Bad Copy

After Handlebar family dinner last night, I sprinted home to walk my dog, shower, and pass out just after midnight. I planned it out where I could easily get eight hours of sleep before doing it all again on Day 2… except real sleep never came. I had those terrible panic and anxiety sleep bursts where you wake up a few minutes after you pass out thinking something terrible has happened or will happen or that you forgot something. Every time I closed my eyes, I flashed back to walking through the crowd, feeling like there were a million people around me. I finally was able to sleep around 6AM and I got up just after 8. Hell yes. The coffee was made strong this morning.

I picked up Mat before noon and we parked. But as we were walking away from my car and towards the festival, a guy walked up to us saying that he was going to have our car towed for parking in front of his apartment. I explained to him that it was a public, non-permitted street and that wouldn’t be allowed. But he said he would call. It freaked me out a bit, so I moved my car a block away (to our actual secret parking space, which was not available when we originally parked) and we headed in just in time to catch the second half of NOBRO’s set. My god they’re good. I was also able to swing by the stage to catch 2 songs of Aim High before running over to see what I could of The Iron Roses. But my anxiety of all my time constraints got the best of me and I retreated back to the Press Area for a long, LONG stretch.

Despite running on no sleep, my body somehow kicked up the adrenaline and I was suddenly ready to go. NOBRO must have gotten right off stage and headed right over to the Press area, because they were suddenly right there ready to go. We got the whole band to do a Bad Lib with us and they were cracking up the whole time. That’s the kind of response you want; it’s always super weird when a band or artist is serious with it. After them was Arabella Harrison of JeJune who may have been soft spoken and unassuming but made me smile the whole time.

Curtis and I have had a years’ long deal of funneling bands and artists to each other that the other did not get passed to cover. So, while Deanna Belos of Sincere Engineer was not on my list for the day, I was more than happy to catch up with her and play a round. I’ve known Deanna for years now and I am so pleased and proud to see everything that her band has become from her humble beginnings of singing solo in the backrooms of bars across the city’s north side. Next was Aim High. Instantly, I was loving the energy they brought to the game. They also brought a baby. Well, a kid. A very small one. Who got to say his favorite word as one of the words we used to fill in a blank. Next was ASAVA. The band easily wins the day’s best dressed award. While I unfortunately wasn’t able to catch their set, Aaron of Bearded Gentlemen did and he – along with others in Press – had amazing things to say about them.

Then there was Chat Pile from Oklahoma. The band plays sludgy noise metal that sounds super tough onstage. But they were all so sweet and kind when we met and hung out. This is why I love Bad Libs! It really lets people be themselves. It has nothing to do with them or their music. It just lets band members and artists exist and joke around for a few minutes before rocketing into another interview where they have to talk about their new release or sound or whatever.

Next up was Becky and Natasha of The Iron Roses. Was I looking forward to this one more than the others? Maaaaaybe. I’ve known both the women for a few years now and I have watched the band change, transform, and grow into what it is now – a Riot Fest playing powerhouse. Their Bad Lib was just as big, bold, and beautiful as I ever could have hoped. Afterwards, I also made friends with their PR rep, Rachel, and her fiancé. They were so fun and great to talk to and it’s always nice to expand the friend circle outside of band members!

In between my solid sets of Bad Libs, I was able to escape the Press area and catch some bands. I saw most of Brian Fallon and the Painkillers, which was great. He just released a new solo album, Not Bad For New Jersey, earlier this month. He opened with the title track but didn’t dwell; he sprinkled in tracks from his other releases and even ended with a Horrible Crowes song, “Behold the Hurricane,” which holds an exceedingly special place in my heart. Did I squirt out a few tears standing in a big field all by myself watching Brian Fallon strum away on a stage so far away that I was forced to watch him on screen to even recognize him? Why yes, yes I was. I also caught a bit of Sugar, no knowing that I knew who they were. Is there anything that Bob Mould isn’t in? They were great.

I caught most of Social Distortion’s set. I had seen Mike Ness recently on a few reels and I had no idea that he went from slicked back greaser to Miami coke dealer silver fox. He looks goooood. And he and the band sounded great. They played a mix of new and old. Favorites of course included “Mommy’s Little Monster” and “Bad Luck.” And they ended with “Don’t Drag Me Down.” That gave me a flashback to renting that CD from the library in my hometown so I could burn a copy of it on my family’s home computer. I listened to that thing on repeat for weeks. I felt like I had discovered something that no one else I knew did and I couldn’t decide whether to share it with everyone or keep it a secret just for me. *sigh* The beauty of discovering new music.

I ran back to the press area for two more rounds of Bad Libs. The first was with Yard Act. The Leeds-based band knew exactly what the game was, except they said that there’s another name for it in the UK. I wish I had written down what they said because now I’m Googling trying to find it and the best offer is something called Story Cubes where you roll some dice to help fill in the blanks. Either way, they crushed it! Last of the day was Hot Rod Circuit, a band that I have loved since high school. I was crushed to have missed their set today but vowed that I would catch them again, since they seem to be touring  a bit more these days. Their Bad Lib was equal parts nerdy and silly, exactly how I imagined it would be. Amazing.

Unfortunately, due to impending bad weather, the Riot Fest team decided to make the call to close down the festival early. All sets would end by 7:30PM. That means that two and a half hours would be cut. To accomplish this, the performers had shortened their sets to accommodate everyone they could. And somehow… magically… this meant that Morrissey took the stage on time. I say this as a survivor of his prior Riot Fest appearance, the one where he refused to come on stage for like an hour because he was sure that someone, somewhere was cooking meat. But not today. He was up there, decked out in his own merch, singing Smiths songs. He sounded great, but it was a very different experience than the one I had predicted.

I met up with the rest of the press pals to catch Bad Religion, the last band of the night for us all. It’s funny. While the set lists of many of the bands were around seven to ten songs, especially with the shortened set, Bad Religion’s was nineteen. What also makes that comical is that they were paired up against headliner Tool, who has like 20 minute tracks. Fast, fun, efficient, and effective. It was great. They sounded amazing and they had just as much energy as when I used to see them back when I lived in California and went to the school where Greg teaches Zoology.

That was a wrap for us. We trudged out of the festival and to our respective vehicles, more than ready for some food. And while I told you all in my Day 1 write up that we always go to Handlebar for family dinner, we were out so early that there were other options open! We decided to grab tacos at Quesadilla La Reina Del Sur, a place right up the way from Handlebar. Before we could even practically order drinks, Curtis ordered us flan which we all shared as we waited for our tacos to arrive. We were safely tucked inside the restaurant when the rain began followed by thunder and lightning. Yep, good call Riot Fest overlords. Glad we were inside and dry for that. However, we spent dinner talking about what tomorrow would look like with more impending storms looming. Today was supposed to rain all afternoon, but it only started around 9PM. Perhaps tomorrow we will be lucky again! *Narrator Voice* But no matter how hard they wished, they would – in fact – not be luck again. Not lucky at all…

Stay tuned for Day 3 coverage tomorrow and check out Mat’s photos below: