Down in Florida, I had a chance to catch up with guitarist/vocalist John Baizley of Georgia-based-shred-fanatics Baroness. John is also the talent behind album artwork and merch designs for the likes of Daughters, Torche, Kylesa and more. The band’s performance at the Fest VI was definitely the highlight of my Friday night. The crowd at Common Grounds swayed in front of the stage with raised fists in the air, as they lost themselves in the music. Pure, raw emotion is what defines Baroness’ music; a feeling that most artists never quite achieve, especially those in the “metal genre.” Definitely expect the band’s profile to continue to rise in the ‘08.

I feel you guys are on a few different genre lines. You’ve got a punk and a metal fan base and you are getting a lot of recognition in the indie world – Pitchfork gave you a great review – how do you feel about that? Are those different fan bases showing up at the shows or is it still a metal crowd?
John: It’s actually never really been specifically a metal crowd. It’s always been sort of a cross-genre crowd coming out to see us ever since we first started. I think most of the typically metal kids coming out now is sort of a new thing for us. The early tours we were doing were almost exclusively with punk and hardcore bands. That’s the world we come from. [Read more →]

Tags: Baroness, Interview, The Fest, The Fest 6, interview by bill
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Here is the final installment of our Fest VI wrap up. Here we go, here we go, here we go!

It’s been said that Sunday is the hardest day to play during the Fest weekend. Everyone, for the most part, is hungover and/or tired and it definitely starts to show on that final day. Exhaustion aside, I think it’s pretty safe to say that everyone was ready to go out with a bang.

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Tags: Affirmative Action Jackson, Armalite, Bloodbath and Beyond, Off With Their Heads, Seaweed, Small Brown Bike, Stressface, The Arrivals, The Fest, The Fest 6, The Marked Men by Matthew
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Ladies and gentleman, the wait is over. It’s time now for part two of our Fest VI day-to-day coverage special feature. Onwards my bearded friends!

Saturday was the most action packed day of the weekend in terms of the large volume of bands that were scheduled to play. A full day of music was at hand, with bands playing from 1 p.m. to nearly 2 a.m. There was even an early bird gathering at DIY record shop Wayward Council at 6 a.m. Well, I wasn’t mentally or physically prepared to wake up that early even though I wanted to see just how many people would actually show up. I did, however, get up early enough to hit up the annual No Idea Records yard sale at the label’s headquarters. The event was a little bit different than last year but the hour and a half wait was well worth it. An mindblowing amount of Hot Water Music and Against Me! test pressings and various rare and out-of-print records could be purchased. I could have easily spent all of my money in no more than five minutes but after dropping eighty bucks on some wax, I was ready to see some bands.

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Tags: Avail, Bridge and Tunnel, Dear Landlord, Dillinger Four, Lawrence Arms, Modern Machines, Monotonix, News, Paint It Black, The Fest, The Fest 6, Vaginasore Jr. by Matthew
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One of the many Fest highlights came late Saturday night when Paint It Black stormed the stage at Common Grounds.  The night before, Paint It Black performed at a house party (some video can be found here) and Dan Yemin claimed that is was the one of the best shows he has ever played and challenged the crowd to match the previous nights intensity and passion.  He even out right demanded that the crowd beat Municipal Waste’s record of “infinity stage dives,” demanding they put forth “infinity plus one.”

The band performed two new tracks from their upcoming third album, which we hear will be released in early February.  Based on the new cuts they played, we are highly anticipating this release, not to mention that Yemin himself said in regards to the new record, “it’s going to bring punk rock back to year zero.” Fuck yeah.

Check out more pictures after the jump.
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Tags: Best Of The Fest, Paint It Black, The Fest, The Fest 6, photos by bill
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To the unexpecting eye, Gainesville could no way host the insanity-filled weekend that is the Fest. But really if you are traveling to Gainesville, it’s got to be for two things predominately; college football or to experience this annual, ever-growing marathon of bands, beer, and beards.

This was my second year attending the Fest and the expectations were even larger just because of the sheer volume of amazing bands playing in this sixth year. The tradition has become something much more important to me. It’s something that, come July or August, I’m usually talking about at least two to seven times a day. But this year, I was on a mission. Last year, I missed so many amazing bands that I got into after the whole shabang was over so I promised myself I would see as many bands as my body and mind allowed.

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Tags: Canadian Rifle, Das Kapital, Nervous Dogs, News, Radon, Shot Baker, The Fest, The Fest 6, The Marked Men, The Measure [Sa], The Potential Johns, Youth Brigade, naked raygun by Matthew
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