VANEK UNLOADS 2016 BAGGAGE

Big Business

Everybody knows lots was wrong in 2016 but musically for me there was some pretty excellent stuff that came to and happened in Missoula. Big Business played at the Badlander and were nothing but of bruisingly excellent. Jonny Fritz and the Best Westerns played at the Palace. Divers played at the VFW. Absu wore corpse paint and defiled the Palace. Timmy's Organism and Wolf Eyes careened into the ZACC. Mordecai and Plastic Crimewave Sound blazed down the VFW. Purling Hiss erupted Stage 112. Danava and the Shrine dusted the Top Hat. I really got to see a such a great set of bands in Missoula this year that I'm running out of stupid verbs do describe them. And those are just the touring acts. The best Montana band I saw was when I was in Crow Agency for work, and I saw a Crow country singer named Sammy Hoops on a flatbed trailer, with a pedal steel accompaniment. It was like hearing Neil Young for the first time or something. Chilled me. Back here in the Garden City, I had a blast seeing St. Balls play huge, self-indulgent psych jams, and that Dwarves cover band at the Bike Doc. around Halloween made me grin ear to ear. I remembered most of the lyrics to "Backseat of My Car" which doesn't exactly make me proud.

I used to help with Total Fest and this was the first year we didn't do it since 2003. Mostly, that meant I got to do other pretty normal things like go hiking, and enjoy summer. It was sad too because Total Fest was easily as much about the hangouts as it was about the tunes and I missed all of that hanging out (seeing Joe Preston on a BMW motorcycle, drinking Dan Engler's beer) hugely. Fretting over attendance, money, logistics or drama weren't among what I missed.

Camp Daze

However, 2016 did not want for music festivals around here. Of the fests I took in I think again I dug Camp Daze best. I caught a night of it and had a blast. My favorite act was Vasas who play great, weaving rock, kind of like a less frantic Meat Puppets. I was stoked that Wes Williamson's and Jared Sayre's new Austin band Gold Leather made the trek, and they pretty raging. I didn't get what Iron Eyes deal was, or rather, I think it just wasn't for me (an uncool 42 year old who wants a Treepeople reunion more than anything). As a dad with small kids my partying days are pretty well behind me and I didn't see anywhere near the entirety of these fests that I once would've. I did get into a little of it and I loved Camp Daze' mellow, hang-out vibe most of all. If I get to have one note for the comment box, it's for Camp Daze to take the plunge with a couple more gnarly, heavy bands. I love what Camp Daze does and think it's got real wheels under it now, and thusly I'd love to seem some the heavier weirdos from the northwest on its stages here and there.


Second up was the Badlander Complex's Saudade, which seemed a wee bit damned by its unwieldy name and latish publicity, but was otherwise hugely ambitious. Too few Missoulians checked it out, even with some solid headlining by Red Fang and Lee Fields. Hopefully that's just first year blues, and now that they're over the hump they get some momentum. Saudade has a lot of potential to rule, and needs to leverage any an all name recognition in year two and pay some more attention to its curation and it'll be a solid force. The hope I think was to have genre-geared stages, e.g. a jammy stage, a metal stage, a dance music stage, etc. and I think that approach didn't quite pan out as well as organizers hoped. The metal night was a success, but other stages seemed to lack audience. I hope that with the Palace's recent closing as a music venue that the festival won't be effected. It's noteworthy too that the Badlander folks made a sizable charitable donation on behalf of Aaron Bolton, the deceased Missoula musician, promoter and co-owner of the Badlander as part of Saudade.

Wolf Eyes

I wasn't in town when Plus One Fest happened this fall, but I heard it had great bands and very few paid Missoulians in attendance. That may have to do with the fact that its organizer, Mike Gill who used to live here, no longer lives here. I mean, it may be my pre-internet informed, Generation X worldview talking here, but I still believe music promotion is 95% word of mouth, posters and hand-to-hand "hey, this rad thing's coming up, here's a handbill" kind of deal, compared to any other form of promotion. And that all really seemed to happen a little too late with Plus One, unfortunately. I get concerned that our town's good name in the live music and fan departments might get needlessly sullied if there are many more of these things that fail to reach actual paid attendees.

Gold Leather

Erosion Fest also happened in the fall, this was its second year, and first time in Missoula, after launching in Great Falls in 2015. It unfortunately happened when I was away from town so I wasn't there, but the folks I talked with said it was a great event, and was well attended, with Acid King, St. Vitus and a bunch more doom metal acts converging and playing with heavy locals like Swamp Ritual and Stone Elk.

Back onto the subject of venues, it's interesting that recently two pretty solid bars with live music announced they were getting out of the business of live music altogether. First Stage 112 in the Elks Club and recently the Palace Lounge made a similar announcement that their show-hosting days were over. This seems to be ebb and flow of Missoula every few years. To me, speaking from the perspective of indie/DIY show economics: it's a tough racket to make work financially. Even when you've got a band with a built-in draw, there's very little wiggle room left in a door take after paying bands, sound and venue rental costs to cover even basic promotion costs, let alone luxuries like print advertising. In my experience in Missoula, there's a trend of starting a new show space out simply, and then ramping up the production values as a next step. Larger productions come with larger costs that in my experience quickly make modest DIY shows next to impossible financially.

Absu

For example, a lot of good music can happen with a basic vocal-only PA, and many, many weeknight shows can't sustain a soundperson, and all of the mics, amps, mixers, monitors and between band nu metal that comes with one. A DIY promoter in Missoula regularly faced with the prospect of the having to pay a minimum of $100-300 for sound/room, and pay a touring band next to nothing, or coming out of pocket to make ends meet. Which seems like a totally preventable deal. I don't know exactly what the solution is, but I think it has to do with shows at great Missoula nonprofits like the ZACC, and more back-to-basics bar shows where bands are able to get all the door money, because the sound was a minimal vocals-only set up. Sorry to get into the weeds there, but you know, sometimes simple and cheap are the sustainable solutions and I think it's good to acknowledge the importance of simplicity, and not fixing what isn't broken.

Here are the records I like most last year:

Modality: Under the Shadow of this Red Rock (House of Watts)
CCR Headcleaner: Tear Down the Wall (In the Red)
The Double: Dawn of the Double (In the Red)
75 Dollar Bill: WOOD​/​METAL​/​PLASTIC​/​PATTERN​/​RHYTHM​/​ROCK (Thin Wrist)
Nots: Cosmetic (Goner)
Jonny Fritz: Sweet Creep
Big Business: Command Your Weather (Joyful Noise)
Purling Hiss: High Bias (Drag City)
Yass: Things that Might Have Been (X-Mist)
Helms Alee: Stillicide (Sargent House)
Vaz: Pink Confetti (Learning Curve)
Dead: Untitle (We Empty Rooms)
Ngozi Family (re-issue)
The Plastic Harmony Band: Voyage of the Angernaut

VANEK'S TOP LIST OF 2015

This thing was on top of our year-end list.

2015 was a year that went by entirely quickly, but when I sat back to think about what new music stood out I came up with a decent list pretty quickly. In Missoula I think we were lucky to have a major renovation done to our largest real-deal, non-sports hall live music venue, the Wilma Theater, which had been in dire need of it. The Wilma was always a funky and sweet place, and while I tend to prefer my buildings well past their prime and dingy to new and shiny, you can only see Yo La Tengo so many times with sub par audio and not start to wonder. So, thanks to the Top Hat's Nick Checota, the place sounds and looks great and here's to a sweet roster in 2016.

Additionally, this August's Total Fest was the last one, you can read about why here. I think it was the correct way to wrap it up, and I encourage people to direct a good amount of their live-show attention to smaller and mid-sized venues like the ZACC, VFW, Palace and Stage 112, all of which are helping keep Missoula vibrant with affordable shows chock-a-block with great locals, and amazing touring national talent. Camp Daze will happen June 2-4, 2016 and I'll be there.

V/A Long Time Comin': Lost Sounds From the Treasure State
Unquestionably, this double LP is at the tip top of my listening heap for 2015. This thing took Dave Martens (Best Westerns, Magpies, etc. etc.) many years to assemble, and his hard work digging up the great, never-released, or long-forgotten gems included on here speaks to a garage rock past in Montana that had scenes from Sidney to Kalispell and all points in between. It fascinates me that Montana bands were getting national air time and attention via the more democratized and culturally important radio. There are as many stories behind this record as their are bands, and the copious liner notes help contextualize all the great stuff that was going on about fifty+ years ago. The first pressing is selling through quickly. A+ stuff.

Dan Deacon "Gliss Riffer"
Dan's ideas continue to push electronic music and pop music in general, and I continue to really dig what he does, as indescribable as it can be.

Broken Water "Wrought"
This great band just called it quits, after probably 8 years of doing it. I always found their sheets of sound mesmerizingly hopeful and great.

Ciudad Lineal  "El Nuevo Hombre"
Spaniards (or I think actually Catelonians) Ciudad Lineal from Barcelona make decidedly 80s Cold War synth jams. Kid of Cure-y, I guess, but a little more awkward and eastern euro vibed.

Hammerhead "New Directionz
Duh. Hammerhead regrouped fully and officially this year, with Jeff and Paul's return to the snowy and windswept prairie of the north. And they self-released a full-on return-to-everything-you-loved LP.

Shahs "The Bodyguard"
Missoulians Shahs released a great full length this year, and it's a progression from their mostly Tom Helgerson dreamy tropical synth to something a little more layered and complex. Sorry this sounds like Wine Spectator. Trust me, mon.

DIÄT "Positive Engery"
Australian two-piece living in Berlin, making decidedly un-modern sounding and cold post punk/new wave. I hate saying the words "post punk" as much as you hate reading them, but I think they're pretty close to correct here. Damnation is this great. Heavily, heavily rotated.

Benjamin Von Wildenhaus "II"
As the title says, this is Benjamin Von Wildenhaus's second LP, and his first was a revelation. This one continues to mine the same great vein of subtle and wild, uh, guitarscapes. Uggh, right? Who said that word would be okay?

Miss Lana Rebel and Kevin Michael Mayfield "The Midtown Island Sessions"
Most of these are in no particular order, but this record is my co-top record of 2015. We'd been waiting impatiently for the next phase of Lana and Kevin's output, following up on their excellent A Real Subtle Beauty, and this album rings true to all the greatness of their songwriting and performance abilities. Heavy rotation.

Flesh World "the Wild Animals In My Life"
More stellar, depressed but frenetic kind of post punk, this time from somebody from Limp Wrist. I really dug this.

Swamp Ritual "S/T" 
Heavy Missoulians whose riff mastery became pretty clear in 2015. Riffin' bong-rock at its finest, with only a bass and drums behind it.

Shopping "Why Choose"
British band whose sound is like a kind of modernized Gang of Four. Super LP.

Nots "We Are Nots"
Memphis band on Goner who played here. Niki saw them and gave me the CD, I loved it.

Sleaford Mods "Key Markets"
British (I guess) hip hop that's so smart and political that it's kind of creating its own world around it and their documentary Invisible Britain is apparently great news too. Here's hoping that Big Sky Doc Fest or the Roxy get it next year.

John Carpenter "Lost Themes"
Arguably, the thing I waited most anxiously for in 2015, and it didn't disappoint one bit.

Shannon and the Clams "Gone By the Dawn"
I always have a blast watching this band. They're incredibly good musicians, and songwriters and something about them just makes them transcend so much of the rest of what's out there.

Live:
Fireballs of Freedom at Total Fest.
Red Fang at the Palace.
Big Business at Total Fest.
Earthless at the Top Hat.
The Whip at Total Fest.
Dead at Total Fest.
Black Cobra at Total Fest.
Built To Spill at the Badlander.
Humpy at Total Fest.
Everyday Sinners at Total Fest.
I think I'll need to get out of the house more this year.

A PLACE SORT OF.

Andy Smetanka

Total Fest friend, musician, writer and filmmaker Andy Smetanka just announced that he's raising money for a new project: the documentary about Missoula. Yep, that's the correct article. He's planning to make the definitive film about this weird vortex where five valleys intersect. And my guess is it won't have much to do with trout fishing. I guess we also should add that he's the one responsible for Total Fest's cinematic debut, and only actual made-with-film Film that we know of about Total Fest. Total Fest Forever captures the important part of Total Fest that happened at the river, and in backyards: the hanging out, conversations, laughing, potato guns.. It makes us a little teary-eyed watching it!

 The film's crowdfunding page is here, and deserves a generous action on your part. A large part of the Missoula we love has to do with people like Andy, who, god love 'em, really want to make movies about World War I (And We Were Young), Volumen, the Fireballs of Freedom, Bukowski Stories, and Missoula. We know you might get a little tired of us encouraging you to direct your business this way and that, mostly toward our sponsors and friends, but we do think it's a worthy thing. We actually think you should be eating at the Burns St. Bistro, drinking Black Coffee while listening to Ear Candy vinyl and wearing a Betty's shirt and thinking about going to Big Dipper, and then Kettlehouse while your Subaru gets fixed at Kent Bros. We truly believe all that. And, likewise, we truly believe that getting in as a shareholder on a Smetanka film is a unique and special thing. It's a modest budget in the grand scheme, and we think this is the art and culture that matters, and we sure hope you agree with that.

This is Andy's second crowd-fund. The first was the beautiful stop-animation World War I epic And We Were Young, which debuted earlier this year and has been screening steadily since. So, Smetanka does what he says he's going to do and has a record of completing what he sets out to. He has officially stuck his neck out out to raise the modest sum of $25,000, largely to buy and process Super 8 film to make a movie about Missoula. We encourage you to spend what you can afford to make this happen. Thank you.


 

TOTAL LOCAL: HOLY LANDS

HOLY LANDS

Where do you begin with a band that seems to intentionally defy categorization? Here's the never-graduated-from-college try: Missoula's Holy Lands is, to me, equal parts prog-rock, Red Medicine/End Hits era Fugazi, Faith No More(?), Arto Lindsay's post-DNA work, and stoner psychedelia. Every song careens a different direction but somehow is anchored by their own weird amalgam of sounds. Every song is still Holy Lands, no matter how different it might be juxtaposed against the others. These guys are truly unique in a way I, and you, probably never expected. They're weird as hell and we're happy to announce they're one of our final invites to Total Fest XIV. 

JONNY FRITZ

Guest Blogger: Izaak Opatz
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I first encountered Jonny Fritz (then Jonny Corndawg) at a screening of Stray Dawg, a short documentary that captures Jonny's wry, exuberant personality and his unique and self-wrought life, as he trains for a marathon and tours the country with a guitar and amp strapped to his motorcycle. I happened to watch Stray Dawg at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival just after seeing a long documentary about a grueling year in the life of the dour violin wunderkind Andrew Bird. Many of my friends swooned at Bird's virtuosity and tragic manner, which evoked that of a sickly, cloistered 18th-century composer, but it really got me down about the pleasures of being a musician.


Jonny lives his life in stark and refreshing contrast to this somber vision of the artist at work - from rollerblading from Philadelphia to New York, performing prostrate at Bonnaroo in a neck brace, or dancing in front of a desert sundown with Roman candles blasting off in his hand (see his music video for "Goodbye Summer"), Jonny always looks like he's having so much fun. His music is immediately approachable (if you have the stomach for off-the-wall double entendres about cunnilingus) and no less intelligent - the first song of his to get stuck in my head and grab me lyrically was "Exercise", a country song that features the line "Drink water and juice with a little slice of lemon/ eat a raw clove of garlic every once in a while/ meditate, appreciate, learn a foreign language,/ and understand that immigrants have the hardest lives". As with my favorite country singers, from Roger Miller to John Prine to Johnny Paycheck to Dwight Yoakam, Jonny rejects the notion that his songs have to be either funny or serious - each song, whether about heartbreak or longing, dogs or trucks, is imbued with humor, and not just for the sake of a laugh, but simply because humor is the language Jonny uses to connect with and color his world.
______________________________________
Jonny Fritz plays Total Fest's opening night, Thursday, August 20th at the Zootown Arts Community Center. The Best Westerns provide the backing.

MOSTLY-GIRL PUNK PARIAHS: SASSHOLE

Guest Blogger: Becky Hensley

Moving to Missoula was a transformative part of who I have become.

I was coming down off some seriously bad vibes from living in a small town in Wyoming and the only answer seemed to be moving to Montana and shacking up with my boyfriend who had moved there months earlier to live with his brother.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was moving to the Volumen house. The first one, actually.And from the moment I pulled my car into the city, packed with everything I could fit in a beat up ’86 Buick Century, life was different.

My gut told me that the boyfriend wasn’t going to pan out, but I stuck it out hoping I’d find a friend or two to help make sense of staying in Missoula.

The Volumen dudes suggested I meet up with Sasshole.

A phone call came in, ”Meet us at Squire’s Pub” - I could hear laughing in the background and for a moment I felt like it might be a prank.

I had heard about these Sasshole ladies and what I had heard scared the living shit out of me.

Stories had filtered through emails from my boyfriend about these women. Kia, Jen & Milli would go harder and faster than anyone else out there. They’d put cigarettes out on your face, drink you under the table…literally, and if you couldn’t keep up…GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY.

Sitting across from them, I was nervous - trying so hard to be cool. They wore chokers, smoked cigarettes, wore ringer tees paired with sparkling vintage jewelry, and swallowed back bottles of beer in such an elegant and effortless way.

They were rebel girls. They encapsulated every part of how I had idealized Riot Grrrl culture and they were immediately the queens of my world.

After our first encounter, I found a home with these weird and wonderful and sometimes fucking terrifying women. They made me laugh, got me into parties, shared their beer with me, and became my very best friends. They supported me to pursue boys and be confident, they didn’t get mad when I puked on their butts or slept on their couches, and whether they knew or not, they enabled me to grow into an empowered woman.

They were passionate about their lives and they lived every moment like it was about to explode.

This passion and insanity plays into every part of what Sasshole is as a band.

Sasshole is silly, horrifying, offensive, dark as fuck, and always irreverent. They never take themselves too seriously, but you can always tell when they’re proud of the arrangements they’ve put together or a song is particularly well crafted. Because that part is important too…but they don’t really care if you know or not.

Kia’s voice is urgent and mewling and it’s sexy as hell. Her stage presence feels a little off beat, but always ends up connecting with the rest of the pieces of the band.

Milli is a force to be reckoned with. Her rock stance on lock, she plays her bass hard and she stares down the audience. Her voice punctuates the places where Kia’s falls away. She’s a powerhouse.

Girl drummers rule and Jen is no exception. She kills it and manages a flourish or two while rocking a serious brown lip and throwing her curls around. She is cute and dangerous and doesn’t have anything to prove.

And although I’ve fan-girl’d the heck out of the ladies of the band, Dave is one of my favorite guitar players in Missoula. He’s serious and deliberate and he shreds. He’s the straight man, literally, to this wiley crew and it’s always a treat to hear Dave shout along with Kia and Milli.

To say Sasshole changed my life would be an intense understatement. 

People talk about the soundtrack of their lives and I can say without a doubt that the music scene of Missoula in the early 2000s was mine.

I tried to use the present tense to talk about Sasshole as a band because in my heart they never broke up. They never took a break for kids or jobs. They’ve always been a band to me. And even after this last show, they still will be.

I’d recommend you not miss their set at Total Fest this year. And don’t be surprised if you end up covered in corn or peanuts or kitty litter.

It’s happened before.

sassholereunion
Ladieeees and gentlemen! Preeeesenting: JENNIFER LEAH TACHOVSKY and her band!
Posted by Lee Conway on Saturday, April 30, 2011

HUMPY.

Humpy.

Back when I was a wee lad of eighteen or nineteen years, in about 1992, newly arrived in Missoula, wet behind the proverbial ears and taking my first set of classes at UM, there were a handful of interesting punk and underground bands going in a time that otherwise you couldn't really toss an Oly stubby without hitting a dreadlocked, Birkenstocked, Phish-logo'd New Jersey license-plated Four Runner-drivin' bro 'round here. Luckily, these culturally resistant types were charting their own courses, going against the prevailing grain of the time doing their own thing, irrespective of audience size, whether many folks really cared, money, or whatever else sort of extrinsic gains there might have been.

Bands like the Phantom Imperials, Judy Rosen Parker, VTO, Hughes, Sasshole, The Banned, Honky Sausage, the Jolly Ranchers, the Oblio Joes, and Humpy (etc.) defined my first handful of years in Missoula, and had it not been for them, god knows if I'd have fallen in love with the place like I have. There also was a classically jerry-rigged and decrepit place called Jay's Upstairs that was centrally located, and which regularly hosted all kinds of weird stuff on its stage, including the first two Total Fests.

And as I broadly dismiss these '90s "hippies" I don't want you to think I'm a stunod who doesn't get that the original hippie movement was a countercultural, antiwar outfit with some great music associated with it. I'm just saying there was a particularly annoying set of entitled youths in Dead and Phish wear, primarily, roaming places like Missoula in the 1990s, and their contributions were of a somewhat limited scope. That's all I'm saying. Thankfully, Missoula's always had that kind of counter cultural vibe around, in the early days from the hippies, artists and weirdos, and more recently from artists, musicians, punks and weirdos. But anyways, in those days, there were a lot of folks in love with jam/cover bands and with a kind of Dead breakup hangover, crowding bar stages from Boulder to err... Ballard. And Missoula had its fair share of whatever that deal was.

In the middle of it all, there were some dudes from unlikely zipcodes like Havre and Billings who had located each other at UM and decided that their shared interests in SST bands, Australia's Sheaf Stout beer and noisemaking made them well-positioned to band up. And lo, Humpy was born. Their lore has it that for a while, they had two or three members simultaneously playing guitars and bass through the same cruddy Sunn amp, and used a soup ladle taped to somebody's foot to provide rhythm before they figured out a drummer... who knows how much of that is true, but it makes for good copy, eh? Humpy's music had a least three pretty distinct periods, the first of which was punctuated by the extremely woody bass-tone of Denis O'Brien. That period featured some pretty wild and diverse rock and roll. Occasionally they'd hunker down and knock out a ripper, but the band was very comfortable making its own distinct and varied racket.

Over time, longtime Jay's Upstairs sound reinforcement officer (and former Texas deathmetaler, and Kiss memorabilist) Justin Lawrence became bassist, and Humpy grew into a pretty straightforward, excellent hardcore band, and always played fast. But it didn't start that way. Humpy's done a handful of post-break up shows over the years, but when they brought Denis O'Brien out of the dugout for the Jay's reunion show (organized by Lawrence) a few years back, health problems kept the line up from getting to play live. We at Total Fest sure hope we can reconcile that this year, and are stoked to get to see that very first lineup one more time.

Here's a nice piece about Humpy, and some lyrics from Dave who runs One Base on an Overthrow.

This below may be all you need to know about Humpy:

CULT LEADER BECKONS

Not to be all Wikipedia or anything, but when you tag yourself as "progressive crust," my ear hair perks up. You're willingly throwing yourself into the ring with some of the best bands in the history of the planet, (quibble if you want) Crass, Nausea, Antischism, Neurosis, Disorder, Disrupt, Discharge, Tragedy, Man is the Bastard, Capitalist Casualties, Iron Lung, No Statik, Replica, Exilent, etc. I've obviously dated myself with this list, and, admittedly, this is a shallow list and maybe some of those stretch the genre, but we're not really concerned about that. Crust is one of those mesmerizing genres that even with the weight of consumerism trying to appropriate its aesthetic, the music continually shuns the shackles. Big talk ... maybe. Seriously, fashionistas may adopt the drapery, but there is no way the lifestyle, the ethics, or the music can be easily translated into something that your Screeching Weasel or Katy Perry fan is going to embrace.

At its best, crust serves to keep the rest of the punk rock / DIY community honest. Enter Salt Lake City's Cult Leader. They're brutally honest, unapologetically heavy, and trench-tested dissonant hardcore. Pushing at the boundaries, Cult Leader moves away from the straight up political by turning it inward, allowing for their individual perspectives to do the talking more than the, at times, canned and often repeated slams against an opaque and distant system. As always, it's refreshing the more abrasive it is, openly challenging you to embrace and live the ethics you've chosen. With tracks ranging from around a minute to close to seven minutes, they span the entire crust spectrum. You get it. I know. You wouldn't be looking at this if you didn't. Whatever my family and friends listen to when they throw my ashes into the proverbial wind or off the proverbial cliff, you can bet the aggressive, no-prisoner, oddly pacifist, atheist-in-a-foxhole blend of bands like Cult Leader will be on the playlist.

So that's it. I used a band to massage my ego. Rather than writing while I listened, I strolled down a few soggy / foggy memories of alleys and skateboards, of venues with shoddy doormen, of basement and backyard shows, of friends that I've lost contact with or lost completely, of those bands that lasted a minute or those Wordsworthian bands that didn't end soon enough, of the countless the-world-is-going-to-be-okay-because-we're-still-angry smiles that bands like Cult Leader bring to my face. Why every cynical remark I make is layered with hope. In the end, it's not up to me or you or some blogger to tell you what's up; it's up to the music. Cult Leader shreds, and they aren't about to let you wave some anarcho-banner or flaunt your patches without coaxing you into feeling why reality is worth it, why unhinged anger and frustration have a place, or why we all feel that faint glimmer of hope when music offers you the potential that everything cannot be commodified. Thanks for shattering our shackles, Cult Leader.

TOTALLY HUNGRY? SAY "YES" TO TOTAL FEAST

Bob Marshall's dank pizza place.

It's the final year of Total Fest and that also means that yes, it's time to announce our final Total Feast. This is something we've come to look forward to every year. It's a time where we partner with one of our most stalwart supporters, Biga Pizza, and go nutz with an all-out all-you-can-handle pizza buffet. This year, all that pizza sets you back $12 and it runs from 5pm to 8pm. Know that a big portion of those proceeds goes towards making this last best fest something to remember. We're still a non-profit, volunteer-run enterprise so we rely on fun events like this to pay all those bands you can't wait to see.

Biga is one of our (and Missoula's) favorite restaurants in town. The place is run by Volumen and Bavon and Egg member Bob Marshall and he's been tossing brick-oven-pizza for years now. The menu has some pretty creative topping choices (the Flathead cherries, the marscapone, all so so good) but they're just as solid with your regular sausage, pepperoni, and cheese. There's always been a few gluten-free pizzas popped out for you celiacs and there will be plenty of salad for all you Yoga instructors.  We love Biga and we're extra super totally elated to be doing this again, even for the last time.

To reiterate: TOTAL FEAST runs from 5pm to 8pm on Sunday, August 9th and like I mentioned earlier, it's only $12 for all-you-eat pizza and salad. PBR is available as well as Biga's regular beverage menu. The Ole Beck VFW Post #209 is available next door for overflow seating and booze-drinks for the 21+ set. This event is 100% FAMILY FRIENDLY and we can't wait to see you there.

TOTAL MIXTAPES

If you're the kind of person that enjoys convenience or just the satisfaction that comes from consolidating everything in one place, today is probably the best day of your life. We've put together three mixtapes featuring the majority of our Total Fest lineup for this year. They're not really tapes, we know, but they're streaming online so if that's the kind of the thing that totally floats your proverbial boat then hell, we're here for ya. Each mix is loosely based around a genre or two and we tried to make each one have a sense of flow because, well, half of the Total Fest committee is made up of radio DJs and that's something we care about.

Yeah, we're aware not every band playing Total Fest this year is on the mixes. We'll be posting more stuff like this in the future so no worries, we wanna make everyone part of the party. We'll keep you updated like we always do from this blog. 

Here they be:

FOREVER BLISSFUL, SHELLSHAG RETURNS!

Long time duo, all around awesome folks, and DIY stalwarts, Shellshag continue to breathe fresh air into their lo-fi, poppy bursts. If you're not in the know, John and Jennifer have been playing together since (at the very least) 1997. Their records and shows have provided us with an intimate glimpse into their relationship. Each song is steeped in playful honesty, which really translates in their live performances as they face one another, singing into self-constructed "Y" shaped microphone stand. Their dialog is transparent in their harmonies, and live it takes on a jubilant nature all its own. They continually build on each other, crafting an infectious energy that hasn't dwindled after all these years. John's guitar and odd baritone voice pair perfectly with Jennifer's belts of sleigh bells, snares, and enthusiastic vocals.

There's something about two pieces that always makes me smile. Sure there's less pretense and the music is boiled down to its most essential components, but it also allows for more space for personalities to take hold of the music and erases the boundaries between music and musician. Shellshag erases it further, merging their personal lives into their songs and performances. Maybe it's because they've been living it for almost two decades now, but there's an immediate hook to their songs that matches so well to the humble and quirky duo. Their songs play out all the aspects of a relationship -- the good and bad, the cheerful and somber, the dedicated and flippant moments that make it all worth it. It's a simple formula, but one that lies underneath all of our lives. Remember why you smile. Smile often with as many people as you can.

It's been a bit since Shellshag played Missoula, but we're super excited that they pulled off a yeoman-like effort to play Total Fest this year. Who knows, maybe we can talk them into playing a baseball game with us on Sunday -- provided we all don't just sit at the river.

WEEDEATER: GOLIATHS OF DOOM SOAR TO TOTAL FEST.

Weedeater.

We just (7/28/15) received the following bad news from Weedeater's booking agent, Erik Jarvis from Tone Deaf Touring:

"All of us in Weedeater camp sincerely regret that we cannot make it to Total Fest this year. The organizers were great and we were very much looking forward, however for reasons beyond our control  we had to postpone our whole western tour, including this show. We know it will be a fantastic time and we hope to see you there next year!"

Something about the south and the doom. It's like Birmingham in the late sixties or something. What is it? The zeitgeist? The water? Fried food? The air? Other elements? I, mean, it's the people, obviously, but you know what I'm saying. What else? I guess humidity, whiskey distilleries, good pot growing conditions, disaffection, and strong musical traditions and you've got some of the country's most fertile, err, topsoil for this stuff.

I think filthy Jim Anderson's responsible playing me my first Weedeater. It was their .... And Justice For Y'all record, which still kills me.

Weedeater basically are about slab after hefty slab of riff, pounded home with drums, bass and growled over by a man possessed. They're from Wilmington, NC. They've been at it solidly since 1998, have got through some lineup changes, but really it's steadily been the same, deeply satisfying stuff since they started, and they've just mined deeper and deeper into the riffs.

Lots of good interviews out there with "Dixie" Dave Collins, who also was in the weird and excellent 90's group Buzzov'en, who along with some other southern groups like Eyehategod and Acid Bath, etc. were some of the first to get called "sludge" metal. You know, if you're into the historical side of all this stuff. You can still get passes for Total Fest here. We'll see you in August, right?
 

OBLIO JOES.

Guest post today from longtime Missoulian, Total Friend and former TF Organizer and party/camper host, Irish American and soul patch wearer, Dennis Lynch. Now of Portland, OR for the record. I lugged a lot of staging with Dennis, and saw him barbecue a lot of burgers and generally just enjoy the guy's company. I think he's also got the distinction of being the Number One Fan for the Oblio Joes, so it figured to ask him to write something up when we secured the Obes

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What is there to say about the final Total Fest and one of the best bands to ever grace the stages of Missoula? I had a feeling that the Oblio Joes would resurface for this event and I was asked if I would do the write up for the Obes and I was more than happy to oblige. I gave this some serious thought for a few days because I could probably write for hours about memories of shows and general drunken debauchery. The more I thought about it, I came to realize it wasn't the stories that we have about our friends in the Obes but it was the story of the Oblio Joes that made them our friends.

He sincerely means it.

One of the things I was most proud of in the Missoula rock scene from the very early 90's all the way through today was that, save for the hippy dippy jam bands and phony bluegrass bands that abound the Garden City, was that we were never pigeon holed for a type or a style of music. The beauty of shows booked at Jays Upstairs or the few other fall back bars for bigger shows was that we were blessed to an evening of multiple styles of rock. I have very fond memories of shows with Humpy, Fireballs Of Freedom, Sasshole, The Banned, VTO to name a few. There were so many bands at the time that crossed the Rock spectrum yet our lives were all intertwined. We were a large family. We stood up and stood out for each other and it bled from band to band and person to person.

I remember Andy Smetanka telling me a story of sending a split 7" single with Humpy and the Oblio Joes to Maximum Rock and Roll for a review and they at first would not review it because the Obes weren't "punk" and Andy giving them a lesson about punk not being safety pins and Liberty Spikes. It is about DIY ethos and being true to your music and standing behind what you write and perform. That my friends is punk rock. Not a chord or a scream or a leather jacket. It's your soul.

Roll on, Kentucky Moon. Picture by Becky Hensley.

The Oblio Joes embody that. Over many, many years and 7 or 8 albums with a few 7" singles thrown in, these guys blew out some serious songs and more than several Anthems near and dear to a lot of Missoulians hearts and ears. While bands came and went, some moved on to hopefully greener pastures and some just disappeared into the closet of past Missoula Rock and Roll lore, the Oblio Joes continued to build a base of fervent fans and new believers at every show. It was not uncommon to walk into a local watering hole and see the stage crowded with people trying to out sing the lyrics to many an Obes song or some drunken lout jumping up on stage to belt out a few chorus' with the band (I may have been guilty of that once or twice). These were hardly just shows, they were events. While new bands were popping up and old bands moving to the side, the Obes were stalwarts of the old guard but inspiring the future of local music.

There is a picture from the last "official" show at Caras Park that I am so happy to still see every once in a while. Now, I can't take credit for making it but I was happy to steal it and hold it up very high because the Oblio Joes truly did change my life. They not only showed me what Rock and Roll was about but they showed me what it could be and they will not be denied their place because they didn't wear the uniform of the rocker that some zines and the old school establishment told the masses to wear. They wore the uniform of the Oblio Joes and they wore it as a badge of honor and pride. Having them re-unite for the last hurrah of Total Fest just makes sense.

And it makes me happy. I am only sad that they will only have 30 minutes to make you smile and not 3 hours to play every song they ever wrote. Either way, it will be an event.

And it will change your life. It changed mine.

(Dennis Lynch, July 2015)

CURIOSITY ROVER: BEATZLEVOX

There is next to nothing about Missoula's Beatzlevox online. What I know, what I can tell you, is that Beatzlevox may not truly be of this world. I'm speaking sonically, physically, and psychically. Though I'm at a loss for posting some streaming tunes for you people, I wish I could, the bizarro electro-jams Beatzlevox creates are truly untethered by space and time.

What you'll be seeing: a lone individual wearing something akin to a Mardi Gras mask, breathing heavily (or singing) through a vocoder, hands tied to a combination of keyboards and other electronics. Be skeptical, but WANT TO BELIEVE, Beatzlevox will win you over 1,000 fold with what you'll be hearing: space-funk, transdimensional pop plugged through a plethora of pedals, Kraftwerk For a Future Generation . It's a crazy thing, and we're definitely nuts at Total Fest HQ. We love to push the weird and we've found another stellar (literally) example with Beatzlevox. You're gonna love it. We promise.

HIGH, WIDE, HANDSOME: THE BEST WESTERNS

It's been years now since I first encountered The Best Westerns. For a band that reads as MONTANAN as this one, seeing them at the Union Club was perfect. As Missoula bars go, The Union Club is the near-embodiment of Country and Western. Walking into a crowd of pearl button shirts amid the Westerns' mourning pedal steel and Isaak Opatz's baritone drawl, it was hard not to become a convert. I've never professed any undying love for Country Music but man, it's hard not to give in when you're watching these guys play. Call it charisma, call it just having a ton of really great songs, call it whatever you need to, The Best Westerns are fantastic and they'll be repping that Montana flag high, wide, and handsome all over Total Fest XIV.



They've come a long way since playing the fest a few years ago. Since then, they've released a stellar record, High Country, that's cemented their reputation as one of premier alt-country, electric folk, or whomever bands in the region, if not the country. The Best Westerns are tireless, gig a ton when one of their members isn't living in Nashville, and deliver some of the most moving performances I've ever seen. You're gonna love it, folks. Even if this country thing isn't in your wheelhouse, I'm certain you'll come away a fan.

TOTAL LOCAL: NO FANCY

Another day, another killer Missoula band we get to announce and it's...NO FANCY. They're one of the newest, most stellar local trios operating right now. For reference, let's just say they kinda remind me of The Magpies in one sense, perhaps without the latter's serious wall-of-noise, but with that same propulsive garage-y nod to 90's indie rock. No Fancy is a little moodier, I think, and that's one of things that sticks out for me. I love those moods.

Some other things you might be interested in knowing: No Fancy has been hard at work and (last I heard) is nearly done with recording their first album via Missoula's recording-brain-trust Black National. The first result of which you can hear below. Ray, No Fancy bassist extraordinaire (the guy with the mustache) is also a member of Missoula alt-country-faves The Best Westerns. Dude is a talent. Hell, all three of these No Fancy folks are talents and man, I'm really excited they're playing Total Fest XIV.

 

LIFE DURING: WARTIME BLUES

For long (or even part) time Missoula residents, the mere mention of chamber-folk juggernaut Wartime Blues will elicit a wave of feeling. For you non-Missoulians, I'm here to tell you that the wave of feeling(s) are pretty much guaranteed. Wartime Blues are a force of nature, a surprisingly weird force of nature, in a consistently staid genre of music. They're also one of the few Missoula bands in recent memory to have made a name for themselves in national circles, especially those circles that run counter to much of Total Fest's classical "genre." We haven't been the same festival for years, people. Wartime Blues isn't your run-of-the-mill cello-a-guitar-and-a-folk-song jumble. They're 1,000x the greatest band you haven't seen. They're as sprawling as their subject matter and absolutely HUGE live. It's always been a treat to see 'em and you're in luck because they're totally playing Total Fest XIV.

LIQUID SUMMER: VASAS

There will always be summer and, it seems, there will always be bands like Sacramento's Vasas, who mine the season into a sunny kind of soft-psychedelia. That's not to short-change anything these guys do, mind you, Vasas are great and there's something definitely hypnotic about these songs. It's the kind of pop I can really get behind. Sweet while avoiding the pitfall of being overly syrupy. Refined without turning into a skronking mess.   

I also didn't think I'd be saying this is 2015, but some of these songs really remind me of Modern Life Is Rubbish-era Blur. That's the thing though, in the heyday of Brit-pop, like 1993-1995, there was a massive neo-psych influence floating around and whether consciously or no, Vasas has totally picked up on that sound. Twenty years on, it's weirdly cool to hear it again, especially when "psych" these days is so disparate it's really hard to know what you're getting into.

We're excited to have Vasas this year at Total Fest XIV and considering neo-psych, just check out this video:

TOTAL LOCAL: SHAHS TOTALLY LORDING

Full disclosure: Elisha and I love Shahs so much they played our wedding.

Shahs has been a project / band since 2005, and I can't provide you with all the ins and outs that happened other than some awesome, humid, rainy day recordings are out there. The first time I saw Tom Helgerson play was at the ZACC with 10yoGF in 2011 (I think). He was a recent transplant from Minneapolis but had already inserted himself firmly in Missoula's music scene. It was a simple set with only two members at the time (I think maybe Cassandra played along on a couple tunes), but Tom's ability to effortlessly tie the set together piqued my interest. Then and there, I knew that we were lucky to have him. Along with fellow transplant Colin Johnson, Tom quickly added value and variety to our small, transient, and, at times, homeless underground.

I experienced Shahs for the first time without distraction at the Badlander (again, I could be horribly mistaken, but this is the first time it hit hard). For a duo, the level of complexity of the songs is hard to fathom. They were definitely tinny, poppy, and quirky but there is this hard to grasp hypnotic feel brought on by the series of loops, calypso-influence, wide-range of samples, distorted guitar, keyboard, and oddly soft vocals. Everything is so layered that it's hard to single out the individual instruments until you're fully under its spell. Once there, and I don't know why, there's the strange feeling of isolation that runs counter to almost everything the music accomplishes.

The newest incarnation features Tom, Nick Ryan, Lukas Phelan, Javier Ryan, John Sporman, and Jenny Fawcett. It's criminal for so much talent to play together. The music is even more complex as they navigate through the delicate waters of creative freedom and orchestration. It's pop noise, or self-proclaimed tropical psychedelic, or corroded ambiance, or visceral weirdo stuff, or synchronized cacophony, or ... Whatever it is, it's some of the most fun, engaging, challenging trips that music can take you on. There's a dreamy party vibe cutting through each song that reflects both Tom's personality and influences as well as each member who, to my perception, has slotted in perfectly.

Tom is one of the most sincere, fun, reflective, kind, talented, intelligent, and warm people whom I have the privilege of knowing. Watching Shahs develop and continually import amazing talent into its roster is impressive in itself. The immeasurable and intangible effects Tom has had on Missoula is even more impressive. As musicians, their shows and recordings feel like a book that you routinely return to and discover connections and allusions that you missed the prior reads. Shahs sets a bar against which I'm not sure it's fair to compare other bands. As people, Shahs are unnecessarily humble. As for that creative crooner Tom, I can listen to him laugh until the oceans dry up. He's that good.

DESERT DOOM: DEATH MOTH

An over-saturated Polaroid. Dreamy, desert-fried blues. Death Moth inhabit a world that's both mysterious yet infinitely familiar, bridging gaps between rock and country and soft-psychedelia that were always there, just not completely obvious. These are the kind of tunes that stand ready against late spring storms, apocalyptic clouds rolling over some mountain somewhere and crest right up against your stupid, feeling heart.

We've heard something like this before, when Death Moth's June West played Total Fest years ago with the stellar Julie & The Wolves. West is a sometime-Missoulian who's returned intermittently, recruited some serious fellow travelers (Travis Sehorn and Best Western's Dave Martens play on Death Moth's True Blues) and delivered some incredible shows that feel as equally momentous as they do effortlessly casual. Death Moth is a treat that I'm lucky to say we get to see again, this time at Total Fest XIV.