Results tagged “funfunfunfest”

The delightful band of misfits known as the Minor Mishap Marching Band, who "sound like riding a bicycle and playing a trombone the morning after the Russian circus has blown through town," kicked off our annual Fun Fest pre-party, Local Music is Sexy 8. [apologies for the grainy footage]

Clint Conley works hard as a television producer in Boston, and plays hard at the bass in Mission of Burma. I spoke with him on Monday toward the end of his workday. Can you believe that he doesn't own his bass amp, and that his bandmate Roger Miller doesn't own any guitars?

There's a dunking booth at Fun Fun Fun Fest to promote the film Splinterheads—tickets raised go towards a local children's charity. One person on Saturday, as shown above, couldn't quite hit the target—so she opted for a more direct approach.

Lacking lyrics, Red Sparowes nonetheless have plenty to say. This instrumental rock band is erudite, expansive, and poised to release on their next album the culmination of their career evolution. On the eve of Fun Fun Fun Fest, our conversation with Dave Clifford (drums) and Greg Burns (bass/pedal steel) touched upon just about everything from Mao and the Sophists to the trouble with labels beginning with post-.

Street Dogs hail from Boston's Dorchester neigorborhood, and are damn proud of it. The band features original Dropkick Murphys vocalist Mike McColgan (who left the Murphys for several years work as a fireman before returning to music) and features a mixture of punk and folk stylings in their songs, many of which have a definite political bent. While the 2006 album Fading American Dream addressed the Bush administration's failings and working-class problems with hearts firmly on sleeve, the band's latest, 2008's State Of Grace, feels more positive in its tonality. With heroes like Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer, it would be difficult for anyone not to enjoy spending 45 minutes with Street Dogs this weekend - because they really mean what they're doing, and you'll know it.

The fourth edition of Fun Fun Fun Fest officially kicks off at noon tomorrow and naturally, one can be forgiven for looking ahead to day one already. The likes of The Jesus Lizard, Les Savy Fav, Chelsea Peretti, The Sword, Pharcyde, Neon Indian, and Shearwater are all on Saturday’s schedule but let’s hold our horses for we still need to indulge in a full night of revelry before we set up camp at Waterloo Park for the weekend. This evening, Austinist proudly presents the After The Jump blogger’s panel at 5:30 at The Mohawk, followed by the latest installment of our Local Music Is Sexy series, spread across the 'hawk and Club de Ville this year.

What’s the Deal: Fun Fun Fun Fest has built a reputation of bringing in “What the… I never thought I’d ever have a chance to see that band” bands over the past few years with groups like Dead Milkmen, Bad Brains, Danzig and The Jesus Lizard. In most cities, The Jesus Lizard reunion shows probably wouldn’t be a main event to the masses. But, here in Austin, where an almost unnatural lust for the music we loved from a bygone era (even though the 90s aren’t that long gone) mixes with the fact that the group formed here about 20 years ago before relocating to Chicago, their performance is at the top of many Fun Fest goers’ must-see lists. Also, it doesn’t hurt that the group has a reputation for putting on exciting and ferocious live shows.

Orange stagers take note: Fun Fun Fun Fest derives much of its credentials from what could only be named the Black Stage, an uncanny gathering of punk and metal legends you won’t see in any one place anywhere else. Even Especially if your neti pot is the most hardcore element of your daily routine, take our advice and spend a few hours at the Black Stage this weekend; the carnage you’ll witness features the blue blood of many a noble music lineage. One such act is D.R.I (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), one of the very first bands to fuse punk with thrash metal way back in the mid-80s. Their 1987 album Crossover, virtually gave birth to this eponymous movement. Among D.R.I.’s earliest tour experience is “Rock Against Reagan” with the Dead Kennedys.

They were just here, but Royal Bangs, out of Knoxville, obviously can't get enough of Austin.

The local boys in Harlem have been helping Austinites relearn how to dance to rock and roll with their catchy garage pop since their arrival on the scene not too long before their first record, Free Drugs, dropped last year. So, it wasn’t a big surprise when Matador Records made things official with the band in a marriage that means a multi-record, worldwide deal. We grabbed Harlem bassist, Jose Boyer, before their Fun Fun Fun Fest performance this weekend to get a quick word on their next album, playing house parties, girls and drugs.

So you’ve put away the Halloween costumes for another year and adjusted your clocks. The beautiful weather outside makes those hours spent in your cubicle tick away oh so slowly. And the promise of turkey ‘n’ fixins is still a few weeks away. It all adds up to thing -- Fun Fun Fun Fest is here! Two days of amazing music, comedy, and entertainment at Waterloo Park beckon and we’re going to alleviate your case of the Mondays by offering up two weekend passes to the fourth edition of the festival. Enter your information in the form below for a chance to win.

What’s the Deal: Not to knock musical threesomes or anything, but when one makes themselves sound like there’s a lot more going on than just a guy on guitar, a guy on bass and another on drums they stick out from the pack. Russian Circles have been called post-metal and post-rock, but really they’re a thick, evolving, expanding instrumental group making the most out of their equipment, drawing forth everything from metallic chugs and thrashes to flickering chimes and climactic cymbal crashes. Fun Fun Fun Fest this year will welcome the Chicago group as they tour in support of their third album, Geneva.

Fun Fun Fun Fest is just a couple of weeks away and we sure are licking our chops in anticipation of what promises to be the biggest installment of the emerging annual festival. The organizers have been keeping busy, doling out tickets weekly via their Tuesday Trivia on Twitter contest, and last Saturday, over 40 teams participated in a Scavenger Hunt to win a whole host of prizes. Check out all the pictures -- you won’t regret it!

When at a loss in descriptive powers, resort to metaphor: if bands were wines, Shearwater would be a French Chardonnay. Their sound is rich yet delicate, smooth and fleshy, packing tightly layered elements that offer to the palate lush sonic fruits with a proud, metallic Old World austerity. It's easy to imagine Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg in monk's robes tending to ancient vines. But luckily for audiophiles, he's currently tending to a new release instead- The Golden Archipelago, due out early next year. (Fun Fun Fun Fest attendees just may be treated to a sample pour, if you will.) Jonathan was gracious enough to take time out to answer a few of our questions and whet our palate.

That’s right. Someone who worships Conan O’Brien believes Todd Barry to be “Icky”. So that puts him amongst the ranks of Gonzo journalism and oh who gives a shit what O’Brien’s viewers think. Todd will be visiting Austin for Fun Fun Fun Fest 2009! But not to protest Eugene Mirman!

Still haven’t bagged yourself a ticket to the fourth edition of Fun Fun Fun Fest? Transmission Entertainment presents the perfect opportunity to convince a handful of friends to pool together their hard earned dough for a tasty little discount -- this weekend, if you purchase three weekend passes via the Fun Fest website, the fourth one is free. Simple enough. Oh, and there’s that Scavenger Hunt starting at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Red 7 where you can win tickets, PIP upgrades, and a whole lot more. Check out our “This Week in Fun Fun Fun Fest” post for recent festival related updates and news.

If you’ve got a penchant for undeniably catchy garage-rock, look no further than The King Khan & BBQ Show, performing on Sunday, November 8th at the 2009 Fun Fun Fun Fest. Mark Sultan and King Khan first teamed up in the ‘90s, gaining notoriety with their band The Spaceshits’ belligerent shows. At the start of this century, Sultan was turning heads as the one man team that is the BBQ and Khan was busy finding success with his soul outfit The Shrines. But it was only a matter of time before the two friends reunited. The aptly named The King Khan & BBQ Show dropped its self-titled debut album in 2005 and followed it up with the What’s For Dinner? LP in 2006. They’ve appeased the masses with a handful of 7" records since; a new full-length called Invisible Girl is expected next month.

What’s the Deal: Austin isn’t really a place that you would count among the cities in the nation with a thriving metal scene. No, it’s more of a folk, singer/songwriter, country blues, indie rock kind of place. But, one of the few metal outfits the city can boast is Pack of Wolves. The band - Trey Ramirez (vocals, guitar), Tyson J Swindell (guitar), Adrian Carrillo (drums) and Alec Padron (bass) - released their sophomore album, Betrayer, on vinyl earlier this year on Austin’s Arclight Records.

We’ve been checking the official Fun Fest website everyday for updates but having not seen any new announcements for a while, we gathered our technical experts last night. After a few hours of brainstorming, our team conjured up a moment of brilliance and hacked into the Fun Fest mainframe. We are pleased to announce that Wu-Tang Clan founding member GZA, legendary Japanese noise-brokers Melt-Banana, eclectic Californian outfit WHY?, and comedian Todd Barry have all been added to this year Fun Fest line-up.

The 2009 Fun Fun Fun Fest is just a few months away and as always, we’ll be bringing you plenty of previews in the upcoming months, and a good amount of reviews as well once the dust settles. The fourth edition of this annual gathering of punk, hardcore, electro, hip-hop, indie-rock, and comedy will take place on November 7th and 8th at Waterloo Park and Transmission Entertainment has just revealed a few more names on this year’s line-up.

St. Vincent, Annuals, The Black Angels, Golden Arm Trio, Colourmusic, The Spinto Band, Pepi Ginsberg, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, and Grampall Jookabox are just a few of the many acts already confirmed by SXSW for this year’s edition of the annual festival.

The original home of Free Week, Emo's isn't going to let this wonderful concept disappear from within its fabled walls. The venue, now sans Lounge but always a cornerstone of the blooming Red River music scene, has assembled quite the line-up to kick off its 2009 Free Week.

If you’re not familiar with Gabe Hascall’s contributions to Austin’s music history, then you best head to The Mohawk on Sunday evening when he performs a combination of new solo material as well as classics from his storied past. Hascall was a core member of The Impossibles. The band’s early ska output was a mainstay of the college and live music scene in town in the 90’s. After dealing with some internal issues, the band bounced back with 2000’s Return, boasting a new powerpop sound and a plethora of anthemic sing-alongs like “Enter/Return,” “(Never) Say Goodbye,” “Connecticut,” “This Is Fuckin Tragic,” “Oh Angelina,” and “Hey, You Kids!” The 4 Song Brick Bomb EP followed in 2001.

With December 25th fast approaching, two of Austin’s most unique bands pile on the Christmas cheer at The Mohawk on December 19th with the Golden Arm Trio & Invincible Czars Holiday Show. We caught up with Golden Arm Trio’s ringleader Graham Reynolds shortly before Fun Fest 2008 -- read our interview here. During Fun Fest itself, we coaxed in Laurie Gallardo from KUT 90.5 FM to have a brief chat with Reynolds -- watch the interview clip after the jump.

Every year, come December, we face a barrage of office holiday parties and family get-togethers, and then there’s this. Local photographer Aasim Syed has turned an evening at Red 7 into a veritable festival with this Saturday’s appropriately named “Aasim Holiday Party.” The outside stage will feature sets by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, the legendary (to us) Glorium (performing Close Your Eyes to mark the ten year anniversary of the album’s release), and Those Peabodys, while the spacious inside area will be entertained by Ume, The Black, and Diagonals. DJ sets by Fuckin’ A and Ramesh Srivastava (Voxtrot) to keep everyone warm and busy during the set changes are also a part of this stellar line-up.

All photos contributed by staff photographers Eric Uhlir, Nash Cook, Briana Purser, Phive, and Patrick Dentler.

Pop music has its Brian Wilson, soul has Sly Stone, and rap has Kool Keith – the eccentric recluse whose odd behavior and flights of unpredictability hint at genius.

Looking for more from Saturday's festivities? Visit Saturday, Pt. 1

We were lucky enough to pin Ms. Ray down for most of the weekend in the backstage media area at Waterloo Park, and here's what she spent her afternoons looking at.