Countdown to The Fest – Week Four
As we inch closer and closer to summer our anticipation continues to grow. You know the drill by now.
Iron Chic – Whenever I think about this band I always regret not going with my friends to see them play at Fest 7. They played to a packed house at the now closed Kickstand, which was a very small venue (at least as far as Fest is concerned.) Since then, I have remedied that mistake by seeing them every other year they have played. Iron Chic continues to be one of best Fest regulars. I just hope they have a new album out in time for me to learn every word so I can sing along with my fingers in the air.
Hold Tight! – The first time I tried to see Hold Tight!, it was Fest 10 and there was no way I was going to get inside the venue they were playing. They were one of the earliest bands that day, not to mention they were playing right after fellow Virginia band Timeshares. The Laboratory was packed and the line was all the way out to the road. Seems like everyone was dying to see their Lifetime inspired punk rock. I did manage to see them at Fest 11, oddly enough at the same venue alongside Timeshares again.
Caves – The first time I had heard of Caves was at Fest 9. I had seen multiple people walking around wearing their shirts, and heard a couple people talking about how amazing their set was the night before. When you come home from the Fest you always have at least one new band you want to check out and Caves impressed me. They are a three piece punk band from the U.K. that uses girl/guy vocals to perfect effect. Think of a cross between Lemuria and RVIVR and you will get Caves. Trust me when I say that their “whoa-a’s” are to die for.
Signals Midwest – Talk about underrated bands. Signals Midwest play a unique style of punk rock that meets post-hardcore that reminds me of the almighty Bear Vs. Shark. Their debut full length, Latitudes and Longitudes was released on the wonderful Tiny Engines in 2011 and it is nearly a masterpiece. This year they have released a new split 7″ with Worship This! and hopefully more people will check them out because they are deserving of any hype they can get.
NONA – I was heartbroken when Spraynard broke up. Their Funtitled album made them one of my favorite bands. NONA was a side project that existed alongside of Spraynard and after their breakup, NONA has become the main musical endeavor from drummer Dos. NONA are a female fronted punk rock band out of West Chester, PA and released a split with Peeple Watchin’ on Square of Opposition Records last year. 2013 will see the band releasing their first full length album. Get in on this band before they turn into one of the biggest hype bands at The Fest.
I contemplated reviewing this EP in character as someone’s clueless dad commenting on the music his kids listen to all the time saying something along the lines of “oh yeah, I kinda like this, sure the vocals are all rararar but these kids sure can play a tasty lick. I suspect they learned more than they would like to admit from Dire Straits though I wouldn’t discredit any Allman Brothers influences either.” but frankly those comparisons are likely not as dubious as they would immediately seem. Okay, so for real, kids have been touting “math rock” influences for quite some time and sure I do not doubt that a lot of screamo kids are into the dance-poppy first album of Foals and at least one Don Caballero record crawls into every “skramz revivalist’s” head and dies but the finger-tappy, angular guitar thing is something of a core element to modern emotional hardcore that it hardly seems mentioning outside of that brief nod at more subtle tones. Pilgrimage stand out to me, the clean toned slurs and slides strike at something a little different and come across less like the recursive, math-rock turned emo loop. I appreciate those deviations as much here as I did on We Were Skeleton’s swan-song Blame & Aging. There lies another point worth making; Pilgrimage mixes a few similar hues to formulate another tint of that records color with a good bit of chunk to the heavy moments. Do not mistake that comparison as copy-cattery, after all, We Were Skeletons have always lit up different channels for me that were programmed by Maximillian Colby and Sleepytime Trio. A few times throughout the EP I catch a hint of mewithoutYou’s debut LP [A--->B] Life but not by way of a low-rent La Dispute wannabe but more through a keen group of guys who know their roots and are comfortable to tap into them but too well trained or just otherwise driven to not languish in their shadows. My only request or recommendation to the band would be for a bit more opportunity for the vocals to push through as most of the songs are sparse in that way.
Along with Figureheads continued attempts to deliver new and enlightening content to our readers; reflecting their needs and desires or whatever the fuck we want to write about. Dylan I suppose is getting on my case in order to start a new series of reflections on professional wrestling. I guess we will call this Brainbuster #1 and we will be covering a variety of topics from indie wrestling federations, individual performers, classic matches, wrestling wrap ups, and the occasional well intentioned rant. This first article will be on the subject of the Indie Fed known as Chikara Wrestling.
