MUSIC TO KILL TO: THE FUNERAL AND THE TWILIGHT

When it comes to The Funeral and TheTwilight, every descriptor that comes to mind feels as if it should sit within quotation marks: "goth," "punk," "metal," "sludgy," "gloomy," ... Not in a negative way or as some dismissive commentary but to illustrate the disparity and strangeness of their music. I think the closest I ever came was "death doom jazz," because that phrase makes almost no sense at all.

My first encounters with TFATT were The Cross of St. Peter and Sullen Life /// Blighted Death. On first listen, I wasn't sure what I was hearing, but I knew I liked it. Something about it kept pulling me back in, and I thank Colin Johnson for the wink and "Yeah, bro. Let it hit ya" nudge. One night of wine paired with the records completely hooked me, and I haven't questioned the journey since.

Not everything we enjoy can be distilled down to something tangible, and I'm happier for that. There's definitely a bewitching and haunting feel to TFATT's music that plods its way through enormous tones and shattering vocals. Plod doesn't quite work though, as each song is awash in sultry, unexpected changes and surprising experimental moments that keep each song hanging by a thread. At the moment it feels like it might unravel, there's the occasional hook that somehow incorporates a poppiness or sinks into a oddly familiar groove. They're as challenging as they are mesmerizing. Bring all this to the stage, and TFATT is right where they need to be. Benjamin, Noah, and Brandon are a chaotic tidal wave of activity that's somehow synchronized or ritualized. The sound is penetrating with its woeful swagger, twisting and turning and never letting you go. Beautiful in their execution, once you think you've got a grasp on where the songs are going, TFATT will throw in a few grindcore bursts to suck you in further.

TFATT and Dead are touring together this summer, and we couldn't think of two better bands to represent both the diversity and the similarity of bands who have graced the Total Fest stages over the years.

"Let it hit ya"

VAZ SHREDS. IT'S THAT SIMPLE

Vaz is one of those timeless bands. There's the frenzied pace, the taunting, chaotic guitars, and the occasional odd digression that challenges your feet to keep pace with your head. They're cassette-tape muddy and fanatically precise.

As an old dude, I look back at Hammerhead as one of the bands who steered me toward the lovely abyss of what bears the unfortunate moniker of "noise rock." If there's a musical space that I linger in more than others, it's here (in spite of the ambiguous name), and, to me, Hammerhead separated themselves from all the masculine bravado that is / was associated with the sound. They supplanted the narcissism with a pummeling, self-effacing sound that never allowed itself to be pigeon holed. Vaz, to all of our delight, carries this on. Although Vaz is a little less bombastic at times, their sound hearkens back to some nebulous past, reconstructs the present, and plods through the ashes toward the future. There's a wonderful bleakness to it all, where the lyrics and vocal harmonies duel with the onslaught of guitars and drums. Throw in some wonderful, tempo-challenging, experimentation, you're left with your chin on the floor.

To me, Vaz epitomizes everything I love about Total Fest. There's an obvious joy for what they do, a relentless DIY aesthetic, and a blistering sound that paces our collective paranoia. After a few decades of playing music, Vaz remains fresh and challenging. If you're on the fence about that, check out Pink Confetti on the link above. Blissfully dark. We're lucky to have them help light the pyre this year. 

 

BIG BIG BIG BIG BUSINESS.

Picture by Holly Huthman

Big Business played the third Total Fest, which was held at the then-Cowboy Bar, and the fourth one I think, at the American Legion hall -the fabled year when the toilet got broken, people were reduced to Sparks-original recipe-caused hallucinations and Last of the Juanitas played their last* show (*we're pretty sure of the veracity of that fact). And then we had them out for the tenth Total Fest, back in ought-eleven. They are a band that can't not bring an immense heap of good times, amazing tunes, great musicianship. And we think having Big Business on a Total Fest stage this year is a great way for us to close out our run.

Musically, I think with Big Biz you get a little something like an umami kind of fullness. You get riffs. You get massive drums. You get great lyrics. And the total package you get makes it all the more big and good. Look at their wikipedia entry or the Encylopedia Metallum if you want to dig into their pedigree. It involves the Tight Bros From Way Back When, among others. Mostly, I've just wanted to type the words "Encyclopedia Metallum" somewhere for a while, you know.

On a kind of more serious note, it's been a while since they've been to Missoula, and I've missed seeing them regularly. August is a long while to wait.

LAST ONE.

Total Fest started with a relatively simple idea: put together an awesome show that you remembered for a long time. This is the poster from that first show in 2002. It happened somewhat by chance because some of my favorite bands (the Champs, Drunk Horse.. and I think Last of the Juanitas) were touring together. I decided that those bands could fill most of a room, why not try to get a few awesome locals, add Federation X and Japanther, ask everybody to play short sets, start early and make it something memorable. I think that formula has remained a constant, actually. The name Total Fest really came after the lineup was secured, when the need for a poster demanded something. I used to name a lot of shows, so people would assume they were something other than just a show, and maybe decide to attend because of that. My Yakima friends, Sharif and Frank were in Missoula, and they burned silkcreens, made an image and printed up some shirts in my basesment, so there were commemorative shirts from the first one too.

The name was inspired by this kind of jokey "total music" riff that Tim Green and Tim Soete were using at the time to describe what the Champs were doing. I don't remember the actual night terribly well, other than it went pretty fast, had some of my all-time favorite bands and we made enough money to pay everybody pretty well (Montana money, it was modest) and we barbecued before hand and maybe went swimming too. After that, the expectation just kind of started to be out there. People would say "are you doing another one of those?" so we moved it to two nights, and used the upstairs and downstairs of Jay's, and Julie made the first actual passes. Laminated with luggage tags enclosures.

2015 will mark the fourteenth and final Total Fest. It will happen August 20-22 here in Missoula. It's going to be an awesome lineup. More on that soon. I have a long list of reasons for ending it, largely it's things like looking at Camp Daze and the ZACC and seeing two great examples of the kind of things that I hoped my town would have some day. I really encourage supporting both those things if you like what Total Fest is about. They're two all-ages friendly, noncommercial, weirdness-encouraged institutions that I hope will be around for a long time to come. When I think about the hundreds of bands, great parties, swims and shows, awesome stack of posters and shirts, I have a lot of great memories and I think that's a good stopping point. Total Fest is a lot of work, and it's a shared labor of love for those of us who raise money, work with venues, program a lineup, write it up, etc. At the end of the day, we do Total Fest because we are music fans, just like the folks who come and play, and who pay to get in or who support in hundreds of other ways.

At some point, there probably will be something new, but it won't be for a while and who knows what exactly it will look like. Thanks everybody for all of the memories, let's have one more this August!

Sincerely,

Josh (Vanek)

Please also note that Total Fest gets a % of every beer sold between 5 and 8PM tonight at Draughtworks Brewery in Missoula. that's Tuesday, April 14th.

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

COME HAVE A BEER WITH TOTAL FEST, PLEASE.

While these dudes won't unfortunately be there, most of us will. And maybe that means fewer fights? Less having to talk about the trollmetal genre with close-talking metal bros, you know?

And we'll have some CD comps of total fest bands over the years.  Harteis is making those.

Details:
Draughtworks, Cheers for Charity benefiting Total Fest.
Date: Tuesday, April 14th. 5:00-8:00 PM
Missoula, Montana.

Did we mention that the fourteenth Total Fest will happen August 20-22? Welp, it will.

TRIP METAL.

WOLF EYES, PICTURE CREDIT: SHARYN MORROW