Eleven bands in eleven hours. The scene shifted each set, as the cooler-than-thous showed up to bob heads during Q and Not U, the punks to throw themselves around during Avail and the Birkenstock-wearing types to sort of sway during Jump, Little Children.
U.Va.'s first independent rock festival, "Fest Full of Rock," brought by UPC's PK German, summoned rockers of all kinds to the Student Activities Building on Saturday from noon to midnight. The music didn't stop, the acoustics weren't half bad and re-entry was thankfully allowed and frequently taken advantage of.
Promise Queen set it off at 1 p.m. An emo-punk quartet of University students, the band energized the few handfuls of people there with catchy, well-crafted tunes. They had fun, we had fun. All four strutted impressive musicianship, and lead singer John Sklarz's rock star stage presence promises a solid future.
I missed foralltime, and later, Shai Hulud, due to hunger and lack of interest. Asked around later, heard mixed thingsEhardcore bands, not my thing since getting trampled on at a show four years ago, so shouldn't say anything anyway.
Caught the latter half of The Nazca Lines. To their credit, they have an original sound and clearly know their instruments, but there's nothing to grab hold of. They got no soul, no feeling, don't seem to like their own songs. Good for background music, not much else.
Next up, Dame Fate, a trio of chicks from D.C. Some bands do minimalism well. Not this one. Of course, it's got to be hard to play dark, angst-ridden music at 3:30 in the afternoon. Maybe I'm being harsh.
Bassist-singer Yalan Papillons sang sultry, monotonous vocals about butterflies and being unforgettable, with lines like "You will not forget me / I will linger" sung over and over again with no emotional build-up whatsoever. The drummer seemed tense, uncomfortable, leading one to assume that her minimalistic approach has less to do with intention than lack of skill. The band's saving grace is electric guitarist Melissa Farris, formerly of Tuscadero. Advice: ditch the other two and find some new mates. Or beg Papillons to at least pretend she has pulse.
Ann Beretta came on next, finding the crowd's pulse and quickening it straight away. Can't help being partial to Richmond punk, but these guys know how to rock a crowd. Playing melodic pop-punk driven by frenetic drumwork filling every beat, the band didn't lessen the energy until their last song, performed solo by lead singer-guitarist Rob.
The mood changed drastically when Denali took stage. Downtempo, dramatic emo almost reaching trip-hop status with help from some electronic beats, singer Maura Keeley's style compares to that of Portishead's Beth Gibbons. Too bad she rarely mixed it up, using the same high-pitched, drawn-out notes again and again, always ending in vibrato. No variation. But the band, including two members of Engine Down, kept the atmospheric songs tight -- almost hypnotically so.
Q and Not U quirked things up in their set. These guys do different things with their sound and are always successful. They gel well and were so into it Saturday, one couldn't help but be captivated. If it had been a battle of the bands, they would have won.
The last two acts, Avail and Jump, Little Children, drew tremendously different crowds. The SAB went from violent mosh pit to the epitome of civility in the 20 minutes between sets. Avail, another harder-edged Richmond punk band, encouraged, (or rather, demanded) everyone to mosh and stage dive as they went over their time slot and jumped into the crowd themselves. What rebels.
Jump, Little Children proved to be a mixed bag, succeeding most when they lightened their tone and just rocked out. Lead singer Jay Clifford should lay off the balladic vocals and let the rest of the band have fun with their instruments -- they do it so well, and his at-times sluggish vocals can drag the tempo down. During certain songs, his voice seemed more like competition than an addition to the constantly-moving rhythm section. Sometimes the lyrics and music just didn't gel.
When they did, thoughEwow. "Cathedrals" was stunning live, with Clifford's voice soaring along with the cello and bass. But the best moments were the most upbeat ones -- particularly the Irish jam and "Pink Lemonade," a strange hybrid of a song that's so perfect it makes you wonder why they don't do more like it. Both of these were led by Matt Bivins (vocals, harmonica, accordion, etc.), a guy so talented and charismatic he should either replace Clifford as lead or leave them all and go solo.
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