Thinking Back On Insubordination Fest: Day 1, Friday - MAIN STAGE

I FUCKIN' MISSED HOUSE BOAT. One of the bands that I really really wanted to see that weekend, I missed because I was still at my hotel and lost track of time. I wanted to get a shirt but then would feel like a moron cause it's like "hey, I'm wearing a shirt of a band that I like but have never seen or heard their music before (except for a couple of MySpace songs." But there were many more awesome bands to see that day - I felt better pretty quickly.
The Unlovables were amazing - I had never really heard anything by them before I saw them, so I was just kind of in awe during their whole set. Since then, I they are one of those bands you listen to for like a month straight. And I rarely do that with bands anymore. They struck me as amazing though, so I was really glad I was introduced to them live.

The Unlovables


Le Volume Etait Au Maximum played the main stage - they are a French band from Canada, eh? They were awesome though, even though I couldn't understand a goddamn word they were saying. Really good synth-pop punk. Kinda simiar to The Epoxies and stuff like that only a dude sings and not a chick.

Le Volume Etait Au Maximum


Underground Railroad To Candyland has also been growing on me since Insub. It's Todd C. from Toys That Kill/F.Y.P and another guy from Toys That Kill basically playing a little more obscure music with a couple of different dudes. They're really catchy though (in a non-pop punk way even!) and are really entertaining. I always am amused by the backup vocalist guy when I see them. His face reminds me of John Belushi's and all he does is jump up and down and sing stretched out vowels to the ends of lines in the song. In sunglasses. It's pretty awesome but they all fit together and make something really good.

Underground Railroad To Candyland


The Copyrights played really well. It was weird seeing them with a shitload of people going nuts for them cause they play Chicago like every other weekend and it's great but people don't go ape shit for their set all the time. But they did play really really well and it was cool seeing them somewhere else for once.

The Copyrights


Pansy Division was an experience. Never saw them before. Joel from MTX plays with them as the only straight guy in the band. Man, were they flamboyant. But they were good, I liked their stuff. A little more preachy and out there than stuff I like, but it wasn't bad.

Pansy Division


The Steinways were one of the few bands I basically came to see. I had heard it was supposedly their last show before calling it quits and I wanted to see them at least once. And I did! And it was fuckin' awesome! They did a big finish with "Carrie Goldberg" and that was that. They played amazingly and to me, they are one of those bands that every song on their album is a "hit," so to speak. All catchy, all fun and all good in my book. I was really happy that I got to see them.

The Steinways


Boris The Sprinkler was fucking weird. I liked them, but damn. I think Reverend Norb is a little fixated on anal sex. I don't know too much about the guy or his band, but I kind of wish I did so I knew what they were all about, so to speak. At one point, he was holding a sign that read, "UFO UFO." I ended up getting that sign after the threw it out into the crowd. It currently sits pinned to my wall - a nice souvenir from the fest. They were entertaining as fuck though. They also must have gotten a sweet discount on toilet paper because they brought shitloads of it to throw into the crowd, which the crowd then reciprocated (nooooo, really?) and it was pretty awesome.

Boris The Sprinkler




The Dead Milkmen. They were the biggest reason for me to attend this festival. Moreso than probably all the other bands combined. The Dead Milkmen were a band I grew up listening to in high school with my best friend while we cruised around, singing along to songs like "Taking Retards To The Zoo" and "Bitchin' Camaro" while we fucked up people's cars, mailboxes and garbage cans in the wee hours of morn." The Dead Milkmen were not only an awesome band, but a band I thought was hilarious. Especially during a time when the "music to listen to" was all this over-serious bullshit (has it ever changed?). Seeing The Dead Milkmen made me feel like I was 16 again, driving around subdivisions and neighborhoods being a moron. Which felt really good, actually. Really liberating. Anyways, I got right up there and got to sing along with Rodney at one point just for a split second, which made my night. Man, was it awesome.

The Dead Milkmen