Review: Pre-Fest 3

Headliners: Lagwagon, The Menzingers
When: 28th and 29th October 2015
Where: Little Ybor, Florida
Reviewed By: Dan Stoten
Photos By: Dan Stoten

The Fest is one of the most respected and talked about musical events on any punk rock fan's calendar. It's one of those I've always wanted to go to: the line-up is consistently top drawer, and festivals abroad also have a certain extra allure. So I was delighted when this year the opportunity came up for me to attend not just The Fest itself, but Pre-Fest too, which is essentially a smaller version of the main event in a town around 140 miles south of Gainesville.

The first thing to say is that Florida is hot at this time of year. Having walked the mile-and-a-half from my AirBNB room in Tampa down to Little Ybor, I had a quick scoot around the district before settling down for one of the best coffees I'd had in a long time at Blind Tiger, watching as band members and Pre-Fest punters began to appear on the morning streets.

As soon as registration opened, I was in the queue at the Holiday Inn. It was the first time I really saw what a genuine community Fest is: not only were people in the queue seeing people they hadn't seen for the last twelve months, but they were making new friends with people they'd never met before. I was one of those people, but was made to feel instantly comfortable within the first five minutes. That's not something you can say for any other festival (or at least, one that I've attended).

This was also the first festival I've attended where there is a pool party. I spent several happy hours around the Holiday Inn's pool in the bright sunshine, drinking copious amounts of PBR beer and chatting with people excitedly about the forthcoming five days of music.

Holiday Inn pool party

That music started for me at 6pm with French three-piece Guerrilla Poubelle up at the New World Brewery, a brilliant little pub serving a vast array of beers and food, with an outdoor terrace and the stage set, essentially, on a rug on the porch. Guerrilla Poubelle's set, too, was nothing short of awesome, with the three-piece displaying an astonishing amount of energy and pure guttural passion. You could see they were throwing absolutely everything into their set, and it really paid off: they garnered a significant crowd who were appreciative not only of their stunning sound, but also the humility and rapport of their front-man. It was a great start, and they're a band I've been checking out since back in the UK.

Restorations

Belgium's The Priceduifkes came next, in the same venue. They played a solid set of hugely fast-paced punk rock. While for me their slow songs stood out the most, that's not a disservice to the band who certainly continued the energy displayed by Guerrilla Poubelle.

Next, I walked down to The Orpheum, another really good venue, for Restorations. They're not a band I've listened to personally, but have heard many great things about, so wanted to check them out for myself. Their forty-minute set was a masterpiece of technical guitar work, shredding and alt-punk, and one which I certainly enjoyed. For me as a newcomer to the band, it was a great introduction.

Irish Handcuffs came next, back at the New World Brewery. The German four-piece didn't mess around, smashing through a melodic set of classic punk rock. There was nothing complex here, but just super-tight punk rock, with a brilliant bass backing, crashing drums and catchy choruses. Set opener Should've Run was a particular highlight.

Ironically, the best band I saw on the Wednesday at Pre-Fest was one from the UK. Ducking Punches also played the New World Brewery, and delivered a frankly majestic set of emotion-soaked punk rock. In my notes I called it 'glorious' and I absolutely stand by that. Not only were the songs the band played hugely passionate and real, but it was clear that they absolutely poured their hearts into their on-stage performance too. While the whole set was incredible, their rendition of It's Been A Bad Few Weeks stood out slightly above the rest, with the violin, acoustic and electronic guitars combining perfectly with the rumbling bassline, snappy drums and throaty vocal of frontman Dan. They were superb.

Ducking Punches

Next I paid my first visit to Crowbar, to catch some of Swain's set, a band formerly known as This Routine Is Hell. Personally, this wasn't my favourite set of the day, with their alternative/classic rock style not fitting with the other bands I'd seen. However, their energy was fantastic and Noam's roared vocal a real standout.

Another thing to highlight across the whole Fest five days was the brilliant sound quality in each venue. Not once did I find that I struggled to hear anything for any meaningful length of time, and that's a testament to both the venues and the sound engineers working across the event.

I then caught some of Awkward Age, a local band from Tampa at the New World Brewery. Again this was another band who brought a huge amount of energy but were perhaps slightly loose in their delivery on this occasion. While strong, they didn't stand out compared to what I'd seen during the day. Mewithoutyou certainly did, however, with their brand of soaring and experimental indie shoegaze going down extremely well with a large crowd.

My day ended with The Menzingers. As expected, they were brilliant, rattling through a number of their tracks with absolute perfection. I've seen them a number of times, but not with such an adoring crowd: there were stagedivers left, right and centre pouring from the stage around the band, with massive singalongs carrying Greg and Tom's downbeat vocal. They were a stunning end to a brilliant first day at Pre-Fest.

Billy The Kid

Day Two

Thursday dawned, thankfully with minimal hangover (thank you, PBR and your high water content!). As will become a theme, I began the day with the best iced coffee I'd ever had at a restaurant called Bricks, which set me up perfectly to face the massive humidity early afternoon Little Ybor offered. I decided to ease myself into the day with a succession of acoustic punk sets, which began with Billy The Kid.

Billy's set was brilliant: edgy and naily acoustic punk with meaningful lyrics and genuine grit. Her on-stage presence was hugely personable, which, combined with the ideal setting (outside at a sun-soaked Tequila's bar) and her gorgeous, slightly vulnerable-sounding voice, made this a set to remember. She only played new songs in the twenty minutes she had: not that you'd have known this from the note-perfect delivery. It was a great start to the day.

Dan Potthast

I stayed at Tequila's next, catching Max and Jake from Meridian's bouncy, poppy, acoustic punk with added banjo. This was a fun and upbeat set, with the two brothers playing catchy and melodic songs to an appreciative and relaxed crowd. Dan Potthast came next, again playing a set of acoustic punk, but with an added ska twist. He was brilliant: the rapport he established with the crowd was hilarious, singling out individuals to talk to from the stage, while also asking if his other band Sharkanoid could borrow an amp from anyone and playing backing tracks from a ghetto blaster.

Tequila's kept me for one more artist: Kepi Ghoulie, who was also joined on-stage by Dan Potthast. His was another set of good-natured acoustic punk, with brilliant harmonies and melodies between the two guitarists. He was another endearing stage presence, telling the crowd a story about how it's always important to eat a sandwich (stopping off for a sandwich on tour helped him to avoid the path of a tornado hitting Florida), before launching into Until Death Do Us Party. All four acoustic artists combined to form a perfect start to the day.

Rational Anthem

From the relative serenity of acoustic punk in a sun-soaked courtyard to the raucous noise of old-school skate punk. Rational Anthem were next at the New World Brewery, and they powered through a stonking set of pure, simple, fast punk rock. Their set of driving and aggressive tracks was supplemented by a drummer with one of the best sets of expressions I've seen for a long time: theirs was a good fun performance and one which jerked me out of my calm start to the day.

Next came Bristol's Caves: or, at least, one-third of Bristol's Caves. Lou took to the stage and performed an acoustic set with a little help from some friends, following Minty being unable to make it over to the States. It was a hugely emotional set, with Lou informing the large crowd how she didn't like doing acoustic sets, and dedicating tracks to Minty. Equally, though, it was a brilliant performance which perfectly showcased her stunning guitar ability. While not the set I was expecting, it was definitely one I really enjoyed.

Banner Pilot

This was followed up by a storming set from Pears, one of the most talked-about bands across the Fest five days. Having caught them on tour with Red City Radio in the UK, I knew what all the buzz was about. They've certainly grown in stature since I last saw them, however, and they've become a much more cohesive unit without losing any of that trademark convulsive aggression. Their wall-of-sound style hardcore punk was probably a bit too much for the speakers at Tequila's, meaning some of the detail was lost, but you don't just go to a Pears show for the music, it's the whole experience you savour. Vocalist Zach is utterly possessed by the music at every gig he plays, and it's an absolute sight to behold. I described them at the time as similar to the UK's Heck, but more controlled in delivery, and akin to early Gallows from a sound perspective.

Next, it was back to The Orpheum for Minneapolis pop-punks Banner Pilot. I've only seen these guys once before at Groezrock Festival in Belgium, so I was looking forward to seeing them here. They didn't disappoint, delivering a solid set from their back catalogue. While a couple of tracks sounded slightly loose, their rendition of Division Street was one of the best moments of the whole five days.

Off With Their Heads were one of the bands I was most excited to watch across Fest, having never actually seen them before. Ryan Young, who had clearly been drinking as much as the majority of the crowd, was on absolutely top form, his guttural vocal as raw and gravelly as ever. This was definitely a set for the long-term fan, with a number of tracks from From The Bottom across their thirty minutes. Final track Clear The Air was absolutely huge, with Ryan performing from right within the crowd. This was a beer-soaked, arms-in-the-air, hug-your-mates-and-sing-in-eachothers-faces type set, and another to remember.

I headed off to catch a bit of Astpai next, having seen the Austrian punks deliver great live sets previously. As ever, their frenetic skate-punk hit all the right notes, but I was a bit disappointed not to hear them play 2000 Pills, absolutely one of my favourite of their tracks; however, it was great to hear only their fast songs.

Scotland's Murderburgers came next, playing a set of fast-paced, bassy punk rock. Their set was crashy and spiky, with some really nice melodies combining really well with the real DIY feel to their sound. Their set felt largely bass-driven to me, and it cantered along nicely, with each track following the same basic template yet doing so to good effect. Some revving added to the mix of the Murderburgers' set well, to further boost what was essentially a strong set of classic/street-punk.

Mustard Plug

To mix it up a bit, I headed back to The Orpheum next to catch ska-punks Mustard Plug, and fuck was I glad I did. It was a nice change to hear the ska horns amongst all the punk I'd heard so far: and this was clearly a feeling shared by the decent crowd inside the venue, who skanked and bounced for their whole set. For me their set was certainly not long enough, but their upbeat nature and movement put a massive smile on my face. Hit Me went down really well and was the set highlight.

Riverboat Gamblers came next, another band I've heard sporadically over the past few years but never seen live. To me, their set felt like a slightly punkier version of The Hives, certainly no bad thing. Vocalist Mike was exceptionally energetic, climbing up onto the speaker stack on a number of occasions and conducting the audience well.

I headed to Prawn next, who became one of the surprise packages of the weekend for me. Their choppy, riff and hook-laden punk rock was hugely catchy and accessible, catching and holding my attention easily. It was surprisingly technical in some areas, too: theirs wasn't a solely punk but a multi-genre set. There were some soaring melodies alongside some exceptionally technical elements: it was this diversity which made me really stand up and take notice. They had great stage presence. My notes taken at the time state that they were "hugely impressive, certainly up there with some of the bands of the weekend so far"...

Teenage Bottlerocket

My final band of Pre-Fest was Teenage Bottlerocket. Tragically, and though we didn't know it at the time, this was to be one of drummer Brandon Carlisle's last ever gigs, with him passing away just a few days after Fest. Their set at Pre-Fest was absolutely triumphant, despite Kody's absence (he was delayed sixteen hours by planes). Ray took on vocal duties, meaning the band could only play those tracks he sang on: this still included classics such as Radio, Be Stag and Patrick, though. Their set was hugely entertaining, with guitars being balanced on single fingers and cheesy but brilliant banter throughout. At one point they were joined by a member of Masked Intruder. This was a great way to round off what had been a brilliant warm-up to the main event: The Fest 14 itself!


We at The Punk Archive would like to take this opportunity to extend our condolences to Brandon Carlisle's family, friends, and all the Teenage Bottlerocket family. Our thoughts are with you. RIP.