Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Fly Street Fair Kinda ‘Fair’

Adam Reyna

Author Adam Reyna (right) with friend Matt Slider

April 15th for many people is inconsequential, unless you have a birthday or some other significant anniversary. But to those who forget to do their taxes, like this aspiring accountant, it’s a mad rush to get it all done by midnight. To those concerned taxpaying citizens, I actually didn’t finish them, but since it was on a Saturday, they’re not due until Monday. So what better excuse do you need to forget about those needless things for a day and rock out? I certainly didn’t need one. To top it off, there was enough talent at Barfly’s in Lake Dallas for Fly Street Fair to do just that.

The sky was dotted with a few clouds, a bright shining sun and an occasional gale force blast. My thick, flowing black streaks of hair were often thrust into my face, but there was little to complain about. This absolutely beautiful weather was the backdrop for the festival and there couldn’t have been a better day to have it on. This Tax Day jam “started” at 2. I was not there at 2 but heard from Shannon, the guitarist for the band Miser, that it did get off to a rather late start. That set the benchmark for the rest of the day’s activities. When I arrived 20 minutes after the aforementioned Miser was set to take the stage, they still had not started. It was another 10 minutes before they actually started.

Being a former fan of both Forty Percent and Supercell, I really enjoy Miser. Even my mandatory band shirt that every showster must wear was of Forty Percent. Any 40P fan need only say “My Runaway” to know the great voice that Coach, the lanky, sandy blonde heartthrob once had. While Coach doesn’t quite have that range, he is getting better with each passing show. During “Sound” he really let loose a howl that was reminiscent of that luminous voice. The other members of the band are all members of Supercell before their tumultuous demise in December of last year. They certainly are quite solid and have great onstage chemistry. Being a friend of both Shannon and Coach, I’m a bit partial to this band. But honestly, even if I wasn’t, I would be drawn to their heavy guitar riffs, ground shaking drums and lofty vocals. As I mentioned, I spoke with Shannon and he delivered me a bit of bad news riddled in good. The bands previously slated release date for their CD at the end of May has been pushed back a bit. On the upside, it will be a full-length, rather than just a 6 song EP. That is promising news for this talented, up and coming band. Their current EP, Everything But Your Name is available on iTunes for those that want to get familiar with Miser, as I certainly know you will hear a lot more from them.

I was a bit bummed when I spoke with Drew, the lead singer of Trebuchet that I had missed their set. I wasn’t exactly sure when they were going on, and that was one of many issues that I had with this hastily planned festival. First, there was an obvious lack of promotion. I didn’t know about the show until about a week and half ago. Barfly’s website and Myspace page had little more information about this half-assed attempt at a festival. There was no lineup that you could access, and even the bands were a little unsure of when exactly they would be on. I also missed another talented band, Minority. These little kids may look like your average teenager, but they can shred like nobody’s business. The two times I’ve seen them they were so fluid, so powerful and so very talented. To some extent it makes me jealous that they can do what I dream to do and are 10 years my junior. But you can’t help but like these kids, as every time they take stage you are completely captivated. The worst problem was that of the sound system. Now from what I understand, this outdoor thing is fairly new to Barfly’s, and very well could be temporary, but the sound was horrendous. The worst is that despite the powerful voices of the lead singers of each of these bands, very little was heard when the rest of the members of the band were playing. The vocals just did not come through very well at all. This bothers me many of these people weren’t your average scene kid you see at the shows in Deep Ellum. So the people here are all potentially new fans. When you hear a band and you can’t even hear what they are singing, you are immediately not going to pay attention. I think that it did these bands a great injustice. There were other small problems as well, like the Rockstar and Camel promotions. While I enjoyed the free cigarettes, I know that these companies pay for these promotions and I couldn’t help to think that this was put together quickly to get these endorsements.

After Miser, local herbal, alcohol and fornication enthusiast Alligator Dave took the stage. He did a few of his most popular songs, but mostly was just singing about stuff that he is seeing in the crowd, including the classic, “Damn, that girls got some big titties!” Mid set he drops trou, and anyone could get a view of his package. Let’s just say that even Brown couldn’t deliver that one. After that, I couldn’t really stand the wind just beating down at this point, and there was nothing really going on at the stage, so I headed into the actual bar for a drink. At around 9:15 I headed back to the stage outside to get a glimpse of Exit 380. I must preclude myself from the review of this band, as I already have a previous distaste for them. But let’s just say with the bad sound, they did not win me over. I must admit, though, that if a band can get the crowd into it, then I can give them kudos. And they did bring their own crowd of about 50 people that were there to see them specifically.

After Exit 380 got off stage, it was roughly 10:30. Space Cadet was set to take the stage at 10 p.m., but that of course, didn’t happen, it was about 10 minutes after 11 when they started. Space Cadet owned the stage and minds of the people there, especially during their 102.1 favorite, “Bette Davis Eyes”. I even overheard one girl get upset that this drunken idiot who had been dancing on the stairs to the stage pretty much all day was “ruining her moment”. Ted, the lead singer had mentioned that they were trying out more new songs on us, so I and most of the crowd didn’t really know the words, but it certainly did rock. My favorite song to hear live by them is “Greatest Hits” because they are very aggressive, and last night, they did not disappoint.

The Feds were supposed to take the stage at 11:30. But apparently at Barfly’s 11:30 p.m. looks a lot like 12:30 a.m. Before I go any further, I must state that the Feds are by far my favorite local band. I have been a fan ever since I moved here in 2003, and they never cease to amaze me. My best friend Dave had to lend his sock to Jason Jones, the lead guitarist and back-up vocalist for the and, because the mic kept shocking him, it apparently smelled like zest. They opened with the barn burner, “Housefire”. There is nothing like hearing over 100 people screaming “HOUSEFIRE” in unison. They also played a new song called “Holly Would” that I have only heard twice before, first time live. I think this song is amazing, when I first heard it Jason told me “It’s the one he’s most proud of”. During their most popular song, “My Texas” about 30 people got onstage with the band to sing along. I didn’t want to get up there, but Matt Slider, the lead singer looked straight at me and told me to come up. I did get to sing the chorus and part of the second verse on the mic, “So tight tonight My Texas feels like overseas”.

Despite the downsides, a good time was had by many people, but I’m pretty sure the cheap, flowing alcohol had a lot to do with that. I think that if Barfly’s wants to continue this festival next year, more reservations need to be made to the bands and fans, both present and future.

Adam Reyna is a freelance writer based in Dallas.

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