PRIDE OF THE PEACE GARDEN: MR. DAD

Mr. Dad

Mr. Dad remind me thoroughly of what excited me so much about the Boston band Fat Day: intensity, brevity, and the ability to create a weird parallel universe that exists for about eleven minutes while they play, then is gone. Spastic energy is one of those things that can't be harnessed, but it can be witnessed, and participated in, and that's what I think about when I try wrap my mind around Mr. Dad's oeuvre. Their most recent full length is called "Never Get Off The Boat" and we're pretty sure is reference to an Apocalypse Now quote. That makes us like them even more. We heard about Mr. Dad first, I think, from Drew from Brain Tumors who put in a strong recommendation for getting them for Total Fest.

Why Not, Minot? Freezin's the Reason.

Minot's one of those places you go and kind of wonder how this hill country/prairie/university town in North Dakota got to be so cool, and you remember, a place isn't about size, or a particular set of amenities, it's about people. And by people, I mean really specific people making a community, and creating something like a music scene, shows, good food and beer, and art and all the important things that go along with community. Minot hosts by far one of the region's greatest music festivals in Why Not and that happens August 7-9 there. All sorts of cool stuff happens.

TOTAL MR. DAD FEST

Mr. Dad, Minot, ND.

Minot, North Dakota’s one of those area codes (58701-58703) that doesn’t get a lot of bandwidth if you’re trying to read up about punk music scenes around the country. Weirdly, like Billings, MT whose railroad-given nickname is “the Magic City”, Minot 350 miles east is also “the Magic City.” Seems like even though we’ve got the big ol’ internet, we’ve got fewer and fewer fanzines and things like that, or maybe more accurately the internet’s numbed us a bit to seeking them out. It’s easy to read about bands from towns of at least half a million people, and just kind of presume that the rest of the States is a wasteland for DIY/independent culture. You kind of have to go looking and dig around, which is good because folks who like punk rock normally are more inquisitive and unwilling to chow down on what Pitchfork’s told them to consume. At least I hope so. Lots of digression around here, man. The point is, we semi-but-not-really-rural folks need to stick together.

Why Not, Minot? Freezin's the Reason.

That Minot is one of the US’s coolest DIY spots is pretty excellent news for a relatively isolated Air Force-college-and-increasingly-oil-boom-town-with-a-flooding-problem-and-some-of-ND’s-hilliest-terrain. It’s a place with a vibe that reminds me of Missoula in the '90s, with a kind of Great Falls, MT vibe (Air Force, Hutterites, feed stores, big arterial) thrown into the mix. Minot came onto my radar first through the Pangea House and the enthusiastic punk and house show scene that turned out groups like Father Son Holy Smokes, Japaniel Flatsen, and Chapstick and Why Not Fest, and I’m sure lots more. We've heard nothing but good vibes from Tyson Ballew and Joey Running Crane who have played Why Not Fests over the years. They were treated super well, people watched their sets, danced and it was as community a festival as you can get. Minot strikes me as a place whose not being on an interstate has actually really benefited the punk scene. Shows are events, they don’t happen as often as a place like Fargo, and people are more invested as a result. Shows happen at houses and museums and there’s a big rad festival in Why Not that kind of gives it all an focal point and opportunity for celebration.

And what an introduction that is for Mr. Dad, who describe themselves as “a buncha sucka fools and papas making spastic, shitty, north Dakotan, hardcore-ish rock and roll.” I love any band that refers to themselves as shitty. Nuff said, I say.