Sound on Sound Recap – Friday

Mama, we made it! This past weekend, we loaded up our best jousting gear and chain mail armor and made the jaunt out to Sherwood Forest in McDade for the first ever Sound on Sound Festival. With the excellent lineup, new approach to booking a location and trusted leaders at the helm, we knew we were in for a whole different festival experience, but what we got was something that went beyond expectations. We came, we saw, we conquered, and some of us felt as though we’d never be dry again (damn rain!). It was a spectacular weekend filled with merriment and music– read on for ATH’s thoughts on day one and to relive Friday with B.Gray’s pretty pics.

RayRay here. I have been tasked with recounting the events from Friday as best I can amidst too much drinking and several food comas. This is clearly a festival catered to the tastes of ATH as many of the bands on the lineup have been dear to us for many years.

Those of you who know us realize by now that we are early birds who like to show up for the locals and peace out around dark when people start getting weird. The Midgetmen kicked off the entire weekend early with a rowdy set of Spinal Tap covers. I’ve never seen anything so sexy as Marc Perlman in spandex.

We hung around The Keep stage for Pinata Protest and a few short songs by War on Women, and though neither were super memorable for me, I did appreciate the energy brought.

A highlight followed with a fun and powerful showing from New York’s Diet Cig. Alex is having way more fun than anyone else and you can feel those positive vibes emitting from her.

Nathan and I had a conversation about Shannon and the Clams while watching their set also on the Dragon’s Lair Stage. I’m one of those people who just doesn’t get it really. Nothing against the band, it’s just kind of a novelty to me.

Cursive obviously slayed it to the extreme. Give me all the old tunes you want Tim Kasher, I’m down for all of it.

We hopped over to The Keep stage again for a few songs by Beach Slang, who also unfortunately had some gear stolen while in town. This band has obviously been through aton lately on the personal side and you can sort of feel that emotional pain from James as he plays alone on stage. Well done.

Guided by Voices was up next on the Dragon’s Lair stage and of course were great. Hopefully I can move like that when I’m Robert Pollard’s age. Anyone else notice the not so nice sounding drums though? ppff pppfff… Bring this man some new heads!

Nathan and I peaced out after this due to exhaustion and the daunting task of waiting for several hours through some hip hop bands to wait for Fidlar/The Oh Sees/Descendents. Sorry we missed you guys.

For a first year festival and on day one, this thing was run like a dream. No issues with delays and no major problems. To be honest though, I don’t see this thing happening at Sherwood Forest again next year as they can possibly move closer into town pending the no compete rule. It will be interesting to see what happens.