Derek Neuland
Posts tagged The Fest
Lemuria tour- Day 5: The Fest pt. 3
Oct 31st
We were all really exhausted from Saturday so we took our time waking up and getting out the door. I think we didn’t end up leaving the hotel room until almost 1:30. We all barely ate anything the day before due to how crazy it was so we were starving. We decided to check out The Top, which was across the street from The Atlantic. Chris had been there before and raved about the falafel burger than came on a pretzel roll.
It was really busy and we had to wait a little bit to get a table. Once we ordered, we had a good time hanging out but then we realized we had been waiting much longer than usual for our food. The waiter never said why, but I assume that they forgot to make our food. It sucks, but it wasn’t the biggest deal. The waiter gave us two huge pieces of vegan chocolate cake and free coffee/soda as an apology which was awesome. But the food was definitely worth the wait. I got what was called a ‘Mastadon Burger’, which was a huge handmade black bean veggie burger on a pretzel roll with mustard, nutritional yeast cheese sauce, bbq sauce, onions, and seitan bacon. It was a massive burger and tasted so good. I really don’t know how I managed to eat it all.
The only downside for the long wait for our food was we missed the Cheap Girls set at 8 Seconds. We could hear the last song as we approached the venue and sang along on the street. I had some time to kill before Pygmy Lush so I called Eva because I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her much in the past few days. It was fun telling her all about The Fest. Then Jay Draper came by with Christian, the fill in drummer for Failures’ Union and we got $1 vegan kabob’s which were delicious. We talked about how he watched Lemuria’s set the night before (Jay used to play bass for Lemuria until he was kicked out a couple years ago).
Then I headed to The Atlantic to see Pygmy Lush. I had heard good things about them and they had members of Pg.99 so I wanted to check them out. I thought they were good but I was in the mood for something a little more energetic and fun so I left after a couple songs to go see Mikey Erg at 8 Seconds. I’m really glad I did because it was so much fun singing along to Ergs! songs. He closed out his set with “Books About Miles Davis”. As soon as he started to play it, I looked at Jay on the side of the stage and nodded to him and he laughed because he knew exactly what I meant. Whenever Lemuria would play with The Ergs! and they played that song, Jay would hop on the bass and Alex would play drums for the ending . Instead of Alex, the drummed of The Measure got on the drums but Jay didn’t come out and play the bass. I was so bummed. As soon as the set was over, I called Jay out on it. Apparently he was going to but they couldn’t find a bass on stage.
Afterward I hung out with Jay and the rest of Failures Union for a bit at their van as they started to load into the venue they were going to play. After unsuccessfully getting a $5 burrito (they were out of tempeh, lettuce, salsa, and beans so it would have been the worst burrito ever), I decided to check out a few songs of Teenage Bottlerocket at The Venue. I’m not crazy about them but I like a few of their songs. I watched the first 6 songs, which included “Stupid Games” and “Radio” so I was pleased. I had seen enough so I headed back to Loosey’s to see Failures’ Union.
This was the first time I had ever seen Failures’ Union outside of Buffalo which is weird to think about. It also meant I had seen every drummer who has ever been in Failures’ Union (there has been 5 now). I was surprised and happy with the amount of people who were singing along to their set. Rightfully so, they are a great band and sounded really good that night. It was also nice to see them outside of Mohawk Place which is where I’ve seen them play the majority of the time.
I met up with Sheena and Alex after that and got a mediocre slice of vegan pizza. Then we went back to the hotel room early and hung out and were lazy. I’d say I went to bed early due to the amount of driving we had the next day, but I wasn’t tired so I stayed up pretty late on the computer.
The Fest was finally over and I had a lot of fun. I had heard mixed things about it; some people love it and think it’s the best weekend of the year and some think it’s overwhelming and too hectic. I personally loved it and I can’t wait to go to Fest 11. Hopefully Lemuria wants me to do merch for them again next year because it was a really great experience.
Bands I saw partial sets of: 4 (I watched a little bit of Cheap Girls and The Measure through the back door)
People I was bummed I didn’t get to spend more time with on Sunday: Rory, Hex, and Danny
PBR cans thrown in the air during Teenage Bottlerocket: 3
Number of Lemuria shirts seen being worn: 10-15 (on Friday we kept seeing so many while walking around that we devised a signal to let each other know we saw one)
Lemuria tour- Day 4: The Fest pt. 2
Oct 31st
This was a big long day. Lemuria was playing at 8 Seconds at 11:10pm but we got to the venue at 11am to load in and set up merch. I had done merch for them a few times before, but they warned me that The Fest will be the busiest day on tour. All our hard work organizing the shirts and such the day before really paid off when I was setting stuff up. I’m glad I took these two pictures before the doors opened because I barely had time to myself any other time at the merch table.
For a good part of the day Alex helped me out at the table. It was nice to have an extra hand because it was definitely needed for things like getting change from the bar or running out to the van to restock shirts. We were lucky to find a parking spot right outside of the venue so restocking (which we had to do a bunch of times) took no time at all.
I took a quick food break around 1:00 and came back just as Paul Baribeau was going on. I hadn’t seen
him play in a few years so it was nice to sing along to some old songs. My 2nd and final break was around 4:00 so I could go see Off With Their Heads. When I got to Florida Theater almost an hour before they were going on, the line was around the corner. Luckily my friend Sparky was on a layover inbetween flights and gave me a call which helped the time of waiting in line much more enjoyable. I got in at the end of Make Do and Mend’s set. I had never heard them before but there weren’t that bad so I might have to check out their records. After they got off stage I secured a spot right up front against the stage. They were the band I was most excited to see at The Fest so I wanted the best spot.
In the past I wasn’t a big Off With Their Heads fan. I had seen them once before many years ago, but they didn’t do much for me. It wasn’t until I heard their newest record, In Desolation, that I started to like them. I’ve had that record on heavy rotation since January. Saying I was excited to see them was an understatement. As soon as they came on and went into “Die Today”, the place exploded. It was awesome to see Jay Draper and Mikey Erg rocking out on the side of the stage. Jay later told me that he tried to get my attention to throw me a bottle of water but I was too distracted.
When they played “Drive” I was so pumped. That is probably when I started to lose my voice. Half way through the set they said they were going to skip the next song due to lack of time. From where I was standing I could see the set list and the song they skipped was “Trying to Breathe” which is one of my favorite songs so I was obviously really bummed. They closed out the set with “Clear the Air” so that made up for it because that is easily my favorite song on the new album.
As soon as their set ended, I pushed my way through the crowd and out the side door and ran to Double Down. The night before it was announced that one of the mystery sets was A Wilhelm Scream playing their album “Mute Print” in its entirety. I’m not a big fan of them but I used to love that album so it was going to be a nostalgic sing-a-long. I got there in the middle of the first song and pushed my way to the front. I haven’t listened to it in a while but all the lyrics came back to me. This was the 3rd band of the year I have seen play my favorite album of theirs. First was Thursday playing “Full Collapse” at the Roseland Ballroom in Portland, and then I saw Jimmy Eat World play “Bleed American” at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo. I think it’s fun when bands do that every once in a while. The Lemonheads are touring through Buffalo in January playing “It’s a Shame About Ray” and I’ll definitely be there. I’d be a fool not to seeing as I named my button business after a song on that album (Bit Part Buttons).
I didn’t stay for A Wilhelm Scream’s whole set because I think it trails off after “The Rip”. Plus I still had a long day ahead of me at 8 Seconds working the merch table and I was itching to get back to it. Other people might have found selling merch for 12+ hours, but I had a great time. I’m not just saying that, it seriously was really fun for me. I think it helps that Lemuria is one of my favorite bands so when someone wants to buy their shirt or record I share the excitement with them. I also like that if someone asks me what my favorite album is or “what album has that song that goes like this…” I can tell them my honest opinion. For that reason I don’t know if I could do merch for a band I didn’t love because my heart wouldn’t be totally in it and I would feel like I was being disingenuous.
After Good Luck’s set (which was really good, I can’t wait to hear the new album), something really awesome happened. I sold a hoodie to a girl and she paid with $40. I was about to give her the $15 change and she said “keep it”. I was floored, and made sure she knew that her change was $15 and that she really didn’t want it (she seemed sober but I still don’t want to assume). She assured me that she wanted to tip me that much because she lives off of tips and knows how it is. I was so appreciative and told her to take as many stickers, patches, or buttons that she wanted. Then she asked “Am I your favorite person right now?” and I replied “Definitely!”. It seriously made my night. I didn’t get your name, but whoever you were, thank you again so so much! I will never forget that awesome act of kindness.
The only bummer thing about doing merch for Lemuria that day was not being able to be up front singing along. I was able to see Max from the view I had but everyone else was obstructed from my view due to a large pillar. I was still able to hear them really well and definitely sang along from the merch table inbetween (and sometimes while) making sales. Last time I saw them play was back in June in a living room in Olean with Screaming Females. They played really well and the crowd was going crazy. The surge of people at the merch table after their set was also crazy. Luckily people understood that I’m only one person and were very nice. Max also came and helped out for a little bit until the line died down which I really appreciated.
Screaming Females played a great set after them and made me bummed that I missed them when they played at Mohawk Place in Buffalo a couple weeks ago. Bomb The Music Industry closed out the night. I’m not a big fan of theirs but they sounded good and I enjoyed their set more than when I saw them a few years ago. Nothing else exciting happened the rest of the night. We packed up, Sheena picked us up and Chris told us about the ridiculous house show Magrudergrind played earlier that night where someone had a 40 oz bottle smashed over their head due to an argument. It felt so good to be off my feet that night. Even though I was dead tired and exhausted, I couldn’t fall asleep for a while due to the extreme pain my feet were in. I don’t like to take medicine, but I took a couple ibprofane’s to help me fall asleep. Listening to David Cross also helped.
Hours working merch: 12
Veggie dogs eaten: 3 (the only food I ate all day)
Tips received: $51.00
Lemuria tour- Day 3: The Fest pt. 1
Oct 30th
Today was the first of 3 days of The Fest. I had heard so much about it for years from friends, and I was finally about to experience it. Before we headed down there, we needed to do some much needed merch organization in preparation for Lemuria’s set on Saturday. We took all the boxes and bins of shirts and hoodies and sweatpants out of the van, took inventory of how many of each size we had, and then decided how much to bring into the show. We then stowed all the backstock in a easy to get to spot so we could restock throughout the day if needed (which it was).
We then drove down to the Holiday Inn to check in. The line was soooo long, but luckily there is a separate and MUCH shorter line for bands to check in. Chris and the rest of Magrudergrind flew in and Sheena picked them up while we were checking in. We then headed to Double Down which was where they were playing that night. After parking the van we went to get coffee where I had my first (of many) Fest run-ins. Rory (singer of Witness, How We Are, Soul Control) was there. It’s always a great time seeing him. We were about to get something to eat so he joined us. We got these delicious quinoa and black bean tacos.
We headed back to the venue where we hung out for a while. I re-met Mike Harpring (I did sound for Good Luck when they played Sugar City over the summer) and ended up talking to him a lot about 90′s hardcore. It was really great and we became fast friends. The first band of The Fest I watched was The Holy Mountain and it was a great way to kick it off. I forgot how good they are live. So heavy and so good! There was definitely a giant jack-o-lantern that was tossed around during their set and worn on many people’s heads.
After them was Assholeparade. They were good, but the big surprise with them was the 2nd half of their set was all INFEST covers. It was tons of fun, especially since they played 2 of my favorite songs: “Sick-O” and “Where’s the Unity?”. Magrudergrind was next and they were punishing. This was the 2nd time I saw them in 2 months and they still blew me away.
I didn’t have plans after that. I knew my friend Danny (who I had yet to meet in person) was seeing The Copyrights at 8 Seconds so I decided to go there. I caught the tail end of their set and it was good. A few text messages later and she found me and gave me an awesome hug (and took the super dorky picture of our first meeting right away). It was super exciting to finally meet her after being internet friends for over 2 years. We ended up hanging out for an hour or so. Saw the last song of Run, Forever. Then we got to The Atlantic way too early for the P.S. Eliot set. We watched part of Creepoid and they were this really good shoe gaze rock. But we needed food/ice cream so we went to Karma Cream (my 2nd time there that day). I had this delicious vegan ruben that I wish i could always eat.
Walked back to The Atlantic. I watched a couple PS Eliot songs but then decided I wanted to go check out Hot Water Music so I went to The Venue (i’m sorry, the Florida Theater of Gainesville). I’m not a huge Hot Water Music fan but I really like Forever and Counting and No Division. Just as when I saw them at Krazyfest, the only song I knew that they played was “Rooftops”. Luckily I did not break my glasses during it this time. Even though I didn’t know most of the songs they played, they put on a good show and the enthusiasm from the crowd was amazing.
After their set I originally planned to go back to Double Down to see Circle Takes the Square, until Chris informed me that TV Casualty was a super group punk cover band with Ted Leo on vocals, Adam from Atom and his Package, and a couple guys from Paint it Black. I debated both for a while but then went with the cover band because I thought it would be more fun and I was more likely to see CTTS soon seeing as they have a new album coming out soon.
I definitely made the right decision! They were all dressed up as The Misfits and did a whole set of Misfits songs. The highlight for me was their last song was introduced as a “new song” and then they played “Mother” by Danzig. So many ridiculously fun sing-a-longs.
Vegan ice cream flavors sampled: 5
Hugs given/received: 10+
Bands watched: 9
Cover songs I was super excited for: 8
