Xan Reports: Fest coverage (Friday)

Fest 9 is now raging in all its glory over in Gainesville, Florida where over 250 punk bands are playing their hearts out to thousands of punk die-hards who have traveled near and far to take part in the biggest punk event of the year.  Not all of us could make it there so to keep us from feeling completely left out I’ve sent our man, Xan, into the fray with a few misguided instructions and a tape recorder to see what he could come back with.

After his first day in Gainesville The Xanimal reports back with a full account on his first impressions, meeting his first band for an interview, and of course, the bands he saw play.  Check it out here but make sure you have a cup of Joe, cuz it’s loooong.  – Johnny X

The Fest Day 1 (Friday)

After traversing the Florida turnpike for two and a half hours, I arrived in Gainesville, only to get lost. The roads here are either super confusing or I’m a complete idiot. I’ve been lost probably 5 times already and I’m blaming it on the roads.

I finally found the Holiday Inn where the entire Fest seems to be headquartered. From the light I could see a line 3 people wide and over 150 people long… I had an interview to get to, so registering early wasn’t in the cards for me.

My first interview of the weekend was with Midwest pop-punk act Mixtapes and I was supposed to meet the band at the Holiday Inn to conduct it.  Things were a bit too crowded there so we decided the interview would be best done at their hotel a few miles away – I volunteered to give them a ride there.  We started talking in the car, and the conversation kind of drove itself into an interview, so I turned on my recorder and started taping. Ryan, who shares vocal duties in Mixtapes with Maura seemed a little nervous initially, but after a couple mintues, he started to loosen up. We talked about record deals, the new split, rap music and of course, being at The Fest. Maura was sitting in back, piping in every now and then. Her big eyes kept looking at me in the rear view mirror, and it was obvious that sitting in my backseat was one of the prettiest girls in punk.  In spite of myself, I was forming a crush.

Arriving at the hotel, I sped up a little too quick and ran over the bumper at our parking spot. Ryan and Maura looked at me concerned, and I quietly blushed… We made our way up to the hotel room and finished the interview. Ryan and Maura were an absolute pleasure to talk to. After interviewing enough bands, I’ve realized there are a few ways things can go…

A.     You can ask your questions, get them answered, and walk out of the room feeling accomplished.

B.     You can ask questions, get short answers, and walk out feeling like you wasted their time.

C.     You can meet bands like Mixtapes, shoot the shit about music, their band, their albums, their future, and walk out feeling great, not just about a good interview, but also because you feel like you just made a few new friends.

They had another interview to get to, so we quickly taped a couple acoustic songs and then I had to get them back to Holiday Inn for another interview. On the drive back, Ryan showed me his and Maura’s secret side project, and we blasted it with the windows down.  I can’t tell you much about it other than its super rad, and everyone should start getting stoked for it.

All in all, my interview with Mixtapes felt like a great success. Good band, good people, and fingers crossed for a good live show tonight.

Time to actually get myself registered and when I showed up, there was no line, no nothing… Patience really is a virtue.

I walked into The Fest’s flea market/registration room and immediately realized just how big of a deal The Fest is. The room was flooded with kids and tables. Everyone was going around checking out merch, talking to label reps, uncovering diamonds in the rough. It was just one big musical engagement, where no one really seemed to care or worry about anything else other than the punk music sitting in front of them.

I met a few nice label heads, pushed Dying Scene like a good editor, and discussed a rad D.I.Y recording studio/rehersal space project that Michael Jones of I Hate Punk Rock is working on. Nice guy. Check out his label and the bands on it.

Leaving the registration room, I set off to find my shit hole of a hotel at Gainesville Lodge where guests are very much frowned upon, and the AC is a switch on the wall that says “Heat/Cool.” I can’t complain too much though, it’s a bed, place to write these reports, and a parking space. – If you choose to come to The Fest, make sure you have a hotel room with a parking spot, or a place to park. There is NO parking downtown for The Fest. On top of that, Gainesville roads suck. I don’t think I can stress that enough.

So my plan that night was to head to Jeff’s Deli to see Nightlights, and check out Nightmares For A Week, Carpenter, Stolen Parts, World’s Scariest Police Chases, and Reverse the Curse who were playing there first. Then I planned on seeing Heartsounds, Blacklist Royals, The Riot Before, Nothington, and finally a special late night set from Mixtapes after which I was invited to hang out with the band after their set.

Turns out I didn’t really see any of the shows I expected but it also turned out to be better that way.

Walking down University Ave, I felt I was lost. I had been walking for what seemed like too long, and it was dark now, so landmarks looked a little different. I heard loud, heavy music emanating from a place that just said 1982 on it. It looked dingy; had to be a fest venue.

The entrance was around back, so I strolled myself behind the place and saw some Fest volunteers and a small line. The place was at capacity, so I was made to stand outside. I stood and waited.  I wasn’t sure who was next, who was on, but I was sure that it was going to be good. Why? Because the place was small, and small venues always rule.

Finally I was let in. I walked two feet inside and was hit by a wall of humidity. There was a small hallway which lead to a bar, and an empty stage. The bar was playing Blink 182’s untitled album, they must not understand punk.  Eventually a band called Banquets, which I’m not too familiar with, took the stage. I stayed for two songs. It’s not that the show was necessarily bad, but it wasn’t resonating with me and I was sure that somewhere, there was a band losing their shit on stage.

So I left. With over 250 bands, there is no time to waste, and if a band is just standing on stage, playing songs with no real passion, screw it. I’d rather watch some band I’ve never heard of play the most intense show I’ve ever seen than watch my favorite band play 6 songs that sound better on their album.

I got directions to Jeff’s Deli from The Fest volunteers standing outside and as it turned out it was right next-door. Inside the venue Carpenters were playing. Carpenters are a band I’ve heard of, listened a little bit to, didn’t vibe with, and forgot about. Yet, as I saw them on stage I knew I was seeing a band with overwhelming passion. Carpenters played to about 45 kids, and blew the roof off the venue. Not only did they work off the crowd, but they enforced their energy upon them. The singer/guitarist ended up crowd surfing despite the fact that there wasn’t much room, or a stage to dive off from. After their set, everyone in the band looked exhausted.

After Carpenters was Nightmares For A Week. Good band. They played to way less people than Carpenters, but were able to sustain the energy from the previous set, and continue on with songs that sounded like a mix between Against Me and NoFX. They were bombastic when playing, and overall I was pleased.

Nightlights came on and performed an energetic and fun set. They seemed to have brought some friends with them from home, which made the set even better as half the crowd was singing all the words and loving every minute of it. They played new material which seemed more melodic than Long Way Home. After being a fan of Nightlights for quite some time, I was impressed with their ability to convey the same kind of energy from their EP to live.

After Nightlights, Jeff’s Deli was empty. It didn’t really matter, I had Hostage Calm to get to. I walked back down University Ave towards a bar/laser tag arena where Hostage Calm was playing at 11.  It was 10:45.  The bar/laser tag arena wasn’t as big as you’d expect. The laser tag arena was in another door far away, and really, the place was just a shitty college punk bar. It was small, hot, and sweaty, but it was perfect.

Hostage Calm had no room to play. There were over 60 kids just standing in this bar, waiting for the band to come out and wreck their ears with music. When the band finally took the stage they did just that, and maybe a little more.

Their set was the best of the night by far. The fans were into it, the band was into them, and the intimate setting allowed fan/band interaction to get to a completely different level than the rest of the shows at The Fest. Kids were crowd surfing in a bar where there was no room or place to surf. There was an enthusiasm from the crowd that seemed unique to Hostage Calm as a band. Kids were absolutely enthralled by the prospect of touching the lead singers head while they grabbed the mic and sang. It was a short show, but it was the best. Every single person in that venue had a good time, and everyone felt as if they had seen the best kind of live show they could see.

I’m going to stop my narrative here even though I still have the Mixtapes show to talk about but since it didn’t start until 2am I think I’m allowed to keep that for the Saturday edition of my update.

Band of the day:
Mixtapes – Mixtapes is straight up cool people playing cool music.

Quote of the day:
Nightmares For A Week- “When we play this song, we usually say its ours because nobody knows it, but its not. If you do know it, you can go to our merch table and pick up a free t-shirt” –

Quirk of the day:
Meeting the people who run Punknews.org. It felt sorta like high school football, even if the people are nice, you feel like there should be beef since they’re a rival. I tried to be nice, but they got sort of quiet once they found out I wrote for Dying Scene. Nice people from what I could tell though.

Fan of the day:
Random drunk guy who was trying to figure out when Mixtapes was playing, and ended up talking to me about pop punk for 15 minutes. Nice guy, couldn’t really talk, but still did a good enough job expressing his love for pop punk.