Posted by pacer on 2005-12-06 06:00:37
My Score:

Here's the blog i wrote about the fest for myspace. For those of you who don't know (which is all i presume), i travelled from ireland for the fest this year.

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Oh yeah, the fest/Orland blog. I started writing one earlier this week but frankly it felt way too self indulgent. It's been happening with people that they ask "how was Florida" and I just go "yeah, great"! I don't particularly want to hear the ins and outs of other people's holidays (get your fuckin holiday snaps away from me) so I don't see how others would want to hear mine.

However, this is a blog, and they are, by nature, horribly self obsessed SO... I'm going to reach a middle ground. No long boring stories. No "I did this, I did that". Here's what you get - things I thought were interesting, in bullet points, with music emboldened for those who, like me, don't really give a shit about anything other than music.

* Florida is hot, but nobody there realises it. Met this white trash dude on the bus who was from Chicago, said he spent his first three years sleeping naked with no sheets. Sometimes I felt like that while people were walking around in sweaters or with gloves on. 80 degrees in November? Cold? Encyclopaedia, under w, "WINTER". Look it up.

* Dillinger Four are one of the best bands in the world, and I had the rare honour of seeing them twice in one weekend. Friday night I barely remember as I got pretty drunk with Brian from North Lincoln (one of the nicest dudes I ever met in my life - no shit). I was on the side of the stage (cos I'm a scenester) and Paddy made everyone take their tops off. I vaguely remember singing the end of "Doublewhiskeycokenoice" with Eric. And me and Pat from latterman and a bunch more singing "Walkaway". Oh and lots of naked Paddy. Great gig.

* Speaking of North Lincoln, these dudes were all the nicest people i met all fest - every time they saw me they'd stop for a chat, offer me pizza, beer, a lift to a house show, whatever. They were pretty much my only company the whole weekend and damn did i need it. I was very nervous about seeing them sunday as i was afraid that they'd suck - they were such nice people, they had to suck, right? Nope, they fuckin rocked! Really really hard! And Dillinger Four came up after and bought their albums - how's that for a reccomendation! Go check them out, and if you go see them, buy them a beer from me.

* There are lizards everywhere in Florida. Walking down the street I had to constantly look at the pavement cos i didn't want to step on one. Not that i'm a hippy mind you, just that i played a lot of video games as a kid, so i figured i'd be looking at one giant lizard end of level boss later in life.

* Smoke or fire are way better on record than live. Don't get me wrong, they still rocked, but that album is A-MAY-ZING.

* If you are under 21... Don't fest. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. You may get kicked out before D4, and this is one occasion where you'll regret what you do more than what you don't do.

* Latterman.... I still can't talk about. Come back to me.

* On your first night in a new town, do not go to a show in the best record store, drink a slab of beer, and shout at the bands. Some people will think it's kinda funny, but you'll spend the next few days walking around having people you don't know say "hey brian, how're you enjoying the fest".

* Sub-note - you don't own this town and you can't tell these bands what to do

* Related note - the people in The Atlantic are really nice forgiving people. That's the bar, not the ocean.

* Bloodbath... Lets put it this way - ever seen a band with a combined weight of about 1300lbs do coke (no straw) in full view on stage, then take out half the audience with a well aimed bass? I have. And i have picures.

* English punk rockers can be nice, but don't buy them a drink. Maybe it's because we took ireland back, or maybe it's because they're tight arses (ooh!), but they'll never buy you one back.

* Paddy from Dillinger Four has an irish passport. I have no idea why i know that, but i do.

* I haven't seen Oscar from Nakatomi Plaza in a few years, and i've always wanted to see his band live. It's one of my only fest regrets that i left early to see Smoke Or Fire. Oscar is a very very nice dude and his band are wicked live. Tightest emo ever.

* Toshi is everywhere. Take note.

* The Draft are a bunch of drunk turkeys, but that one dude really knows how to hang a guitar. Oh and the songs are good. N shit.

* If you have "piss off!!!" tattooed across your fingers, you may well find yourself under a car soon. But thank you for locating the beers for me friday night.

* House shows are cool, asian band who's name starts with a B that i can't remember were super cool, and beer box wrestling sounds like a date for next year.

* Billy and Eric from Dillinger Four are incredibly tall and built people. As brian from North Lincoln said "they look like the kinda dudes my dad drinks with.

* I wish my dad drank with Dillinger Four

* Never use a phone in a hotel. 45 second local call costs $8. Not good.

* Latterman played in a small club called the Atlantic. If you look around you will find a video of me stagediving to them. Apparently they don't like stagedivers. I'm sorry, i just got carried away (well, not actually - watch the video). And anyways Matt dived a little at the end of "my bedroom" (with his crotch around my neck, WASH BOY!!!) so whatever. That's about all i can say about them right now.

* If you're going to walk for two hours through the dodgy neighbourhoods of a city the size of Orlando to find one of the three record stores in the whole town that sells vinyl, ring first to make sure they're not an exclusively dance shop run by a five foot mess of hair and pill-sweat who, in a roundabout way, infers the classic line "you're not from around here boy", or else you'll find yourself saying something really stupid like "do you have any european stuff? Like trace stuff?", so that you don't look like the lost tool you are.

* Bent Outta Shape are sloppy as hell, and their van is in serious need of repair, but god damn are they good. And their records are even better.

* Things i learnt from other's mistakes (or how not to miss Radon) (1) Don't drink yourself into a 36 hour coma friday night thus missing Radon (hi tara!!) and (2) Don't drink a bottle of Jim Beam for breakfast in a hot tub thus dehydrating self into a coma for 24 hours and missing Radon (hi dude who's name i don't remember and now that i think of it have no idea how i met). Finally (3) Don't assume you can just walk in before Radon start, completely ignoring every florida person all weekend who would only talk about Radon and how amazing Radon are and how they can't wait to see Radon (hi floyd!!)

* Radon were meh to me. I left early *evil evil cackle*

* Dillinger Four on sunday was excellent for a whole bunch of other reasons - most notibly that i can remember all of it, particularly almost creaming myself shouting "IT'S ALL WRINKLED ELBOW SHIRTS AND POKER FACES ON THIS BUS" while splitting atoms with my right index finger. In-freaken-credible. Hadn't been that into a gig since i saw lagwagon when i was 17. This was before latterman though.

* Eating pizza for a week straight will fuck you up (like you needed me to tell you that). Budget at least two meals in The Top into your fest experience, your body will thank you for it (plus the staff are super nice and don't look at you funny when you've drank four beers by the time you get to ordering your meal, even when you're on your own).

* Paint it Black are fuckin incredible live, even if that dude from lifetime comes across as very macho and aggressive. And the stagediving was super cool, especially the girl trying repeatedly to get back into the crowd, but failing as people repeatedly caught her and sent her back up front. She saw the funny side so so should you.

* Internet on the TV in hotels sucks. Typing on those things sucks, thus all the messages people got from me along the lines of "ME USA RAWK HOT GUD TYM U?". Two people got long mesages, and they should count themselves lucky, both took me an hour (i was bored).

*The following i have not too much to say about other than that they were brilliant live: The Arrivals, Grabass, Fiya, Glass And Ashes, New Bruises, and J Church.

* Actually scratch that, i met people from most of those bands and they were really nice people, expecially the drummer from Fiya who was very nice to me despite my abusing him thursday night. Oh and the guy from Glass And Ashes who's shirt i still have (sorry!)

* Oh and don't drink draft in the states. They don't clean the lines. Ever.

* Ok latterman. Phew. I have the tshirt i wore for the gig at home. Two weeks later it's still soaked with sweat. I've never sung so hard in all my life. It was adrenaline rushes for 20 minutes (though it felt then and seems now like an hour). They played all my favourite songs off "No Matter Were We Go" except for "We're Done For", but that's ok, because i got to sing "Fear And Loathing In Long Island" with a few hundred people who felt the same. Apparently the gig was packed with all the friends the band made on this tour. It felt like it, singular of purpose and raw of throat. Inspiring stuff.

* Finally: Being home is ok because there's another fest next year...

Drummers who sing are awesome.
The best set of the weekend was The Ergs at the Sidebar.

NMB's set was pretty mediocre, although I love their record and really enjoyed the last time I saw them play live. I think they have a new -- or fill-in? -- guitarist, and the power went out during their set, which, although it was not their fault, seemed to epitomize the clumsiness with which they played.

All in all, I loathed Abbey Road as a venue, based on the sub-par sound and atmosphere. I didn't think anyone had a killer set at that venue, including NMB and D4.

The weekend as a whole, however, was incredible.

the first band i saw when i got there was smalltown, and then toys that kill and D4. god, that friday night was amazing. what an awesome fest.

"lil' champ is the worst gas station ever"

Definitely. That place fucking sucks.

PS - Fest 3 will be a 2 DVD set. :)

Fest 3 DVD is likely to be January at the earliest, followed by the Fest 4 one later in 2006.

Posted by crackpotdemagogue on 2005-11-29 10:43:43
My Score:

Great review, enjoyed reading it. I am one jelous bastard though. Sometimes i hate being from Europe :-(

my memories:
barnoness as the ultimate experience.
camp blackburn
so much pbr/old mill
circle takes the square is boring
savage brew isn't
fuck yeah for j. page
sweet tyrone at futurehouse
'lil champ is the worst gas station ever.

Posted by Taylor on 2005-11-28 11:03:22
My Score:

I didn't get to see this but i saw Paint it black Bouncing souls and the Loved ones the very next night in Charlotte and they were amazing. BS looked like they were highl though. I've been trying to go to the fest since the second one. Next year will be the year. The score is for the bands at the fest. Baroness is soooo good.

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 28, 2005 at 10:37 AM (EST)
My Score:

"Does anyone know if that Fest Dvd is out yet?"

Apparently according to No Idea

THE FEST 3 • DVD (November 2005)

http://www.noidearecords.com/

did anyone catch fifth hour hero? how were they?

Does anyone know if that Fest Dvd is out yet?

I would have killed to go to this. It's a wonder I didn't.

wow. i'm really glad i stayed in my podunk little town to see VT destroy my beloved hoos during this weekend. somehow the gods of punk rock are taking out the sins of My Chemical Romance, Simple Plan, and Bowling for Soup all on me.

D4 has played in Virginia ( at least twice that I know of and I was out of town (out of the country actually) every time that i know of. fuckit. here's to waiting another two years before they leave town and play some shows. oh well, i have never been to minneapolis, so it'll be a good excuse to go there when they play their last show one day. and i still don't even know what the fuck those guys are saying 90% of the time, but i know i love it.

and i'll jump on the wagon now and say that i can't wait to go next year, but please - all of you - take your vitamins, and say your prayers to make sure that this does not turn in to some indie rock fruitcake pitchfork sponsered hipster fest. i know it's in good hands, but i've seen what happened to macrock in va and i just don't want the same thing happening to this little piece of punk rock perfection.

Posted by maverick on 2005-11-27 01:59:24
My Score:

My Fest 4 experience:

I waited in line for D4 on Friday for close to 90 minutes (missing both the Arrivals and the Cardinal Sin -- goddamnit!), and it was completely worth every second of their set. Paddy needs to do a fucking stand-up comedy tour or something, because shitdamn, that guy is hilarious. D4 were actually the only band I even watched on Friday, due to getting to Gainesville late and waiting in line. Their set alone was still worth the 6-hour plane ride followed by the 6-hour car ride I had to go through to get there.

Saturday, I saw the Setup (fucking AWESOME), Wow, Owls! (not bad, but I guess their singer was sick?), Snack Truck (like Hella, but listenable), Ultra Dolphins (good stuff), Tiny Hawks (also good stuff), the Loved Ones (totally sweet), Paint It Black ("Whoops, I guess I just talked shit!" -- Dan Yemin), the Draft ("C'mon, ya TURKEYS!" -- Chris Wollard), Brandon Butler (okay alt-countrish stuff from the guy who used to front Boys Life -- weird) and Ted Leo/Pharmacists.

I got kicked in the face during Ted Leo/Pharmacists' cover of "Suspect Device." Like, foot square to the right eye/cheek. Holy fuck, that hurt. I was walking diagonally for the rest of the night, but it was totally worth it.

Due to my ride having to get back to Miami (fuckin' Miami!) for a school thing on Sunday night, I was unable to see any bands on Sunday (go fig -- the most bands I wanted to see were on Sunday). I spent somewhere around $400 total in travel, food and expenses to watch 11 bands' sets, some merely partially.

Was it worth it?

Fuck yeah, it was.

I'm already counting down to Fest V.

Also, Floyd (the one and only, from Fat Wreck Chords) saw me in a Punknews.org T-shirt during D4, and, in what I can only assume was a drunken stupor, lifted up my shirt and gave me a raspberry on my stomach.

I love Gainesville.

-Scott

If you'd have gotten there early enough for The Urchin you'd have been golden. They kicked major ass as well.

haha when i saw the loved ones with the bouncing souls, the bassist had that same sneer, it would never go away

If i had spent $400 to fly to Gainesville as I had planned, and then were not allowed to see j church, the urchin and radon, I would have definately freaked the fuck out!

next year i’ll be driving down to see this. i can’t believe... bvs, d4, ted leo, cardinal sin, (who fucking rule, for those of you who haven’t heard them yet...), against me, fuckin’ EVERYONE played this show. ahhhhhhhh god. oh well. next year!

Posted by nepaindiepunk on 2005-11-26 14:49:00
My Score:

I wrote a review on my myspace bulletin about 2 days after the FEST. Keep in mind this was written for people who probably heard of 5 out of the 100 bands at the FEST. So it's more a less descriptions of the sets, with a few stories thrown in there. Overall an awesome weekend, I saw 34 bands in 51 hours, for $35. I still wish I would have gotten to see Radon/Ted Leo/J Church but there was about 75 people IN LINE waiting to get into Common Grounds, about 30mins before Radon, there was plenty more music to be seen.

Bent Outta Shape - infectious punk laced rock n' roll from New York

Sexy - sexy, sexy 3 man punk rock

The Arrivals - aggressive Chicago punk, blew everyone away on Friday night

Toys That Kill - Fast melodic punk from San Diego

Dillinger Four - the D4 show was amazing! If you haven't hear of them go back to modern punk 101. I'll quote the singer/bassist as he stood buck ass naked, "Turn out the lights, get naked, get freaky, have sex, do something weird" Another quote, "You know why so many kids are listening to hip-hop nowadays, cause they HAVE SEX!, punk don't have sex anymore they're always talking about politics and whatnot! Oh, this song is about farting into puddles." Priceless!!!

The Setup - This was the first band I saw on Saturday, and might have been the tightest. Melodic hardcore that woke everyone up at 2pm that was there anyways.

Wow, Owls! - I was very excited to see them as their CD is very very good. I felt as though they paled in comparasion to The Setup going on right before them. But more solid dyanmic hardcore can't hurt right?

Pink Razors - fast melodic punk, solid set!

VCR - 'Electro-punk' 2 keyboards, 1 bass, drums, and voice and everyone was dancing! Imagine if you took out the hardcore element out of An Albatross and streamlined their sound and their songs were longer than a minute each!

Ultra Dolphins - I'm not sure how to describe these guys, they lay some weird brand of hardcore, and make some weird noises. Aweosme set!

Tiny Hawks - Blew everyone away! Providence, RI two man noise rock! Like Lightning Bolt but not groove oriented like LB, with guitar instead of a bass.

Ampere - screamo (not the trendy type) and had everyone going nuts from Amhurst, MA

Buliding The State - swirling melodic post-hardcore that had that wall of noise thing going on. Very good!

New Bruises - YES!!! ex-Mid Carson July. Hard melodic punk rock from the Tampa area, showing everyone how do to do it and what it's about!

This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb - this band along with New Bruises playing in a place called the Side Bar, which was not very big. IT WAS PACKED!!! You couldn't fit another paper clip into this place! Which is surprising considering at the same time Bouncing Souls and Ted Leo were on! They sound like a rougher early Against Me! with a stronger folk elements. Everyone was moving, reagrdless of whether they wanted to or not! One crowd surfer knocked down the low hanginf disco ball and the disco ball was crowd surfers for a good minute or so! Awesome!

Circle Takes The Square - Insane technical dynamic hardcore. A great way to end the night.

Ghost Mice - an all acoustic trio from Indiana, I had no idea they were so popular. They must have been 50 kids signing/clapping/stomping along. It was very moving!

J Page - ex-Scaries and ex-As Friends Rust and they sound exactly like you think they wuld sound, a perfect combination, a hard, rough, melodic punk. Great set.

Latterman - DIY hard pop-punk from Long Island, everyone was singing along! You can really tell they love what they do!

Bear Vs. Shark - Awesome set from the Michagan indie-punkers.

Against Me! (of course) - they played close to an hour! All the classics, with just enough new stuff. It just sounds as though they are shifting from what they were into more of a rock sound from when I saw them a few years back. At the end everyone rushed the stage to sing along! A perfect end to a weekend I will not soon forget.

Other artists I saw this weekend:

The Cardinal Sin (mid tempo post-punk)
Grabass Charlestons (Gainesville PUNK!)
Snack Truck (Melodic Hardcore)
Reactionary Three (Gainesville Hardcore)
Fiya (More Hardcore!!!)
New Roman Times (Brooding indie-rock, Cursive-ish)
The Draft (ex-Hot Water Music, more rock and less punk, but still punk nonetheless)
Hot Cross (crazy scraming hardcore)
Erin Tobey (female singer/songwriter)
Madeline (electric guitar solo female singer/songwriter)
Comrade ("you have made an enemy, and his name is Juan, and that is my name!", plus more naked circle pit action)
Escape Grace (power metal)
Smoke Or Fire (Avail meets Hot Water Music, melodic punk)
The Epoxies (new wave pop-punk)

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 26, 2005 at 2:10 PM (EST)
My Score:

i stopped reading this review after you said you didn't watch baroness. score is for baroness.

if hot water music was still around they probably would have played this

:[[[[

Really The Fest was just massive amounts of alchohol and weed and a Radon show that was too crowded for me to get into.

the fest more liek THE BEST111!!

hmm that's a good thing.

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 26, 2005 at 7:52 AM (EST)
My Score:

I wish i could have attended this, anybody fancy paying for me to go next year?.....hmm thought not....

Oh well here's some Radon action for you
http://www.lookatyourself.com/Radarn.wmv

Billy Reese Peters was the best way to end the Fest, fuck Against Me!

i missed the first D4 set, but that still didnt ruin the weekend.

Sunday was probably the best day; D4 hangover set Assholeparade North Lincoln Billy Reese Peters

I wish i didn't live all the way up in Illinois. That's no good that you missed J Church. I saw them like a year or two ago in a small skatepark/venue in Rockford. There was maybe 20 - 30 people. I was so pumped when I walked up to say hi that I couldn;t think of anything better to say than "so you guys did a split with Less Than jake right?". *slaps forehead*

Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 26, 2005 at 1:27 AM (EST)
My Score:

Yeaaahhh dude, Sidebar was where it was at. That D4 show and Tiltwheel/BRP blew my fucking mind. But what about Radon? Were you too cool for the kings of mother fucking rock?

What a great weekend. All you stupid kids should head to Gainesville next year for a serious rock-n-roll conversion. Praise Jesus!!

Damn, I should have gone. Next year is already on my schedule for sure.

Did anyone that went see Sexy? Also, more about Bloodbath and Beyond, the punk rock supergroup.

like that other guy said no one was really into NMB, but i saw them the next day at backbooth in orlando and they rocked the fuck out. I think another one of the problems w/ NMB's set was the venue, abbey road was huge, i heard it hled close to a 1000 people. but besides that D4 took it friday night, it was the first time i had ever seen them and it was amazing. Paddy got naked and had someone in the crowd hold his dick for a part of the next song they played. overall the fest was amazing
Richie

This review was pretty good, but here's how I would make it better:

1. More mention about how Dillinger Four is just a DIllinger Escape Plan rip-off.

2. Drummers who sing are sell-outs

4. Fuck number 3, I'm wasted.

wtf happened with NMB, fill me in

I'm not gonna read this, because it'll make me angry I wasn't there.
To those who got to go, savor it for those of us who couldn't.

Posted by cubaricho on 2005-11-25 22:20:51
My Score:

I saw Ted Leo and his set ended with him having blood on his face and having to get stitches - a set just as amazing as the rest of the fest.

So who saw Ted Leo?

I was pissed off I missed Bear Vs. Shark. Then again, I was still so sore from Saturday afternoon/night that I needed to go to sleep rather than suffer some more.

ALSO, The Draft songs were pretty good, but it was "missing something" I dunno, they may have lacked some intensity maybe.

-kliph

Bear vs Shark was amazing despite only having a 20 minute set.

I thought NMB had a pretty good set. The crowd wasn't really feeling them but that's not really their fault.

you REALLY should've stuck around for The Tim Version. The place just exploded while they were playing. So many drunk people just singing their heads off. At least you saw Blood Bath and Beyond (my favorite new band).

-kliph

I hate to gush about a little school girl, but the Fest was easily the BEST weekend I've ever had in my life. The vibe was so fucking positive and there were just so many bands that blew me away.

Also, the DIVERSITY!!! How many festivals can have Baroness and The Holy Mountain one night and have This Bike Is A Pipebomb and Ted Leo the next night?

Do NOT miss this next year. It is a Mecca.

-kliph

1. you should've watched Baroness. they are some phenomenal maiden-esque metal, but with scarrier vocalsand a slight stoner sound. really, they floored me when i saw em.

2. damn, i wish i went.

Did you see the Draft? How were the new songs?

Whoa, whoa, whoa...NMB were bad? I've seen them twice in Cleveland (once with Death By Stereo and the other time with The Lawrence Arms) and they were nothing short of great. What about their set sparked your comments?

there is no fucking way i'm missing the Fest next year, i don't give a shit if i have to walk.