Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

I’m back from The Fest, and am still sorting out the weekend. I drank untold amounts of PBR, ($2 tallboys! I can’t resist a bargain) met and hung out with some awesome people, and of course, saw lots of amazing bands. A few highlights:

• Off With Their Heads‘ last-minute secret show at the Atlantic, playing Hospitals straight through
• The whole Red Collar set. Seriously, wow.
• Frank Turner in my friend’s hotel room late Sunday night
• Seeing Red City Radio’s Garrett perform like a million times
• Mixtapes! Both acoustic at the Holiday Inn and with the full band at Rumrunners. They covered Jimmy Buffett’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise”
• And of course, Dear Landlord decked out like Juggalos for their set.

Being my first Fest, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. But now, I’m hooked. I absolutely must return for Fest 10 next year.

So, to those who went, what were the best things you saw?

After the break is a list of bands I saw. Italics for partial set.

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Off With Their Heads - In Desolation

I love Off With Their Heads. Their gloomy, gruff, sorta-pop-punk jams are the kind of thing I eat up. And their exposure has sure grown of late; their last album, 2008′s From the Bottom (No Idea Records), was phenomenal, for starters, second only to The ’59 Sound on my short list of best albums of ’08, and got exposure through a fairly awesome placement/pricing at Hot Topic stores around the country. And then, earlier this year, they signed to Epitaph Records, helping to erase the memories of all the shit bands that label had signed over the course of the ’00s (what’s up, Escape the Fate?).

So here they are with a new album, once again going up against the Gaslight Anthem for my heart and mind.

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Off With Their Heads

I feel like a news site up in here or something. Anyway! According to their Twitter, and this here article, Minneapolis’s favorite manic-depressive punks, Off With Their Heads, have signed to Epitaph Records, home of Bad Religion, Alkaline Trio, the Weakerthans, Frank Turner, and a shit-ton of really terrible bands. I’m looking at you, Escape the Fate.

The move is somewhat surprising. I kinda figured them for a Fat Wreck-bound act, maybe doing one more on No Idea before moving on up. But hey, regardless, good for them! They’re one of the best bands out there now, and deserve to get as big as possible.

According to the linked article, they’ve got a new record dropping June 1st. It’s looking to be a good year.

We'll Inherit the Earth: A Tribute to the Replacements

Here we go, yet another tribute album. As per usual, the regular disclaimer about tribute records applies: the odds are, over the course of this disc, you will be filled with an uncontrollable urge to break out the original artist’s albums. In this case, you will most likely reach for your worn copy of Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.

That’s not to say this is a bad effort, by any means. The album, like any good tribute album, emphasizes and throws into sharp focus the strength of the original material; despite being delivered in different (in some cases, radically so) styles, some with more success than others, the songs are still great.

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Off With Their Heads - Hospitals EP

When one thinks of pop-punk, what comes to mind? It’s probably Ramones-like song structure, breakneck speed, whiny (possibly nasally) vocals, and songs about girls and the problems that the singer has with said girls. Either the one he’s got is no good, or (more likely) he can’t get one no matter how hard he tries. It’s like there’s a formula or something!

Off With Their Heads have come storming out of Minnesota saying “Fuck that shit, and fuck you too.”

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Off With Their Heads - From the Bottom

Off With Their Heads are a fairly new band to come out of the apparently fertile punk land of Minneapolis. They clearly listen to a lot of DIllinger Four, subscribing to the same gritty, darkly humorous take on punk that D4 does so well. From the Bottom is either their debut record, or sophomore effort, depending on if you count the Hospitals 10″ as a proper album. At any rate, this is their first LP, though you might have heard the aforementioned 10″ record, or any of their numerous 7″ releases, split 7″s, or compilation contributions.

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