Fested: A Journey to Fest 7 (DVD Review)

I’ve heard about The Fest for years but never made the trek to Gainesville, Florida. For those who are similarly uninitiated, Fested: A Journey to Fest 7 provides a feet-on-the-street trip through Fest 7 (2008), a weekend-long "big, drunk, punk rock, bearded, tattooed family reunion". The title of the movie is a reference to one of the film makers’ friends who is completely drunk and they refer to him as being “fested”.



After watching this close to two hour documentary, I came away thinking that this is what Warped Festival was supposed to be (but never was). The movie is a DIY labor of love that filmed by Reese Lester and Tyler Neil which contains live footage of over twenty bands and interviews with both bands and fans at various locales around Gainesville. The location of the live footage ranges from a parking lot show where the band plays in the back of a U-Haul to rehearsal spaces to true stages. Regardless of the location, there is little-to-no separation between the audience and the band which reminds me of the early 80’s hardcore shows where it seemed like a unified scene.

The documentary follows Gainesville locals Dirty Money (now Spanish Gamble) and their friends as they both play and experience The Fest. Rather than just focusing on Dirty Money, the filmmakers capture live footage from bands on Fat Wreck, Jade Tree, Asian Man and other big (and not so big) punk labels. Most of the footage is from a single camera but the filmmakers do a nice job of bringing out the “you are there” aspect of the shot and they successfully bridge the gap between grainy punk documentaries like DOA: A Right of Passage and over-produced, multi-angle “MTV-style” footage.

Some of the live performances on film include:
▪ The Anchor - "This Is For My Friends"
▪ The Falcon - "The La-Z-Boy 500"
▪ The Flatliners - "July! August! Reno!"
▪ Hour of the Wolf - "Eat You Alive", "Fix Me" (Black Flag cover)
▪ The Lawrence Arms - "Great Lakes/Great Escapes", "Like A Record Player"
▪ New Mexican Disaster Squad - "Tightrope"
▪ None More Black - "We Dance On The Ruins Of The Stupid Stage", "Dinner's For Suckers", "Drop The Pop"
▪ OK Pilot - "No Sleeping On The Floor", "Too Hot To Stop"
▪ Paint It Black - "Past Tense, Future Perfect", "Atticus Finch", "Memorial Day"
▪ Dirty Money - "1-2-3 Fest!", "From the Corazon", "Sunday Curse"
▪ Static Radio NJ - "Big Man, Small Mouth" (Minor Threat cover)
▪ Umoja Orchestra - "Indocumentado"

The soundtrack from FESTED, which consists of a mix of previously released studio tracks and tracks recorded live at the Fest, is available as a name-your-price download and on cassette (from Jeremy Records).

Soundtrack Track Listing:
▪ Tiltwheel – “Fuck You This Place Is Dead Anyway” (from Tiltwheel/Off With Their Heads Split 7")
▪ Dirty Money – “123 Fest!” (from Far From Home CD)
▪ The Lawrence Arms – “Like A Record Player” (Live at The Venue during Fest 7)
▪ Dear Landlord – “I Live In Hell” (from Dream Homes CD)
▪ Off With Their Heads – “I Am You” (from From The Bottom CD)
▪ None More Black – “We Dance On The Ruins Of The Stupid Stage” (Live at The Venue during Fest 7)
▪ The Falcon – “Building The Perfect Asshole Parade” (from God Don't Make No Trash or Up Your Ass With Broken Glass CD)
▪ LaSalle – “Pretty World” (from Pretty World CD)
▪ Lagrecia – “Hey Medic” (from On Parallels CD)
▪ OK Pilot – “Too Hot To Stop” (from OK Pilot/Dirty Money Split 7")
▪ Fleshies – “Meatball” (from Kill The Dreamers Dream CD)
▪ New Mexican Disaster Squad – “Tightrope” (Live at the Failsafe Records Warehouse during Fest 7)
▪ Dirty Money – “We Are The Restless” (from It's All Coming Down CD)
▪ Paint It Black – “Memorial Day” (from Paradise CD)
▪ 10-4 Eleanor – “It's Alive!” (from ...Too Bad CD)

Links:
The Fest

The Queers - "Back to the Basement" CD Review // Early Show at Mercury Lounge on Jan. 22nd

STREAM: The Queers - Back to the Basement (click through to Stereokiller.com)

Every Christmas season brings out some of the most saccharine and nauseating holiday music so it is refreshing to hear the "never-grow-up" three-chord punk of The Queers during this time of year. The Queers released their twelfth disc, Back to the Basement, on Asian Man Records last month.

On this new disc, The Queers minimize the Beach Boys/pop-song influences which have dominated their most recent discs and return to their core three-chord Ramones style punk. The band bounces through the disc's thirteen songs in just over 22 minutes and most of the songs are anthems to punk rock, girls and getting f*cked up. The Queers even include a cover of Black Flag's "White Minority". This disc was recorded in one marathon session and the music ranges from melodic punk ("Everyday Girl") to angry screeds ("I'm Pissed") and there is even a surf-rock instrumental ("Rollerdog"). Joe King said "[w]e recorded it in about 23 hours from start to finish. That included writing a few songs in the vocal booth when we took a coffee break."

Defying all musical trends, The Queers continue to mine the same musical vein that they have for years. Songs like "Back to the Basement" and "I Knew GG When He Was A Wimp" will likely become live set staples and this CD will sit well with any fan of The Queers and/or The Ramones. After reading too many rock bands complain (aka whine) about how one musical trend or another killed their career, it is refreshing to hear The Queers plow forward with the same pop/punk sound well into their third decade as a band.

The Queers are playing an early show at Mercury Lounge on Jan. 22nd. Tickets are $15 and The Apers are also on the bill. Doors are at 7PM and The Queers are scheduled to play at 8:30PM.

Links:
The Queers