DOWNLOAD: Mister Heavenly - "Pineapple Girl" (MP3)

Descendents at FFFFest (more by Tim Griffin)

Much like last year, FYF Fest 2011 is poppin' off with some incredible bands, many of whom recently reunited. This year the LA fest will host a coveted Descendents appearance, a Death From Above 1979 show, Guided By Voices, another Kid Dynamite reunion, The Dead Milkmen, Explosions in the Sky, the return of The Weakerthans and many, many notable others. Full lineup is below. The show goes down at 1st and Main in downtown Los Angeles on September 3rd. Tickets are on sale.

Future Islands plays FYF Fest and plays Death By Audio in Brooklyn TONIGHT (6/28).

For Kid Dynamite, which features members of Lifetime, Paint it Black and None More Black, the reunion is their first since re-emerging for This is Hardcore last year with Ink & Dagger. The band called it quits in 2000 and reunited in 2005 at CBGB and some other times too. I hope they schedule another NYC show, but it's just LA for now.

This is Hardcore THIS YEAR features an appearance from Ressurection, which also featured Dan Yemin on guitar. Tickets for This is Hardcore 2011, taking place in Philly's Starlight Ballroom, is mostly sold-out, with tickets for the Sunday show still available.

The Descendents appearance at FYFest is one of several dates scheduled for the reunited band, NYC's Roseland, Chicago Riot Fest, and Philly's Riot Fest included. Tickets are still available for the 9/23 Roseland show.

Mister Heavenly will hit the road for a string of dates on the West Coast leading up to FYF Fest. Check out their full tour schedule below, and look for their new LP Out of Love on 8/16 via Sub Pop. Check out "Pineapple Girl" from that record above.

The Death From Above 1979 appearance is one of several slated for the band in the coming months, including a 7/22 appearance at Williamsburg Waterfront. Tickets are still available OR, you can try your hand by winning a pair at our Facebook. The full set of DFA1979 dates are below.

The Weakerthans have a few other dates slated for Europe and Canada in the coming months. Hopefully they add more US dates too. All dates for now are listed below.

A few bands on the FYFest lineup (namely, Cults, Off!, and No Age) will also appear in NYC at the House of Vans this summer, and for FREE. The FYF-presented House of Vans series of shows starts this Thursday (6/30). You just have to RSVP to get in (and maybe get there early).

All Weakerthans, DFA1979, and Mister Heavenly dates, some video, and the full FYF Fest lineup is below.

Continue reading "FYF Fest in LA, This is Hardcore in Philly, Future Islands in BK, Mister Heavenly on tour, a DFA1979 contest & more"

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Chris Juarez & Rachel Carr

Local Natives & the crowd @ FYF Fest Saturday

Yesterday was FYF Fest. We know all the problems... The lines... And are addressing them now. In no way are we sleeping on these problems. The bands were amazing and the turn out was unreal. I'm speechless. -Sean Carlson & FYF Fest

That's how the FYF Fest organizers started their post-fest email, which also outlined new, cheaper pricing to the three "fan fest" shows it hosted on Sunday in LA. For all the organizational problems on Saturday, FYF still managed to put on a highly enjoyable day of bands, around 37 total across three stages (plus a comedy tent), at LA State Historic Park.

The day's short sets kept you wanting more from nearly every act, many of whom played for a half hour or 35 minutes (which expanded in 5 minute increments up to an hour for the headliners). That made for tough decisions between overlapping sets. Ted Leo and band blew through their 45 minutes, and Titus Andronicus could've continued for another 35 at least with the momentum from their Monitor songs. Those two, along with Screaming Females, were part of what Ted Leo termed the "New Jersey Takeover" - three punk bands with Garden State roots who all played great sets at the fest.

Ariel Pink

Los Angeles represented with a number of notable hometown acts. Growlers, in grey facepaint, brought an earthy, ramshackle sound and lots of friends. Best Coast, Abe Vigoda, Local Natives and Ariel Pink also repped their hometown - the latter two with mezmerizing late afternoon sets.

Other acts brought some nice surprises. A chorus of kids, costumed as zombie versions of dead historical figures, backed Dead Man's Bones' Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields. The Blow introduced some of her new songs written for an unnamed celebrity (and played recognizable earlier songs too, including one "written with Sting...when [she] was 7"). And Big Freedia, the fest's only act with any trace of hip-hop, shocked the crowd with a short pre-headerliner dose of "Azz Everywhere."

Big Freedia

There was plenty of garage rock (Thee Oh Sees brought the man responsible for their cover art, William Keihn, to play tambourine), punk and metal. A reunited Sleep, in New York this week, grinded away, as !!! had people shaking their ass on the sister stage. On the fest's third stage, hardcore band 7 Seconds reminisced about their first time in LA almost 30 years ago and lead a spirited circle pit. Add to those bands, breezy folk from AA Bondy, the jams of Warpaint and Delorean to name a few.

If FYF's organizers are a bit defensive above, it may be with good reason: the few critical organizational errors were fairly memorable. A long line at will call (an hour would be a short estimate) kept many waiting in the 90 degree sun while the first bands of the day (Magic Kids, Let's Wrestle and The Goat) could be heard starting in the distance. Water inside was also an issue, with limited access to free drinking water and bottled water at $4 (which, according to Noah Lennox, ran out).

By the end of the night, the two final acts - The Rapture and Panda Bear - set up on competing stages. Panda Bear aka Noah Lennox interspersed his dreamy lullabies with patches of noise and dissonance while videos and images that could be described only as "trippy" played behind him; I think your response to the set depended largely on your state of mind after the long day: exhausted or ready for a patience-testing string of songs and sounds. He and The Rapture provided, alternately, a place to dance or doze.

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Unsane also played a rare runion set at the festival where Off! shared a bill with Lower Dens. School of Seven Bells, Davila 666, Cults and Ceremony were there too.

Read what Noah thought about his own set, HERE. More pictures from the entire day, below...

Continue reading "FYF Fest 2010 in pics & review "

interview by Billy Jones, FYF photos by Chris Juarez

Panda Bear @ FYF Fest - Sept 4, 2010

"Noah Lennox (born July 17, 1978) in Baltimore, Maryland known as Panda Bear, is an experimental musician and a founding member of Animal Collective. He chose the name "Panda Bear" because he drew pictures of pandas as artwork on the recordings he made as a younger musician. Lennox grew up in the Roland Park section of Baltimore, Maryland, and had attended high school in Pennsylvania. As a child and teenager, he played sports, mainly soccer and basketball, and had studied piano until he was eight and then cello. He later sang tenor in his high school chamber choir. At the age of 17 he began to listen to electronic music styles like house & techno and artists such as Aphex Twin, all of which became a huge influence on his later work" [Wikipedia]

Panda Bear is currently making his way to NYC for a big headlining show happening on Governors Island Saturday night, September 11th (tickets are still on sale). On this past Saturday, September 4th, he played a set (that he wasn't too happy about) at FYF Fest in LA (pictures from that show are in this post).

On Monday he played the Fox Theatre in Oakland. Live Music Blog was there and said, "I left the concert speechless, completely in awe of what I just experienced. One of the best shows I've seen in a while." That's good news for those who were scared away by what they heard about the Pitchfork Festival.The Fox Theatre setlist is at the end of this post.

And it was right before that Oakland show (at the venue) that BrooklynVegan interviewer Billy Jones was able to get Noah, an ex-Brooklynite and father of two who currently lives in Portugal, on the phone for a few minutes. Their chat is transcribed in this post.

They talked about when Panda Bear's album is coming out (if you haven't heard, it's called "Tomoby"), whether Animal Collective is still a band, FYF Fest, 9/11, Governors Island opener Gala Drop, and much more. Read it below...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Noah Lennox aka Panda Bear (about the album release date, status of Animal Collective & more) "

photos by Rachel Carr, words by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Off! - "Upsidedown" (MP3)

Off! played FYF Fest

"Supergroups" are hardly ever that super, but Off! is an exception. Featuring Keith Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless/Hot Snakes/Rocket From the Crypt) and Steven McDonald (Redd Kross), the band have a new release on the way, The First Four EPs preceeded by The First EP, and we have a taste of one of those tracks, "Upsidedown", available for the first time ever, above.

Off!'s high-octane early hardcore power killed it at SXSW, and they did it again this past Saturday as part of FYFest in LA...

Keith Morris' new hardcore group OFF! played with intensity, but had a surprisingly short set even for a punk group. Morris sweetly took time to pay eulogy to a deceased friend named Jeffrey Pierce at one point, dedicating a song to his old friend whom he used to party with in the old days. The group's guitarist called out the fact, "Let's hear it for our singer Keith Morris who just got out of the hospital two days ago!" To which Morris responded with, "Let's just play the fucking song." The group promised two more but strangely only did one before shouting "Fuck you Greg" before abruptly leaving the stage. [mxdwn]

Sleep, !!!, Unbroken and many others were also on the FYF bill. Off's other upcoming shows include Riot Fest and Fun Fun Fun Fest.

A full set of pictures and a review from that festival is forthcoming, but until then, check out a few more photos of Off!'s appearance, with some videos (from on and off stage), below...

Continue reading "new Off! MP3 & pics & video from FYF Fest"

photos by Rachel Carr, words by BBG

Audacity @ the FYF Fest Fan Appreciation Day in May

What are you doing over Labor Day weekend? Beach? ATP New York? Black Army Jacket? Chances are that if you live in LA and like your indie peppered in with a bit of stoner doom and hardcore, that you'll be at FYF Fest on September 4th at Los Angeles State Historic Park. The event will feature performances from The Rapture (who recently played a surprise show at Union Pool), Panda Bear (who is playing Governor's Island), Sleep (who play ATP the day before and NYC a few days later), the return of Unbroken (wow), !!! (who also play a Pool Party), 7 Seconds, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists (who isn't retiring, is playing Siren), Screaming Females (them too), Aerial Pink's Haunted Graffiti (on tour now), Titus Andronicus... the list goes on and on.

Full lineup is below and early bird tickets ($5 cheaper) are still available, with regular sale and VIP tickets up as well.

On May 8th, FYF Fest held a Fan Appreciation Show at the Glasshouse in Pomona, and in two other locations that were right next door (including the Glass House Record Store). BV LA correspondent Rachel Carr was there. Her pictures from that show along with the full FYF Fest lineup, videos and more, below...

Continue reading "full FYF FEST 2010 lineup (Panda Bear, Unbroken, !!!, Sleep & tons more) +++ pics from Fan Appreciation"

FYF Fest: Save Our State Parks is happening this Saturday, September 5th at California's L.A. State Historic Park. Tickets for the fest are still on sale (as are limited VIP passes).

The one-day-fest's lineup is a combination of bands that are coming to NYC soon (Black Lips, Kurt Vile, TNV, Cold Cave, to name a few) and bands that hopefully will be coming back to NYC sometime soon (Dillinger Escape Plan, Fucked Up, Mika Miko, "Tim & Eric Special Musical Performance"). The full schedule and more is below.

Continue reading "FYF Fest in LA Saturday - final 2009 lineup & set times"

Continue reading "F Yeah Fest 5 - the LA festival lineup"

photos by Tod Seelie

Monotonix

Matt & Kim

We are touring in a 92 bluebird bus that is converted to veggie oil. 28 shows in 27 days. Every band, comedian, artist, and friend is crammed in this bus. 26 of us total. There is no leg room to sleep or air conditioning. This shouldn't work. We are suppose to breakdown somewhere, get in a group fist fight and that's how this bad idea is meant to end but someone it's all coming together. Hopefully we will make it to the last show. - Sean Carlson

A video trailer and more pictures from the tour so far below....

Continue reading "F Yeah Tour - video trailer & photos from the road (part 1)"

You can get tickets for the July 13th "Circle Jerks, Dillinger Four, Japanther, Matt & Kim, Team Robespierre, Monotonix + special guest + comedians TBA" show. You can also still get tickets for the same show happening in Manhattan one day earlier. More details on the tour that kicked off yesterday in Baltimore, HERE.

28 shows in 28 days. June 17th - July 13th

F*%! Yeah Fest is an annual music/comedy/art festival held in Los Angeles at the end of each summer curated by 22 year old Sean Carlson and Keith Morris from The Circle Jerks & Black Flag. This year will be the fifth installment and it will take place in an outdoor setting in downtown LA on August 30th & 31st and will now be known as F Yeah Fest. It's been Carlson's goal for some time now to take the festival on the road, bringing the spirit of the festival to other cities, and now for the first time that dream has become a reality with the first annual F YEAH TOUR '08, featuring many bands and comedians that have become staples / favorites at the festival. The Fest will be touring in a 44 passenger '92 Bluebird Bus. The only goal for this tour is to have fun.

The NYC shows are Circle Jerks, DILLINGER FOUR, Matt & Kim & Team Robespierre @ Highline Ballroom on July 12th (TICKETS), a Monotonix show at a TBA location later that night, and a show at Club Exit in Brooklyn the very next day with every single one of those bands. BrooklynVegan is an official F Yeah tour partner which means we'll be documenting their 28-day adventure in some form or another (stay tuned for exact details). All dates and lineups below.....

Continue reading "F Yeah Tour w/ Matt & Kim, Monotonix, TheDeathSet, Team Robespierre, comedy, THE CIRCLE JERKS and much more....."