Well, not me, and that's why I'm starting this discussion! Over the weekend, I saw the Fleshtones at the Local 506, which is located in Chapel Hill, NC (for those that don't know)...This has also been the location of a now defunct music fest that was held there every year put on by Southern Culture On the Skids. Looking around the club, it's almost a little hard to believe that such a small place would be the site of such a killer event with such bands booked as Nashville Pussy, the Dirtbombs, the Greenhorns, the Paybacks, and many others as well as the Fleshtones...From my understanding, a drop in attendance plus the competition of other music fests (Heavy Rebel Weekend, Elvisfest, and others), forced it to die...Although there are rumors that it could come back, I haven't heard anything yet...And though it may sound silly, I've kinda become obsessive with the event itself and the cool stories I hear from folks that were able to attend it! So, if you have ever been, tell me your experiences (who did you see, what bands were you able to hang out with, what sucked, what rocked, etc.)!

I(Axel) went 1999, after having seen the video of an earlier one(1994 I think). It was my first trip to the dirty south and that place, at least Local 506, really deserved the name. Tits, beer, booze, sweat and rock'n'roll. I have picture proof of all that. I went alone, all the way from Germany, but made friends fast, esp. Leo from the Cowslingers(who played) and his wife Jen. I was excited to get to see the Woggles finally and Nashville Pussy. Other great bands, which I had never heard of before, were Jack Black(HRW Dave's band), Twin 6(reminded me a lot on Turbonegro) and Helldorado from NYC. It was a great festival and, along with both Heavy Rebel Weekenders I went to(2 & 3), probably the best one I have been to up to this day. It's hard to believe it took place in such a small bar...I had been to Treblefest, Denver, the year before. Great line-up(Hate Bombs, Swingin' Neckbreakers, Fleshtones, Vendettas with sexy Buffy, Quadrajets, Mullens...) but the atmosphere was not nearly as 'hot' as at Sleazefest.

Oh wow! If you could post that vid that would be great! I know there was a documentary on the very first one (it's broken up in parts)...Anything you can dig up (including your other stuff) would be great material for us needy garageheads on here!

Blair said:

BTW, somewhere around here, I have the video from one of the Sleazefests.  I'll have to dig it up again.

BTW, somewhere around here, I have the video from one of the Sleazefests.  I'll have to dig it up again.

I don't recall the other bands. I spent part of the time ine the space next door. I'm an old person and my memory isn't so good without my glasses.

 

Just curious if you remember what other bands you saw in that lineup...Probably one of the biggest musicfests that is "variety" nowadays is "Hootenanny" out in So. Cal...It appears to be geared more towards the greaser/hot rod crowd with its share of psychobilly/cowpunk/underground country acts although they will throw in some punk bands as well...

Mr. Knuckles McGrumpy said:

I went in '97, I think it was 97 anyway. Woggles were there amongst others. 506 had somer great shows. I saw SCOTS there and they were flinging banana pudding at the crowd from huge bowls. I also saw Murder City Devils, which was a great show. There are so many 'fests focused on tight genres these days, that you don't see many of the variety-type shows.

 

I went in '97, I think it was 97 anyway. Woggles were there amongst others. 506 had somer great shows. I saw SCOTS there and they were flinging banana pudding at the crowd from huge bowls. I also saw Murder City Devils, which was a great show. There are so many 'fests focused on tight genres these days, that you don't see many of the variety-type shows.

 

Unfortunately, very few trivia nights are geared to the stuff we all like.  I mean, if someone asked questions like, "What record did April March want in return for a super-rare Shitbirds' recording," well, that'd be the first Del Monas record.  But something tells me that's not gonna be on Jeopardy.

 

I looked on my current hard drive...Nothing there.  I'll have to check a few of my old computers next.  I know one of them had a folder marked "61", meaning the next ish of the mag.  I should also see if I can find the No Place Fast stuff.

kopper said:

I'm just amazed you can remember all of these details, not only of the old shows and festivals but even of your writings. You have quite the memory. I bet you're good on trivia nights. :)

I for one am looking forward to whatever you end up finding and posting... hell, even if you can't find ALL of it, just post what you can find. This is a potential treasure trove of info detailing "the golden age" of the garage-rock revival scene.

I'm just amazed you can remember all of these details, not only of the old shows and festivals but even of your writings. You have quite the memory. I bet you're good on trivia nights. :)

I for one am looking forward to whatever you end up finding and posting... hell, even if you can't find ALL of it, just post what you can find. This is a potential treasure trove of info detailing "the golden age" of the garage-rock revival scene.

I think I ended up with a total of 60 issues.  Of course, it started as a 4-page newsletter that originally came out twice a month.  (The first ish was written, as I recall, right after Labor Day, 1990, a weekend that had seen The Gories play at Maxwells in Hoboken one night, opening for an old rockabilly guy whose name escapes me right now, and then the next night at the Space at Chase on 3rd Ave in Manhattan, on a bill w/The Raunch Hands.  Margaret (then pre-) Doll Rod was also having a grand old time at these shows.  Elinor "April March" Blake was definitely at the Saturday night show.  At the time, she was still going out with RH singer Michael Chandler.  She and I did our usual partnering that night when the Raunch Hands did "The Stroll".  (Their version is available on 7".)  That always meant couples-slamming while slow-dancing.  

 

After a year, the TS went to 6 pages.  Then to 8 a year later.  And then I left my job and went to grad school, which meant an end to the monthly mag.  It also meant that issues grew larger, since they came out less often.  And it marked a big change in the way I did things.  Suddenly, there was room to stretch out and do much longer articles and interviews.  Not to mention the pages upon pages of reviews of live shows, records, and other zines.

 

I actually didn't know I was done with the mag until maybe 2 years after the final ish (which came out for LVG 2000, I think.)  I was working on the next issue - and probably still have some of it on my hard drive.  One was the story of The Redcoats, a 60s NJ Shore band that Dionysus put out a record by.  Unbeknownst to me, though, the band member telling me the story was also telling it to someone else at the same time, who was doing it for a web-based publication.  I did, however, actually have some other stuff because I'd had a phone conversation with their first manager of sorts - Steven Rappaport, who had been in The Ran-Dells ("Martian Hop") with his cousin, John Spirt, who was in The Redcoats.  I also did some digging on either ASCAP or BMI and found some songs by John that were not done by The Redcoats (or Ran-Dells) or The Sidekicks (who were really The Redcoats).  I asked Mike Markesich, who told me those songs had been released by The Statesiders.  Steven was thrilled and quickly bought the single on eBay.

 

I actually also did what I thought was going to be a stop-gap 'zine, called No Place Fast, in 2001 or 2002 - thinking that I'd soon go back to doing The Teen Scene.  It was back to the original newsletter style.  And, of course, I also briefly did something called 60 Second Swinger online, which later folded into The Little Cracked Egg website.  

 

Hmmm...Maybe the first thing I should do is see if I can find the stuff from the unpublished issue and post some of that.

 

Blair wrote up a lot of those memories in his old Teen Scene 'zine. There were dozens of issues... no idea how many. I don't know if Blair has any of them archived online, but he should! They were great. Some you can still find on the old Bomp List Archives, like this one: http://bomplist.xnet2.com/9506/msg00164.html

Blair, do you have these archived anywhere? If not, and if you still have them, it'd be cool if you could post each issue to your Hideout blog here, if you can copy & paste the text into a blog post... just an idea!

joey fuckup said:

Wow, I'm speechless...You should write up your memories on here! I (and I'm sure numerous others) would love ALL the details!

Actually, I did reviews of all the 90s stuff in my fanzine, The Teen Scene, at the time.  Somewhere, I have copies of all that stuff.  I'd actually had them all up at the e-text 'zine archive back then, but only some of that stuff was transferred to archive.org, not including mine.  I'm sure that somewhere I have much of the text - and maybe even the Quark files for the stuff from about '95 on - but I'd likely have to search some old hard drives.  It might be a fun project.

 

The funny thing is, back around '99 or so, a small publisher wanted to compile a Best of The Teen Scene.  I almost signed the contract, but I realized I wasn't all that interested in looking back.  I was more into spending my energies on what was *happening*, rather than what had already happened.  That and I couldn't think why anyone would want to buy the damned thing.

Wow, I'm speechless...You should write up your memories on here! I (and I'm sure numerous others) would love ALL the details!

Blair said:

I was at the "first Fuzz Fest" - the one in NYC on June 30, '84.  I still have the WNYU promo spot for it, as well.  In fact, I used it to start off my Highs in the Mid-80s - New York podcast for the GaragePunk podcast some years ago.

 

I was also at the Bad Music Seminar in November of '88, presented at Shelter Studios on, I believe, West 37th in NYC by Tim Warren/Crypt and, I believe, Pete Ciccone (then of the Rat Bastards, and soon The Vacant Lot, but also the graphic design mind behind Immaculate Concepts).  That was a pretty crazed weekend, w/Thee Mighty Caesars playing both nights, but tons of other cool bands, as well.

 

I hit GarageShock '94 and '95, as well as Garage Rage '95 (at Coney Island High in NYC), then Treble Fest '96.  And Fuzzfest '97 and '98.  Both Las Vegas Grind '99 (the better one by far, in my opinion) and the one the next summer.  (The best thing about the one in July, 2000 was the 3 hour set by The Black Diamonds aka The Nashville Ramblers, who I had play my wedding 7 years later.)  And every Cavestomp.  Actually, Jon Weiss called me up when he started thinking about doing the first one, asking if I had contacts for some of the old bands from the 80s garage scene, as well as what newer bands he should have.  There was one band from the 80s (that had lasted into the 90s) that Jon really didn't want on the bill, 'cuz he'd never liked them.  (Something I hadn't known, since I'd seen Jon's band - The Vipers - on a bill w/this band at the Dive back around '85.)  But I convinced Jon that said band would bring in a bunch of people who wouldn't come otherwise.  That sold him.  And it was quite gratifying when he said that night, "You were right."  It was also nice that that band started playing shows again - and even, as I recall - doing a tour or two of Europe again.

 

I've long wanted to do a festival in Wildwood, NJ, maybe a week after Labor Day, while it's still warm enough for summertime fun, but...That's right after I start the new school year, so running it would be difficult.

I was at the "first Fuzz Fest" - the one in NYC on June 30, '84.  I still have the WNYU promo spot for it, as well.  In fact, I used it to start off my Highs in the Mid-80s - New York podcast for the GaragePunk podcast some years ago.

 

I was also at the Bad Music Seminar in November of '88, presented at Shelter Studios on, I believe, West 37th in NYC by Tim Warren/Crypt and, I believe, Pete Ciccone (then of the Rat Bastards, and soon The Vacant Lot, but also the graphic design mind behind Immaculate Concepts).  That was a pretty crazed weekend, w/Thee Mighty Caesars playing both nights, but tons of other cool bands, as well.

 

I hit GarageShock '94 and '95, as well as Garage Rage '95 (at Coney Island High in NYC), then Treble Fest '96.  And Fuzzfest '97 and '98.  Both Las Vegas Grind '99 (the better one by far, in my opinion) and the one the next summer.  (The best thing about the one in July, 2000 was the 3 hour set by The Black Diamonds aka The Nashville Ramblers, who I had play my wedding 7 years later.)  And every Cavestomp.  Actually, Jon Weiss called me up when he started thinking about doing the first one, asking if I had contacts for some of the old bands from the 80s garage scene, as well as what newer bands he should have.  There was one band from the 80s (that had lasted into the 90s) that Jon really didn't want on the bill, 'cuz he'd never liked them.  (Something I hadn't known, since I'd seen Jon's band - The Vipers - on a bill w/this band at the Dive back around '85.)  But I convinced Jon that said band would bring in a bunch of people who wouldn't come otherwise.  That sold him.  And it was quite gratifying when he said that night, "You were right."  It was also nice that that band started playing shows again - and even, as I recall - doing a tour or two of Europe again.

 

I've long wanted to do a festival in Wildwood, NJ, maybe a week after Labor Day, while it's still warm enough for summertime fun, but...That's right after I start the new school year, so running it would be difficult.

Damn, I would love to have made that Scion fest...

kopper said:

The Denver festival was TrebleFest ('96). I was there! It was fucking phenomenal.

We also went to Las Vegas Grind in 2000 and Cavestomp in New York in 2001 (just a month after 9/11). Great memories.

Then we started having kids, and I didn't go to another garage fest until last year's Scion thing in Lawrence.

 

Winthropf said:

I always wanted to go to a Garageshock ... and there was a Fest sometime in the mid90s in Denver, i think it was put on by 360Spin, but I remember it had thee Headcoats, The Hatebombs, The Makers and others...

The best fest I went to I think was the second Las Vegas Grind (2000)... if for nothing else but the set up. In that everything was right in the hotel. With sseveral stages for the bands to play, and it was in Vegas...
Black Diamonds played like 3 hours during the day...
Insomniacs, Neckbreakers, Hatebombs, Barry and the Remains, The Lyres, Crawdaddies, Freddy Fortune and the Four Gone Conclusions, Les Sexareenos, The Trouble Makers, Jackie and the Cedrics(!!!!).....

The Denver festival was TrebleFest ('96). I was there! It was fucking phenomenal.

We also went to Las Vegas Grind in 2000 and Cavestomp in New York in 2001 (just a month after 9/11). Great memories.

Then we started having kids, and I didn't go to another garage fest until last year's Scion thing in Lawrence.

 

Winthropf said:

I always wanted to go to a Garageshock ... and there was a Fest sometime in the mid90s in Denver, i think it was put on by 360Spin, but I remember it had thee Headcoats, The Hatebombs, The Makers and others...

The best fest I went to I think was the second Las Vegas Grind (2000)... if for nothing else but the set up. In that everything was right in the hotel. With sseveral stages for the bands to play, and it was in Vegas...
Black Diamonds played like 3 hours during the day...
Insomniacs, Neckbreakers, Hatebombs, Barry and the Remains, The Lyres, Crawdaddies, Freddy Fortune and the Four Gone Conclusions, Les Sexareenos, The Trouble Makers, Jackie and the Cedrics(!!!!).....

Daaaaamn! Awesome memories! I would love to have been in your shoes, man! Write up your memories on here on the Hideout! Obviously we would all dig it!

Winthropf said:

I made it to a Sleazefest, i think it was 96...
I was underage at the time, but made the drive from Florida, so they felt bad and let me and my brother in. We had talked to Dave of the Local 506 when he was tour managing for the Flat Duo Jets, and he said it would be ok, of course he didn't remember us when we got to Chapel Hill, but he was still really cool. (they musta thought we were idiots when they told us we had to have black xs on our heads and we said ok... we had drove 8 hours!)

So bands I saw...
Just found this lineup on a website... and I'm pretty certain I saw most of these

Friday, August 16th: Big Top, Flat Duo Jets, Simon & the Bar Sinisters, The Bad Checks, The Subsonics, Jack Black, LUD.

Saturday, August 17th: Southern Culture on the Skids, The Swingin' Neckbreakers, The Woggles, Nashville Pussy, Impala, The Royal Pendletons, Bent Scepters, Trailer Bride.

Sunday, August 18th: The Cowslingers, The Hatebombs, The Backsliders, Family Dollar Pharaohs, The Quadrajets, The Glenmont Popes, Gringos, Whiskeytown.

The only ones I don't remember seeing were Gringos...
A lot of these bands I had seen a bunch around the Southeast around the same time... and many of the people in the bands I would eventually become friendly with from playing in bands later myself... it's funny to think of the amount of people that were in the little Local 506 that I am now friendly with...
Also a note, Flat Duo Jets didn't play, it ended up being Dex by himself. And Hasil Adkins played on the Saturday night!!!

I always wanted to go to a Garageshock ... and there was a Fest sometime in the mid90s in Denver, i think it was put on by 360Spin, but I remember it had thee Headcoats, The Hatebombs, The Makers and others...

The best fest I went to I think was the second Las Vegas Grind (2000)... if for nothing else but the set up. In that everything was right in the hotel. With sseveral stages for the bands to play, and it was in Vegas...
Black Diamonds played like 3 hours during the day...
Insomniacs, Neckbreakers, Hatebombs, Barry and the Remains, The Lyres, Crawdaddies, Freddy Fortune and the Four Gone Conclusions, Les Sexareenos, The Trouble Makers, Jackie and the Cedrics(!!!!).....

I made it to a Sleazefest, i think it was 96...
I was underage at the time, but made the drive from Florida, so they felt bad and let me and my brother in. We had talked to Dave of the Local 506 when he was tour managing for the Flat Duo Jets, and he said it would be ok, of course he didn't remember us when we got to Chapel Hill, but he was still really cool. (they musta thought we were idiots when they told us we had to have black xs on our heads and we said ok... we had drove 8 hours!)

So bands I saw...
Just found this lineup on a website... and I'm pretty certain I saw most of these

Friday, August 16th: Big Top, Flat Duo Jets, Simon & the Bar Sinisters, The Bad Checks, The Subsonics, Jack Black, LUD.

Saturday, August 17th: Southern Culture on the Skids, The Swingin' Neckbreakers, The Woggles, Nashville Pussy, Impala, The Royal Pendletons, Bent Scepters, Trailer Bride.

Sunday, August 18th: The Cowslingers, The Hatebombs, The Backsliders, Family Dollar Pharaohs, The Quadrajets, The Glenmont Popes, Gringos, Whiskeytown.

The only ones I don't remember seeing were Gringos...
A lot of these bands I had seen a bunch around the Southeast around the same time... and many of the people in the bands I would eventually become friendly with from playing in bands later myself... it's funny to think of the amount of people that were in the little Local 506 that I am now friendly with...
Also a note, Flat Duo Jets didn't play, it ended up being Dex by himself. And Hasil Adkins played on the Saturday night!!!

I always wanted to go to a Garageshock ... and there was a Fest sometime in the mid90s in Denver, i think it was put on by 360Spin, but I remember it had thee Headcoats, The Hatebombs, The Makers and others...

The best fest I went to I think was the second Las Vegas Grind (2000)... if for nothing else but the set up. In that everything was right in the hotel. With sseveral stages for the bands to play, and it was in Vegas...
Black Diamonds played like 3 hours during the day...
Insomniacs, Neckbreakers, Hatebombs, Barry and the Remains, The Lyres, Crawdaddies, Freddy Fortune and the Four Gone Conclusions, Les Sexareenos, The Trouble Makers, Jackie and the Cedrics(!!!!).....

Yeah, I've often thought of trying to hit Heavy Rebel, but it never pans out...sucks 'cause Winston-Salem is only 2 hours away, but the that weekend (July 4) is the worst time for me to try and attend anything like that unless it was here in town (yeah, right)...There's still murmurs of Sleazefest coming back, but I've not heard anything concrete....

It was good times. I was wondering what happened to it. SCOTS, the Woggles, Snatches of Pink, the Dynamite Brothers, New Town Drunks... to name a few were seen there by me. Can't remember anything sucking... everyone was very friendly. Always fun talking to Rick, Mary and Dave of SCOTS. They are one of the most friendly bands I've ever met. One of Dave Quick's bands played, although I can't recall which one at the moment. I highly recommend attending the Heavy Rebel Weekender. I wish SCOTS would play that one. Dave, you listening?

Man, I would love to have made that! Hell, I never even heard of FuzzFest before! I'm sure there were offshoots, like there's offshoots of other fests...I think Sleazefest was inspired by one in Athens, GA that I think was called Trashfest (not sure), but you can see the roots of it in the Sleazefest documentary...

TeenFink said:

Speaking of old garage fests, does anyone remember the FuzzFests? I think this was the first one:

http://www.cheepskatesmovie.com/id51.html

How many of those were there? And weren't there other FuzzFest offshoots in other towns later on, like in the '90s and early '00s?

Speaking of old garage fests, does anyone remember the FuzzFests? I think this was the first one:

http://www.cheepskatesmovie.com/id51.html

How many of those were there? And weren't there other FuzzFest offshoots in other towns later on, like in the '90s and early '00s?

I like the sound of that, actually...Could be a great opportunity to put the Hideout in the spotlight too...
kopper said:

You could call it the Norfuck Fest.

joey fuckup said:

Ha! The closest I would get to starting up something like that would be something locally, and it would just be a few punk bands around...I would have better luck in Norfolk, though...And that probably wouldn't be too hard...I do know enough people from such bands as the Strap Ons, the Villains, Trauma Dolls, Hydeouts, thee Apostles, Sleaze Stacks, and more... Hmmm....And if I was able to throw something together there, I would have plenty of help...And it wouldn't be that hard to get Larry May down, too...

You have a right to brag! Amazing line-up! Will have to check out some online articles on past Gonerfests, too!

DammitDave said:

Everyone.  Check it.  I played rhythm guitar with Armitage Shanks the same night as New Bomb Turks and Guitar Wolf.  Yes, I am bragging.  I can die happy now.

 

http://www.memphisflyer.com/SingAllKinds/archives/2010/09/28/gonerf...

 

http://www.last.fm/festival/1611525+Gonerfest+7

You could call it the Norfuck Fest.

joey fuckup said:

Ha! The closest I would get to starting up something like that would be something locally, and it would just be a few punk bands around...I would have better luck in Norfolk, though...And that probably wouldn't be too hard...I do know enough people from such bands as the Strap Ons, the Villains, Trauma Dolls, Hydeouts, thee Apostles, Sleaze Stacks, and more... Hmmm....And if I was able to throw something together there, I would have plenty of help...And it wouldn't be that hard to get Larry May down, too...