Fest 9

We will be updating the list of bands as well as all other details as information becomes available.

The current details so far are:

The Dates

Oct 29th, 30th and 31st

Ticked prices and info

$65.00 in advanced or $80.00 “at the door”
Currently tickets are not on sale and there is no released details on when pre-orders will be occuring.

Venues

Currently no venues have been listed.

Links

The Fest9 site and boards can be found here and includes all kinds of information about the previous fests.

A link to the posted band list and details can be found here.

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Currently confirmed bands

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
The Suicide Machines
Assassinate The Scientist!
A Wilhelm Scream
Banner Pilot
Battle!
Bedford Fall
Big Eyes
Bomb the Music Industry!
Bridge and Tunnel
Broadway Calls
Burning Love
Calvinball
Caves
Cobra Skulls
Dave Dondero
Dear Landlord
Failures Union
Grown Ups
How Dare You
imadethismistake
Into It. Over It.
Kylesa
Landmines
Lemuria
Living With Lions
Look Mexico
Max Levine Ensemble
Mouthbreather
Nothington
Ok pilot
O Pioneers!!!
Pacer
Rehasher
Red City Radio
Red Collar
Sainte Catherines
Shores
Static Radio
The Arteries
The Dopamines
The Flatliners
The Great Explainer
The Menzingers
The Sidekicks
The Soviettes
Teenage Bottlerocket
Twelve Hour Turn
Wavelets
We Are The Union.
Wow, Owls!
Young Livers

Anchor Arms

Anchor Arms

Florida natives Anchor Arms have spent a long time building up community ties in their hometown of Gainsville, Florida. It wasn’t until 2007 that their penchant for slowly building and soaring alt-punk was noticed by aging rock star Jon Bon Jovi who took them on his US tour of that year. The tour opened up new doors for the band and now they are touring across the world and selling hundreds of records in Virgin Megastores across the world.

Anchor Arms will be playing FEST 8 in their hometown of Gainsville, Florida this upcoming Halloween.

For more on FEST 8 check out TruePunk’s Guide to FEST 8

Alligator

Alligator

Florida is rife with large reptiles, a fact not overlooked by Saint Augustine band Alligator. Driven by a love for herpetology and all things reptilian,  Alligator blends southeast punk rock with a level of “freak out” rock, with a frenetic pacing and ripping guitar riffs. Their unique aesthetic is only part of this theme-band’s appeal. Their primary draw is their absolute love for what they’re doing, a joy that permeates every note of their music.

Alligator will be playing FEST 8 in Gainsville, Florida this upcoming Halloween.

For more on FEST 8 check out TruePunk’s Guide to FEST 8

FEST 8 Dates and bands

No Idea Records and Southern Lovin’PR have offically released details about the FEST 8 dates and band listings as well as releasing the new FEST 8 website.

With over 200 bands so far just confirmed and 8 venues FEST 8 is looking to be the largest punk music event of the year! Among those announced are Samiam, Dillinger Four, Less Than Jake, Torche, Youth Brigade, A Wilhelm Scream, Strike Anywhere, Dead To Me, 7 Seconds, Toys that Kill, This Bike Is a Pipebomb, Russian Circles, Bomb The Music Industry! and many, many more. Check out the full lineup below.

The Fest 8 passes get access to 8 venues over the Halloween weekend , October 30th, October 31st and November 1st 2009 in Gainesville, Florida. Cost is $60 in advance and $80 weekend of.

We will be releasing a large feature on FEST 8 next week with band profiles on all the bands playing so you can decide which bands you will want to see and which bands you will HAVE to see.

Confirmed bands for FEST 8 so far:
12XU
7 Seconds
A Wilhelm Scream
ANS
Above Them
Algernon Cadwallader
Alligator
Altercation Punk Comedy Tour
American Cheeseburger
Ampere
Anchor Arms
Annabel
Assassinate The Scientist
Assholeparade
Averkiou
Bad Friends
Bangers
Banner Pilot
Battle!
Ben Davis & The Jett$
Bible Children
Blacklist Royals
Bomb The Music Industry
Brainworms
Bridge and Tunnel
Brothers
Caitlin Rose
Calvin Ball
Capsule
Cheap Girls
Cheeky
Chillerton
Chronic Youth
Cinemechanica
City of Ships
Clairmel
Cloak/Dagger
Coffee Project
Coffin Dancer
Coliseum
Comadre
Constrictor
Crash Burn Repeat
Crime In Stereo
Cruiserweight
Cutman
Dan Padilla
Daniel Striped Tiger
Dave Dondero
Dead Friends
Dead To Me
Dear Landlord
Deep Sleep
Die Hoffnung
Diet Cokeheads
Dillinger Four
Dirty Tactics
Eric Ayotte
FIYA
Failures’ Union
Fellow Project
Field Day
Fleshies
Gatorface
Ghastly City Sleep
Git Some
Giving Chase
Good Luck
Grabass Charlestons
Hard Girls
Hawks and Doves
Hidden Spots
Hometeam
Honest Arrow
Hour Of The Wolf
How Dare You
In Defence
In The Red
Iron Chic
Itchy Hearts
Japanther
Jonesin’
Junior Battles
Kevin Seconds
Kylesa
Landmines
Lemuria
Less Than Jake
Liquid Limbs
Litany for the Whale
Little Lungs
Living With Lions
Look Mexico
Low Red Land
Madeline
Magrudergrind
Maruta
Mehkago NT
Mike Hale
Monikers
Mose Giganticus
Mouthbreather
Nervous Dogs
New Bruises
Ninja Gun
No Friends
No More
North Lincoln
Nothington
O Pioneers!
OK Pilot
Off With Their Heads
Old Growth
Only Thunder
Outbreak
PEZZ
Polar Bear Club
Pretty Boy Thorson and the F’n A’s
Protagonist
Psyched To Die
Pulling Teeth
Pygmy Lush
Radon
Red City Radio
Rehasher
Religious as Fuck
Ringers
Ruiner
Russian Circles
Samiam
Savage Brewtality
Scum of the Earth
Shang-A-Lang
Shellshag
Shitstorm
Shook Ones
Sick Sick Birds
Sinaloa
Smalltown
Snacktruck
So Pastel
Spanish Gamble
Static Radio (NJ)
Street Eaters
Stressface
Strike Anywhere
Strikeforce Diablo
The Arrivals
The Arteries
The Bomb
The Brokedowns
The Casting Out
The Catalyst
The Copyrights
The Disappeared
The Dopamines
The Emotron
The Flatliners
The Future Virgins
The Ghost
The Max Levin Ensemble
The Measure [SA]
The Menzingers
The Ones to Blame
The Riot Before
The Shaking Hands
The Sidekicks
The Takers
The Thumbs
The Tim Version
The Tupolev Ghost
This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb
Thousandaires
Tiltwheel
Tim Barry
Tin Armor
Too Many Daves
Torche
Totally Michael
Towers of Hanoi
Toys That Kill
Trash Talk
Tubers
Underground Railroad to Candyland
Used Kids
Vaginasore Jr.
Vena Cava
Vicious Fishes
Virgins
WORLDS
Watson
We Moderns
Whiskey & Co.
Wormburner
Worn In Red
Young Livers
Young Widows
Youth Brigade

As I Lay Dying

Californian metal-core combo As I Lay Dying hope to send love ‘n’ understanding – not trashcans – into the moshpit.

Interview by Steve Tauschke | steve@staff.truepunk.com | with As I Lay Dying’s Tim Lambesis.

You’d be excused for expecting some backstage tension by bringing together a Christian band and a satanic-metal outfit whose distaste for Catholics is well documented. But when San Diego’s faithful fivesome As I Lay Dying found themselves sharing a band room with ungodly Polish black metallers Behemoth, the results surprised everyone.

“Originally we were a little bit intimidated because Behemoth is very outspoken about how much they hate Christians,” says singer Tim Lambesis, “but I would consider those guys friends of ours. Their view of us as Christians is much different to that of Christians in, say, Florida who are maybe more forceful. It was an eye-opening experience for us and them to meet and sit down and talk.”

And talk they did.

“As Christians we believe in the bible and we believe very strongly and our faith is very important to us,” states Lambesis. “Behemoth describe Christians as very judgmental and I can relate to why they would be so hated because judging other people is not something we’re supposed to be doing. If you really follow the teachings of Jesus it’s all about love and forgiveness.”

That fateful tour, set to be repeated when both As I Lay Dying and Behemoth perform together again on this summer Sounds of the Underground tour, formed part of the opening package for metal headliners Six Feet Under and marked AILD’s first foray into uncharted metal waters.

“Previous to that we’d always gone out by ourselves or with hardcore bands,” says Lambesis. “But we didn’t really care. Now we’ve been on the Taste of Chaos tour and we’re about to go to Canada. So far it hasn’t all been metal and hardcore bands so we’re playing to a whole lot of new fans. It’s fairly diverse but it’s been great for us being the heaviest band on the tour because we stand out. Even if people don’t like heavy music they remember who were are and we’re really making an impression.

Lambesis formed As I Lay Dying in 2000 with drummer Jordan Mancino, debuting with Beneath the Encasing of Ashes the following year. At the time, San Diego’s music scene was enjoying the last wave of the mid-90s pop-punk explosion.

“It had a very big punk scene,” nods the frontman, “and as far as the underground was concerned hardcore was much more popular than metal so we were kind of the outcasts, that’s why most of the early shows we played were at hardcore shows rather than metal shows. As we became more successful the metal scene in general became bigger. The local scene has metal bands trying to sound a little bit like us but we didn’t start it, we just brought life to a scene that was basically dead when we first began playing.”

The clash of genres also brought conflict back when territorial metal and hardcore camps displayed little mutual admiration for one another. Lambesis recalls the odd stoush.

“When we first started playing, the hardcore kids and the metal crowd would end up fighting at the shows because they have their different styles of moshing or dancing or whatever,” he says. “They’d fight over things that are pretty insignificant. When we first started touring we went to Florida and it was one of the first times we played there and because we’d originally come out of the hardcore scene, that’s where we grew up and so a lot of our music fans are fans of hardcore and when they came to the show there were some metal heads who were very much used to a metal mosh.

“I don’t know which side it came from but someone picked up a big metal trashcan and threw it into the middle of the pit and knocked over a couple of people and a big fight started. Three years ago I remember being on tour and every other night of the tour there would be a fight. It doesn’t happen any more and we’re grateful for that. The last few years they’ve learnt to understand each other and they realise that they both just love music and want to have a good time.”

As I Lay Dying pinched their moniker from the title of the 1930 novel by American author William Faulkner, who in turn derived the phrase from Homer’s The Odyssey. Indeed, the book’s stream-of-consciousness narrative is a long way from AILD’s precision metal-core that has via the spray of critics’ ink and saliva been favorably likened to the classic “Gothenburg sound” characterized by the Swedish city’s loudest musical exports, In Flames and At the Gates.

“At the root of the Swedish metal sound are the classic metal melodies of bands like Iron Maiden,” explains Lambesis. “They were one of the first metal bands to introduce a strong sense of guitar melody. I think we’re also influenced by Swedish bands but more so by Iron Maiden and the hardcore sound.”

Certainly, the quintet’s latest album 2005′s Shadows Are Security, juxtaposes both hardcore and Scandanavian death metal leanings in addition to a notable absence of spiritual soapbox diatribes. Lambesis, who also doubles as AILD’s in-house producer, anticipates the band – drummer Mancino, guitarists Phil Sgrosso and Nick Hippa and bassist Clint Norris – will re-issue their independently released and now out-of-print debut album this year on the Metal Blade label, setting the stage for yet another rigorous spell on the road.

“It’s hard on relationships and people that we love we hardly ever get to see,” Lambesis says of the punishing schedules. “Physically, I don’t feel worn out so much but we miss people back home.”

Against Me!

Displaying the light and shade of a folk-punk marriage, American quartet Against Me can expect to be on the road for the next eight months promoting last year’s album Searching For A Former Clarity. Truepunk caught up with frontman Tom Gabel.

Interview by Steve Tauschke | steve@staff.truepunk.com | with Tom Gabel from Against Me!.

“Power doesn’t necessarily mean loud volume,” declares Tom Gabel, nucleus of long-running Floridian hardcore outfit Against Me, as he waxes lyrical on the lasting contribution of the acoustic guitar to popular music.

“I’ve heard it been said before that you can tell a song is a good song if it can be played just on an acoustic guitar,” he adds. “If it stands alone it’s still a good song.”

Singer-songwriter Gabel started out as an unplugged 17-year-old busker on the streets of Gainesville in 1997 and with the aid of musician friends performed rough-edged anti-establishment protest songs mirroring the sentiments espoused by the UK’s 80s peace- punk movement.

“We were really into Crass and the Apostles, bands that were almost like borderline hippie punk,” says Gabel, still an active anarchist. “We’d be wearing sandals and we’d have dreadlocks and people were like ‘what is going on here?’.”

The band’s genesis was “unorthodox” to say the least; essentially Gabel on acoustic guitar and 8-track recorder – a Christmas gift from his mother – with original drummer Kevin “banging on some buckets and makeshift drum pieces” – hardly a crowd-pulling act in hardcore-drenched late 90s Florida.

“We didn’t really have anyone around us to take our cues from so it was really just up to us what we wanted to be doing,” says Gabel. “There’s a certain amount of freedom in that, when no-one likes what you’re doing and no-one has any expectations.

There really was no intent or purpose when I started out. I was playing in another couple of bands at time and I was not really into what we were doing. So I pulled out an 8-track recorder and I started messing around with it and made a little demo tape of a couple of songs and gave copies to some friends and it just kept snowballing from there.

We definitely had the attitude when we first started out of ‘fuck it, let’s just see what happens and we’ll do this by any means necessary and we’ll make do with whatever instruments we can find and we’ll play where ever people will let us play’. And it just gradually got stranger and stranger and more and more people took interest and here we are today.”

After several line up changes and countless tours, Gabel did the Dylan-esque unthinkable – he turned electric, and just in time for the band’s 2001 debut album Reinventing Axl Rose.

“We pretty much did everything we could do as a two piece,” he says, “so we thought we should add a bass player and eventually people did start coming around to what we were doing. Acoustic instruments are quite temperamental and once you start playing larger venues and using amps you start having weird feedback issues so gradually we started to switch over the playing more electric while still doing some acoustic stuff.”

Against Me’s most recent album Searching For Former Clarity, produced by former ex-Government Issue/Jawbox member Jay Robbins, is a measured pairing of hardcore gusto and neo-folk acoustics that retains Gabel’s anarcho-punk-roots.

“I was raised in an army family and spent the majority of my childhood on military bases,” he confides. “I had a very unfortunate experience when I was very young. I got beat up by the cops and arrested which definitely made me think ‘wait a second, what’s going on here, maybe we aren’t all that free’.

“What anarchy means to me is that mankind has the ability to govern itself and all power and control of governments is an illusion and you recognise that based on fear of force and fear of violence. Unfortunately you have to pick and choose your battles – we live in dark ages.”

So does the album title allude to those sentiments?

“The meaning for me is feeling like maybe in one period of time you had things figured out and now you don’t necessarily have them figured – and so you’re trying to get back to that place. I was talking about the new Propagandhi record with a friend of mine recently and it’s a great record but we were talking about the differences between their newer stuff and their older stuff and I think they sound a lot more unsure than they used to.

We thought that just comes with growing older, how when you get older all those things that seemed so definite and concrete when you were like 17, 18, 19 years old they become less and less concrete and you become unsure. I don’t think that necessarily has to be a bad thing, like being jaded. I think you can grow older and realise that maybe you just don’t have it all figured out, that things in the world aren’t that black and white and aren’t that easy to categorize