hozac blackout fest 2014 preview

HOLY SHIT...it's time for HOZAC RECORDS annual festival of debauchery and noise, BLACKOUT FEST!!!!!!!  it's all happening this weekend in chicago at the empty bottle and this year's lineup is just as killer as you'd expect....... with seldom seen bands like THE DICTATORS and THE BOYS appearing along with tiny groove's faves like COUNTER INTUITS, NONES and a slew of other face melting bands!!!!!!!  so don't fucking miss out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

more deets on the poster to yer left......

and some songs to jam out below just in case you need some convincing!!!!!!!!!!!!

ticket info can be found here or here.

blackout fest recap - random drunk pixels

oh so many good bands and drunken hazy memories......
BLACKOUT FEST is always a great fucking time..... next year i hope to see even more of you there, it's after all one of the best festivals of the year, matched only by SXSW, Atlanta's MESS AROUND and Memphis' GONER FEST......

many thanks to the bands, HOZAC RECORDS and the EMTPY BOTTLE for one of the best weekends of the whole year......  and special thanks to TELEDROME and KETAMINES for keeping the party going all night long friday and saturday at TINY GROOVES HQ.....

here's some more random videos for the weekend, 
thanks to sadly panda as always.......

BARRERACUDAS



TELEDROME



PLATEAUS



COZY



FAR OUT FANGTOOTH



WHITE MYSTERY

blackout fest recap - VIDEO

VIDEO is a band you need to know about now...
...comprised of members from various other DENTON TEXAS punk bands such as BAD SPORTS and WAX MUSEUMS, 
   VIDEO makes some of the best dirty 
fun drunken punk rock around......


they throw in a little bit of psych, garage and krautrock in to mix, and in concert, these guys are a full on riot......... 


their full length LEATHER LEATHER 
on PLAY PINBALL RECORDS was one of 
my top records of 2011, i just can't recommend them enough.......


watch their epic set from BLACKOUT FEST below.....

blackout fest recap - spider fever

SPIDER FEVER packed a wallop of good ol' blown out rock n roll friday night of BLACKOUT FEST....... one of my favorite new punk bands of 2012....these guys don't tour very often, so it was awesome to get to hear their fierce screeching punk rock in person.......... especially sandwiched between VIDEO and DAVILA 666......  what a night.......


go buy their new s/t lp out on WINDIAN RECORDS 
and watch their set at BLACKOUT FEST below..........

blackout fest recap - fungi girls

one of my favorite bands on HOZAC RECORDS right now has gotta be the FUNGI GIRLS.... fuzzed out psych / angular garage rock like none else...... they most certainly keep the 13th floor elevators / texas psych flag flying high... 


FUNGI GIRLS melted many faces at BLACKOUT FEST including mine....their set was a crowd fave for sure... i rushed in from drinking whiskey with TELEDROME and KETAMINES at their tour van so i wouldn't miss any note of their set..... so fucking awesome...... 


if you don't know FUNGI GIRLS yet, 
get to know them real well below.......(thanks to sadly panda)

blackout fest recap - ketamines

KETAMINES were a riot to hang out with and watch all weekend long, they played an in-store at PERMANENT RECORDS on friday and a set at BLACKOUT FEST saturday.....both performances were incredible psych tinged garage punk affairs...... and if you haven't checked out their new lp SPACED OUT on MAMMOTH CAVE // SOUTHPAW RECORDS, yr missing out......


KETAMINES are super recommended and their new album is sure to make my year end best of list.......

watch them here at the empty bottle....



and here at permanent records.....

blackout fest recap - homostupids

the best part of BLACKOUT FEST is seeing bands for the first time.....and let me tell you i was fuckin stoked to finally see HOMOSTUPIDS in person.....some of the most apeshit crazy garage punk you'll ever witness.....and the most noisy punk rock destruction of the whole fest..... 


i couldn't help pogoing around and sloshing beers on my friends..... these guys are highly recommended...... if you can find their lps and singles, buy them immediately........


watch HOMOSTUPIDS below and pretend you were there......




like i said before, thanks to sadly panda for filming all these bands i was too drunk to capture digitally....

blackout fest recap - gentleman jesse and his men

nothing got the kids going like the power pop bands at BLACKOUT FEST.....and GENTLEMAN JESSE is one of the best at it there is...... check out his new album LEAVING ATLANTA if you don't believe me..... 


and watch his set of pop madness at Blackout below........ 

blackout fest recap - REDD KROSS

saturday night at BLACKOUT FEST.....chicago got a full taste of classic snotty bubblegum punk rock via the legendary REDD KROSS..... 


definitely one of my favorite sets of the weekend, REDD KROSS slammed through their classic BORN INNOCENT lp as well as their s/t debut ep....... 


it was so fuckin' killer......
 i can't even say anymore, just watch below.......









thanks to sadly panda for the live footage...... he's one of the few rock n rollers that puts forth the effort to document the scene here in chicago and it makes all the difference......

blackout fest recap - estrogen highs // medication

filling out the rest of the bill on sunday at BLACKOUT FEST was ESTROGEN HIGHS, MEDICATION and BARE MUTANTS..... all three bands which are highly recommended.....

ESTROGEN HIGHS play some of the best jangly angular guitar pop songs you'll hear all year long....their new lp IRRELEVANT FUTURE out on TROUBLE IN MIND is a record i just can't get enough of...and it was great to finally get the chance to see 'em live....

MEDICATION started the night out right with their woozy psych garage jams.... their full length on HOZAC should've caught more ears when it came out, but it's still in print, so grab a copy soon....... these guys were the under the radar faves of many of my friends at the fest...including me...

watch highlights from their sets below....


ESTROGEN HIGHS


MEDICATION

blackout fest recap - human eye

HUMAN EYE brought their space punk / mutant garage rock back to the empty bottle for quite the excellent set at hozac's BLACKOUT FEST.....  chicago can never get enough of these guys and neither can i...... 


watch some of their set from last night at the empty bottle below.....
(thanks to sadly panda for the live footage)

blackout fest recap - ROKY ERICKSON

holy shit this weekend was insane, so much rock n roll......it almost killed me......

thanks HOZAC RECORDS for throwing the always fantastic BLACKOUT FEST......

one of the highlights had to be ROKY ERICKSON of 13th FLOOR ELEVATORS fame closing out the fest on sunday.  roky is a legend and he pretty much invented psychedelic garage back in the 60s.... he's definitely on my list of fave musicians of all time... it was fucking awesome and unbelievable to see him in person and at one of my favorite venues, the empty bottle......

the show was way sold out and everyone so excited last night.....

i wish you were all there, but you can watch roky's set below....
(thanks to sadly panda for the live footage)

the BLACKOUT begins...

HoZaC's BLACKOUT FEST 

BEGINS 

TONIGHT 

with Mentally Ill and Cemetery 

at the BOTTOM LOUNGE at 7 PM.......

THEN ON TO THE EMPTY BOTTLE 

for the rest of the weekend.....

FRIDAY 5/18 

DAVILA 666 

SPIDER FEVER 

VIDEO

PLATEAUS 

COZY 

SYZ (SCREAMING YELLOWZONKERS)

E.T.HABIT 

SATURDAY 5/19 

REDD KROSS 

GENTLEMAN JESSE 

HOMOSTUPIDS 

FUNGI GIRLS

TELEDROME 

PLEASURE LEFTISTS 

FAR-OUT FANGTOOTH 

KETAMINES 

BARRERACUDAS 

WHITE MYSTERY 

SUNDAY 5/20

ROKY ERICKSON 

HUMAN EYE

ESTROGEN HIGHS

MEDICATION 

BARE MUTANTS 

Watch REDD KROSS 

perform their BORN INNOCENT LP BELOW 

and get ready for the drunken punk rock chaos 

about to ensue.....!!!!

plateaus - do it for you 7 inch

where does HOZAC RECORDS find all these awesome new bands?????..... do they have secret talent scouts getting drunk at punk shows across the country, looking for the next cool band to sign?????  i think they must......

so let me introduce the newest band to the rowdy fun hozac roster...... PLATEAUS.....

PLATEAUS is about to release their second 7 inch on HOZAC this month....and this SAN DIEGO band is the next big thing......playful sun bathed fuzzed out garage rock..... both songs on this new single are instant classics.......  hozac continues to be on a roll with their excellent 2012 releases.......

you'll wanna pick this one up now.....  and perhaps PLATEAUS' excellent debut single from last year on ART FAG as well......  both are highly recommended......

listen to the A SIDE off the new HOZAC single, 
DO IT FOR YOU, below...



and check out PLATEAUS on tour in a city near you
 on their way to HOZAC's BLACKOUT FEST.....


5/10 - San Diego, CA @ THE TOWER BAR w/ Teenage Burritos - Tour Kickoff Party / FREE
5/14 - Denver, CO @Larimer Lounge
5/15 - Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge
5/16 - Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
5/17 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
5/18 - Chicago, IL @ HoZac Blackout Festival 
5/20 - Oklahoma City, OK @ The Conservatory
5/22 - Dallas, TX @ City Tavern
5/24 - Austin, TX @ Spiderhouse 

and watch the video for DO IT FOR YOU here...

listen to SUZY and BEACH COMA off their ART FAG single below.......fucking awesome jams....

estrogen highs - irrelevant future

ESTROGEN HIGHS just released their second album, IRRELEVANT FUTURE on TROUBLE IN MIND RECORDS and it's quite the killer lp.......chock full of stripped down angular post punk songs that borrow equally from noisy punk influences like the WIPERS or WIRE and more pop oriented bands like the CLEAN or TALL DWARFS....  almost a perfect guitar driven indie rock album...and they are few and far between these days, since indie rock has gone all wimpy on us in the last ten years or so......

you can check out ESTROGEN HIGHS at this years HOZAC BLACKOUT FEST, but if you can't make it to chicago, you'll need to grab IRRELEVANT FUTURE as soon as you can.......

click here to buy ESTROGEN HIGHS lp from TROUBLE IN MIND here.......

and listen to the hit single "I WANNA BE TALL" below......



watch ESTROGEN HIGHS live below......



The Estrogen Highs - Irresponsibility from Safety Meeting Records on Vimeo.


Estrogen Highs - Logical Doctor (live at Cafe Nine 3/29/11) from Safety Meeting Records on Vimeo.

hozac records announes full line-up for BLACKOUT FEST!!!!!

Hozac Records has just announced the full line-up for 2012's Blackout Fest, and well it's pretty much one of the best shows you'll get the chance to see all year long.  Mark your calendars, Blackout Fest will happen May 17th-20th at the Volcano Room and the Empty Bottle in Chicago.   Tickets are on sale now via ticketweb..... Grab a three day for $60 or a one day for $25...the low price and high quality of Blackout Fest far outweighs those other two more famous music festivals that take place in Chicago. So forget them, this is the weekend you ought to visit Chicago... 

This is some Garage / Punk / Psych / Noise mayhem you won't ever forget.  And this combination of bands will never assemble in the same place ever again.

So here's the run down......

the 2012 Hozac Blackout Fest

Thurs 5/17 Art Show Opening Party @ Volcano Room FREE.  

(3 day passes guarantee entry.)

Mentally Ill (legendary first wave punk from chicago)
Cemetery (gothic punk blood spilling from chicago)


Friday 5/18 @ Empty Bottle:

Davila 666 (Puerto Rican garage party monsters)
Spider Fever (blown out garage punk mayhem from so cal)
Video (in yr face texas punk, members of bad sports, wax museums)
Rayon Beach (psych burnt texas chaos)
Plateaus (surf noise pop from san diego)
COZY (rock n roll explosions from the twin cities)
SYZ (Screaming Yellow Zonkers) (reunited chicago rock n roll destroyers)
ET Habit (spooky noise rock from chicago)


Saturday 5/19 @ Empty Bottle:

Redd Kross (reunited and performing Posh Boy EP + Born Innocent LP) 

Gentleman Jesse & His Men (power pop from atlanta, ex-carbonas)
Homostupids (noise face melting from cleveland)
Fungi Girls (angular psych jams from texas)
Teledrome (synth noise riot)
Pleasure Leftists (angular post punk from Cleveland)
Far-Out Fangtooth (pure evil from philly)
Ketamines (canadian psych warriors)
Barreracudas (even more power poped jams from atlanta)
White Mystery (garage duo blasting off from chicago)

Sunday 5/20 @ Empty Bottle:

Roky Erickson 

(of everyone's fave psych band, 13th Floor Elevators)
Human Eye (detroit's finest mutant garage punk)
Estrogen Highs (angular guitar pop from ohio)
Medication (psych fuzz from connecticut) 
Bare Mutants (arty garage from chicago)

drunk pixels - k-holes // bezoar

the K-HOLES bounced through chicago on the way outta of austin after SXSW.....and man i was blown away....i hadn't seen them since BLACKOUT FEST last year, and they've gotten even better and more sinister.......K-HOLES have a new lp DISMANIA due out may 1st on HARDLY ART records.....which i can't wait to get my hands on...and if their show at the empty bottle is any indication, it'll be on my best of list at the end of the year.......

they were joined by BEZOAR, fellow brooklynites and noise-mongers, as their openers..... BEZOAR plays stoner metal noise psych that ought to be filed away near the WHITE HILLS and LITURGY in yr record collection..... a band that i hope to hear more from in the future....... quite epic and rock n roll......

watch the show below and enjoy........

K-HOLES




BEZOAR

holy shit...HOZAC BLACKOUT FEST returns this may 17-19th

HOZAC RECORDS is once again putting on their annual garage/punk/noise fest of mayhem, BLACKOUT, this May 17-19th.  Hosted this year by the Empty Bottle and the Bottom Lounge, Blackout Fest promises one of the most insane shows you'll get the chance to go all year.  So if you've recovered enough from SXSW and the Atlanta Mess Around and can make it to Chicago, you need to check out our friends at Hozac's crazy little shindig......

This is the line-up announced so far.  and it's pretty fucking amazing.  More bands to be revealed later.

RED KROSS (reunited & performing two of their classic releases in their entirety, POSH BOY and BORN INNOCENT)

GENTLEMAN JESSE (douchemaster records, ex-carbonas, power pop goodness for ATL)

VIDEO (play pinball records, members of the Bad Sports, OBN IIIs)

KETAMINES (southpaw records, canadian psych/garage)

FUNGI GIRLS (hozac, angular psych killers from texas)

RAYON BEACH (hozac, garage monsters from texas)

HOMOSTUPIDS (load records, cleveland noiseniks)

TELEDROME (hozac, synth noise destruction)

FAR-OUT FANGTOOTH (siltbreeze records, pure evil rock goodness from philly)

PLEASURE LEFTISTS (fan death records, angular post punk from cleveland)

SCREAMING YELLOW ZONKERS (mysterious chicago rock n rollers)

and i would speculate the bands to include some local rock n roll luminaries as......

RADAR EYES

HEAVY TIMES

NONES

OUTER MINDS

MICKEY

maybe even RUNNING and WHITE MYSTERY.....but that's just me adding to the rumors......

Last year nearly killed me I had so much fun, but I guess that's what happens when you get the chance to see bands like the Spits and Nobunny in the same night.

Stay tuned to Tiny Grooves, Victim of Time and/or Hozac

for more info..... 

watch the BLACKOUT FEST highlight reel below...

hozac blackout fest wrap-up: k-holes

dark skronky noisy psych rock from new yorkers who might know how to do it best.   tied with puffy areolas for most intense, loud and riotous set of BLACKOUT FEST.......  the K-HOLES don't play many shows so catch them live if you can......

and buy their LP out on HOZÅC, one of my fav lps of the year........

watch their set below........

hozac blackout fest wrap-up: eric and the happy thoughts

catchy garage pop from indiana....... the happy thoughts got the crowd bouncing at BLACKOUT.....






click here to grab their first lp (from a couple of years back)......and go buy their new LP out on HOZAC records NOW......