Observations, Musings, and Lessons Learned mostly in the world of Punk, Ska, Alternative, Metal, and just plain Rock and Roll. Music with guitars…mostly
Always a little anxiety when the schedule is released. Not knowing if there are conflicts, who may be playing too early, or too late, etc. This year’s schedule was just release and, while not perfect, there weren’t too many casualties. Especially considering we have a lot of moving parts both nights getting to Frank Turner and Too Much Joy.
The biggest conflict is one of Jimmy’s future favorites, the punk supergroup Fake Names. They are playing right before Foo Fighters on a different stage not allowing us to get from them to be close-ish for Foos. A few other lower priority conflicts are Head Automatica, Crass, 100 Gecs, Bayside, and Tegan and Sara.
Anyway, here’s my curation of Friday and Saturday:
Friday
1:50 George Clinton and Pfunk
2:30 The Wrecks
3:00 get drinks and set up for next act
3:55 The Interrupters
4:45 Quicksand
5:50 The Breeders
6:55 Turnstile (while camping out for a good spot for Foos)
We’re Back…..!!!! Riot Fest 2023. A two-day affair. Why? Because we can.
There’s a great mix of music. From all time favorites that are can’t misses, like Frank Turner and Foo Fighters. Some all time classics that need to be honored like The Breeders, Kim Gordon, and George Clinton. Classic punk like The Exploited and Crass. Some new punk like Turnstile and PUP. Two punk super-groups. Some “spectacles” like 100 Gecs and Corey Feldman. And a few bands that are sure to become our favorites.
Let’s start with those all time favorites that are can’t misses. No introduction needed.
Favorites
There have been many festivals we’ve left with favorite music we hadn’t heard/seen before. Here’s my guess at everyone’s future favorites.
Kyle:
The easy answer is The Interrupters. The rest of us have seen them before and know they fit in Kyle’s wheelhouse.
But I’m not going to take the easy way out. I’m guessing The Wrecks. They’re likely all over Alt-Nation, or should be.
The Wrecks
Alternative band from The Valley in LA, though most of the band grew up in Jersey or New York. They’ve played Lolla before and were at Surf City Blitz. I think we saw them while getting turkey legs on day two.
Todd:
Todd’s music taste is much more vast than I remember. But I know where his roots are. White Reaper is my guess. When I listen to “Judy French” by White Reaper it reminds me of the 80s; specifically Loverboy or REO Speedwagon. And that’s Todd’s roots.
White Reaper
Garage punk from Louisville. Have toured with Weezer and Billy Idol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiwZRPmlcPU
Jimmy:
Jimmy’s tough. And his taste are as vast as Todd’s; from LCD Soundsytem to the Boss, but showing a love of punk of late. I’m taking a guess one of the punk supergroups will be Jim’s favorites: Fake Names or Plosivs. Fake Names has one of our Surf City Blitz friends from Bad Religion on guitar. And Plosivs has a friend from our loudest show at the Cobra (and the night of Kyle’s hike through Chicago), Hot Snakes, on guitar.
Fake Names
A punk/post-punk supergroup with our friend from Bad Religion (and Minor Threat) Brian Baker. Also with members from the Refused, Fugazi, SOA, Girls Against Boys.
Plosivs
Punk supergroup of San Diego musicians with members from Against Me!, Angels and Airwaves, and Hot Snakes (so it will be loud). They’re debut show was at our fave, Alex’s Bar in Long Beach.
And for me, I’m choosing Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. They will be my favorites at the end of RF23. OK, just trying to get one correct. I’m looking forward to PUP. They were supposed to play Riot Fest in 2021 but had visa issues and couldn’t get in and out of the country post-COVID.
PUP
From Toronto, PUP stands for “Pathetic Use of Potential” which is what one of their grandmothers called being in a band. Have toured with one of last year’s Riot Fest bands, The Menzingers. They were elementary and high school friends and have been around for over ten years with zero turnover in their lineup. A pretty Canadian thing to do.
Classics
Honor the classics. There are a few bands that should be honored.
The Breeders. Kim Deal’s breakout band after she left Pixies. A staple of HFS in the 90’s. Plus there’s a chance to have Dave Grohl join them for a cover of Pixies’ Gigantic.
Kim Gordon. Bassist and singer of Sonic Youth, one of the most influential punk bands of the 80s and 90s.
George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. No introduction needed. Got to see him. He’s not going to live forever.
New Punk
There are some new punk bands. The aforementioned PUP and these couple.
Turnstile
Hardcore punk band from Baltimore. They, along with 100 Gecs, seem to be everyone’s favorite right now. They just opened for Blink on their latest tour, which alone gets them a bunch of street cred. But they are worthy of more than that. Give me a little Rage feeling. Plus Fever 333.
They will likely play the Roots stage right before Foos on the Riot Stage. So we will see them from afar likely.
Bayside
I guess not “new” Punk. They’ve been around since 2000 and have played Riot Fest before. But newish to me. From Queens, New York. Specifically the Bayside neighborhood in Queens.
Classic Punk
The Exploited
Scottish punks from the late 70s. Contemporaries of our friends UK Subs, GBH, Cock Sparrer and Buzzcocks. Brothers Wattie (singer) and Wullie (drummer) Buchan have been a part of the Exploited since the early 80s.
Crass/Steve Ignorant
Crass is another punk band from England and the late 70s. However the burnt out and broke up by the mid 80s. Steve Ignorant, their lead singer, is keeping their sound alive.
The Others
This music fell outside of easy classification.
Quicksand
Post-hardcore band from NYC. They are playing their album Slip in its entirety for its 30th anniversary. Listening to it I hear grunge. I hear a lot of Smashing Pumpkins debut album Gish. Not a bad thing at all.
Braid
Emo band from Champaign, IL. Playing their album Frame & Canvas in its entirety for its 25th anniversary.
Viagra Boys
Swedish punk formed in 2015.
Head Automatica
Indie rock from Brooklyn. Formed in 2003 and broke up in 2012. Reunited in 2023 for a few festivals.
Bowling for Soup
Pop punk from Texas. Very very pop with their punk. More pop than punk. 1985 is likely the song you’ve hear before and its lyrics do touch a couple of nerves from our youyh (“who is that other guy singing in Van Halen”). They had a couple of hits in the early 2000s and I thought they went away. But they’re still around. But I think their soup has turned to chowder. Holy Balish.
The Spectacles
As always, Riot Fest has a handful of bands that offer a different “look” to music. GWAR usually proudly bears that label, but unless they are a late add, these bands may need to take it this year.
100 Gecs
Odd. Not sure how to classify them. Wiki calls them “Hyperpop”. Anyway, they’re a duo, Dylan and Laura, from St. Louis. And that doesn’t even begin to prepare you for them. Quoted from Wiki:
Their music has been called an “anarchic assault on the ears” that “[pulls] conventional pop tropes in every direction possible”,as well as “abrasive, maximalist pop” with “elements of pop punk, nightcore, ska, dubstep, deconstructed club, trance, metal, and happy hardcore all thrown into one big internet blender”, resulting in “[s]ongs [that] shift gears dozens of times.”
They seem to be the band everyone is talking about now, along with Turnstile; seems every interview recently with a musician talks about them. I don’t know if we’re getting punked or not.
Death Grips
“Experimental” hip hop. Some of their stuff reminds me of Rage. Some of it reminds me of Fever 333. But just some of it. Not sure about the rest.
Corey Feldman
No explanation. No words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF_VBLxM2sQ
Insane Clown Posse
The videos speak for themselves. But the great people watching will be the Juggalos; their fans that dress in clown makeup. Watch out.
Too Much Joy
Finally…..they’re the perfect topper to Riot Fest 2023. An unofficial aftershow. With an official after party. If the Breeders were a staple of HFS in the 90’s. Too Much Joy were WHFS. So fun. Todd, Chip, and Kyle know about them. Jimmy needs to ask. He really needs to. And buy some merch.
