Scene Point Blank won't be at The Fest this year (schedule conflicts), but it's such an important event that we couldn't just skip it.
So we handed the microphone and writer notebooks to artists who will be onsite instead.
To help get everyone excited, our coverage begins with an interview of Debt Neglector by Virginity. Both bands play at The Fest 19 this Saturday and both bands have new records on Smartpunk Records (Virginity's Popmortem released Oct. 8 and Debt Neglector's Dirty Water is out on Nov. 5).
Below, read Casey Crawford of Virginity getting the scoop on Fest 19 from Alex Goldfarb of Debt Neglector. Then, after The Fest, we'll flip things around: Debt Neglector asking Virginity about their experience at this year's Fest.
And watch the Scene Point Blank Twitter for on-the-ground coverage this weekend, followed by the Virginity interview and another special wrap-up piece.
Casey Crawford: What are you most excited about at Fest this year?
Alex Goldfarb: I think I'm most excited just to see friends who I haven't gotten to see in a couple of years! Covid has really harshed most of our social lives for a bit, so it'll be really good to just get to hang out with friends again and watch some music and feel like things are going back to normal a little bit. I'm so impressed with all of the precautions Tony and the whole Fest crew have taken to make things as safe as possible. I feel like because of that I'll be able to relax and have a good time with my buds.
Casey Crawford: Will you be performing anything special?
Alex Goldfarb: Yes! We've got a '90s cover set planned on Saturday at Downtown Fats: Gonna play some Nirvana, some Weezer, and a bunch of other '90s alternative songs as part of the big cover show they're doing that day. And we've got a few people coming in to do guest vocals on some of the songs too. Then we get to play our regular set at The Wooly that night right before ya'll! It's super cool that we're playing back to back that night! All in all I think we have 24 or 25 songs to practice between the two sets which is a lot, but we've got one more practice tonight to get it sorted out.
Casey Crawford: Being that Debt Neglector has a new record coming out very soon, you’ve got a lot of new tunes right now -- what new song are you most excited to play live?
Alex Goldfarb: There's this song "Nothing Works" that we've never played live before that we're going to add to our set for Fest. I'm probably most excited about that one. It's not one of the "singles" so not very many people have heard it at all yet which is cool. It's one of the songs Pfister wrote on the album and it's super catchy but also has this hectic-sounding odd timing thing in the chorus that's really fun to play. They gave us a 40-minute set so all in all there are like 5 or 6 new songs in the set that night (which is probably too many since the album's not even technically out yet). But they're all very fun and there are no rules, so fuck it!
Casey Crawford: What bands are you most excited to see?
Alex Goldfarb: I'm super excited to see Strike Anywhere. My old band (New Mexican Disaster Squad) used to tour with them a lot back in the early 2000s and they're good buds and are always amazing live. I really want to try and catch the Hot Water Music A Flight and a Crash set on Saturday. That album is my favorite of theirs. I'd like to see Pears, the Copyrights, The Eradicator, and a bunch more.
We have so many friends playing too and I want to try and catch them all and support them. I don't really approach Fest with a strict schedule though. I just fill out every band I could possibly want to see on the app and then wander around wherever and go see stuff when I feel like it. It's more fun that way for me and I think if I tried to catch everything (like Jordan, your lovely bass player) I would go insane.
Casey Crawford: How many Fests have you been to? Which year was your favorite?
Alex Goldfarb: This will be my 17th Fest. I've played all of them except one (Fest 12, I believe! It was the year All played and I deeply regret it). That year I was super depressed. In my brain I had quit playing music and would never do it again. But I sat home and watched everyone posting pictures and videos from Fest that year and was so jealous and I really missed it. So I got back to playing immediately after and have played every one since.
My favorite Fest was definitely Fest 7. It was New Mexican Disaster Squad's last show and we played to a packed room at Commongrounds (now the High Dive) and it was really fun. Then like 4 hours later we played a "reunion show" at some warehouse at like 2:00 in the morning. There's video of it out there and it's sick.
Casey Crawford: I have a pretty well documented terrible (yet great) night at Fest (see: Fest 17). Do you have a harrowing or really out-of-control Fest story?
Alex Goldfarb: That song you wrote about that is great!
I don't have one that was me being too out of control. I've definitely had to Weekend at Bernie's some friends around from time to time after they got way too drunk. I've also had my fair share of mega hangovers at Fest. Most notably at Fest 16 I swore to myself I'd go to bed early Saturday night to get ready for our set so I'd feel good the next day. We played at like 2 in the afternoon on Sunday that year and Sunday sets can be dangerous because you can wear yourself out or blow out your voice partying. So (because I'm an idiot) instead of going to bed early I stayed out later than any other night, lost my voice screaming along to a Clash cover set, and stumbled back to our Airbnb at like 4 or 5 in the morning with our guitar player Pfister. Needless to say, there was no amount of Pedialyte or Gatorade in the world to make that set feel good for either of us.
Casey Crawford: What’s the best or most unique Fest set you’ve been to?
Alex Goldfarb: Definitely the most unique Fest set was the year Paint it Black rented a U-Haul and played a few songs out of the back of it. It sounded like shit and the power kept cutting out. But it was wild and dangerous. People were jumping off the roof of the U-Hual into the crowd and eventually some dumb cops on horseback came to break it up. But it was fucking ridiculous and one of the most memorable shows I've ever seen.
Casey Crawford: Are y’all letting me sing that Superdrag song in the '90s cover set?
Alex Goldfarb: ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY. I knew you wanted to sing something, wasn't sure which one. That's perfect. Looking forward to it!
