THE BUGS ARE TOTAL

The Bugs, picture by Sachiko Arakawa

The Bugs new record is called "The Right Time" and I helped to put it out along with X-Mist in Germany and the band themselves. If you want one, there's a little bit of the first pressing available here or from the band as they tour the west coast. We printed the covers at Garage Tees, a long time Total Fest sponsor and great print shop. It's been on repeat around here since we got the tape version of it when they toured through last fall. Pretty much everything the Bugs touch is gold as far as I'm concerned. They've got the raw emotional stuff, they've got the humor and they've got the realness sometimes punk rock wants for.

I first saw the Bugs in around 2003 or so, I think. They were on tour and stopped into Missoula during a cold snap. They played a set at a Barnburner festival at Marshall Mountain, in a tent scented with propane fumes and with few folks in attendance, right after Volumen. None of that adversity seemed to phase them, nor did they really seem to notice. They just blasted out a 23 minute set of about 10 great songs, got off the stage, then we probably went to buy some beer.

Recently when Red Fang did a video release show, they invited the Bugs to play, and hopped up on stage and did a handful of Bugs covers.

RED FANG: WHALES, LEECHES, TOTAL, FEST.

Red Fang close Total Fest XII

I do a radio show once every couple of weeks on KBGA. It's called Josh's Ultramega Ultrablast, if you're interested. I alternate Thrusdays at 4PM (MST) with Bryan Ramirez's Unheard Music. In my capacity as a dude mostly playing loud music, I've done some time as an assistant (volunteer) music director. I got so damned excited by the new Lord Dying record that I had to add it, and when I did, I figured I'd ask if I could also preview the new Red Fang album. I'd played a bunch of it from Youtube and really liked the tones, the songs and pretty much everything about it.

Rob "Zombie" Lawlor, from Zombie Tools.

Previewing records mostly means picking what songs you think are the standouts (Doen, No Hope, Crows In Swine, Dawn Rising for me) and making sure the thing's FCC compliant. In that quest for lyrics, I came across this review, which is almost not worth drawing attention to. Some prick on Pitchfork gives this record a 5/10 review. Pretty much and F grade.

Now, the Red Fang fellers don't need any boosters, and I'm sure at the end of the day this Grayson guy's a fine individual who pays taxes and votes and soforth. And I'm positive Red Fang have got plenty of fan love to buoy any shittalkers, but I truly am baffled by anyone who doesn't think the formula they've got together works really, really well for Whales and Leeches.

This album is packed with what you already liked about Red Fang, is superbly recorded (I thought a little better dialed than Murder the Mountains) and brings in Mike Scheidt from Yob for a track. It's loaded with excellent variations on the Red Fang formula, which I think is a unique and solid approach to a genre plum full of over-seriousness, plodding odes to Norse gods, pot, cars and little else. That they have some fun with it and at the end of the day, are a band that fucking rips, seems ultimately to be lost on this guy. And a few others out there. Currin's review has essentially filled five paragraphs with not much at all besides a bunch of Pitchforky mumbo jumbo in what appears to largely serve as a platform for him to display his vocabulary ("hitherto," "elan," etc. pepper this thing). I'm fine with intellectualism and a two-dollar word once in a while, but I can't pin down what exactly this record is missing at the end of reading this thing.

We say follow your heart and gut, and turn it up. Red Fang played to 400 sweaty people in a room that had to have been 120 degrees with the heat index factored in, and absolutely slayed. The crowd would've started flipping cars if they'd been asked to.

DOG SHREDDER RE-BRAND UNDERWAY: CURTAIN RAISED ON WILD THRONE.

Wild Throne is unfortunately not members of Wyld Stallyns and Joe Preston, that band would've been too incredible. And whether it's a better name than Dog Shredder is certainly up for debate. I liked the shock value of Dog Shredder. But the point to me is this: I love a punk rock re-brand and I can think of next to none in my time around bands and shows and records. I think it takes some gumption to say: "hey, this handle of ours might be keeping some people from checking us out, and among our modest goals is having some people check us out when we play live, so, you know what, we're gonna change our name."

If it means that even a few more people (735 at present) witness them covering Heart of the Sunrise by Yes (below), it will all have been worth it. We've been fans Josh Holland bands since he was putting on zombie facepaint in that one band. Cicadas were great too! And remember that incredible video when he was in Federation X? Where he brought so much rock that he slipped and fell down? Jeez. Epic. Can't find it on Youtube. Anyway, Dog Shredder have a great LP called Brass Tactics on Good To Die label. They slayed Total Fest XII. Enjoy them on tour with Red Fang.

GUEST WRITER: RED FANG'S AARON BEAM ON FEDERATION X

New Federation X
LP gets released this month.

Federation X are using the occasion of Total Fest XII to release the fifth LP of their fifteen year career. We kind of feel like our work (in 2008) may deserve a cover of Peaches and Herb's "Reunited"  for breaking the several year log jam of borderline-break-up stasis following 5 years of grueling and near constant touring and recording. It took calls to different members, it took travel underwriting from KBGA. It took the guarantee of a Missoula/Total Fest audience (which we'll put up against Bellingham -their original hometown- or any other place's audience any day of the week), but they did it, and we were stoked at how good it was. 

Here's the thing we wrote about Federation X in 2008: "Federation X or “Fed X,” as they're known to fans, straddle a couple of types of music so effectively that it's hard to really categorize them. Not exactly metal, punk, stoner or “punch the clock rock,” but with parts of all of the above cobbled into as cohesive a sound as has ever come from the Northwest. Their music definitely tips its cap to heavy forebears like the Melvins, Unwound, Steel Pole Bathtub and KARP.... Fed X’s newest material has the quasi-Springsteen...stamp of the disaffected patriot songwriter who’s alternately sad, reflective and defiant..."

Below follows Aaron Beam's (bassist, Red Fang) guest review of Federation X's new We Do What We Must LP which comes out on the the Molasses Manifesto and Recess labels this month, pre-orders here:
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Aaron Beam: bassist, writer, Unwound shirt-wearer

I planned to do a more thoughtful, thorough review of this record, but as soon as I threw it on my iPod I found myself blurting a bunch of stuff out, and it seemed more appropriate. So here it is...

Ok, I am listening to this record for the 3rd time in a row, having seen them play it live about 5 times now.

First thought - my biggest problem with this record is that there are so many great songs, I can't easily figure out which one is my favorite. Thanks, guys. Alright, moving on...

Federation X write songs I wish I had written. They have mastered the evolution of the riff. Establish a simple theme, then expand and transform/embellish the theme until it becomes more and more intense/driving/fucking awesome and orgasmic. They are like a Pacific Northwest hard rock version of Otis Redding. Does that sound crazy? Seriously, though, they build songs to emotional climaxes in a way very reminiscient of the master.

"We Do What We Must" is a more fully realized vision of the songwriting power hinted at on their previous efforts ("Hatchetman" from "American Folk Horror") . Apart from being filled with shit kicking riffs, a more mature melodic sense pervades. "Sight on Demand" might be the poster child for this transformation, but the album abounds with instant classics - "Bitter Hands," "So Tired," Sight on Demand," and "An Nur" are those songs that are all vying for top spot. I am listening to "An Nur" again right now, so it is currently in the lead. However...

"So Tired" is the song that perhaps first brought to mind the Otis Redding comparison. but now that I listen to it again, it seems like it could almost be like a modernized Shangri-Las, given the sparse, tom-heavy backbeat, and plaintive vocals over muted guitar riffs. Shit, this is a good song!

Ok, I just went back and listened to "Bitter Hands" again and I think that one is the clear winner. Well, until I listen to one of these other songs again. Oh, and don't that because I keep mentioning these four songs that the other songs on the record are worth skipping! "Bear Hug" is a barn-burner, "Anna Mist" a tear-jerker, "Maybe We'll Die Young" jumps out of the gates and is a perfect opener to the record.

Goddammit, I am starting to get mad that I don't play in this band. Maybe I can convince them they need a bass/keyboard player? Hmm...

I don't know what else to say except I love this album and it will be on very consistent rotation in the tour van for the next year. (Aaron Beam)

RED FANG: TOTAL FEST XII

We all know Red Fang from the LARP-inspired, beer can mountain, blow-coffee-out-your-nose hilarity of the Prehistoric Dog video which is creeping up on a million views. And the other videos. And the tour blog which is one of the best going. I mean, honestly. We’re not particularly religious around here… but fuckin’ thank god to Whitey McConnaughy, the internet and uh, these guys’ own on-screen awesomeness for breaking Red Fang to the broader world. It took and somehow made being in a band a viable endeavor for dudes like John Sherman, Bryan Giles, David Sullivan, Aaron Beam and Chris Coyle. And, honestly, we can think of no better group of dudes, nor a more seriously raucous band to be on the radar of the broader world.

Let’s turn on the way-back machine for a minute, if you will: Red Fang wasn’t always a band. True story. Before they were, Bryan and David played in Last of the Juanitas, which was a bleak, mathy, heavy, sort of metal/sort of punk band from the desert. Lana from that band admits they listened a lot to Black Flag’s Process of Weeding Out. On their worst day, the Juanitas were better than that era of 'Flag, but it makes a fair amount of sense really. Bryan’s kind of like the punk/metal version of Jerry Garcia. His shit weaves, but is a little bit more paranoia-heavy compared with the generally good-vibedness of Jerry. David was in the incredible, intricate, technical Shiny Beast. Download some of it from the internet. John was also in some killer North Carolina bands like All Night and Bad Wizard, and even did a little time on the drum stool for Trumans Water. Aaron was in the awesome band Lachrymator. What’s all this besides an inventory? Well, actually it’s a list of awesome, and thoroughly under-appreciated bands that worked shitty jobs at cardboard box factories, put out records, toured a bunch, and ultimately reached the same conclusion: this shit ain’t working. I mean, that’s probably a little melodramatic, but I think it’s roughly the truth.

And that brings us to the main thrust of this here: Red Fang is working, and for that we’re so goddamn happy. It’s a full-time + job for these dudes, we’re positive. They work super hard at it, and it totally shows. That they have time for Total Fest to us is exactly the kind of thing that keeps us completely positive that we’re doing it for the right reasons. Obviously Red Fang’s in it for the right reasons. They continue to make awesome records, and have a good time with fans, and are super approachable dudes, and ultimately rip like fuck. We’re not even sure if those are cohesive thoughts. But, let it be known that Total Fest loves Red Fang, and we’re ultra proud that -with the support of KBGA 89.9 FM- we’ve got ‘em coming out August 2013.