This weekend is made of music!

Click on the links and observe the shiny, beautiful pictures for more information about these events and the artists who will be there.

FRIDAY

THUNDERFEST. Have you seen Knubby yet? Das Thunderfoot? Dead Emperors? If the answer is no to any of those - OMIGAWD! Remedy that and donate to a good cause. Six kick-ass bands and camping for a $5 donation? Um...yes, duh.

Knubby

getting their cow bell on with help from the audience

CLICK

SATURDAY 

Gabe's - Canthrammer. 3 Metal Bands / 3 Country Bands. Also for a good cause - The Wounded Warrior Project. 6 Bands. Cover. Seriously, Cantharone will blow your mind.

Joe Anderson of Cantarone

ICYC - Maiden Mars, The Passes, The Ultrasounds, & Remod. $5 cover for the out-of-town bands.

Maiden Mars

Trumpet Blossom - FREE. All local musicians. And very cool people.

I will be spending a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how to navigate all 3 venues this Saturday so I can see everyone i want to. I haven't had to be this strategic since Riot Fest. Only Riot Fest was rainy and muddy and cold and a thousand times more difficult to navigate than the streets of Iowa City. I got this though. Here's to hoping you all like to plot and scheme to maximize your listening experience. See you there(s)!

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If you live in Iowa City under some sort of rock (obviously not the punk kind), you probably haven't yet listened to Codependent Music. This, my stone-dwelling friend, is exactly what you need. Tune into 89.7 KRUI Sunday nights (Monday mornings?) at midnight for 2 hours of punk and insane hilarity. Do it - shed your dreary, heavy burden-home and live in the sunshine with the rest of us. Well, at midnight it'll be pretty dark, actually...
It's a super good time is really all i'm trying to say. Click the KRUI link above to stream.

Be excellent to each other, peeps.. ~ mandab

IOWA CITY TONIGHT!!!

Alright, folks, this is the weekend to get up and go out in Iowa City. It’s Pride kick off weekend, for one thing, so there’s stuff going all over the place, and in my post last week I alluded to a show at the Iowa City Yacht Club that you would cry about missing. Well, tonight is the show.

Kick ass flyer byClaire Thoele

While I have yet to see Lever, by clicking the link under their pic, you can know just as much as I currently do, which is that they call themselves Bipolar Grunge Rock (which sounds pretty rad), they’re from Crystal Lake, IL (my old stomping grounds), they have a lady bass player, and the names of their songs are hella great – check that out here.

Lever

I have seen the other 3 bands a number of times. Quite frankly, I don’t miss any of their shows if I can help it.

Crystal City played last weekend at the Mill and I hated not being there so I am super stoked they’re in the lineup tonight. Think good ol’ rock and roll plus a trumpet and lots of harmonies. I can pretty much guarantee you will be compelled to boogie for a good deal of their set. For more info and a sneak listen visit their bandcamp page.

Crystal City

Velcro Moxie has been aroind for a while and hopefully you’ve already seen them. If not, tonight is the perfect opportunity. It will be a good show, as usual, but also interesting as the band lineup has changed recently. I’m not worried about them not sounding as good as before Jasmine Terrell left the group (although she is an amazing singer) because I swear to gawd every single time I have seen them they have had a different configuration of members. And they always kill it.

Velcro Moxie

Finally, we com to Flannel Season – quite possibly my favourite Iowa City band. I get a lot of flak for being biased because these are ma peeps. I’ve known them since before they formed the band. Living next door to them has afforded me the unique experience of hearing this band evolve from the beginning. They started our covering 90s songs, which is probably why I glommed on so quickly. Hearing The Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, The Toadies, L7, Babes in Toyland, Green Day, and countless others of my favourite bands 3-4 times a week for free was the coolest. However, the real treat came when they started writing their own music.

With three vocalists, the harmonies these guys (and lady) achieve are stellar. Their music is obviously influenced in small part by the bands listed above, but it is so much more complex. Sometimes, they rock so hard and raw that it’s all you can do not to bang your head. Other times, their music is so hauntingly melodic as to be almost mesmerizing. They recently went from a 4-piece to a 3-piece, but I can attest that even without the second guitar, the music is just as rich and layered and full as it ever was. Listen to them if you don’t believe me.  My personal fave - https://soundcloud.com/flannel-season-iowa-city/electric-hearts-demo

Flannel Season

Most importantly, come to the show tonight at Yacht Club. It’s not too often you get a lineup of totally kick ass rock bands, all of which have lady members who do more than shake a tambourine and their asses. Let’s fill ICYC and show our pride for local music.

See ya there ~ mandab