DEAD ENDEADEN TOTAL (MORT) FEST.

Not cool man, not cool. What-so-ever.

So, we may have never looked at Castlemaine, Australia's Wikipedia page, and that's okay. We think it's a place like Missoula with somewhere far fewer than a hundred thousand human inhabitants, a healthy countercultural vibe, and far enough from a town of any size not to be some boring bedroom community.

And,we do know that before Dead were from there, they were from an unhip zipcode within Melbourne, a town arguably pumping out more groovy crap than anywhere we can really think of. Dead (pronounced "Did," I believe) have got an awesomely unwholesome Motorhead, Karpy kind of vibe, have been a band now for we think a solid five or nearly six years, and this will be their third stateside tour. They've been to two other Total Fests, and their ass-soloing, drum thrashing, whatever it exactly is, always counts as the top end of the highlights reel, which is typically pretty well jam packed already.

Some history: back in something like 2006, a young fellow from Australia began swapping emails, buying Wantage stuff relentlessly, and sending CDRs of his and his friends bands. Jem was then in a great three piece band with two bassists and himself called Fire Witch. We ended up putting out a rager of a 10" for them before they broke up. Hand printed it on leftover Oxes sleeves, in fact. We've always kept in pretty solid touch, and he'd been serious about getting to the U.S., largely to get to meet some of the folks from the bands he loves, but also to share his great tunes. The second half of the group is Jace Rodgers whose bass playing/screaching we'd gotten to know well from one of Jem's vinyl releases (on his label We Empty Rooms), a thoroughly fucking ripping rager of a band called Inappropriate Toughguy Behaviour.

Also not cool. Not cool at all Total Fest. Who do you think you are?

Dead got us their first LP to put out, then did a second one called Idiots with a rad label called Eolian Empire in Portland. All of them have something unique and not just noise rock about them, and that's kind of I think what makes it a step above the rest. The first LP has this track called Prick Rodeo that we still listen to for its biiiiiig, groovy riff that gets repeated beyond ad nauseum to the point of an Oneida or Neu sort of commitment. We thought that took guts, and loved it. And love everything they touch. We put out (with WER) a great 7" they did with Vaz, who were tourmates of theirs in Australia. Okay, it's clear we think. Dead.

DEAD AND BEERS. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU WANT?

Total Family,

Hello! We've been a little too quiet for a little too long. Allow me to dispel some of your fears: Total Fest XIV will take place on August 20-22 at the ZACC, Badlander / Palace, and Big Dipper.

Until then, please join us this Tuesday, April 14th for our Cheers for Charity event at Draught Works Brewery. 50 cents from every pint sold between 5pm and 8pm will directly benefit Total Fest, allowing us to keep the event all ages, provide the soundtrack to your summer, and bring together all those folks you haven't hugged in a year.

There. Breathe. Step away from the ledge. Arise from the bunker. Stop stirring the Kool-Aid. Save the pills for a later date. Relax.

After thirteen years, we handled submissions a little differently this year. Like most years, each committee member targeted a handful or two bands and depended on word-of-mouth. Unlike past years, we didn't have an official open-submission period. There are pros and cons to each method, but, frankly, we attempted to simplify some of the process. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. Either way, submissions are officially closed, and we're assembling the line-up, preparing to launch pass sales, and gearing up for another fun-filled Missoula summer.

What do we have in store for you?

DEAD.

That's right. Our favorite duo from the other hemispheres, Jem and Jace, have purchased tickets and are plotting out the details right now. We're super stoked to have them back.

For now, we'll allow them to speak for themselves. Stay Tuned

MUCHAS GRACIAS, HERMANOS/AS!

Dead, from Melbourne. Picture by Tommy Martino.

Man, excellent Total Fest. All kinds of stuff we can't get out of our heads. Like how Thrones doesn't need a bass to make the wildest music out there. Or how much we like Dead, and Brain Tumors. And Mr. Dad. And Benjamin Von Wildenhaus. And Seawhores. It's a little ridiculous to try to sum up in a single place, frankly. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the bands that played and lent gear to one another (especially Brothers of the Sonic Cloth and Dog Shredder), the folks that volunteered, the businesses that sponsored us, and you the folks who came and raged.

Hey, let's keep the momentum going! Lots of us put on shows across the other 362 days of the year, and we have some incredible ones coming up this fall in Missoula. Here are some spots to learn about them:
Minor Bird Records Blog (TF Organizer Marty's blog)
Missoula Punk News (TF Organizer Kate's blog)
I think those two are some of the best resources for DIY happenings in Missoula, MT. Weird Missoula is Tom Shahs website, and it's great as well. 

Some other endeavors we TF organizers do are listed here:
Shahs (Colin's band with Tom H.)
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (Travis's awesome film fest.)
Wantage (Josh V's label/distro)
Hans Bagworks (Paul's bikepacking bag business)
ART, BLOG, INK. (TF O

Michael Workman, who's (TF co-Boss) Kari's brother, shot and edited a couple of awesome Total Fest XII videos:
Red Fang at Total Fest XII
Seawhores at Total Fest XII

We absolutely love it when folks share photos and videos with us. Feel free to do that via our Facebook page, or through this email. See you before Aug. 2014, we hope!

TOWERS PROVIDE FULL-TILT SONIC THUNDER

There’s something thoroughly unique and liberating about music that’s down-tuned, too loud and features essentially a single sort of plodding riff, for as long as you want. If you’ve ever made the journey of Sleep’s “Dopesmoker” or Eyehategod’s “Dopesick” records on headphones, or a pretty solid set of stereo speakers, you know what I’m talking about. I picked those not because the word "dope" is in both titles (it’s a different kind of dope that each is talking about), but because of the sheer sonic heft of each.

There’s a commonly heard couple of critiques leveled against loud raunchy music by squares and newcomers to the stuff: 1) “I can’t hear what they’re saying” and 2) “it’s awfully repetitive.” These are interesting critiques examined individually because they sort of start with the premise that lyrics must be understandable (typically lyrics can be read when they’re not readily discernible) and the more complex a music, the better. When you really think about both those things, they’re a little counter intuitive. 

Sometimes, delivery of a weird set of god-knows-what-the-fuck-this-is-about-anyway lyrics is what it’s all about. And sure, that delivery makes understanding the whole thing a little harder, but who said life was easy? Especially with music that is about addiction, like Dopesick is. The words sound like they’re causing somebody pain, or are just belted in such a forceful way that they could be reading the Book Of Mormon and it wouldn’t matter. Then, on to this “gosh, it’s awfully repetitive” critique: Sure it is. But sometimes when you’ve got a good riff, what you want to do is simply repeat it for 30 minutes, and let it take the listener somewhere unique. The band Om with 2/3 of  the Sleep personnel have taken that idea to perhaps it’s full zenith, where it's either completely sublime listening or it’s an exercise in patience for the unprepared. 

I tend to think this is a world where technical virtuosity and guitar music can co-exist really well, but so often in the case of music attempting to be heavy, it’s a net loss when it’s too complex. Certainly dudes like Mick Barr and Colin Marston are some good exceptions to that rule. To me at least, heavy music is all about the feeling. The viscera-pummel, the Crover drums, the feedback, the great tones, and all of that. That’s what it’s about. And seeing it live is the best entre, as with most things rock and roll. 

With that intro, we offer up the band Towers from Portland, Oregon. Land of the tall cedars, deep canyons, high deserts and err, all that. Towers are touring with Dead, are stalwart riffers, and they’ve got a unique heavy vibe we’re stoked to see/hear and feel what they do!

DEAD ... no seriously .... DEAD!!!!!!!

We're beyond excited, stoked, pants-pissing happy to announce that DEAD,those lovable, thunderous, dudes from down-under, will once again grace our landlocked festival this August. It's been an arduous process for Jem and Jace to secure the funds, plan out a tour, and to negotiate all of the other logistical nightmares it takes to get over here from Australia. It almost didn't happen. Hopes were tied to a grant that never materialized, but about a month ago Jem emailed to say that they bit the bullet and are coming with or without the grant. 

Let that sink in.

... 

Ok

...

My head was close to exploding. This year's line-up is already super stacked, but the addition of DEAD to this year's schedule may be way too much for one human being to handle.

Who is DEAD? They're long time bros. Not enough? Check out WeEmptyRooms. Wantage released their debut album, Thundaaaaah. Jem plays drums in Fire Witch. Both Jem and Jace play in Fangs Of ... . Still not enough?

Did you listen to the records? 

I'll wait.

Seriously awesome stuff.

Where's your head?

Jem and Jace lay down the heavy. Straight and simple. Melvins vibe? check. KARP / Big Business / Melvins type of lyrical craziness? check. Crazy ass riffs and vocals that somehow devolve into something that reminds me of how I would love Rush to sound? check. (I could be wrong on that one. I'm not the world's biggest Rush proponent, but around the 5 minute mark of "Prick Rodeo" I tell myself that's what people find good in  Rush). Dudes who never look like it's a chore to play? check. Awesome? check. Just hit you in the gut, head, and stomped on your ankles? check. Apologized and bought you a beer? .... well, probably not.Still smile? check. Possibility of Jace playing bass with his bare ass? check!

I think that's it. DEAD is the perfect combination of bare bone heavy, labyrinthine lyrics, straight-up balls-to-wall performance, technical changes and genre-bending force, and playful but in your face DIY aesthetic that puts them in an entirely different category than other bands.

Recently, they've released Idiots, which is one of the best records that I've heard since the last DEAD record. These dudes are legit (and some of the sweetest dudes on the planet). They've sketched together an awesome tour  with Towers and a few other bands in order to play Total Fest and launch their U.S. release of Idiots on Eolian Empire on August 13 (not to mention that they'll be recording some new tracks with  Toshi Kasai while they're in LA). If you're anywhere near where they are playing, catch them as often as you can. They design and print their own merch so you're a lucky devil if you score one of their hoodies (serious cred). Jace is designing the Total Fest shirts this year so you can hang your hat on that, but don't sleep on this stuff, total people. I seriously can't tell you how lucky we are to see these dudes again.

Here's a tease.

DEAD: TOTAL AUZ.
Melbourne's (technically, Brunswick's) Dead, pronounced "did" (we believe) in their native tongue are coming to Total Fest. They've got Jem from We Empty Rooms, Fire Witch and Fangs Of, and Jace from Fangs Of. Here's a video of them ripping a bit more ponderously that usual. Wantage will debut their LP called Thundaaaah at this year's Total Fest, August 18th.

DEAD. SO TOTAL.
Total Fest has an international past. Canadian international.... just last year Fist City ensured that we broke out of the u.S. a little bit. Even if southern Alberta's closer than eastern Montana, hey, international's fuckin' international around here.

So, that we've got a group hopping on a plane to come to the states for the first time, from somewhere that's like yesterday and tomorrow at the same time time-zone-wise, and who are not only from a different continent, but a different hemisphere, well, few things tickle us quite this much. So who is it? The band is Melbourne, Australia's Dead. Jem from Fire Witch and the We Empty Rooms newest band. Jem's been a Wantage bro for something like five+ years here, we've traded LPs, we've swapped mailorder woes, and Wantage even put out an insane Fire Witch Japan 10" just a couple years back. So what's Dead all about?

Same vibe in many ways as Fire Witch, but with a single bass courtesy of Jace. Heavy, but heavy on its own terms, not by shear riffin' mayhem, more a creeping ominousness, some good space and slow creep, and then the epic riff. Jem's a furious drummer, akin to a Bonzo/Crover vibe. Always winning in our book around here. He's been on this wild channeling of noise rock and doom for his career, and we think this shit is top notch, or "ripper" as they they say, south of the equator. So, that's that, man. They're touring in Malaysia right now. Look for them in the U.S. this summer with Unstoppable Death Machines! This is a pretty momentous thing for us around here, our first band, and they're from Oceania. Home to the Celibate Rifles, Eddy Current, AC/DC, Lubricated Goad, the Saints and Grey Daturas! OUCH.