F*** Yeah Fest Preview

Is anybody not looking for an excuse to get drunk and wander around Echo Park this weekend? With events at the Echo, Jensens Rec Center and Sea Level Records, The F*** Yeah Fest will provide the perfect opportunity. In addition to all this rock there are comedy shows and an art exhibit. Single day tickets are $20 and weekend passes are $55. Doors open at 6:00 PM on Friday and 3:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday.

Friday’s lineup will catch you up on local hardcore music. Lineup: The Circle Jerks should be the highlight of the first night. They’ve always been a hardcore band with a good sense of humor. Their 1980 album, Group Sex still holds up well. Lead singer Keith Morris is intense on stage and also happens to be one of the curators of the festival. The Bronx is a local, hard working, major label punk band who packed Spaceland every Monday a few months ago. The 400 Blows play intense, in-your-face punk highlighted by Skot Blows’ screeching vocals. Future Pigeon play stoned dub music. Also playing: Burning Brides, Nudity, the Willowz, Blood Meridian, Black Fag, Horses, Horse the Band, Gayrilla Biscuits, Issiea Saggua, Bad Dudes, The Po Po’s, Sex Eyes, Modwheelmood, Gosling

Saturday’s lineup has the most mass appeal and should please the indie kids. Expect crowds. Giant Drag is an attractive and talented local indie duo with a female lead singer with enough attitude to write songs like, “You F*** Like My Dad” and “Kevin Is Gay.” The Thermals are a Pacific Northwest indie band on Sub Pop. Envy is the kind of band that lulls you and then screams at you, but it’s all in Japanese so you don’t know what the hell he’s so pissed off about. Hawthorne’s Dios Malos are one of the best local indie bands. They write great songs and are informed by all the best bits of rock history. Tussle has a reputation for being one of the best live dance rock bands. Silversun Pickups are all over Indie 103 and played a sold out show at the Troubadour last night. They’re in the middle of tours, supporting their impressive crunchy guitar-driven debut album on Dangerbird Records. Remember when Spaceland’s stage was on the other side of the club and Wiskey Biscuit would pack it every time they played? Also appearing: Darker My Love, Foreign Born, Toys that Kill, Brother Reade, Rolling Blackouts, Strange Boys, The Minor Canon, Sleeping People, Subtitle & Friends, Graf Orlock, Chuck Ragan, Hit Me Back, Carry the Casket, Upsilon Acrux, Shapes and Sizes, The Make Out Party, Michael Runion, Life with an Astronaut

Sunday’s lineup is varied and should appeal to the hippie hipsters and Part Time Punks scene. DC's Dead Meadow are on Matador and play psychedelic Sabbath riffs. The Gris Gris are less riff-oriented but still psychedelic. The Ponys just signed to Matador, Midnight Movies added a bass player, Icarus Line, Wires On Fire, The Adored play Buzzcocks-inspired post-punk and Pete Shelley made an appearance on their first album, Fortune Flesh, Sabertooth Tiger, Stevenson Ranch Davidians, Erase Errata, Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower, all girl band Mika Miko just put out a new album on K Records, Partyline, Bobby Birdman, BARR, Matt and Kim, No Age, The Punk, Teenage Talking Cars, Jack Bambi’s, The Punks