band from last year were on next, LIPSTICK HOMICIDE! No let-down here, they performed flawless, energetic pop-punk, incredibly tight and precise. Catch them whenever you can – they’re from Iowa and tend to play around the Midwest more frequently than the coasts. The closer of the night was TOYS THAT KILL. Yeah, I know, former FYP, blah blah blah. But to me, this is just somewhat edgy alt-rock/post-punk, mid-tempo stuff, sounding even a bit watered down from what it could be. They’re fine musicians and all, but what they play just doesn’t do it for me.


Toys That Kill

So, there you have it. The weekend was over. And, though there were some bands that I wasn’t really into, I can honestly say there wasn’t a single bad band in the bunch this year. And with 69 bands playing, that says a lot! Wait, I almost forgot to tell you about the most outrageous thing that happened at Awesomefest! See, there was this van, and…well, we’ll leave that story for another time. If you’re at all into punk, you need to make your plans to get out to San Diego next year, Labor Day weekend, for Awesomefest 7! Special thanks must go out to the Gang of Seven, the tireless organizers of this extravaganza, Kyle Pagel, Andrew Godfrey, Christina Zamora, Marty Ploy, Todd, Taylor, Adam Ali, and Dave Quinn. Thanks so much for all the hard work!

MORE PHOTOS


The Bertos




Bumklaat



Big Eyes




Turkish Techno




Nato Coles & the Blue Diamond Band




Lenguas Largas




Too Many Daves




Sass Dragon




Mean Jeans


Click here for more Awesomefest 6 Photos