BOYS PLAY. GOOD TIMES, GREAT OLDIES.

Missoula, Montana is becoming more of a place, and less of a "sort of," I think. The classic Missoula shirt for years was a sort of over-sized, Beefy T with the phrase "A Place. Sort Of" printed on it. Rockin' Rudy's, (a shop here) still sells them, we think. It was kind of the default Rudy's shirt, and you still can probably see an average of one a day if you keep your eyes peeled.

What exactly "A Place. Sort Of." really meant was always kind of mysterious to me. I guess I primarily took it to be a comment on the transience of Missoula, Montana. An oversize university town with a rotating door at one end and a brand new cast of characters every 3-5 years. It's hard not to get a little shell-shocked as a person in your twenties here. You get to know some cool folks and then they invariably head to somewhere with more economic opportunity, or more places to play tunes within a half days drive if they're musical. It's just they way of the place. But more and more, we seem to have a scene here that generates some good bands pretty regularly, some bands leave town and tour, and those bands become new bands. And bands stick around long enough to put out a couple good recordings.

Boys are a week-of announcement for Total Fest, and as our final, and a local it's obviously one we're pretty excited to make. What can you say, exactly? Boys are a rock and roll band, they hit the road and get out of town, play tightly and have recorded three separate records, all up here on their Bandcamp. They recorded with Chris Bauman at his Black National studio here, and the result's pretty rad. It's in the spirit of the kind of San Fran-2008 vibe of your John Dwyers/Ty Segalls and Mike Cronins lay down. Be there when things start up on day two of Total Fest this year. Boys play the Palace.

TFXII SPONSOR APPRECIATION THREAD VOL. 1

Folks are aware that Total Fest is an all ages deal and that's possible because businesses like Biga Pizza, Big Dipper, Betty's Divine, Zombie Tools, Shakespeare and Company, and Black Coffee Roasting Company and KettleHouse, Piece of Mind, The Missoula Independent, Ear Candy and Philly West (etc. etc.!) all actually break out their checkbooks and underwrite a fair amount of the costs of running this thing. Certainly, one has choices when it comes to clothing/feeding oneself, choosing a cup or bag of coffee, picking a katana, grabbing a beer or a record, newspaper, etc. 

And may we be so bold as to suggest that as a Total Fest show-goer, 1) you're the beneficiary of a pretty solid heap of Missoula-flavored community support; and 2) you can show your support by showing our supporters your support in return.

Frankly, you'll be getting better pizza/beer/coffee/clothes/cheez-steaks/books/katanas in the process, and you'll be showing some appreciation for the killer local businesses that make Total Fest all-ages, and possible at all. Each Total Fest poster lists the businesses that help Total Fest happen, so if you're from here or not, and like what Total Fest is/does, please vote with your wallet!

LEE HARVEY HAS NOTHING ON MISSOULA'S SHAHS

Shahs. We call them ours. True Shahs is a Minneapolis transplant, but in a town as transient as Missoula, when we see the first tendrils and nodes begin go form, we lay claim. Formed in 2005 as a solo project by Tom Helgerson, Shahs has morphed into an ensemble of insanely talented musicians. Currently, Shahs is Tom, Colin Johnson, Nick Ryan, and Javier Ryan.

It's hard for me to encapsulate Shahs in a simple turn of phrase. A few quick hits on the interwebs reveal wonderful words like "tropicalia," but, as with all things, it's a nice attempt but falls short. For me, Shahs is like peering behind the curtain and witnessing a million architects assemble something out of the primordial mass. Shahs mines it, breaks it down, processes it, and erects it.

Sort of like the doozers in Fraggle Rock. Perpetually building and rebuilding, looping and connecting a variety of a machine and vocal beats, stabilized with layers of reverb, delay and distortion. Mix in the smoothness of Johnson and the Ryans (no relation) and things get silky real quick.

Are we the Fraggles? Probably not, and I'd rather leave the metaphor right at the Doozers.

It's been awesome to witness Shahs reconfigure its line-up since Tom moved to Missoula a few years ago (late 2009? early 2010?). There's an immediacy to the music, something that grabs you, but also pleasingly leads you through new territory. It's complex and layered, teetering on the brink of abstraction. All in all, Shahs live sets are the rare instance when you witness compositions. It's a strange time-lapse of the life of the cosmos (or something) ... The music expands, contracts, deconstructs itself, reconfigures itself, lassos nuances from the margins, inverts time ... you know, it's breezy cubism, an existential breakfast with an irresistible beat. Catch them on Friday at Freecycles.

A TOTAL SPONSOR & A TOTAL FRIEND: RATTLESNAKE CABLE COMPANY

If you’re a noted guitar guru like myself (name withheld), chances are you care as much about the tone your cherry axe pumps through your amp as you do your first born child or the slammin’ hot wings down at Famous Dave’s. Serious chops demand serious gear, and Rattlesnake Cables are about as serious as being face to face with one of their namesake’s. Believe you me, these cables are the cream of the crop, and they git-r-done. There ain’t nothin’ more beautiful than a tone to match that little bit o’ Texas Fire Spit on the tips of yer phalanges as they race up and down the fretboard, screaming some spicy leads over a real deal, no malarkey, authentic blues band. This here is God’s work. 

Alright, let’s cut the crap. Disregard my unfortunate slip in character, and allow me to reiterate the most important part of that previous paragraph: Rattlesnake Cables are the jam. Not to devolve into band-bro nonsense, but the difference in quality between a Rattlesnake and your average unnamed-corporate-guitar-cable-manufacturer is stark the minute you plug one in. Ask anyone in Missoula who uses them--VTO, Vera, Stellarondo, Skin Flowers, The Magpies, Hasslers, Total Combined Weight, Bacon & Egg, to name a few--and they’ll agree that the custom, boutique cables Hank Donovan makes are just about, if not, the best sounding and well constructed instrument cables they’ve ever used. And being the generous supporter of Total Fest that Hank is, he’s offering a special deal today through August 19th. I’ll let Hank himself fill you in on the deets:

For Total Fest, I wanted to offer a bro rate. All of my cables are custom built to order, so pricing depends on what the customer wants, etc. My 'bro' rate is what I charge my friends ... and anyone at Total Fest is a friend of mine. So from when this blog posts goes live to 8/19, enter the code TOTALFEST12 in the 'Discount Code' field on the 'build' form at http://www.rattlesnakecables.com/build/. Once I receive the build request, I'll be able to give you an estimate.

You heard the man! Start dreaming all those wild cable dreams snaking around your head, click the link above, and let your fingers do the talking. Thanks again, Rattlesnake Cable Company!

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!

TOTAL FEAST!!

We're just over two weeks away from this year's Total Fest. We're extremely proud of the line-up and couldn't be more excited to see everyone again this summer. It's a testament to our mission statement that bands and people from all over the country, continent, and globe make special trips to Missoula for Total Fest each year. It's really humbling.

By now you know that we do everything that we can to keep Total Fest an all-ages, not for profit, volunteer driven festival. This requires additional costs on our part. We're not here to massage some guilt ridden sympathies from you but to acknowledge all the hard work our sponsors and volunteers put in to help keep Total Fest rolling all these years.

Our biggest fund raiser and what is essentially our Total Kick-off happens this Sunday, August 4 at BigaPizza. Between 5 and 8 PM all you have to do is pull together $10 or so and head down to Biga for one of the best deals of the summer. That's right. $10 gets you all you can eat pizza and salad. This isn't some cardboard crust, ketchup and string cheese pizza, either. Bob Marshall and his fabulous staff compose some of the most blissful creations. Try the Caramelized Goat (caramelized onions, goat cheese, fresh herbs, mozzarella, roasted garlic & olive oil), or the Fennel Marmalade , Bacon & Gouda (housemade fennel marmalade, local bacon, gouda cheese, mozzarella & olive oil), or the Mushroom and Arugula (portabella and button mushrooms, herbed mascarpone, roasted garlic, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, arugula & olive oil), or the Meatball Verde (broccoli rabe, local beef, herbed mascarpone, mozzarella, garlic, olive oil & housemade cilantro-jalapeno sauce). Hell, with this deal you get to try them all and whatever other magical creations Biga has in store for you.

Salivate.

Bob's been a long time supporter of Total Fest. Volumen have played a handful of times, including the inaugural Total Fest that birthed all of this craziness. Bacon &Egg have played a few times over the years as well. It's been an awesome and rewarding relationship. We count on the proceeds to help us out with venue costs, extra staffing to keep things all-ages, pay bands, buy food for bands and volunteers, etc. etc. We'll also have PBR on tap for $1 per glass so save a little room for beer.

Like last year, the VFW will open up their doors for additional seating. Directly following Total Feast will be an rollicking show, featuring three local bands that have deep ties to Total Fest: The Hounds, Hammshandy, and a Bauhaus cover band. Who says Sundays are quiet?

(B'B'B') BENNY... BENNY (AND) THE JET (S) (RODRIGUEZ).

Watt's "Pedro" is that kind of mythical part of L.A. that's  a world unto it's own, if you're a punk fan. Officially, San Pedro is part of the "harbor area" west of Long Beach and is a self-enclosed, working class enclave in the massive metro area of Los Angeles, formerly a separate city. For most of us, it's notable because it gave the world one of the most inspiring and excellent groups of the 20th century: Minutemen.

At some point in the 2000s, with the work of people like Todd from Recess/FYP/Toys that Kill, Craig Ibarra and the Rise and Fall Zine and Water Under the Bridge label, bands like Killer Dreamer, Stoned At Heart etc. etc. the place started to flourish again, or at least from up here in Montana it gave the outward appearance of being a really, uh, generative, inspiring and fun scene. With mandatory halfpipes at/in house shows, great bands and fun folks.

So, when I hear about bands from Todd Recess, I'm normally less skeptical than in my standard assessment of things. I'm normally pretty sure there's something I'll dig about them. Call it a trusted source or call it a bias, we get stoked about Recess bands. But that's the long way around to introducing this band who helps us open Total Fest on August 15: Benny the Jet Rodriguez. Which I guess is the reference to a movie call the Sandlot, which I haven't seen. As you see from the post title up there, I've got Elton John on the mind when I hear about "Benny" and "Jet" anything... I was born in the '70s and was harmed by classic rock radio, I guess. Anyway, they play punk tunes worthy of singing along, pogoing to, and just plain ol' having a good time with. Join us in doing all those things with Benny the Jet Rodriquez, man!