Two of Big Cheese's writers give us their full accounts of their weekend of punk rock craziness.

FEST 8 Gainesville, Florida
Oct. 30^th – Nov. 1^st



IAN CHADDOCK

With over 200 bands performing at 6 venues, the eighth year of this annual punk festival saw legions of fans from all over the globe descend on the punk mecca of Gainesville.

FRI (Oct. 30th)

Returning to Florida for my second year at the punk rock mecca of Gainesville, Fest was back for its eighth year of “ruining Halloween again”.  With pre-Fest gigs with the likes of OK PILOT and CHRIS WOLLARD AND THE SHIP THIEVES, not to mention Boca Fiesta (the Mexican restaurant co-owned by former Against Me! drummer Warren Oakes), thoroughly enjoyed, the Fest got started proper with storming sets from the likes of the soon to split raw New York garage punks CHEEKY 4/5 (Kickstand) and the raucous TURKISH TECHNO 4/5 (Rum Runners). Former members of Latterman and Small Arms Dealer make up IRON CHIC 5/5 (Kickstand) and their anthemic gruff punk was the highlight of the day and the enthusiastic crowd almost caused the stage to collapse, quite literally! New York's KUDROW 3/5 (Kickstand) a scrappy but passionate set of raw melodic punk and THE MENZINGERS 5/5 (Atlantic) caused an unbelievably huge stage invasion from the start with their powerful, raw pop punk energy. 7 SECONDS 5/5 (The Venue) are melodic hardcore veterans and their seminal songs stand the test of time with an energetic set proving they're still better than bands more than half their age. An impressive headline performance to finish the first day.

SAT (Oct. 31^st)

A long day of Festing ahead, it started with the gritty melodic indie punk of Ohios THE SIDEKICKS 3/5 (Market St), who sadly concentrated on their more indie new album. Then it was over to the Common Grounds for the rest of the day where, judging by the  epic queue that grew during the day and led to a one-in, one-out entrance, there was a dream line-up for many Festers. Starting with the Minneapolis pop punks BANNER PILOT 4/5, punk supergroup DEAR LANDLORD 5/5 (featuring members of The Copyrights and Rivethead) were the band of the weekend, dressed as matching coneheads for Halloween and blitzing through their gritty and ludicrously infectious punk songs. Taking off the costumes THE COPYRIGHTS 4/5 were almost as impressive with their pop punk favourites. THE MEASURE [SA] 3/5 provided folk-tinged pop punk before the indie-infused melodic punk perfection of CHEAP GIRLS 4/5 and LEMURIA 5/5. Reformed No Idea Records gruff punk veterans GUNMOLL 3/5 received a surprisingly mute response from the crowd before BRIDGE AND TUNNEL 5/5 raised the energy again with their intricate and passionate anthems. YOUNG LIVERS 3/5 blasted through their gritty post-hardcore and raw melodic punks NORTH LINCOLN 5/5 played their out of their skins with their final gig outside of their native Michigan. It seemed that most people were waiting eagerly for Indiana's indie pop punk heroes GOOD LUCK 5/5 and their irrepressible and fun set was another highlight.

SUN (Nov. 1^st)

Following another night at a warehouse after-show gig, Sunday was always going to be somewhat of a struggle. Thankfully there were plenty more incredible bands to keep Festers powering through. However, TUBERS 3/5 (Kickstand) and the shockingly ramshackle VICIOUS FISHES 1/5 (Kickstand) weren't a great way to start the day. Japanese pop punks WORTHWHILE WAY 4/5 (Durty Nellys) got things back on track, despite a limited grasp of English, before the UK's own BANGERS 5/5 (Venue side stage) proved why their gruff pop punk anthems have made them one of the underground's favourites. The Brits abroad down the front went crazy and their singer ended up in the crowd after guitar problems. Chicago's THE METHADONES 2/5 (The Venue) struggled on the largest stage and their average pop punk failed to inspire. WORMBURNER 4/5 (Venue side stage), featuring a member of North Lincoln, fare better with their Latterman-esque sing-alongs and NO FRIENDS 4/5 (Market St), featuring members of Municipal Waste and New Mexican Disaster Squad, caused a slam pit with their old-school melodic hardcore worship. Closing the final day of Fest is a challenge that seminal Californian punks SAMIAM 3/5 (The Venue) sadly aren't up to tonight, clearly pissed off that one member missed his flight. A guest appearance from Hot Water Music's Chris Wollard is a highlight though.

Another incredible year of Fest, it's the best punk festival in the world. Roll on Fest 9!

KIRSTEN HOUSEL

I love going to festivals. But, in the last few years, at least here in the States, much of what has graced festivals lineups has been the same bands playing the same songs, doing the same moves onstage. The Fest was a totally different experience for me. I arrived with a dozen or so bands in mind that I wanted to see, and was able to see most of them, in addition to maybe a dozen-plus others I'd "researched" during down time each morning. Except for Saturday at Common Grounds, shows were never too packed to get into, rooms were never too full that I couldn't make it to the bar, and set times never deviated much from what was printed. Admittedly, I also loved that most everything was 21+ which kept the festivities a little more chill. The line-up itself was the perfect mix of no-names, new favs, and nostalgia. I never had any downtime and spent every waking moment popping from show to show, which I loved (but for which my liver hates me). The Fest 8 was definitely the best festival I've been to in years.  
 
 

FRI

The Casting Out (The Venue, side stage) - Punk rock with hand claps, but in a totally non-cheezy way. 4/5  

A Wilhelm Scream (The Venue, main stage)

AWS impressively combine aggression and melody, and did just that to a fury of hundreds of fans. Singer Trevor Reilly's WASTED hat set a good tone for the weekend to come. 4/5

SAT

The Arteries (Market Street Pub) - Aggressive Welshie punk rock with a powerful live show. 4/5

The Flatliners (Market Street Pub) - Straight-up Fat Wreck punk rock. Exactly what I was looking forward to hearing during the weekend. 3/5

Dillinger Four (The Venue, main stage)

Another stellar set from a Fat Wreck Chords band. Big 'n' burly - and eventually shirtless 'n' sweaty - singer Patrick Costello led his stalwart bandmates through a great set of straight-up punk rock. 3/5

Less Than Jake (The Venue, main stage) - Oldie but goodie Gainesville locals dressed in Halloween costumes who had me dancing in the pit in flipflops and singing my throat hoarse. 4/5  

SUN

Off With Their Heads (The Venue, main stage) - Straight-up beer-fueled punk rock with rough and melodious songs about everyday mundanities. Only mainstage band whose singer (took off his shirt and) hopped in the pit. I geeked out and bought all 3 available albums without a second thought. 5/5

Blacklist Royals (1982) - The perfect mix of punk 'n' roll with a hint of twang (and a whole lot of style). A great change-up to an otherwise dude-punk fueled weekend. 3/5
 

Small Brown Bike (The Venue, main stage) -  A much anticipated set from an old school No Idea band who was highly influential on the post-hardcore sound and called it a day years ago. A few reunions including one at The Fest 6 and now they are back for good. 4/5

Snuff (The Venue, main stage) - One of my fav ska-punk bands from my teenage years. Between Less Than Jake and them, I got really drunk. All I can say is that it was awesome to see them again. 3/5