Skate Fest
Skate Fest was... interesting...
Here's the story. This high-school girl I know asked if I was going to Skate Fest, and if I wanted to volunteer. I said "sure" and I'm pretty sure at that point I already knew that Skate Fest was a bunch of local bands playing at the high school to raise money for a skate park.
So I go to Skate Fest, walk in, and they say "Are you a volunteer?" which means they think I'm an adult, not a high-school student (that's a good thing) and after I say "yes" they ask where I want to work:
Them: Concessions?
Me: No...
Them: Inside?
Me: Yes...
Them: Near the front?
Me: Sure
Them: On the stage?
Me: Whatever...
So they give me a bright yellow "Event Staff" shirt and in I go...
I spent the first 1/2 hour or so just wandering around, there were tons of people running this thing. How did we ever put on a show with just a few people?
They had built a stage about 4 feet high, oh that's why they needed so many people... for the stage!
I ended up being a human doorstop for a while letting bands get their equipment in. I ended up talking with Dead By Monday, a band from Delafield. The guitarist seemed a bit nervous talking to me, probably because I appeared to be an adult, and had a bright yellow "Event Staff" shirt on. I talked to him for a while until the first band started. I mainly tried to find out how the other bands were, and what kind of band Dead By Monday were.
Blood Drive was the first band. I stood right off to the side of the stage, not on it, because that would be retarded. Even when I was in a band we never liked standing on a stage... Anyway Blood Drive was definitely an opening band, you could tell they weren't real polished, and they were a little sloppy and loose. I'm sure some more jamming and practicing could help rectify that a bit. they weren't bad, but they weren't really good either.
Next up was Dead By Monday who were really good. The guitarist mentioned influences like Green Day and the Misfits, but they seemed to be pretty much punk/hardcore in my book. They had some fast ones and the crowd seemed to like 'em quite a bit. They were the hilight of the evening.
Everything Diet was third, and as they started playing, I thought, "Hey, these guys sound good!" and then the singing started and uh, well, at first it was a little difficult to listen to. The singer had very little range, so the vocals were kind of monotone, which works for some bands, but I don't think that's what they are after... They did rock out quite a bit and the crowd was going a little nuts. They did a cover of "I Love Rock 'n Roll" which I used to listen to back when Joan Jett did it... and most of the crowd probably wasn't born yet. Anyway, Everything Diet was good, and I really hope their vocal range gets better.
At some point I saw Richie Murray of OTN (Now O-TEN) fame, so I talked to him for a minute, and told him I'd talk to him later... (Oh, Richie is in a band called The Benedicts, though they didn't play Skate Fest.)
Mind Frame came up on stage. They were a 5-piece. What was it about them? Bandanas! All of the guys, except the singer had bandanas tied on their heads. Someone asked the singer where his was, and he ended up hold it in his mic hand the whole show... That was the good part. Other than that, I couldn't listen to them. See, if you can sing, good for you, and please do sing. If you can't sign, scream. If you can't sing, but try to sing, well, it ain't pretty... they seemed like a wanna-be metal band. I had a theory that the bandanas were worn because they couldn't grow their hard long for that true metal band look. Oh well, I'm sure others liked them. Ok, I'm not sure of that. anyway, this gave me a change to walk around some more since by now my feet and back hurt because I'm old...
I ran into Sam, the girl who signed me up to volunteer, and we found some of her friends, So I pretended to be official and kick them out, which made them freak out, until Sam told them I was joking. Oh the hilarity... (Note: Do not try this without the bright yellow "Event Staff" shirt.)
Through the evening I was impressed by the variety of people I saw, there were plenty of normal looking kids, but the freaks and weirdos were also there, though not in huge numbers... One of the more interesting things I saw was a girl that must have weighed a good 80 pounds or so wearing shorts (that looked like they might fit my 3 year old) with the word "HOTTIE" across the butt. Oh, there was a matching sleeveless shirt to go with it, It probably would have fit my 5 year old. When I see things like this I try not to think of the future, when I'll have two teenaged daughters. I'm hoping they never try to leave the house wearing shorts with "HOTTIE" on the butt, cuz I don't know what I'd do... (besides freak out and yell...)
Ok, where were we? Bandana Band was done, and up to this point, one other odd thing I noticed what that there was only like a 5 minute gap between bands, which seemed really weird to me. Maybe they were just really efficient at setup/breakdown or something. Whatever... Oh, since this was Skate Fest, some skate shops and local businesses donated prizes, which they gave out between bands. Kids won food certificates, shirts, sweatshirts, decks, and even a board. Nice... And the Mayor even showed up to say it was cool that people came out to see the bands and support the idea of having a skate park. Or something like that...)
Well, while Octane was setting up, the kid who had been MC'ing the event said he had a drama group to bring up, the 'MP Players' I kind of knew what they were, and what they were going to do, but no one else seemed to know. They are a group that does drama about Christianity. Playing this stuff in front of a crowd of high-school kids and (kinda)underground bands should be interesting. A lot of people in th crowd were just puzzled as to what was going on. And many of the band members weren't too happy about it, as no one told them in advance. One of the guys from Dead By Monday was pretty worked up about it, and made "No prayer in school" and "Separation of church and state" signs to hold up near the stage. A few people actually threw some things on stage (nothing harmful, deflated beachball or a shirt...) From what I hear, Christians are sort of used to that kind of thing, so they just kept going. They did three skits. Time to walk around again. Oh, the Dead by Monday guy ended up having a long discussion with one of the MP kids, and I don't know how that ended...
I didn't want to see Octane. When they started setting up about 6 girls in Octane shirts stood right up front (almost) drooling over the band as they set up. That's not even the real reason... See, Octane used to be metal until they turned punk. I guess that's what their market research showed they should be playing. Anyway, I'd had enough... I went outside to just get some air...
I ended up talking with Richie for a while, asking if there is a local scene, and finding out what modern day high-school is like. Later some of the Dead by Monday guys showed up, as well as Ben and Emily from O-TEN. We talked about O-TEN for a while, and eventually they wanted to leave to go hang out at Andy's house. But I wasn't invited. (I'm joking here... The other good joke was telling Richie that I was listening to NOFX when he like 2 years old...)
I went back inside to catch Camp Pancake. They appeared to be ska. Since there were about a dozen people on stage, and only half of them had instruments. The rest appeared to be Bobo's (dancing fools on stage...) they did a cover of A-Ha's Take on Me, and a No Doubt song, and the mutilated 99 Red Balloons. Oh, wait, I think all of their songs were covers. Gee thanks. If I want listen to poor versions of cover songs I'll listen to PowerThrash thank you very much. Oh, they crowd loved them.
Thusly so, the show ended, and I threw my bright yellow "Event Staff" shirt into the bright yellow "Event Staff" shirt box and headed home.
It was interesting indeed...
Here are links to the bands that played:
