War Creek Mafia are among the bands on the Budweiser Select ‘Loud and Local Stage’ at this year’s X-Fest on Saturday in Huntington.

If You Go: X-Fest at Harris Riverfront Park, Huntington, Sat., Sept. 1. Featuring Hinder, Buckcherry, Papa Roach and more on main stage. On ‘Loud and Local’ stage: Let the Guilty Hang, Earth to Eros, War Creek Mafia and ‘Battle for X-Fest’ Winner. All-ages event, but must be 21 to drink alcohol. Tickets $35 advance, $45 day of show. For tickets, click here.

The Gatecrasher crew caught up with Brandon Woolum of X-106.3 in advance of this year’s edition of X-Fest coming to Huntington’s Harris Riverfront Park on Saturday. (more…)

Earth to Eros, says Brandon Woolum, has “a really cool, unique punk style and I think people will be impressed” when they return to action at this Saturday’s X-Fest.
 

If You Go: X-Fest at Harris Riverfront Park, Huntington, Sat., Sept. 1. Featuring Hinder, Buckcherry, Papa Roach and more on main stage. On ‘Loud and Local’ stage: Let the Guilty Hang, Earth to Eros, War Creek Mafia and ‘Battle for X-Fest’ Winner. All-ages event, but must be 21 to drink alcohol. Tickets $35 advance, $45 day of show. For tickets, click here

Brandon Woolum offers some thoughts on this year’s “Loud and Local” lineup at Saturday’s X-Fest in Huntington…

Earth To Eros: These guys have been on a break for a while due to some personal things. They’ll be making their return at X-Fest and I’m pretty sure a lot of people may not know exactly who they are. They’re led by former Chum lead singer John Lancaster. It’s a really cool, unique punk rock style and I think rock fans will be impressed!

LTGH: Let the Guilty Hang was a band we really wanted to get on the bill last year but just couldn’t make it happen. This year they’re playing and actually headlining the Local stage. They utilize two singers with one screaming and one actually singing. It’s somewhat of an Atreyu sound, only better!

WCM: War Creek Mafia is a band that really impressed us all in the 2006 Battle for X-Fest. They didn’t have enough votes to win last year, but they had such an impact on us we gave them an automatic bid for this year’s event. They’re definitely Zakk Wlyde influenced. Check em out!

Extinct By Design: It’s going to be very interesting seeing how the crowd takes these guys in. They’re nothing like the Hinder sound. These guys are very heavy and probably on the verge of a death metal sound. The guitar riffs are insane and the music is very fast-paced. Some people could get some cuts on them early in the day while moshing on that warm concrete!

Haulin’ Dust: Haulin’ Dust is the band that won this year’s Battle for X-Fest and thank god they did! They average about 6’8 in height so it would have been scary telling them that they didn’t win! For real, these bikers are off the hook. It’s a killer southern rock blend that will go very well right before Black Stone Cherry hits the main stage!

Skip Cromer violates the crowd as The Burt Reynolds Death Metal Experiment at Adam Weaver’s Sound Factory benefit show this past weekend.

“Aren’t you tired of hearing the same old sh&t?” It was a question asked by Skip Cromer to his diehard TBRDME fans during his set at Adam Weaver’s benefit show at The Sound Factory. Describing the lack of his own new material, it could just as likely describe our affection for his music.

Opening up with a spoof “Star Wars”-TBRDME disclaimer intro, projected by Caustic Eye’s Rod Lanham complete with flashing porn pic, Cromer (who plays bass in Byzantine) took the stage in his Reno 911-looking cop outfit saying “I’m gonna write you a citation for having too much fun.” With only a guitar, an mp3 player and a mic, TBRDME rolled through “Envy” and “The Bastard Son” as a couple dozen Burt fans crowded the stage. (more…)

Buckstone (L-R: Jamie Adkins, Tom Kirk, Diana Dynamite) rocks Adam Weaver’s benefit @ the Sound Factory.

The Gatecrasher crew got to check out a couple of the acts at Adam Weaver’s benefit show at the Sound Factory on 8.24. We didn’t even have to flash our Gazzbadges, thank god.

Buckstone, a three-piece, Charleston-area country rock outfit we had only heard on Myspace is one of our favorite acts now. Not only was their layout nice, with drummer-singer Tom Kirk fronting the group, so was their sound.

The band did their honky-tonk “Buckersfield” best, with songs like “Morgantown Bound” and “Six Pack,” which is apparently my new nickname.

They also threw in some cool covers, including a twangy “Country Roads,” a rocking medley mixup of “Pretty Woman” and “I Fought The Law And The Law Won” and Adkins singing CCR’s “Green River.” Yeah, they’re my favorite band of all time, too. No, not Buckstone — I’m not that suggestible — Credence Clearwater Revival.

While we had met Kirk at Cheapbeats Drum Sales, and we’d seen guitarist Adkins with Alan Griffith (for whom Kirk also drums), we had never caught Buckstone out playing. Bassist Diana Dynamite kept things moving on the bass, even when it came unplugged.

Kirk, standing at his drum kit, crashed cymbals with the casual flare of a table monkey dealing cards at the new Tri-State Casino. He’d also pose his sticks up in the air together in various patterns, from parallel to cross-shaped, almost looking like one of those landing guys on an aircraft carrier, especially in that nice-looking purplish suit.

Griffith had told me previously that Kirk and Adkins, his backup band “The Cheapbeats,” could go to Nashville and be studio musicians.

If you get the chance you should check out Buckstone.

Buckstone: upcoming shows –
8.31 @ Blues BBQ, 9 p.m.
9.1 @ Charleston Sternwheel Regatta w/The Wreckers, 7 p.m.

Copy: Nick; Pics: Jessica

One of our favorite Morgantown rockers (there are so many of them) is Billy Matheny. Matheny comes to Taylor Books on Capitol St. Saturday, Sept. 1. It will be without his band, The Frustrations (a k a American Sound Syndicate),  and while someone may join him, even if it’s solo, he’s worth checking out. We got hooked up with his most recent CD, “Born of Frustration” a while back and got to talk to him for the Gazz.

The CD features a wide range of music from bluesy acoustic Americana to something approaching punk. He’s one of the best songwriters we’ve heard in our time covering local music. He rocks. The show will likely start around 7:30 p.m. Best thing is, it’s free! If you see us you can buy us an espresso. And if you like books by people like Chomsky and Zinn, boy are you in luck.

Unfortunately, you can’t buy “Born of Frustration” at Taylor Books last time we checked. So you leave frustrated in that sense.

The Gatecrasher crew caught up with Rose City Saturday, Aug. 18, to talk to the band and check them out rehearsing. The band practices in the basement of the drummer’s apartment complex in Kanawha City. The band’s actually named after an old moniker for Charleston. “Mammoth” is, much to my surprise, not about partying up Kelly’s Creek in Eastern Kanawha County. It’s about doing big things, according to the band.

This is live footage from their 8.18 practice.

L-R: Slick Leg (guitar); Keetchie (vocals); Junie (bass); and The Goat (drums) of Charleston’s Rose City.

I ended up in Kanawha City at an undisclosed location to talk to Rose City, and maybe even catch them practice. As you can clearly see in the photographic evidence, beers were being consumed when I arrived, but I would have expected nothing less from this hard-partying, hard-rocking group of longtime friends. The band was full of energy, pumped for their show at the Empty Glass with The Ghosts of Now and The Cherry Bombs later that evening.

The band went around the horn, talking about their origins, doing shows in Charleston (and soon, beyond), how they work together, recording their new CD, and how their sound was similar to, and/or different from, The Ghosts Of Now.

I also got to check out an impromptu rehearsal in the basement of the apartment complex I had been whisked to in Keetchie’s car. Makeshift soundproofing material and sheets of lyrics lined the wall. More than one of the new Heineken kegs was spotted, indicating that partying may have been taking place when the band finds the time to practice once a week. This is what it’s all about: getting to check out bands in this kind of setting.

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Rocking out, talking between themselves about how many bars or riffs or rolls go into what parts of songs. Talking about bathroom practices and protocol. The little things.

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That Rose City was able to lose themselves in their songs during practice, with a relative stranger sitting in a small room, proved how powerful it is to be in a rock band.

Catching Slick Leg (they use rock names) banging his head with eyes closed as “Mammoth” wound up after a bridge, was kind of sublime for this “reporter.”

— Nick Harrah

Lo, it was foretold. There would come an evening so packed with quality area rock shows. So packed that even the local music bloggers saluted, and devoted their time to alerting people to the events.

Friday, August 24th has four shows between Charleston, Huntington and Morgantown that we are seeking help to cover. Quality shows; the kind you’ve come to expect out of Gatecrasher.

First, Adamfest at The Sound Factory features some of our favorite acts. This is the headlining event as far as we care. See the flyer for details, times and costs.

Second, Black Knots and Rose City welcome Jimmy and the Teasers to the Blue Parrot that night, right around the corner from Adamfest.

Let’s say you’re not lucky that night: you’re in Huntington. The Red Velvet is at the V Club with Morgantown indie stars Librarians and DJ Charlie Brown Superstar.

Magic Town indie rockers The Ones That Got Away are at Fuel in Morgantown, which we recommend if yer up there in the land of burning couches. TOTGA is one of our favorite bands and their ironic indie moustaches are way more indie than yours. Hoping for pics of that show.

We hope to get people to take pics of the V Club show. The Red Velvet’s 6-song debut CD is great, and they’re getting ready for a new one.

Go, Team Gatecrasher!!!

This is a show worth checking out. Buckstone, TBRDME, Unknown Hinson, Shorthrow, The Ghosts of Now and Halogyn all come together to benefit Adam Weaver.

The Sound Factory has hosted previous fundraising shows for Adamfest. They’ve helped to raise awareness about Hodgkins Disease, which Weaver suffers from.

Always good to see this kind of thing. Here is a link to a Q&A we did with Weaver.

You have a choice, punk: either go to Adamfest at the Sound Factory 8.24 or, you can go to this rocking show at the Blue Parrot right around the corner.

But wait — you don’t HAVE to be pro-choice between the two — you can go to both!