Fuzzstock 2009 Review
Fuzzstock is an all day music and arts festival promoting local Philadelphia bands and Philadelphia artists. This was the first year for such an event and it definitely showed, but we love the idea of it and want to use the website to get the word out about it so more people can attend next year.
Fuzzstock was a free event that boasted ten hours of local music while local artists attempted to sell their own original artwork through silent auctions. All proceeds and/or profits were donated to a great charity, the Make A Wish Foundation. Did I mention the whole thing was free? You could donate money if you wanted to, but you really didn't have to. You could theoretically spend the entire day and only have to pay for parking.
We didn't arrive until our chaps from Fosterchild took the stage around 5:00 pm. This is more because New Hope, PA is not easy to get to from where I live. New Hope is a small little town that is very quaint and was a good location for an event like this (about 22 miles from Philadelphia or so).
The event organizers pulled the event together in 59 days and it seemed to go off without a hitch. Kudos to them to not only caring about the Make A Wish Foundation, but also promoting local music. While some of the bands we saw yesterday were not my favorite and others were watered down versions of their previous bands, it was still a great event that needs to be promoted and publicized.
Fosterchild is a great band that has stalled. I don't know why, but it seems the momentum they had (big label push) has run out. I hope they can get it together and rise back to touring nationally. They are one our favorite local band and really put on a high octane live show. I hope they can get it together to put out a new album and get out there and tour behind it. Check out our interview with Danny and Brian, while you are at it.
The show was headlined by Automatic Fire. Automatic Fire is local super group of sorts. Silvertide was signed by Clive Davis and had a great first record, think the Black Crowes, but hungrier and raw. But the lead guitarist Nick Perri left to join Shinedown and the record company stymied the second album. This left Walt Lafty (vocals) and Brian Weaver (bass) seem to be the only members surviving from Silvertide and both rejected our offers to clear the air about what the hell happened to their promising band.
The surviving members of Silvertide met up with Evil Rob from Pepper's Ghost, another great Philadelphia band who had a promising rise to fame. They released a great first album with Beatles like harmonies and restrained rock guitar. They found themselves opening the Ashlee Simpson tour and this move shot them in the foot. It alienated their true rock fans and the girls attending the Simpson show never understood the music.
Automatic Fire didn't live up to the sum of their parts. They didn't have the urgency and charisma of Silvertide and they didn't have the harmony guitar parts of Pepper's Ghost. But they put on a good show. Walt is a fun frontman, spending most of the time in amongst the crowd than on the stage. I don't think the band has the magical "it" to make it. But this is a perfect opportunity for local music fans to see a great frontman in a smaller bar setting because he used to play on big stages. (Silvertide opened up for Van Halen on the 2004 tour)
But rather than focusing on the bands and who was good or wasn't, I want to promote the Fuzzstock because I believe it is a great event. I am looking forward to next year and hope the turn out is a bit better. I hope that in 10 years we are remembering the first Fuzzstock and how large it has grown.
Fuzzstock was a free event that boasted ten hours of local music while local artists attempted to sell their own original artwork through silent auctions. All proceeds and/or profits were donated to a great charity, the Make A Wish Foundation. Did I mention the whole thing was free? You could donate money if you wanted to, but you really didn't have to. You could theoretically spend the entire day and only have to pay for parking.
We didn't arrive until our chaps from Fosterchild took the stage around 5:00 pm. This is more because New Hope, PA is not easy to get to from where I live. New Hope is a small little town that is very quaint and was a good location for an event like this (about 22 miles from Philadelphia or so).
The event organizers pulled the event together in 59 days and it seemed to go off without a hitch. Kudos to them to not only caring about the Make A Wish Foundation, but also promoting local music. While some of the bands we saw yesterday were not my favorite and others were watered down versions of their previous bands, it was still a great event that needs to be promoted and publicized.
Fosterchild is a great band that has stalled. I don't know why, but it seems the momentum they had (big label push) has run out. I hope they can get it together and rise back to touring nationally. They are one our favorite local band and really put on a high octane live show. I hope they can get it together to put out a new album and get out there and tour behind it. Check out our interview with Danny and Brian, while you are at it.
The show was headlined by Automatic Fire. Automatic Fire is local super group of sorts. Silvertide was signed by Clive Davis and had a great first record, think the Black Crowes, but hungrier and raw. But the lead guitarist Nick Perri left to join Shinedown and the record company stymied the second album. This left Walt Lafty (vocals) and Brian Weaver (bass) seem to be the only members surviving from Silvertide and both rejected our offers to clear the air about what the hell happened to their promising band.
The surviving members of Silvertide met up with Evil Rob from Pepper's Ghost, another great Philadelphia band who had a promising rise to fame. They released a great first album with Beatles like harmonies and restrained rock guitar. They found themselves opening the Ashlee Simpson tour and this move shot them in the foot. It alienated their true rock fans and the girls attending the Simpson show never understood the music.
Automatic Fire didn't live up to the sum of their parts. They didn't have the urgency and charisma of Silvertide and they didn't have the harmony guitar parts of Pepper's Ghost. But they put on a good show. Walt is a fun frontman, spending most of the time in amongst the crowd than on the stage. I don't think the band has the magical "it" to make it. But this is a perfect opportunity for local music fans to see a great frontman in a smaller bar setting because he used to play on big stages. (Silvertide opened up for Van Halen on the 2004 tour)
But rather than focusing on the bands and who was good or wasn't, I want to promote the Fuzzstock because I believe it is a great event. I am looking forward to next year and hope the turn out is a bit better. I hope that in 10 years we are remembering the first Fuzzstock and how large it has grown.
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