The good Doctor had a pretty trying summer ’03 but there were a couple of really high points for him and that’s what he writes about this month. So kick back and go along for the ride with Dr Fever through his summer of music mayhem. 

Greetings readers. Sorry the Doc hasn’t been on the ball lately with my writing, but things have become muddled and really rather horrible in my life so, I’m sorry dear reader, but writing had taken a backseat to trying to straighten things out. But, enough about that, lets examine the two high points in my otherwise terrible summer.

First up, the Mid Atlantic Music Experience here in good ol West Virginia. I originally went to this hoping that the supposed Hunter Thompson appearance would materialize and yours truly would get a chance to meet his hero.  Sadly, that didn’t happen. But, what did happen was I ended up having a hell of a time spending 3 days with a few thousand hippy folk.

When I went into this, I wasn’t to familiar with a majority of the bands playing. All I knew for sure was A)I’m always open to checking out new music B)Clutch was playing and they’re ALWAYS good live and C)Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade was playing and I’ve always been a fan of Claypool’s work. So, it was with these things in mind that I made my way a couple hours south from The Lab and went in with an open mind.

The first day of the fest, I arrived late; I’d spent the previous night doing some intense research for the fest by trying to become more familiar with the midset of a card carrying hippy (take that as you please.)Most of my time on the first day is a blur as I was beyond simple fatigue from a lack of good sleep..but what I do remember is spending a good portion of my time observing things from the VIP tent backstage and trying to take it all in.  As far as which bands where good or memorable it simply boils down to that night’s headliner; MOE.  I’d heard of MOE many times before but had never checked out their music. I gotta say, I was impressed. Good jammy hippy stuff (there’s that word again) as you might expect, but with a touch of something different. Something I’m unable to put my finger on. An enjoyable time for certain.

After soaking in the sounds of MOE, it was back up the road about 35 minutes to my base of operations for the weekend to get some sleep. Sadly, the Captain was nowhere to be found..so, I spent about 4 hours trying to sleep in my car until he showed up. After that, it was another 4 hours of restless sleep. Unbelievable, so tired I can barely hold my head up and yet I can’t sleep. I hate nights like that.

Day Two of the rest and yet again, I showed up late in the day (hey, what can I say, even journalists have jobs that they have to go to..music festival or no) but, still, pretty much the same deal as Day One. Things are in a blur with only a few details sticking out. The Captain made his way down for Day 2, so at least I had someone to chat with while passing the time absorbing all these bands. Got to see Moe again too, they seemed to have more energy on their second set than their first night set (if that were possible.) Maybe it was from being relieved of the pressure of headlining. The night drew to a close under the threat of rain as Widespread Panic took the stage. Now, if your even familiar in the slightest with this whole subculture of music you know that Panic is just as big as the Phish’s of the world; only with much much less MAINSTREAM acceptance. The crowd was bonkers (if hippies can even be bonkers) for WP and danced and sang their little hearts out for the entire FOUR HOURS that Panic played on day two.  Unbelievable.

So, after the first two days of the fest I had slept probably 4 hours and hadn’t really accomplished much else...other than checking out a few bands and gawking at some really attractive young ladies. So, day 3 rolls around and for me the real fun began. I actually got some sleep the night before, so I was wide awake and alert for the day and it made a huge impact on my overall mindset. Good.  Day 3 can be summed up like this; Clutch played for an HOUR solid and it was more than enjoyable because for the first time ever in my Clutch live experience I was able to stand up front, enjoy, and take pictures without worrying about some 300 pound meathead climbing over my shoulder. Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade played and brought a severe level of fun to the fest. It amazed me how much energy they had when you consider that it was sunny and in the 90’s, yet here was the band on stage dressed in black from head to toe. Strong men, lemme tell ya. Also, Widespread Panic played for another 4 hours to close out the fest. BUT, most important of all, I got to sit in on an interview with Les Claypool.  The interview was conducted by my new partner in crime, Susanna Robinson, and you can read that by clicking HERE. 

So, overall, I must say that even though I was dragging ass all weekend from something beyond a supreme level of being tired I totally enjoyed myself at this very well run and organized festival. The town of Lewisburg and the show promoters must be commended for their excellent work. As should the people in charge of helping media, you guys and gals were more than helpful and I thank you. Hopefully, there will be a Mid Atlantic Music Experience in 2004 and your truly will have the pleasure of checking that one out as well. If it’s organized anything like this one, I’ll be happy. My one complaint, however, is I’d like to see a little more variety in the music.  Outside of Clutch and Claypool, most of the bands were pretty repetitive. 

But, that’s just a minor complaint. No worries.

Another fest, another set of bands, but a completely different world. As was established in the weeks leading up to Krazyfest Six, I was hyped off the charts for this trip. Hell, i’d planned my entire summer around going to Lousiville for this. Thankfully, the fest more than exceeded my expectations.

Day one was a bit of a let down, but in my mind it had a hard act to top; last years Day One featured Sick Of It All and Snapcase so anything short of that was going to be hard pressed to impress The Doc. And, outside of one band, I was totally let down by day one. However, that one band MORE than made up for my feelings of disappointment. That band; Reggie And The Full Effect.

You’re probably not familiar with Reggie, and if you are in passing you probably think their just some sort of poppy wannabe emo type band. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, Reggie do play catchy, poppy music but they are without a doubt one of the most entertaining and fun bands live you can ever see. I could sit here and describe things like Huggy Bear and Common Denominator (things from their live show) but unless you’ve seen it, words can’t even begin to do these things justice. I’ll just say that after a disappointing day of bands, I left that night with a smile on my face entirely because of Reggie and The Full Effect.

Day Two rolled around and this is where things start to get interesting. A tremendous thunderstorm from the night before had done some damage to the stage, so there was a massive delay starting things while the stage crew hurried to fix things. Also, the crowd was MUCH heavier for Day Two, so things were just packed. Once the day started, however, the wait was worth it as the bands started kicking people in the teeth.

HIGHLIGHTS:
*Terror- One of the bands I was anticipating the most. And they didn’t fail to live up to my expectations. If you’ve ever heard their album (‘Lowest Of The Low’) you know that they one of the most intense bands around. This translates to their live show for certain.

*Every Time I Die- Arguably the most jocked band in all of hardcore right now and they more than delivered. People just went nuts for them. I was impressed.

*Throwdown- A lot of people are down on these guys right now for whatever reason, but I left Krazyfest high on these guys because they just floored me. Intense live show that was the highlight of the first two days for me (which didn’t last but a couple hours, more on that in a minute.) Worth noting; during their set some guy jumped the security rail, climbed the scaffolding beside the stage, sang along for a minute, then did a 20 foot swan dive straight down into the crowd. A sight you really had to see.

*Hatebreed- I’ve seen Hatebreed a couple times previously and knew what to expect from them. But, it was the crowd reaction that floored me. I had NEVER seen so many people dancing at once in such a large area (you really had to see it to believe it) and if you’ve ever seen a circle pit, I guarantee you that the one during Hatebreed’s set was 10 times bigger than the biggest one you’ve ever seen. Another sight you had to see to believe.

One definite bummer about Hatebreed’s set was the knuckleheaded actions of a few folks trying to start fights and whatnot. Look, hardcore bands signing to major labels then doing major label tours doesn’t bother me all that much, but the new “fans” they make tend to be, mostly, jackass idiots. As a public service to those type of people, I’d like to say; If you go see Hatebreed or any other band of that ilk that you saw on Ozzfest at some sort of “hardcore” show or fest, realize where you are and your bulls*** will not fly. It’s not cool and it does nothing more than stroke your ego and help you compensate for that small penis problem you have. Now, this doesn’t apply to ALL Ozzfest/whatever fest type fans..but until I’m shown otherwise, it applies to a whole hell of a lot of you.

Anyway... to our regularly scheduled writing....

After Hatebreed left it seemed the crowd was done. Completely dead from almost 12 hours of wall to wall hardcore, metal and mayhem. BUT boy was I wrong. Day Two’s headliner, Andrew WK, came out and the crowd sprung back to life with an energy unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

Now, there are a lot of people who do not like Andrew WK because they just think his music is one long beer commercial, hell I used to be one of those people. But, in all honesty, you really do need to see Andrew WK live to appreciate him/them. I will go on record now and say it; Andrew WK is the best live band in the world right now..and it’ll take a obscene amount of something to prove otherwise to me.

Now, unlike last year, me and the 304 Wrecking Crew decided to stay for Day 3, but we had more than enough reason. I honestly couldn’t tell you a damn thing about any of the bands that played that day because A)I didn’t care enough to pay attention or B)I was to damn tired to pay attention..I can say that about all the bands EXCEPT one; Cave In. Cave In, for those of you who do not know, are currently my favorite band. And, having never seen them live I wasn’t sure what to expect. Honestly, if Andrew WK hadn’t played the night before I’d be sitting here right now telling you that Cave In was far and away the best performance of the entire weekend, as it is they’ll have to settle for second (sorry, but AWK is just that damn good live.) Playing a set of both their new prog rock style music and their old metal/metalcore style I was MORE than happy with the results. Hell, I even got to interview Stephen Brodsky (their lead singer), which you will be able to read here on antiMUSIC at a later date because it still hasn’t been transcribed from my digital cassette recorder yet. But, as soon as it is,  I promise you’ll be able to read it here.

So, with another Krazyfest in the book I can say that I enjoyed myself 100times more this year than last year, which I did NOT think was possible.  I dunno, maybe it was all the time I spent hanging out with my friends. Or perhaps it was the really good blend of music. Whatever the case, Krazyfest 6 more than exceeded my expectations. Here’s hoping the fine folks at Initial Records are able to bring it back next year to this same level. God knows I’ve already begun planning for next years trip. I don’t care who I have to bribe or kill I can guaren-damn-te you that’ll I will be in attendance for Krazyfest 7 next summer.

Check out the Les Claypool Interview

Visit the official website for Mid-X Music Experience and Krazy Fest
 

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