Austin Sound

This year’s F3Fest was harder, better, faster, stronger, and, well, a helluva lot dustier. All the dust couldn’t kill the fun though, and we’ll get you caught up on what you might have missed. The punk stage proved once again the major draw, though we have to give kudos to the Transmission folks for adding some great Hip-Hop (Clipse; Dr. Octogon) and excellent comedy (Tim and Erik; Coldtowne Comedy). We’re already looking forward to next year. Click through to check out our Live Blog of Saturday, and since we lost internet access on Sunday, you’ll just have to settle for the standard followup.

After the warm-up round, compliments of The Austinist, it’s time we get on to the two-day main course of Fun Fun Fun Fest. With two whole days spread across four stages, the festival boasts a wide variety of talent both local and national. Here we have a few picks for Sunday to get you started.

The Chronicle is reporting this morning that the Black Angels, who will be serving as both the opening and backing band for psych pioneer Roky Erickson on an upcoming west coast tour, has been entrusted by Erickson’s manager, Darren Hill, with over 60 homemade Rocky Erickson recordings, many of which have never been released. The Black Angels are going through the material and choosing 10 songs to record with Roky at Cacophony Recorders, which will be released as an album. That’s some exciting news for both parties, uniting Erickson’s seminal influence with the contemporary rise of local sextet, but it’s most exciting for Austin as a whole, pairing our exceptional musical history with our promising future. We’ll keep you posted as more details emerge.

for the commendable price of $59.99. That’s about $20 for each dose of fun. If you are a student, you can get them for a discount down to $50.99, but you have to bring your student ID to Waterloo Park when you pick them up or you’ll have to pay the extra 9 bones. You can get them through Frontgate Tickets. And see what you’re paying for with the lineup on the FFF Fest website.

The Austinist just announced the lineup for this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest, and it’s a good one. The acts don’t seem as big as last years, but a ton of quality indie acts and some major punk and metal heavy hitters, along with a nice dose of hip hop. And once again, a number of Austin acts are given some love. This year’s Fest, which will take place November 8 and 9 at Waterloo Park, will feature 4 stages (up one from last year’s, for those counting) and will throw in some comedians for good measure. Tickets for 2 days passes will be $60, and go on sale soon. More bands will apparently also be announced soon, but you can check out the main list, via Austinist, below:

The 3-day tickets for ACL are sold out, but we’re already looking forward to November when the Fun Fun Fun Fest brings its tri-stage party to Waterloo Park. Bands for this year’s third annual Fest have been trickling out, and today we have three more courtesy of Austinsist. In addition to the awesome reunion of Dead Milkmen and Deerhoof and Dan Deacon announced last week, now we can add one more to each stage: Punk icons DOA, along with Minus the Bear and DJ Z-Trip. There will also apparently be some comedians performing, at least according to some of their myspace pages that we’ve come across.

Oh those Transmission folks, they certainly know how to tease us, and we feel like freshmen at the homecoming dance. After announcing earlier this week that they’ve scored a reunion show from the Dead Milkmen to headline one of the Fest’s nights, they’ve dangled a couple more names for us via their blogging cohort Gorilla vs. Bear. Also on the lineup according to the Dallas bloggeratti are Deerhoof and Dan Deacon.

If there’s a punk band even thinking about getting back together, and probably even a few that hadn’t ever considered it, you can bet that Graham Williams of Transmission Entertainment will have them booked to play the Fun Fun Fun Fest. The Statesman is reporting that William’s latest stab at re-experiencing the glory days of his punk youth is to nab Philadelphia’s Dead Milkmen to headline a day at this year’s fest, which will be taking place November 8 & 9 in Waterloo Park.

Last year’s somewhat impromptu inaugural Fun Fun Fun Fest was a success despite the December cold, and this year’s upped the ante with a bigger lineup, better organization, and, thankfully, a beautiful early November weekend. Expanding to 2 days and serving now as the premier event for the recently formed Transmission Entertainment, FFFFest captures everything that is great about Austin music, from the laid back atmosphere, local vendors, and, best of all, a cross-section of indie, punk, hardcore, hip-hop, and djs that highlights the diversity of the local scene. Though headliners like the New Pornographers, Girl Talk, and the re-united Murder City Devils offered spectacular sets as expected, the local acts once again proved to be the backbone of the Fest. And while the dual stage setup on the indie and hardcore stages provided fast set ups that kept the music flowing, it also meant less opportunity, or at least tougher decisions, in exploring the full lineup. The weekend was about as packed with non-stop music as it could it have been, and the easy going atmosphere of the fest extended to the fans as well. Below we have our review and photos of the Fest from Doug Freeman and John Laird, as well as a few questions with festival organizer Graham Williams and the impressions from some of the local artists that made the weekend such a success.

Photos by John Laird and Doug Freeman
Click image to view full-sized picture

Day 1: Doug Freeman

9/4/07
The lineup for this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest has been teasing us for the past few months, slowly dropping bigger and bigger names for what is shaping up to be the signature event of the new Transmission Entertainment enterprise. And once again, the organizers have put together a stellar roster of both national and local acts in the pursuit of finding the ultimate superfan that loves hardcore and punk, indie rock and pop, and DJs and Dance beats. Hopefully this year will result in even more mingling between the segregated stages - we think the goal should be a mosh pit in the DJ tent.