PREVIEW: Groezrock Festival

I am so stoked for Groezrock festival I don’t know where to start!  All I know, is a weekend of seeing my favourite bands with cheap beer and cigarettes, sounds good to me. I got the phonecall from Meerhout HQ today confirming interviews with Anti Flag and Hot Water Music and I feel this is a good place to start.

When I first heard Anti Flag I instantly I understood their message and the sound they chose to channel those emotions. That message was one of equality and justice and nine albums later the band are still pushing that message. Sure, it was easier for them to share those views when they signed to a major label but you can’t argue with the fact that they just wanted to share their thoughts with more people. As someone who feels the passion boil inside me when I hear ‘Die For Your Government’ or ‘Utnderground Network’ I have admitedly steered away a little from the band when their sound became more polished, clean,whatever you want to say, but at the end of the day Anti Flag will always be punk through and through. The lyric on the new album ‘I got something to say and I’ll say it again ‘ shows that this band will always express their beliefs. Even if the changes they want to see don’t happen in their life, the fact they help unite like-minded people every night at shows is enough. The band who record and produce their own albums once even had to drink out of a toilet at a squat with no water. That’s pretty punk to me. But the real, juicy, meaningful anarchaic punk message is the fact they keep pushing their enthusiasm, on every song, on every album and in every interview.  They may have experienced hate from nationalists who have, in the past , caused riots at shows with the hope of picking a fight with the band. Some turned their back on them whey they first signed to a emajor despite their anti-corporation beliefs. But the whole point of Anti Flag is to be brave enough to stand up for what YOU want as long as it’s a positive thing. So for these reasons Anti Flag will be made very welcome at Groezrock the only question is what set they will choose from nine album discography.

Next up is Hot Water Music who release their new album Exister two weeks after Groezrock. You can check out a brand new track right here: http://mp3.rollingstone.com/download/5DragMyBody.mp3 Even if you just read about the band on paper without listening to them you’d get some idea of why this will be one of the festival highlights. 1) Chuck Ragan 2) Drummer George Rebelo went back to HWM after briefly joining Against Me. 3) Bill Stevenson and Walter Schreifels have both recorded/produced one of their albums. They also held their integrity when they decided to split only because they realised their friendship meant too much to sacrifice when touring got on top of them. But their melodies, lyrics, song structures is what makes this band worth your every listen.

So with over 100 bands playing it’s taken a while to pick through the highlights but here goes!

Make do and Mend are a band who proved their worth after working with bands like La Dispute and Touche Amore and now that they’ve laid down a release date in June for their new album “Everything You Ever Loved” it should be a great show.

Any band that’s released more than five albums on Fat Wreck Chords will always have a place on LiveForThis and that’s why Good Riddance will be one of the best long-standing punk bands on the lineup, including of course Lifetime, 7 Seconds, Rancid…(Yep I told you it was hard) The band who have always stood up for animal rights and vegetarianism decided to have fun while they had a message to share. And the result is 7 albums worth of positivity fuelled punk which will go down gloriously at a festival.

Then of course there’s Thrice who make one of their last European live appearances before going on hiatus. The band have always shown great respect to their fans by letting them choose which tracks should have videos and now choosing which songs they should play on their ‘farewell tour’. Thrice may have taken an unexpected route  musically when they released the alchemy index including tracks which were in iambic pentameter but atleast they’ve always done things there way.

Other bands  totally worth checking out include:
Terror (one of the best live hardcore bands),http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4BLbIM0E-g
Parkway Drive (some of the BEST breakdowns)
Rancid (as punk as they come teenage nostaligia)
The Bronx (back to destroy the mosh pits after the long Mariachi el Bronx stint. They will never disappoint http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylR9BSp1FKE
The Menzingers,( who just released one of the best albums this year)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Jgmn6r9p4
Lagwagon  (long standing California punk band)
Alkaline Trio (never fail to write a good song or put on a good show)
Dillinger Escape Plan (who literally have people crammed in corners at their gigs)
7 seconds (massively influential punk hardcore) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2LupsLlx1M
Gallows (with new vocalist Wade from Alexisonfire)
DYS (relentless Boston hardcore) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hiMAmc-sjg
Miss May I (One word. Guitars)
The Ghost Inside (due to release their next album soon after the impressive ‘Returners’).
Oh could I sign this post off without mentioning Refused? Nearly did..

I could write something about every single band on the lineup but this has made me excited and I better start packing!

Interviews and reviews from the festival to come.
Albums out in 2012:
Your Demise- The Golden Age http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIapvy0AJag&feature=relmfu
MxPx-Plans Without Plans  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id0RGDQtDFI
Hot Water Music- Exister http://mp3.rollingstone.com/download/5DragMyBody.mp3
Anti Flag- The General Strike  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFyMk0HsQik
Make Do and Mend-  Everything You Ever Loved
Miss May I- At Heart