Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview: Black Stage

A gloomy, teeth-gnashing rejoinder to the various dance parties, twee sing-alongs, and wacky comedy hijinks happening elsewhere around Waterloo Park, the aptly named Black Stage is where Fun Fun Fun Fest hides its angst-y alter ego as one of the best punk and metal festivals in the nation. That reputation is solidified once again thanks to the organizers’ unique knack for reuniting hardcore heroes you thought had long since disappeared, and getting old men to pretend to be angry and young all over again. In this second edition of our stage-by-stage preview of this weekend’s festival, here are all the artists making a threatening noise there on Saturday and Sunday.

SATURDAY

Rat King, 12:30pm
In folklore, the “rat king” is what happens when various rats become intertwined at the tails through a sticky conglomeration of blood, dirt, and shit, then grow as one into a snarling, snapping ball of plague-bearing ill will. That’s an apt descriptor for this Austin thrash metal supergroup, whose individual tails include stints in hardcore legends Gorilla Biscuits, scum-rockers Made Out Of Babies, and The Sword progenitors Ultimate Dragons: Together they’re far bigger and nastier than the mere sum of their parts.

Coliseum, 1:05pm
Before there were millions to be reaped, hardcore bands weren’t afraid to confront, confuse, and contuse their audiences—in fact, that was kind of the point. Kentucky’s three-piece powerhouse Coliseum hasn’t forgotten: Shouter/guitarist Ryan Patterson makes no bones about getting in kids’ faces and shaking them out of their passive-consumer trances. Its self-titled 2004 debut—a viciously thick, discordant stew of Motörhead and Void—caught the attention of Relapse, who added the group to its roster with 2007’s No Salvation. Like the title suggests, it’s a relentless collection of brute force precisely applied. The band plays here behind a promised 2010 follow-up.

All Leather, 1:40pm
Born out of the ashes of Ping-Pong punks Some Girls and featuring Justin Pearson of spazzcore kings The Locust, Dim Mak signee All Leather puts a slightly dancier spin (albeit in the form of full-body jerks) on those bands’ caustic thrash. Pearson—also the founder of insouciantly abrasive label Three One G—is in unusually fine, frenetic form on leaked singles from an upcoming full-length, and happily, he’s retained his commitment to crafting absurdist song titles like “When I Grow Up, I Wanna Fuck Like A Girl” that are funny for precisely as long as their minute-and-a-half running lengths.

Young Widows, 2:15pm
Formed from remnants of Breather Resist, Young Widows chucked most of their forebear’s post-hardcore slant in favor of hideous noise-rock that squirts and squirms like Circus Lupus performing a back-alley abortion on The Jesus Lizard—with a jackhammer. The band’s 2006 debut, Settle Down City, was defined by a fascinating, writhing repulsiveness that barely ever came up for air; last year’s Old Wounds played up the oddly entrancing push-pull its repetitious grinding can have on a crowd through the integration of live cuts, spliced together by producer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou.

The Night Marchers, 2:50pm
From Pitchfork and Drive Like Jehu to Rocket From The Crypt and Hot Snakes, John Reis’ bands have proven he knows his way around a tightly wound, abrasively catchy riff. His latest project, The Night Marchers, offers few surprises for longtime fans: Falling exactly between Rocket and Hot Snakes, the band’s 2008 debut, See You In Magic, is a bare-bones and gruffly propulsive slab of rock with hints of post-punk and garage—not to mention Reis’ distinctive snarl and showmanship.

Russian Circles, 3:35pm
Chicagoans Russian Circles are a surprise godsend for fans of “thinking man’s metal” groups like Pelican. Enter, the trio’s 2006 debut, was promising, but 2008’s Station was Russian Circles’ first major triumph: Masters of the slow build and volcanic release, the band imbued the disc with heavy yet pretty instrumentals that whiplash between passages of earth-crushing and blinding melody. It plays here behind the new Geneva, which adds a bit of somberly epic sweep through the addition of a string section.

The Sword, 4:25pm
Proudly reclaiming magick and medieval times from years of abuse in the annals of metal, Austin’s The Sword forges a path blazed by many errant black knights before them, but few as boldly or successfully. The down-tuned doomsayers with a fetish for Arthurian legend have spent much of the last two years riding the scaly backs of their beastly releases for Kemado, Age Of Winters and Gods Of The Earth, while living out every rock fan’s dream by opening arenas for Metallica. Here it plans to preview “a whole ton of stuff” from its upcoming third effort, which is reportedly a sci-fi concept album.

Melt-Banana, 5:15pm
Part punk pedant and part absurdist exercise, Japanese band Melt-Banana plays scorching rave-ups that usually clock in somewhere around the one-minute mark. Ranging from nine-second bursts to two-minute epics, Melt-Banana songs generally follow a start-scream-scream-stop formula, but the live show can bare a lot of details through streamlined reproduction, and the group has a penchant for destroying unlikely cover songs like Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass” or The Who’s “My Generation.” It plays here behind 2007’s typically manic-expressive Bambi’s Dilemma.

7 Seconds, 6:05pm
From the “Wow, They’re Still Playing?” file: Melodic punk outfit 7 Seconds hasn’t released anything since 2005’s Take It Back, Take It On, Take It Over!, which finds the band returning to the sound it popularized with ‘80s albums like Walk Together, Rock Together. The trip down memory lane doesn’t sound too nostalgic, though: Songs like “Meant To Be My Own” positively swagger with first-wave punk sheen, and although frontman Kevin Seconds has been the group’s sole consistent member, it’s obvious his group hasn’t lost its vision or focus. 

Fucked Up, 6:55pm
With a name like Fucked Up and the reputation that precedes the kind of hardcore band that names itself Fucked Up, nobody who gets a boot to the head at a Fucked Up show can say he or she wasn’t warned. The Toronto quintet—four dudes and one lady—is known for its insane live shows, which feature mountains of volume and singer Damian Abraham throwing his large body into the crowd and, on occasion, smashing beer cans on his head. After spending time on Jade Tree, the band hooked up with Matador to release its second album, The Chemistry Of Common Life, a critical smash that did more to reach across the hardcore genre aisle than any band since Refused.

Face To Face, 7:45pm
After years of playing speedy melodic punk, Face To Face shifted direction on 1999’s Ignorance Is Bliss, veering into midtempo rock à la Foo Fighters. The band’s longtime fans revolted, and the supporting tour was so unpleasant that Face To Face cut it short, went home, and wrote a return-to-form record tellingly entitled Reactionary. The group split in 2003 following the release of its final album, How To Ruin Everything, but reunited last year for some festival dates and no plans to record new material. That, too, didn't last: Frontman Trever Keith is working on songs for a new album.

The Jesus Lizard, 8:35pm
Born in Austin but forged in the industrial grime of Chicago, The Jesus Lizard presented an anguished, angry howl as a counterpoint to the self-pitying lowing of the ’90s “alternative” movement. But while its furious art-rock aggression—built on precisely controlled bursts of rhythmic flailing and Duane Denison’s racking guitar screams—proved to be a scarring influence on legions of noiseniks to follow, in its day The Jesus Lizard developed a reputation primarily based around the “Monkey Trick” abandon and occasional penis puppetry of its lead yeller. There’s no predicting whether David’s Yow will make a cameo here, but as recent reunion sets have shown, age certainly hasn’t made him shy of launching himself full-bore into crowds, or lessened the lacerating sting of his group’s gloriously ugly grooves.

SUNDAY

The Roller, 12pm
Austin’s dropped-D doomsayer The Roller pitches and gnarls like a furiously chained beast, creating a black-cloud haze so heavy it’s borderline psychedelic, and drawing out its resin-coated riffs like a Sabbath record played at the wrong speed. But Ozzy and Co. sound positively pop in comparison to the troglodyte roar of singer Mike Morowitz, whose phlegmatic bark evokes the classic death metal rasp of Death’s Chuck Schuldiner.

Pack Of Wolves, 12:35pm
Featuring the gremlin screams of former At All Cost frontman Trey Ramirez, Austin’s Pack Of Wolves fortunately doesn’t share that band’s taste for trends: There are no melodic concessions to the emo crowd hidden in the blast-beat assaults of its debut, Betrayer—and even better, not a vocoder to be found. It’s just organic, intensely delivered metalcore that’s all the more cutting for its sharp-edged simplicity.

Reign Supreme, 1:10pm
As its name suggests, Philadelphia’s skin-peeling quintet Reign Supreme makes no bones about its own high opinion of itself, once claiming that this year’s Testing The Limits Of Infinite would “unquestionably change the landscape of heavy music.” Um, no, it won’t. But that doesn’t mean the band’s tried-and-true formula of metallic hardcore, stomping breakdowns, and youth-crew shout-alongs is anything less than simply stunning.

Off With Their Heads, 1:45pm
Off With Their Heads’ joyfully obnoxious punk tackles such delicate sentiments as “I’d rather be in New York doin’ heroin again” and “I don’t give a fuck about anything,” making the Minneapolis group’s crude-yet-catchy sound a fun collision of anger and sick humor. The band released a compilation of 7-inch singles, All Things Move Toward Their End, in late 2007, and its even more raucously heartfelt full-length, 2008’s From The Bottom, is a throwback—albeit a spirited and irresistible one—to the raw sound of early-’90s East Bay punk.

The Underground Railroad To Candyland, 2:20pm
TURTC frontman Todd Congelliere is a throwback to the old West Coast D.I.Y. punk scene, in spirit if not in sound. He’s spearheaded two previous bands (F.Y.P. and Toys That Kill) that embodied the playful spirit of his ultra-indie Recess Records label, and he recently relocated to San Pedro, the old stomping ground of the Minutemen. If his new outfit isn’t nearly in the class of those forebears, it at least seems to be having lots of fun—which is more than you can say for a lot of latter-day punk bands.

Mika Miko, 2:55pm
The punks in Mika Miko have established themselves as frenetic performers, navigating the fine line that binds pop and punk music when engaged at its optimum prime. Jennifer and Jessie Clavin, Jenna Thornhill, Michelle Suarez, and Seth Densham are one of the notorious “Smell bands,” emerging with The Mae Shi, No Age, and HEALTH to make a name for that dingy alley in downtown L.A. Churning out a steady collection of short releases on PPM, Kill Rock Stars, Deleted Art, and others since 2003, the band released its first official full-length, We Be Xuxa, a peppy, skronky race to the finish that barely clocks in over 20 minutes.

Youth Brigade, 3:30pm
To give you an idea of how long venerable L.A. punk outfit Youth Brigade has been around—as if the contrast between its name and the graying members wasn’t a big enough clue—the band is most indelibly associated with the label it formed, BYO (Better Youth Organization) Records, which was founded to fight the now-nostalgic stereotype that all punk rockers were inherently unwholesome characters. With some breaks in between, the Stern Brothers have been churning out reliable American hardcore rhythms and flying the flag for positive punk for more than 25 years.

Street Dogs, 4:10pm
Many younger fans of Dropkick Murphys might not remember Mike McColgan, the group’s original singer, who quit after the band’s 1998 debut, Do Or Die, to become a Boston firefighter. Punk rock called him back, though, and McColgan resurfaced in 2002 as the leader of Street Dogs. Last year’s State Of Grace returns McColgan to his roots by bringing more of a Celtic sound to his band’s snarling street punk, and paying tribute to obvious influence Joe Strummer with the eulogy, “The General’s Boombox.”

Coalesce, 4:50pm
One of hardcore’s mid-’90s leading lights, Coalesce rocked with a pummeling ferocity that typified records like Give Them Rope and There Is Nothing New Under The Sun. After a couple of impermanent break-ups, the band sputtered to an anticlimactic end around the turn of the millennium, but has intermittently resurfaced with different lineups since 2002, regrouping most recently to record the new Ox. Coalesce’s first new disc in 10 years, Ox hasn’t suffered from the band’s relative inaction: It’s a brutal onslaught from four guys who have neck-snapping savagery encoded in their muscle memory.

Riverboat Gamblers, 5:35pm
With its loping guitar line and infectious vocal melody, lead-off single “A Choppy, Yet Sincere Apology” suggests that Riverboat Gamblers’ most recent Underneath The Owl might be making an Against Me!-style bid for crossover success, with all the cries of “sell out”—and hopefully, sold-out gigs—that implies. But regardless of its poppy sheen, the snotty band’s up-the-academy fury will never be considered “safe” as long as frontman Mike Wiebe is still swinging from the rafters like he’s Spider-Punk. Sadly, the band’s now-annual Fun Fun Fun appearance comes tinged with minor tragedy this year: Guitarist Ian McDougall is still recovering from severe injuries sustained in an Oct. 17 bicycle crash and will have to mostly yield this one to a revolving cast of substitutes (though it's also rumored he'll play a few while standing on crutches).

Torche, 6:15pm
While steering clear of the blatantly retro doom and thrash movement of the last half decade, Florida’s Torche has cooked up a form of heavy rock that fears neither melody nor harmony. The group’s latest full-length, Meanderthal, owes as much to Bob Mould and Dave Grohl as it does Sabbath or Neurosis. Strip away the chunk and heft from Torche’s songs, and there are some real sing-alongs underneath. 

D.R.I., 6:55pm
D.R.I (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) is widely credited with being the first band to mix hardcore punk with thrash metal, a feat that has propelled its 27-year career. Like many veteran punk acts, D.R.I has undergone numerous personnel changes—and it was briefly sidelined in 2006 when guitarist Spike Cassidy was diagnosed with colon cancer, from which he only recently recovered—but its enduring and wide-ranging impact on thrash (Slayer’s Dave Lombardo hails it as a major influence) is undeniable.

Gorilla Biscuits, 7:40pm
New York straight-edge outfit Gorilla Biscuits (ironically named after a Quaalude) has been around almost as long as there's been such a thing as “straight edge.” Lead singer Anthony “Civ” Civorelli and guitarist Walter Schreifels have been doing their thing with both the Biscuits and other NYC hardcore groups for over two decades, and they’ve still got a dedicated cult of drug-free fans who continue to worship at the altar of its seminal 1989 full-length Start Today. But even if you’re a slave to the demon rum, you can still enjoy the band: Unlike Ian MacKaye’s more accusatory salvos, Gorilla Biscuits keep things short (most songs are less than two minutes long) and surprisingly fun.

Danzig, 8:30pm
Glenn Danzig’s first band, hardcore-punk legend the Misfits, still casts a long shadow, but his own creative course in the subsequent groups Samhain and Danzig led him further and further into pummeling heavy metal and flamboyantly Satanic lyrics. His penchant for demonic, bordering-on-cartoonish imagery—not to mention his Verotik line of sexually charged horror comics—has made him something of a living comic book character himself, like a black-leather Elvis for the goth and metal scenes. His last solo output was 2006’s Black Aria II (a sequel to his 1993 classical concept album about the fall of Lucifer) and he’s similarly slowed his touring regimen considerably of late, so this is a rare performance indeed.