antiFEST '02 - Full Coverage!

Recap by Keavin Wiggins

Day Two

Devil’s Junction got Day Two of antiFEST started off on a rockin’ note. This power-trio has been getting a lot of attention on the O.C. scene because it features Troy Ness, the brother of legendary punk rocker Mike Ness. When it comes to style, the only thing that Troy and Mike really share is a last name and musical talent. They come from different places musically and Troy definitely doesn’t need to depend on his lastname to get peoples attention. Troy has a much more structured songwriting focus and the end result is some straight ahead kick ass rock n roll.

Devil’s Junction packs a lot of power in their music but still maintain a melodic edge. This isn’t punk rock; it’s more like taking the heavier side of Stones and turning them up to eleven! Within a couple of minutes of Devil’s Junction hitting the stage I understood what the buzz surrounding them is all about. These guys rock and were the perfect band to kick off night two of antiFEST!

A Motorsoule show is much more than a concert; it’s an experience. Musically they dwell somewhere between the worlds of punk and hard rock (leaning more towards the punk side). With Motorsoule it’s more than just the music, which is great, it’s about the whole experience. They take the stage with a conviction that they have to rock every single soul present and proceed to do just that with charismatic frontman Ricky leading the charge with a theatrical stage persona that is unforgettable.

Although the sets were short (45 minutes), Motorsoule came prepared to deliver their full show that consists of various stage props including a huge lighted backdrop. But it’s not the props that get your attention; it’s the no-holds-bared music and performance. While Ricky is the leader of this three-ring-circus the whole band gets into the act and puts every ounce of their beings into the show. After performing some Motorsoule favorites, the band pulled a full surprises out of their sleeve for the antiFEST crowd that included an unforgettable rendition of the Rocky Horror Picture show classic “Sweet Transvestite” and to top things off they broke into an amazing cover of Deep Purple’s "Highway Star". They took both covers to new realms of heaviness and flat-out blew away the crowd with their performance! Those in attendance understood why antiFEST was put together as an answer to the big corporate holiday radio shows, not only did they get more bang for their buck but bands like Motorsoule could blow away even today’s superstars off of the stage!

I know most people think of hard rock when they think of antiMUSIC, but if you take a look around, you’ll notice we cover the whole world of rock. The only requirement is great music!

While Devil’s Junction and Motorsoule got the adrenaline going Solarcade came next to change things up a bit and showcase their amazing mix of music that Happenin’ Harry calls a cross between of U2 and David Bowie. That comparison is not far off the mark. Lead vocalist Paul Van seems to embody the best elements of Bono and Bowie as well as Depeche Mode’s David Gahan. Even guitarist Pomilla at times captures a bit of Edge’s style in his playing but he goes far beyond the limited guitar nature of U2 and instead bring various influences into his guitar style that sometimes is reminiscent of The Cult’s Billy Duffy and at other times contains echoes’ of Slash. As you can imagine it’s a powerful combination and Solarcade have used it to great effect, quickly becoming a favorite on the So Cal music scene.

I’ve seen Solarcade a few times before and each performance was great but on this night they really seemed give it the extra push over the cliff. The energy in the room was incredible as the band rocked through their set intent on showing the crowd what they were made of and they succeeded. The highlight of their set was an captivating performance of "When She Comes"; a song that is always a crowd pleaser but on this night they took it to a whole new level.

I was standing at the front door watching the show and this punk rock girl I had meet earlier in the night walked up to me and said, “You know, I’m not into this kind of music but this band is incredible!” What else can I say? She said it all.

It’s no big secret that Bird is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. Since his days with Bird3, I’ve been an ardent fan and although I’ve seen him have a few “off nights”, even his worst is better than most artists best.

This night proved to be a historical moment in Bird’s career. It was the closing of one chapter to make way for a new one. Of course that could change in time but Bird set out on this night to perform his last “rockin’” concert. A few weeks previous he gave fans a preview of where his solo career is heading when he blew away a sold out crowd at the Cat Club with an acoustic performance that included not only the traditional drums (courtesy of Michael Miley), keyboards, acoustic guitar and lead electric to add flavor but also a cello player. Bird is one of those rare breed of musicians that is not only a natural born songwriter and has an amazing voice but also has the ability to rock out and also amaze people with the mellower side of his musical personality. It was that mellower side that he showed at the Cat Club a few weeks before this show and you could literally hear a pin drop while he was singing. The usual background conversations ceased as Bird grabbed everyone’s undivided attention. After seeing that show, I understood why Bird was taking a new direction musically; the greatness of this new format is undeniable. For antiFEST he wanted to do something special since we have been big supporters since the bird3 days. So he put together an electric band to give a rockin’ swansong of sorts to his past to make way for the future. And rock they did!

It was bittersweet watching Bird and his group rock the antiFEST knowing that we may never see this side of him again. And it was definitely a performance that those who were in attendance will not soon forget. Bird took a collection of his new solo songs and gave us a high energy-sweat drenched performance that only intensified as the show progressed.

My first introduction to twelvehourmary was at a show they played with Bird3 at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. They opened that set with a trippy little number called “Snowshaker” and by the time they played the first chorus I was hooked!

Since that night I’ve been a big supporter of these guys, not only because their music is a few notches above most mainstream bands but because of the fact that they are a band that is unwilling to compromise their integrity and their total focus is on making music that they believe in. They were a natural for the antiFEST and we were thrilled when they signed on to play.

Like that first show I saw them perform, on this night they kicked things off with “Snowshaker” and it really set the bar for the rest of their set. I have yet to see these guys play a bad set but on this night they were really “on”. “Snowshaker,” may seem an odd choice to open a show with since it is basically as close to a ballad that twelvehourmary comes to but there is something about the song and this band that makes it work.

From there they launched into some of their more rockin’ songs and brought down the house with an unbelievable performance of “The Final Idiot”. The show could have ended there and it would have been unforgettable.

Low-five; let’s talk about a band that just keeps getting better as time goes on. I was duly impressed when I caught my first Low-five show but what started out as a really good band with some promise has evolved into a rock n roll monster!

You would expect any band that features former Queens of the Stone Age drummer Nick Lucero to kick ass but Low-five goes beyond that with four exceptionally talented individuals that have found a winning formula and have many buzzing that they are the next big thing.

Low-five’s performance at antiFEST shows us where that consensus came from. The moment they took the stage they were off and running and no one was going to get in the way of their goal of rockin’ every single person in the room. On this night they embodied that line from the Bob Seager classic “Turn the Page,” here was a band that took every ounce of energy and gave it away to the audience. They looked like they were having the time of their life on stage and it was contagious by the time they played their signature song, “Take Me Down” they had lifted the audience and held them captivated with people struggling to get a little close to the stage.

Low-five brought it all home and really put the icing on the cake of an unforgettable night of music where every band that played raised the bar and took things far beyond our goal of antiFEST being a showcase of the absolute best bands on the So Cal scene. It just doesn’t get better than this!

Before I get to Donnie’s review I wanted to provide a little background.

Without Enuff Z’nuff antiMUSIC wouldn’t exist. It was that band that inspired me almost five years ago to start our first site Rocknworld.com. The goal from day one was to showcase the best artists in music, regardless of their level of fame. The idea being that we could draw people in to checkout coverage on a mainstream act but while they were here expose them to underrated and up and coming artists. I think it was that focus that helped make iconoFAN a success. Sure we also focus on the other end with blasting the “evils” of the music business but I think what makes iconoFAN special is the fact that our writers are constantly out looking for quality music, whether its from a major label band or the garage band down the street.

When it came time to put the antiFEST together I knew I had to attempt to get Enuff Z’nuff to play since they are one of those bands that have consistently put out exceptional music and despite all the setbacks and fame eluding them they have stayed true to themselves and their fans.

Unfortunately, the whole band couldn’t make the trip out from Chicago but as luck would have it frontman Donnie Vie is now a happy L.A. resident and quickly signed on to closeout night two of antiFEST.

When we booked Donnie for the show, his initial plan was to put together a band and rock the crowd with some Enuff Z’nuff classics, some surprise covers, as well as some of the material from his new solo project. It looked like that was what was going to happen until at the last minute those plans fell apart.

Donnie called me literally as we were opening the doors to let people in to the venue for that’s night show. He told me the guitarist and bass player situation was that both dropped out and only Troy from Fain was onboard. Given the fact that this was a night of “rock” Donnie really didn’t want to show up and play an unplugged set, he wanted to do something special. So I scrambled a bit and asked Greg from Low-five if he would be into jamming with Donnie. He said he would love to but he didn’t know any of Donnie’s songs so the idea sprang up that Donnie would do a full set of Beatles covers.

It came off surprisingly well considering Greg hadn’t played any Beatles songs in years and Troy and Donnie had rehearsed a whole other set of songs to perform. So these three guys just basically jumped on stage and jammed with no preperation.

Donnie, Greg and Troy treated the crowd to some high-energy covers that included “Come Together,” “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” and “Dear Prudence”.

Continue to Day Three