Sounding the 805
No surprises at Cal Music Fest
By Chris Mastrovito 07/09/2009
You have to hand it to ’em — the California Music Fest in downtown Ventura last weekend was quite the endeavor. Try seeing more than 70 bands in one day at the Warped Tour, and your attention span will be cut shorter than a 4-year-old’s at a Vegas arcade. Yet the Music Fest boasted more than 100 bands in two days. Never before have so many acts been packed into downtown in one weekend, let alone during the July 4 street fair. Pulling off something of this scale for the first time, without a hitch, would have been near impossible — and it was.
The glut of bands along with sketchy organization led to crammed sets, scheduling snafus and sparse crowds. There was a sense that the volume of bands booked led to mismatched lineups, with hard rock bands like Ventura’s Dirty Words lumped in with hardcore and metal bands such as Graveslut and Fall of Babylon at the Knights of Columbus hall, and power-pop/rockers End Tran-smission sharing the bill with indie-blues vocalists, rockabilly and hip-hop at Bombay Bar & Grill. This likely had a large hand in the undersold event, as it may have fragmented audiences who forked over $25-$45 for all-access wristbands. Crowds at the main stage in Mission Park maxed out at a whopping 50 people, according to some attendees and event staff. In addition, confusion abounded among venue doormen regarding wristband colors, with red all-access wristbands offered at wildly different prices. At least one vendor created a scene when he confronted an event organizer to express his dissatisfaction with being placed inside the main stage fence, where only paying patrons could access his wares.
Despite all this, there was massive diversity in musical genres and styles and a generally good vibe. Bands traveled from all over the country to play the event. The main stage featured fusion-reggae from Somis’ The Slider and jazzy psych-rock from Camarillo’s The Sit-uation, while Ojai’s Emy Reynolds delighted audiences at Hush Lounge with her indie folk three-piece. Most of the people I spoke to were having a good time, and with a wristband you could be guaranteed to see about 10 or 12 bands in as many venues — if you were fast on your feet. Many, but not all the bands from out of town were grateful for the opportunity to showcase their music to fresh audiences. Pablo of the Seattle band Ellavation noted, “It's great to have so many venues, and a great way for local musicians to get exposure. We look forward to doing it again next year.” One band wrote a letter to VC Reporter to express disappointment in nearly every element of the event’s production.
Despite mixed feelings, the hope among many was that organizers would give it another go. “Do it again,” said Rob from The Situation. “Someone has to take a risk to get the ball rolling.”
All in all, the ambitious attempt to hold a music festival in a downtown area that is historically dead on the evening of Independence Day is noteworthy and admirable. By 5 p.m., when the street fair vendors closed shop, the streets were noticeably bare for a Saturday night, save for the thousands of fliers, stickers and band-related ephemera strewn on the sidewalks.
In Nardcore news, if you frequented the back room at Lazerstar in Oxnard from ’97 to 2000 you might remember The Bloody Cunts. Nine years later, T.B.C. has re-formed with original drummer Josh Stamps picking up the sticks once again after quitting bass duty with The Last Priority. One of its new songs will be featured on the new compilation coming out this month, Nardcore: 30 Years Later, featuring 805 bands like T.L.P., The F-ing Wrath, Dogends and, of course, Ill Repute and Dr. Know. The first all-ages show in almost a decade for T.B.C. is July 17 at Megasound Studios, with Dysfunctional Chaos, Rocky Balboa, Dogends and C.I. It’s 10 bucks. Save your pennies.
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