On a rainy weekend in Southern California people from all over the country gathered at The American Legion Hall in Pomona for the second installment of the Lauren Records' festival dubbed "Growing Up is Dumb." 3 Floors of nonstop music. When one band finishes everyone rushes either upstairs or downstairs to catch the next band. I went to this event last year and it was so incredible and I had to come back this year. I could write pages of each band but I will try and highlight my favorite sets.
Saturday had some great sets. The Albert Square from San Jose sounded tighter than I have ever seen. Their split with Shinobu and their 7—inch How's Everyone's Doing's should not be passed up. This was the first time I got to see Joyride! play and it sure was great. Joyride reminds me of P.S. Eliot but with a little more pop punk than twee. Leer's set was unreal. The crowd went crazy for them and they played some new songs that were full of that jazzy—skramz that they are getting known for. Forming was a band that I was really excited to see since I never got to see them live ever. I had their 7—inch and it was great to see them come back together and play those jams. Toys That Kill brought the house down. I mean, there is no Joyce Manor without Toys That Kill. The place went crazy for them. Winter Break (Formally Summer Vacation) played. Their sound didn't change all that much except that now Mark sings all the songs and they only played new songs. I could tell people wanted to get into it but no one knew the songs yet. They did however play some cover songs. The opener was "5 Beer Plan" by Joyce Manor and the last one was "The Many Faces Of Mental Chillness" by Summer Vacation. Spraynard closed the night and they played a pretty tight set. One kid stage dived and hit his head on the ground pretty bad. The band stopped the set and addressed it. I was worried that the kid got a concussion. I saw him on Sunday so he must have made it out alright.
Sunday was full of rad sets as well. Jurassic Shark opened the day and really killed it. I picked up their tape and have been jamming it all week. Tough Stuff really got the local kids stoked and played a fun set in the basement. Those kids need to put out an LP. Weatherbox had to cancel so Barry and Chase from Joyce Manor played acoustic. Lots of crowd surfing during that set. Even Kurt from JM did some crowd surfing. Horror Squad, Turkish Techno and French Exit were all great. I wish more people watched those sets but they were great sets anyways. La Sera was pretty good. They seemed a little out of their regular element, but they put on a great show either way. Underground Railroad to Candyland was great. Some technical difficulties shortened the set, but still one of the more original live bands I have ever seen. Don't miss them if they come to a town near you. I just want my square ball. Finally Shinobu played. Shinobu has been one of my favorite bands since high school. Back in 2006—2009 in San Jose, their cuddle shows were great, but there were never that many people at the shows. Now in this basement there are A TON of people who know all the words to all the songs. It was pretty rad. They played a great alternative version of "Same Bastards". They played all the jams. ("Cat," "Teachers," "Chase," etc.) They sometimes threw in parts of other songs like "Regular Love Triangle" in the middle of other songs. They finished the night of course with their song "T—T—T—Trepanning". Mike gave me the guitar and ran into the crowd to finish the night. Luckily I know how to play that song.
Finally Aaron Kovacs at Lauren Records deserves SO MUCH FUCKING CREDIT on putting on a fucking fantastic fest in LA. If he doesn't do it next summer I think everyone in LA will be bummed. If you don't know Lauren Records. Go and buy all their records. He is putting out great bands. Well back to being an adult.......Growing Up Is Dumb......