Select Date
The calendar requires Javascript.
Entry
From The Mind of ADI #11: Fun Fun Fun Fest Recap - Day Two
As I mentioned in my Day One recap, the 2008 Fun Fun Fun Fest brought some incredible punk, hip hop, indie, electronica, and comedy acts to Waterloo Park in Austin in early November. The result was a mouthwatering buffet of an assortment of musical genres to satisfy our appetites. The stellar lineup had a fair balance of local and national talent and I was lucky enough to have the honor of interviewing a number of the artists in the Austinist media tent at the fest. The Austinist and Roxwel teamed up with Transmission Entertainment to conduct 54 (has to be some sort of record!) interviews in two days – most of the individual interviews are still being edited and will be available on Roxwel's site in due time, but we can offer a couple of early, sneak-peak recaps -- Day One and Day Two. Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy some action from my Day Two at Fun Fest below!
On Sunday, our initial afternoon interview schedule was light so the Austinist and Roxwel early birds decided to take a walk to the Indie Stage. Til We're Blue Or Destroy really seem to be finding its feet of late and although I wasn't able to stick around for the set, I did watch them investigate a few songs during their soundcheck (pictured above). I have seen this band live quite a few times on Red River St. and the multi-faceted collective and its novel compositions seem to be getting better and better with time. Ume has been receiving rave reviews as well and Lauren Larson is a true rock star on stage. I took in quite few of Ume's crunching rock ditties before making my way back to the media tent.
Our interviews picked up pace in the afternoon -- The Spinto Band and Annuals (both pictured), along with The Ugly Beats, Born To Lose, Bouncing Souls, Franki Chan, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Annie Clark / St. Vincent, to name a few, all sat down with us. We also endured a lengthy but epic chat with Michael Kastelic from The Cynics and a somewhat violent one with Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!).
Frightened Rabbit was arguably my favorite band from Day Two with due respect to Clipse, Bad Brains, and Kool Keith / Dr. Octagon, all of whom turned in some magnificent performances. Frightened Rabbit's The Midnight Organ Fight is probably going to make my Top Five albums of 2008 list so I'm a tad biased – "The Modern Leper," "Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms," and "The Twist" are just three instant classics from an album stacked with wonderful guitar strumming and bitingly poignant lyricism. The Scottish band delivered its folk-pop with fervor, taking some much needed breaks on this extremely warm day to indulge in casual banter with the crowd.
Fun Fest has indisputably become a significant (and incredible) event in Austin in just three years. I cannot wait for the 2009 edition!