THE FEST 2010:
None Can Compare To This Annual Punkanalia

Story and photos by Johnny Puke

There are many factors that separate The Fest from all the others and the biggest distinction is the city of Gainesville itself. Long renowned as a town of generous and welcoming hosts, the after-hours house shows and porch parties that unofficially accompany Fest weekend are almost a natural product of the Gainesville environment. Even first-time Festers will undoubtedly have the opportunity to party on a local's porch till sunrise, or wake up in the grimy home of newfound friends.


Fest hugs: Johnny & buddy Chad Darby

The largest college football game attendance record occurred in Gainesville (home of the University of Florida Gators) with over 80,000 in attendance. That staggering number is even harder to comprehend once you have been to the tiny town of Gainesville, a place with few hotels and more small. independent restaurants catering to students than big national chains. It would be impossible for Fest founder and organizer Tony Weinbender to throw such a big music event in the city with all the usual throngs of students and football fans that flood the area on home game weekends. Often falling on Halloween weekend, the dates for The Fest are not chosen to always coincide with Halloween weekend, which it most often does - and that happy accident only adds to the Fest atmosphere. Rather, the dates always coincide with the football game weekend where big rivals the University of Georgia take on the University of Florida in a game so popular, it is held two hours away in Jacksonville, and in pre-Fest days all the Gainesville bars, hotels and restaurants are traditionally empty.


Halloween crowd at Fest 9 for Me First & The Gimme Gimmes

As The Fest grew, so did the welcome of the cities' hospitality industry; since business was usually slow during this weekend, a big chain like Holiday Inn let Tony have the whole complex, many local restaurants feed the bands for free, and all of the venues (this year, 18 total) are available for whatever Fest wackiness Weinbender throws their way. It is an environment where Festers from all over the world get to truly take over a town, free from the jocks that are usually inclined to beat us up, for one glorious weekend each year. This year over 4500 Festers descended on 18 Gainesville venues to see over 250 bands, and that doesn't take into account "unofficial" events like impromptu house shows and innumerable late night parties.

With almost all of the venues running bands from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., and all of the venues being no more than 3/4 of a mile from the others, it is not hard to see why this weekend, this city, and this Fest conspire to give the attendee an exhausting but unforgettable weekend year after year.

Fat Mike

Oh yeah, the bands? Well this year some of the bands include HIGH ON FIRE, TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET, STRIKE ANYWHERE, FRANK TURNER, MUNICIPAL WASTE, SUICIDE MACHINES, THE COPYRIGHTS, and THE ARRIVALS, just to name a few.

This year being my sixth Fest, I was well aware of what to expect, but my musician pal Jeff Riddle hitched a ride with me to his first Fest, listening on the five-hour drive to me try and put all the sensations and experiences of a typical Fest into words. It is not easy even for the most eloquent among us to describe why myself and hundreds of others have a difficult time adequately conveying how special this weekend is; it just is. The phrase I kept repeating to Jeff was, "You'll see...".

Gui

Arriving around dinner time to the Holiday Inn that serves as Fest central, Jeff began to get a sense of the enormity and hardcore spirit of The Fest; the poolside matinee show was just ending and at 6 p.m. more than a few Festers were out cold on the hotel's chaise lounges. The conference area of the hotel was completely taken over by rows of tables of vendors of all sorts and the long lines for registration. While all Festers have to wait in line to get their wristbands and schedules, you will hear few complain about cost. Access to all venues for all bands for three days was only $65 dollars when purchased in advance. Fortunately for both Jeff and myself. we were both roadie-ing for bands (he for Philly's THE GREAT EXPLAINER and PACER from the UK-both on Chunksaah Records, and myself for Joey Cape of LAGWAGON.) The "Bands" line was a lot shorter, so we were both on our separate ways in short order. From here it was off to meet my local hosts, Gui and Heather.


Johnny and Heather

I have known Heather Tabor for at least 13 years as she and I used to tour together when she was the bassist for Nashville's TEEN IDOLS. In the past few years, I have also grown close to her husband, Gui Amador, mostly through his band REHASHER, although he has also served time in ARMY OF PONCH, BULLETS TO BROADWAY, and a legendary local thrash band called SAVAGE BREWTALITY. I met up with Gui and Heather just as they were both getting off work downtown and we set off for Festing.

There are those who shit-talk The Fest for many different reasons, but one criticism that rings inevitably true is that The Fest gets bigger each year. Even though Weinbender adds more venues of varying sizes each year, there are always lines, some of them hopelessly long. As we strolled Friday evening we passed huge lines at The Atlantic for TILTWHEEL, The Venue for A WILHELM SCREAM, and an impossible line at 8 Seconds for VALIANT THOR/KYLESSA/TORCHE. We found ourselves at a relatively new venue, the year and a half year old Boca Fiesta, a Mexican restaurant and bar located on the former site of The Hardback Cafe, a seminal Gainesville venue that incubated the careers of local legends like RADON, HOT WATER MUSIC, and LESS THEN JAKE. Partially owned by former AGAINST ME drummer Warren Oakes, Boca Fiesta is a popular local spot that features "The Amador Special" - a mini bottle of beer with a shot for $4 (named for my infamously thirsty host, Gui Amador).


Johnny and Gui goofing around

We enjoyed a few specials before going outside into Boca's huge courtyard to catch California's STONED AT HEART, a more REPLACEMENTS-influenced band featuring most of the members of TOYS THAT KILL. When the band had finished, we all adjourned to Giu and Heather's place to party, tell stories, and laugh the night away. Even though I had intended to see bands like TILTWHEEL, THE ENABLERS, and MIKEY ERG, who were all playing around town that night, spending the evening drinking with friends on a Gainesville back porch seemed a perfectly Fest-y thing to do.


Joey Cape

Joey Cape at Common Grounds

While the atmosphere of Common Grounds is my preferred Gainesville environment, not long after the set we had to load out and get Joey to The Venue, where he had to join his bandmates in ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES for a headlining set to a packed house. If you haven't heard of ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES (which features members of NOFX, FOO FIGHTERS, LAGWAGON, NO USE FOR A NAME, and SWINGING UTTERS,) you must have been living under a rock and you should catch their hilarious live show at the earliest opportunity. On a bill that included fellow Fat Wreck Chords' labelmates SMOKE OR FIRE and DEAD TO ME, ME FIRST played all their "hits"- punked up covers of everything from 70's radio hits to show tunes. Drunk on Stella Artois and Grand Marnier, Joey and I finally found our way to the hotel for some much need quiet and rest.

Joey Cape in his Gimme Gimmes garb

DAY THREE
The next day all the Gimmes flew out (except Fat Mike, but that's another story), and I had the room all to myself for quiet rest and a much needed shower. Before long, it was checkout time and I met Gui at Common Grounds, where Heather (dressed as a vampire) served us some rejuvenating Bloody Marys. Before long, Gui and I head over to The Atlantic where he was to play with local party thrash legends SAVAGE BREWTALITY. I texted Jeff to meet us there but as he arrived during their set ten minutes later, he was told he couldn't get in as the club was at capacity (at 4 p.m. no less!). SAVAGE BREW ripped through a 25 minute set of ferocious yet funny tunes, and few members of the pumped crowd were privvy to how hungover each of the members of the band actually were. Immediately following the set, I watched the singer Keeth go outside to vomit and overheard a smart-assed Gui offer Keeth a pizza slice while the pale sweaty singer was in mid-gag. The band has a brand new full length release out, the first on nascent Fest Records.

Heather playing in No More

With Jeff along with our Fest gang now, we all headed over to a place called Rum Runners to catch a Gainesville band called NO MORE. Tonight was to be Heather's first night playing bass and singing back ups in NO MORE, a band that has been around Gainesville as long a Less Than Jake and longer than HOT WATER MUSIC. Their set was a real treat, their sweet harmonies and poppy tunes recalling the best of bands like THE MUFFS or TILT. After that, Heather was along in our crew and everyone was done with their respective Fest (or work) responsibilities, so the drinking began in earnest as we caught sets by THE EX BOOGEYMEN, then CHRIS WOLLARD AND THE SHIP THIEVES, all the while spreading the word that we were throwing the afterparty over at Gui and Heather's.


Chris Wollard & The Ship Thieves

Last call is at 10:30 p.m. in Gainesville, no alcohol sold after 11, so we loaded up with beer from a friend's bar and headed back to the house. The party there raged on into the morning hours as we all told stories and jokes and I caught up with lots of my happy but exhausted friends, both from Gainesville as well as elsewhere. When I finally went to bed in the spare bedroom, I was joined by a 90 pound dog named Cocoa. What a sweet way to end a Fest.


The Ex-Boogeymen

On the drive back, it was Jeff that did all the talking. He had found the opportunity to play a completely packed and unexpected hotel room show, met completely rad locals and strangers, and sported a never-ending grin beneath his dirty beard. Having been baptized in the ways of the Fest, he spoke fast and with such conviction about all he experienced, people he met, and made the usual pledge to return again. We both tried to put into words what makes The Fest unique, what the indescribable element was that made this weekend more fulfilling than your average music Fest. What I decided was the key element is emotion, that people feel emotional about The Fest, that the event (and the city, and the people) somehow touches our being, our souls as much as our ears, feet and livers.

Fest founder Tony Weinbender put it very eloquently in his word to Festers in the 96 page guidebook given to attendees:

"This weekend is a time to let go of all the troubles we're faced with on a daily basis and just be genuinely excited, embrace new faces, and enjoy all that we can. You will find yourself arm in arm with someone you just met a few hours before, screaming at the top of your lungs. Later you'll find yourself sluggin' back a few cold ones on some random ass porch 'til the sun comes up and the next show starts. It's been nine Fests of us truly changing the meaning of FEST to a verb. We FEST, we celebrate, we grab on with both hands and hold on tight, we soak it in for every last drop. There should not be a last call each night. Find strangers and buy them a PBR. Pass out on a random floor, porch, car or sneak off to your killer Fest hotel room for the late night rest you deserve. Stay up singing songs 'til the sun burns out your retinas. All these themes have been here for each and every Fest, and you have whole-heartedly embraced them."

You can bet you will see me next year in Gainesville, for FEST # 10!