CincyPunk Just Around the Corner

The eighth installment of the CincyPunk Festival is almost here, and it features thirty-nine bands over two nights. Not just punk music, the festival will seriously cover all types of music: acoustic, blues, country, electro, experimental, folk, garage rock, hardcore, hip-hop, indie, jazz, metal, new wave, prog, psychedelic, punk (of course), reggae, rock, ska and world music.

Currently, there are free sampler CD's for the festival, available at the Southgate House, Shake-It Records and Everybody's Records. The sampler features a song from twenty-three of the bands playing, including Alone at 3am's "Mexico", the Seedy Seeds "Drive Me to the Center" and Slow Claw's "Miss Lady Lately."

All proceeds will benefit the Animal Adoption Foundation located in Hamilton, so why not come out to hear some of the best on the local scene, as well as some out-of-towners. For those of you who have been into the local music scene for awhile, the festival will also feature four reunited bands, all taking place on Saturday, April 11.

Once again the festival is being sponsored by CincyPunk.org and Chipotle, as well as PBR, so come out early and get yourself a free burrito. The PBR isn't free, but it's cheap and it does the trick. Did you know that the Southgate House is the #1 seller of PBR in the state of Kentucky? What else is the Southgate House #1 in? Amazing live music. Okay, that last one's just my opinion but I think many would agree. They really are #1 in PBR sales, ask the friendly bartenders.

New to the festival this year is the Silent Auction. The auction will feature band memorabilia from a number of the bands, and again, all proceeds go to the Animal Adoption Foundation.

If you love music, animals, good people and good times, the weekend of April 10-11 will be a hell of a time for you at the Southgate House.

Onto the bands...

Friday night features nineteen bands on three stages.

In the ballroom:

Local garage-rockers Mad Anthony, new indie-pop rockers Koala Fires, alt-indie rockers Turnbull AC's, punk rock vets Thistle, psychedelic punk rockers White Girls, electronic and indie-popsters fresh off their SXSW debut Seedy Seeds, blues infused and garage brewed rock 'n roll from Lions Rampant and country, indie rockers Alone at 3am.

In the lounge:

Acoustic music from punk outfit Riverside Revival and pop rockers Jared and Bryan, alt-indie rock from former Promenade man Scott Cunningham, also known as Wake the Bear, Alone at 3am's indie side project featuring the sexy Sarah Davis who call themselves Stick Figure Drawings and my new favorite local band, Wonky Tonk.

In the parlour:

The hot, new local buzz act State Song, Duppy a Jamba mixes ska, reggae and jazz, indie punk rock from Knife the Symphony, experimental-indie rock from Indy's We Are Hex, psychedelic soul music from Caterpillar Tracks and Guitars, who will be making their first live public appearance at CincyPunk.

For Saturday, they'll be twenty bands playing, which includes four bands reuniting for some one-offs.

In the ballroom:

Christian pop punk from Echo to Voltron, local ska, punk rockers Loudmouth, yet another hot, local buzz act in Slow Claw, countrified punk rock from local favs 500 Miles to Memphis, progressive punk rock from Arms Exploding, and one-off reunion shows from Pincushion, Spodie and Saturday Supercade.

In the lounge:

The VIPs, Moxy Monster combine hip-hop and new wave, Matt Stanton, Small Time Crooks, an acoustic Eatafetus Trio show and The Prohibitionists.

In the parlour:

Experimental ska from Ukraine Crane, reggae punk from Frankl Project, pop punk 'n crunk from The Dopamines, positive vibes and high fives from John Walsh a band featuring a Seedy Seed, indie rockers Mint 6 Ten and punk glam rockers Shotgun on Blonde.

Find more on the bands...

The weekly, local entertainment-zine, CityBeat, has some nice write-ups about many of the bands. Here are the links:

Mad Anthony
Koala Fires
Turnbull AC's
Seedy Seeds
Lions Rampant
Alone at 3am
Wonky Tonk
Duppy a Jamba
Caterpillar Tracks
Slow Claw
500 Miles to Memphis
Eatafetus Trio
Frankl Project

Some other links...

We Are Hex
CincyPunk write-up
Learn how to play "The Regret" by 500 Miles to Memphis on guitar
Video of 500 Miles to Memphis at 2008 MidPoint Music Festival

Some videos...

Wonky Tonk covering Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel No. 2"

John Walsh live at CincyPunk VII

Mint 6 Ten at CincyPunk V

Riverside Revival at CincyPunk

Seedy Seeds at CincyPunk

Wake the Bear performing at Northside Tavern

The Lions Rampant performing in Madison, WI

Frankl Project video montage

We Are Hex

500 Miles to Memphis at MidPoint 2008