Photos by Larry Stern

FRIDAY AT FUN FUN FUN
by Ramona Chrome

I don't get out much anymore, so small wonder two of my most anticipated bands of FFF were bands who no longer perform regularly. I went to work in my rock-n-roll pants Friday morning and arrived at Auditorium Shores just as dark fell, wired as hell on four iced coffees and just a couple minutes late for the Murder City Devils' scheduled start time. I stopped in at the first huge beer tent for Heineken and directions (by the way, kudos, FFF, on your abundance of bartenders-I never waited more than 45 seconds for a drink all festival long), then headed to the black stage but couldn't get past the sound booth there before claustrophobia set in. Some of the crowd was probably in position for the Danzig debacle, but most seemed to be fully immersed in the Devils, including the little kids backstage ("kids" meaning age 6 or 7, not 25 or 30). The sound was great, the band sounded tight, they played my favorite song ("...she switched from rum to whiskey...."), but somehow it didn't click for me. I saw the Murder City Devils a couple of times during their relentless touring heyday and remember those shows as a glorious drunken mess, shots and giggles. Maybe it was the sober talkin. So I split to the bar, discovered the Road House (again, kudos, FFF bartenders), and hustled to the blue stage.

Apologies to my old friends. We were catching up and then Public Enemy took the stage and then I ignored you completely. I've never seen PE live, despite having been a fan since high school (pretty damn early days for the band). Chuck D and Flava Flav sounded every bit as strong and righteous as I would have expected back then in the early part of the set. The middle brought a couple of awkward moments, such as Flav referring to their new DJ as Terminator X, then bending over backwards to correct himself, and the uncomfortable set by his godson, an extremely green performer. Just as my attention was wandering, Chuck came back out and rallied the crowd in support of the Occupy protests, launching into a barrage of classics, sadly not including "By the Time I Get to Arizona", but culminating in "Fight the Power." The plug was pulled just as Chuck rapped, "Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me..." Me neither, Chuck-it was you that kept me lifted on that long cold walk into South Austin.

“The defining tone of the festival was friendly, chaos-free…communal appreciation.”
–Rolling Stone Nov, 2011

“This year, we wondered if they could pull it off with much bigger bands, crowds and stakes. They absolutely did. They should start selling tickets to next year today.” – Austin American Statesman Nov, 2011

AUSTIN, TX (December 8, 2011) – Fun Fun Fun Fest announced today that it will be hosting the 7th annual Fun Fun Fun Fest at Auditorium Shores on November 2, 3, and 4 in the fall of 2012. In 2011, the 3-day event was the largest in its six-year history, showing over 35% growth in attendance and over 700 total jobs created. Festival organizers reported that the event growth helped add $5.35 million in tourism dollars to the local economy.

In the 2011 move to Auditorium Shores, festival promoters were able to work with an increased footprint, larger capacity, and more central location – while maintaining the intimate feel of the festival. In this move, they also were successfully able to increase bike usage, decrease parking pressure on the neighborhood, improve line wait times, and improve sound attenuation by day.

“We are very excited to solidify our move to Auditorium Shores and continue hosting Fun Fun Fun Fest in downtown Austin – this is where we live and work every day” said James Moody, Festival promoter. “I am an 11 year resident of Bouldin Creek, and I look forward to working with stakeholders to make this event better for the community, year after year”.

Fun Fun Fun Fest has grown every year since its inception, focusing primarily on new music discovery, underground acts, and throwback favorites in a wide range of tastes and genres, including indie, hip hop, folk, comedy, punk, metal, and more. Ticket sale reports from 2011 confirm that 2011 was the biggest year ever, drawing 45% of attendees from Austin, 41% from Texas, 13% from the U.S. outside of Texas, and 1% from other countries.

ABOUT FFF: Fun Fun Fun is an independent genre based festival that was founded in 2006 in Austin, TX. It is well known for being custom booked for the most passionate underground and progressive musicians, comedians and fans around the world.

FESTIVAL CONTACT:
Matt Mandrella / Transmission Entertainment / Matt@TransmissionEntertainment.com / 251-490-5802
Kari Rosenfeld / Transmission Entertainment / Kari@TransmissionEntertainment.com / 713-591-1818

PRESS CONTACT:
William Mills / Giant Noise / will@giantnoise.com / 512-382-9017
Claudia Blanchette / Giant Noise / claudia@giantnoise.com / 512-382-9017

Afternoon friends, hope you're keeping well. Today, we're thrilled to announce the dates for Fun Fun Fun Fest 2012 -- Nov. 2, 3, and 4, 2012 -- the press release is attached for all the details.

Adi
TRANSMISSION EVENTS

D Generation – FunFunFun Fest, Austin, TX 11.04.11

Mid-afternoon in the scorching Austin, TX sun on a big ass festival stage, not the ideal setting to see one of my favorite East Coast Punk Rock n’ Roll bands, but I’ll take it any way I can get it. D Generation formed in the Big Apple in the early 90′s and brought to the table their blend of punk, glam, and garage rock. The groups sound is heavily influenced by by east coast bands such as Ramones, NY Dolls, Dead Boys,  Reagan Youth, etc. After releasing only three major label studio studio albums, each earning high critical acclaim but never the desired sales, the band split up in the late 90′s. It should be noted that Degeneration did help spark an entire wave of great punk rock n’ roll that started at the tail end of the “grunge movement” that featured acts such as The Hellacopters, Backyard Babies, Electric Frankenstein, etc.

The band recently reunited the original lineup – Jesse Malin (vocals), Richard Bacchus (guitar), Howie Pyro (bass), Danny Sage (guitar), and Michael Wildwood (drums) -  in August to perform for the first time since their breakup. The group did shows in San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland, New York, Seattle, Austin and a few select dates in Spain.

Band leader and founding member Jesse Malin stormed the Black Stage at FunFunFun and appeared to be somewhat overdressed for the heat.  Malin sported his usual formal attire and Bacchus has his leather coat zipped up to his neck. After a blistering version of Degenerated, Malin soon decided he could either succumb to heat exhaustion or remove some layers of clothing. Off came the coat and shirt. In true ’77 rock fashion, Marshall Amps cranked to 11, the band ripped through “She Stands There”, “Feels Like Suicide”, “Capital Offender”, and “Cornered”.

It was at this point in the set, I noticed panties dropping all around me, however, it wasn’t because of my charisma or Degeneration, but rather for the band’s newest fan, Ryan Gosling, who was standing just off to the side of the stage singing along. Wow, an A-lister with decent taste in music. Smack my ass and call me “Jesse”.

By this point, the original crew was good and heated up. They continued to pound their way through the set with vicious renditions of “Working On The Avenue”, “Vampire Nation”, and “Frankie” all off the self-titled debut record. After a brief introduction of the band the band finished up with “Scorch” from their sophomore album, “No Lunch”, and wrapped up the set with an extended version of  “No Way Out”, the opening song from the self-titled debut.

The original lineup pulled off what they originally set out to do upon inception, blister it’s fans with a set of high-energy punk rock n’ roll. Well done Jesse and crew. I certainly hope this isn’t the last we have seen of them. The band two more dates scheduled as opening act for the Guns and Roses tribute band known as “Guns and Roses”, featuring original singer, William Bailey aka Axl Rose.  I hope in a move of punk rock excellence Degeneration takes the stage two hours late.

1. Degenerated  – (D Generation – Reagan Youth cover)
2. She Stands There  – (No Lunch)
3. Feels Like Suicide – (D Generation)
4. Capital Offender – (No Lunch)
5. Cornered – (Through The Darkness)
6. Working on the Avenue (D Generation)
7. Vampire Nation – (D Generation)
8. Frankie – (D Generation)
9. Scorch – (No Lunch)
10. No Way Out – (D Generation)

~Melvin McMichaels

Danzig

Over the course of the first day of Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011, many people I talked with shared my excitement in seeing Glenn Danzig. Here was possibly our only chance to see Danzig perform with the members of Samhain, as well as his Misfits bandmate Doyle Von Wolfgang Von Frankenstein! To hear him rip through some of the Misfits' classic songs would have been a great cap to an awesome day of bands on the Black Stage at Auditorium Shores. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

A large crowd gathered to watch the Murder City Devils on the left half of the Black Stage, and they did not disappoint. At this time I was backstage and started hearing unfortunate rumblings from the Danzig camp about last minute demands that Glenn was imposing on Transmission Entertainment, the producers of Fun Fun Fun Fest. Evidently he needed space heaters to be put on stage so he wouldn't get too cold. Also, he wanted tarps erected on either side of the stage to keep the cold wind off him, lest he get the sniffles. Things came to a head when his people insisted that everyone be cleared from the Murder City Devils sidestage. This meant yours truly also had to head out into the now impossible crowd.

Almost exactly an hour later Danzig finally came on, after several false starts with his band members being on and offstage for almost that entire time. Meanwhile Danzig's security guard stomped around backstage huffing and puffing, while threatening people who refused to leave the area. Anyway. So Glenn finally came onstage, and he sounded great! He was however sucking on Jolly Ranchers while singing so the lyrics were somewhat jumbled. The band tore through many classic Danzig solo songs, and then the lights went out while the Samhain set was readied.

Danzig came back onstage wearing what can best be described as a bondage mask and thus began the Samhain portion. The crowd seemed to enjoy favorites like "Unholy Passion" and "Horror Biz", though it did seem most came to see him do the Misfits songs with Doyle. We ended up getting six good Samhain songs, and then it was time for the Misfits portion of the evening!

The crowd was still excited as Doyle stomped onstage and the strains of "Death Comes Ripping" tore through the crowd! Things seemed okay, and the band began "Vampira", though it looked like Glenn was angry about something we were soon to hear about. Sure enough, power was cut at 10pm in order to comply with the Austin city ordinance. Danzig, ever the diva, was quick to blame the promoters and remarked that the stage looked like it was set up by "Wile E. Coyote with stuff bought from Acme." Inside info: Danzig's crew set up his half of the stage, not the festival crew. He proceeded to rant and rave, even going so far as to try and incite a riot. Totally ridiculous. He berated the Transmission staff, the city of Austin, and everything else he could think of without ever taking responsibility for starting his set an HOUR late.

So, in closing: fuck you Glenn! I will always enjoy your music, but you are a horrible person, and you deserve whatever becomes of your career. Good luck EVER getting booked in Austin again. What could have been a historic performance was ruined because you've turned into something even Mariah Carey would raise an eyebrow over.

See more photos by Jerry Milton

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