Observations, Musings, and Lessons Learned mostly in the world of Punk, Ska, Alternative, Metal, and just plain Rock and Roll. Music with guitars…mostly
Musings…observations from the fourth line on the festival lineup poster
With the schedule release we’ve had some updating….a couple of new bands to consider…a few that won’t be seen as they conflict…and a cancelation.
First, unfortunately The Exploited canceled all of their US dates. Wattie Buchan is facing some serious health issues. Hopes he gets well and we catch him at a future RF.
Not sure how The Exploited will be replaced….Too Much Joy is in town….
For the conflicts on Friday, Braid will be missed as they are opposite The Breeders. The big conflict for me is Fake Names which will conflict with the beginning of the Foos. Same with Tegan and Sara. For Saturday, Head Automatica loses easily to Frank, and so does Crass. Death Grips will lose to PUP and the spectacle that is 100 Gecs will lose to Pennywise. Those are easy choices.
For the adds, below you will see them. Oso Oso will be on the small Marky stage right after the Wrecks and could use a stop by. I’ve added Enter Shikari which conflict with Viagra Boys after White Reaper. They are also immediately before Frank on the same stage making them easy. And last, I’ve added The Mekons. Two of the Mekons are opening for Too Much Joy. They are one of Tim’s favorites so we may want to be familiar if we get there in time.
Oso Oso; a Long Island emo/pop punk “band”. It’s really only Jade Lilitri and rotating musicians around. Might be our only chance to see a small band on the Marky stage.
Enter Shikari; British punk band that’s been around about 25 years. Originally named Hybryd they changed named after a boat named Shikari. Have a little bit of the screaming that I’m not a fan of but may be worth seeing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWcObtIeTUw
The Mekons: Formed in Leeds in the last 70s, alongside Gang of Four. Considered an “art band” but expanded to be one of the first post-punk band and very influential. John Langford, drummer and guitarist, and Sally Timms, singer, are opening for Too Much Joy. TMJ has a song on If I Was A Mekon on their second album. One of the lyrics is “If I was a Mekon Maybe I could sleep with Sally”.
Update Tuesday Sept 5: Rumor is The Exploited have been replaced by TSOL. If true that’s a great substitution of an early UK punk band with an early SoCal punk band. TSOL is mostly known to us by one of its members spawning the (former) guitarist and drummer of FIDLAR. Also, TSOL makes it the fourth Surf City Blitz band on this lineup. Surf City Blitz must’ve been a great time. Not sure if we’ll catch TSOL as right now The Exploited is conflicted with White Reaper but if they juggle the schedule here is a quick preview:
Thanks for reading this far. As a token of appreciation, the first person that texts the group text the opening two lines of Frank’s “Non Serviam” will get their Frank aftershow ticket comped. Text must be received before kickoff of the Thursday Night NFL game prior to RF23.
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.
How strong is Riot Fest 2023’s lineup? Spoiler alert. It’s very strong. Very. Should we make a return to Douglass Park? Stay tuned.
I know I’ve never seen a RiotFest lineup I didn’t like. Where I couldn’t find some reason. Last year’s lineup on the surface was the weakest we’ve seen, and I had a blast; maybe my favorite.
This one is top heavy. Three headliners that will be hard to pass up. Two of them are must sees. The Foos and The Cure. Can’t miss them.
The Cure? Saw them in early 90s at the Cap Centre and was disappointed. They were the happy Cure and I wanted the sad cure. Well they’ve been touring again and have been doing 3 hour shows with amazing set lists. This won’t be three hours but they are on top of their game right now and as sad and mopey as ever. I think I need to see them fresh.
And I don’t need to explain why Foos are a must see. I have to say I was late to their “live” fandom. And seeing them at Lolla in 21 was amazing. I think all of you have seen them before so this is redundant. But after the year they had last year they are a must see. And will need to be up close in case Dave calls me up to play guitar.
And Death Cab. They still owe Kyle and I from before the pandemic. Shoot, they caused the pandemic. Wuhan Lab? No it was Death Cab that unleashed COVID-19. Plus the Postal Service…which is just better Death Cab. It would take a Frank or Aimee aftershow to chase us out on Saturday.
That’s a challenge with this lineup. The aftershows may not happen. Because leaving early doesn’t look likely. Which also puts us in the throngs trying to get out at 10pm. Tough first world problem for sure. The headliners are so good we’d have to stay.
Another challenge is that it’s gonna bring in a different crowd for the Foos. Probably a bunch of people that look a lot like us. And for the Cure on Sunday? Another different crowd. Probably a lot of people our age, but just dressed a lot differently than us.
The rest of the lineup? Pretty stacked. I have never seen a better line on a festival poster than line four on this one….Interrupters, Flogging Molly, Frank, Pennywise. If you haven’t seen Flogging Molly, they will impress. They were Dropkick before Dropkick. Not as much punk, but a little more Ireland.
We have classic punk, a al our GBH show in 2017, with The Exploited and Gorilla Biscuits. We have nineties alternative with The Breeders and Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth).
There’re punk supergroups; LS Dunes (Circa Survive, My Chem, and Coheed and Cambia), Fake Names (Refused, Minor Threat, and Bad Religion), and Plosivs (Hot Snakes, Offspring, Social D). We’ve seen some great supergroups before. The Damned Things. Drakulas. You’re welcome.
And when will you ever be in a position to see George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic again?
“Classic” pop punk with AFI, Bowling for Soup, The Used, H2O, and the previously mentioned Pennywise.
Newer punk with PUP (remember we missed them in ‘21 since they were in the Catfish and the Bottlemen 12 noon slot on a Friday), The Bronx, Bayside, White Reaper, Nothing (remember they opened for Janes at our roofie show at the Metro).
While we’re missing GWAR*, they threw us Insane Clown Posse. So we have costumes and make up and wild stage shows. Shoot, it may be worth it just to see the Juggalos (the name of ICP’s fans who dress up). RiotFest always throws us the spectacles of bands. Plus Corey Feldman? Think he’ll bring Corey Haim? Or Corey Hart?
And there’s even some great girlie pop with Ani Difranco and Tegan and Sara. Where else will you ever see a lineup with Ani Difranco, Insane Clown Posse, and Pfunk.
And while I don’t like Queens of the Stoneage, rumors are that Dave Grohl will be playing drums for them. He was a brief member of the band and recorded one album with them plus was in Them Crooked Vultures with Josh Homme.
Speaking of Dave and drums and Joshes, latest rumors have Josh Freese taking over drums for Foo Fighters. We saw him play with Devo and he was recently in the Offspring. He’s amazing.
*And for rumors, word on the street is GWAR will be a late add to RF23. I guess they have an August show in Chicago and they don’t want to be announced until that show is over to not affect the August ticket sales. We’ll see. RiotFest has done the wave #2 thing before and added bands late. Though they are already at 90 bands which is about their capacity. Would love to see Propagandhi added too. They were a strong presence in the lineup teasers that Riot Fest dropped last week hint videos and were noticeably absent..
As this is the 10th year of our festival going, this feels like a celebration of many of those. We have two Surf City Blitz bands. We have Frank, Postal Service, and AFI from Coachella #2. We have Foos from Familypalooza ‘21. Death Cab paying Kyle and I back for Innings Festival March 2020. And Nothing is back to remind us why we couldn’t remember them from the roofie night at Lolla.
Anyway, I’m in if anyone else is an wants to go Deluxe.
A musical Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Two great live acts that sound great together. Setlists for each from this tour. A handful of videos for each plus a couple from the opening act, Bedouin Soundclash.
