The Fest in Gainesville Florida is considered by many to be the best punk festival in the United States if not the world. Folks from everywhere make the yearly trek to partake in 3 days of music, community and comraderie. I thought it might be fun to interview some of my and your favorite attendees, their bands, their brands, and see what makes this such a special event in the hearts and minds of so many. I'll try to get as many in as i can and hopefully convey a little of the joy it evokes!
Without further ado:
Tell everyone who you are, what you do, where you're from etc. As Faith No More said "introduce yourself"
I'm Adam from Richmond, Virginia. I run Say-10 Records and I'm one of the vocalists (using the term loosely) in Hardcore Karaoke Pile-On Extravaganza! The idea of the band is that myself and the other vocalist, Flood from Asbestos Records, are not cool enough to be in bands so we do cover sets and just have a ridiculous amount of fun with it. The rest of the musicians are all great at what they do, so we generally invite the crowd to help us pull it off. This year we're doing an Against Me! cover set as an 8 piece.
Against Me! Ska set it sounds like to me!
Who besides the other 7 members of your band are you excited to see this year?
This year the label has quite a few bands playing, so my goal every year is to see the label bands, check out some new music, and hang out with friends as much as possible.
That's a solid plan!
For label bands playing this year I strongly suggest that folks catch the following sets (in no particular order) 40 Reps, World's Scariest Police Chases, Wolf-Face, American Dream Survivors, Bong Mountain, Endless Mike and the Beagle Club, the Eradicator, Matt Pless, Middle-Aged Queers, New Junk City, Plastic Flamingos, Rutterkin, Seagulls, Talk Me Off, the Von Tramps, and Wolvesx4… I hope I didn't miss anyone (sorry if I did).
I'll fanboy a tiny bit here, but won't name names but there's two in your list that are among my favorite bands ever and I WILL be seeing you there at their sets!
Do you prefer to tour in, or fly in?
I drive down. We don't tour because we're not really a band, but I have to drive in order to bring the Say-10 Records stuff to vend at the fest market during registration.
I also don't drink so now I always drive to the area. It makes it so I can always get back to my bed easily enough, but also so I can make sure my friends get home safe as well. Even if I don't know someone they're my friend for this weekend and if they need a ride then I'll totally help out where I can.
That's seriously awesome of you!
Do you have any favorite FEST memories you'd like to share?
My first fest back was in 2012. I had taken a few years off prior to that. That year I went with my friends Tommy (Dollar Signs) and Dustin. One night we decided to walk back to our hotel because we couldn't find a cab at 1-2am. On our walk I saw a light on the top of a car and yelled out to see if they could give us a ride (I thought it was a cab). The car stopped and he said he wasn't a cab, but rather he was a pizza guy… he then proceeded to drive us most of the way to our hotel. This experience pretty much sums up fest pretty nicely. The sweetest humans all congregate in a Gainesville for a weekend and are just kind to one another.
That is so rad. That's a great thing to share and a great take on what FEST is about.
What are you grateful for regarding FEST?
Fest is the closest thing to a religious experience I've ever had, so I am grateful for all the folks who make it possible. The bands, the folks who set it up, the people who buy stuff, and the folks on Gainesville who put up with us for one weekend a year… they're all the best!
Here we go, final question and you can get back to your day: If you had to sell your best friend's soul to the devil, what would you want in return?
Wait. You get something to sell a soul to the devil? I feel cheated.
Come see Adam and buy some records because for real his roster is amazing and I'm not joking when I say he has a couple of my all time favorite bands on it. Also, go check out his bands live or here on a spotify playlist that Say-10 has up! See you soon FESTers!
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