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Herd Fest Announces Full Lineup

With just over a month to go until opening its sophomore kick off at Mohawk Place, we are proud to present the full lineup for Herd Fest, which in its second year, has expanded to four days, 14 showcases, and over 60 acts. Showcases will again be curated by returning Herd alumni like Harvest Sum, Quiet Country Audio, and Black Dots, and welcome some first year show runners including Silo Sessions, Wax Museum Radio, and ESI. From June 18th-21st, venues including the Tralf, Sugar City, Nietzsche’s, and Spiral Scratch will host evenings of hip hop, punk, electronic, indie, and more, featuring some of the area’s best acts and exciting out of towners. Pre-sale bracelets are currently available at the festival’s website. Stay tuned for full schedules of each showcase. P.S. The Real Estate and A Place to Bury Strangers shows presented by ESI are considered bonus showcases. A Herd Fest[...]

Herd Fest: Day 2

Day 2 of Herd Fest began with back-to-back punk shows at record stores Black Dots and Spiral Scratch. Black Dots owner Josh Smith swooped in with his band Vanilla Sex after Ranch’s cancellation, which was meant to be in order to catch the captivating Kat Delfosse on lead vocals. Once the Black Dots show wrapped up, most of the crowd wandered over to Spiral Scratch. White Whale closed out the show with the lights out and the volume cranked up. Brimstone Blondes survived a year of college to kick off the buffaBLOG stage at Duke’s with their rowdy pop. Strange Acres played a packed room at Nietzsche’s thanks to their loyal Mohawk Place crew. In between sets, the Only Comrades DJs at Hardware provided a green room-type atmosphere to unwind and grab a classy drink. Check out some of our favorite shots from Day 2 below and for a full gallery,[...]

Psychic Teens

If you happened to make it out to buffaBLOG’s Herd Fest this past weekend, you may have heard something about a little band from Philadelphia called Psychic Teens. Now if you were fortunate enough, you actually got to catch their set at Allen Street Hardware, as part of Sugar City’s showcase. And if you missed their set, well, then shame on you. Needless to say, the brotherly love trio (singer/ guitarist Larry Ragone, bassist Joe Decarolis, and drummer Dave Cherasaro) made an impression on Buffalo this past weekend, brandishing their own brand of gothic, art-punk with some post-punk tendencies. As one attendee said, “I just got blasted by Psychic Teens,” while extending his jaw attempting to make his ears pop. “Did you catch them?” he asked me. However before I could answer, partly due to being unable to hear him, he said, “I totally forgot my plugs. They are definitely[...]

Moverealfaststop at Allen Street Hardware

This past Friday night, local DIY collective, Sugar City, took over the front and back rooms of Hardware as a part of our Herd Fest weekend. Kicking things off in the back room was Moverealfaststop, a new(er) group that features members of Cross Stitch and Lesionread. A product of the Queen City Music Lottery, the frantic three-piece helped lay an energetic groundwork for what turned out to be one of the best showcases over the long weekend. You can watch a clip from the band’s set, complete with some special guest spoken word and a gnome, below.

Herd Fest: Day 1

This past weekend, buffaBLOG threw its inaugural Herd Fest: a two day, nine showcase festival scattered around Allen Town (and just beyond). With showcases at College Street Gallery, Nietzsche’s, Duke’s, and Hardware, each fit a certain taste and scene in Buffalo. Whether you like punk, roots, emo, or indie, Friday night had something for you. Check out some of our favorite pictures from Day 1 below and head over to our FB page for the full gallery. Photo Credit: Candace Camuglia

Tonight: Herd Fest Day 2

Day 1 of our inaugural Herd Fest is in the books, and if you happened to miss last night, or just wanted more, then you are in luck. Day 2 is bigger, and depending on your tastes, maybe even better. If you missed any of our spotlights on today/tonight’s showcases, lets once again get you up to speed: Black Dots Spiral Scratch Records Harvest Sum @ Nietzsche’s buffaBLOG @ Duke’s Only Comrades @ Allen Street Hardware Music kicks off earlier today at our first of two bonus record shop showcases. Black Dots will begin at 4pm, while Spiral Scratch gets things going at 6pm, then head back to Allen for another long night of music. All showcases today are $5. If you already bought a pre-sale bracelet, then you are all good.

buffaBLOG

I’m not sure if you have gotten the message yet, but there is something called Herd Fest going on and buffaBLOG is dabbling in it. This Saturday, the blog. along with many other progressive members of the music community. will combine forces to deliver a festival that has people traveling both far and wide (I have a friend coming from NYC to see it). The goal is to show the community at large that Buffalo’s music scene is thriving even if it is not reflective upon the numerous closed venues in the past couple of years. Our party is Saturday night at Duke’s as usual and here is what we have in store. First on the lineup is Brimstone Blondes, channeling its retro-sound ranging from semi-obnoxious B-52s to ultra-hip-dipping Talking Heads. In numerous personal conversations I’ve had, I’ve always dubbed frontman, Matthew Danger Lippman as one of Buffalo’s secret treasures,[...]

Black Dots

Josh Smith deserves a lot of credit, and not just because he’s a walking, talking encyclopedia of underground punk knowledge. Or because he owns and operates a basement record store, Black Dots, on the West Side of Buffalo. Or just because he runs a local label by the same name, or even because he also supplies a space for shows on the West Side. No, he doesn’t deserve credit for any one of these things, he deserves credit for all of these things. On paper, Smith should totally be Barry from High Fidelity. He’s been embedded in the underground scene in Western New York for years now. He’s shared the stage with members of Syracuse’s Perfect Pussy, among others. He knows about all of the bands you’ve never heard of, and can speak of them coherently and articulately. However, Smith is not that guy. “So I’m going to be releasing[...]

The Good Neighborhood

In what we hope and anticipate to become a yearly staple in Allentown’s music triangle, Herd Fest starts this weekend at Hardware, Duke’s and Nietzsche’s. Outside of this unofficial triangle but very much a part of the action, Spiral Scratch Records, Black Dots and College St. Gallery will also be holding showcases of their own. What is a showcase, you ask? Well, it was when contestants came down and bid on things like beds and trips to the rainforest and Toyota Corolla’s and made chit chat with Bob Barker. What is a showcase in the context of this article, you ask? Well, friends of buffaBLOG were invited to host a night of music at each venue by hand-picking their favorite Buffalo acts. This Friday, The Good Neighborhood is “holding down” at Neitzsche’s. And what a way to kick things off! I don’t think I’m allowed to pick a favorite showcase,[...]

Sugar City

Sugar City deserves a lot of credit for the ceaseless work they have done to provide an open and collaborative space for all types of art in Buffalo. Over 5 years old, the arts collective is responsible for fostering a significantly stronger community of artists, musicians, and community activists. Even after losing their original space in Allentown, the organization regrouped and continued their work, sure to go even further now that they have a new space on Niagara Street. Perhaps the key to their continued success is their commitment to  being inclusive, welcoming and offering space to anyone with an idea and the wherewithal to make it a reality. They cannot be thanked enough for making a lot of wonderful things, including last year’s amazing Metro wide art and music show a reality. So, of course we tapped them to organize a showcase. Sugar City will be taking Hardware over[...]

Quiet Country Audio

If you follow buffaBLOG at all, you should be familiar with Quiet Country Audio. Although it functions as a full-blown recording studio, the men at QCA specialize in high-quality live video sessions of local and national bands. As one of our curators for Herd Fest, they have picked several local artists (and one out-of-towner) with QCA sessions under their belts. Their showcase will be held on June 20th at DBGB’s beginning at 10pm and mostly features bands from the emo and pop punk spectrum. Ghost House is QCA’s pick from NJ and fits in nicely with the other emo/punk heavyweights from Buffalo. Cedar Kites is next up, reminiscent of Brand New and Balance and Composure. Rust Belt Lights is the punkiest of the bunch, riding fast tempos and crunchy guitars. The Traditional are just coming off finishing their new album, and will probably have plenty of new, heavily-emotional material to show off. Wrapping[...]

Steak & Cake Records

Let’s get this done! This Friday, Buffalo’s own Steak & Cake Records, the Potomac based DIY label, will host the very first showcase of the inaugural Herd Fest at College Street Gallery, featuring a stacked lineup of local favorites. Space Wolves will kick off the night at 7:00 with a set of their signature blend of surf / garage rock, followed by the rhythmic indie pep of the NYBRKFST (pronounced “New York Breakfast”) at 7:45. Next up on the menu of delicious sonic treats is Alex Berkley & the Atlanta Falcons at 8:40, which is bound to be bangin’ if their performance at the buffaBLOG Birthday Party earlier this year is any indication of what Berkley and the boys are capable of. I’m especially excited for the return of A Hotel Nourishing, closing out the showcase with their set at 9:25. You won’t want to miss this two-piece, consisting of[...]

Herd Fest Announces Full Lineups & Schedule

So about a month ago, we announced our inaugural Herd Fest, a two-day, nine showcase festival centered in Allentown and slightly beyond on June 20th-21st. We invited some of the blog’s closest friends – Sugar City, Quiet Country Audio, Only Comrades, The Good Neighborhood, Steak and Cake, Black Dots, Harvest Sum, and Spiral Scratch – to get in on the festival fun by presenting their own curated showcases in the hopes of providing you with a weekend full of variety, eclectic genres, and sounds. Today, we want to share Herd’s full schedule and lineups for all nine of our festival showcases, which you can check out below, and to be honest, if you don’t see even a few acts on that lineup that interest you, then I don’t know what to tell you. If you wish to purchase a pre-sale bracelet, which will grant you all-access entry to of all[...]

Just Announced: Herd Fest

Spring has arrived in Buffalo, and just like that, things are on the up.  With summer in the city nearly here, we are happy to announce our next big party plans. Rather than do another stand alone showcase, we decided to be a bit more ambitious this time around.  On June 20th and 21st, the first weekend of summer, we are proud to present Herd Fest. What is Herd Fest? Well, think of it as our own version of CMJ/SXSW. Nine showcases over a two day period in Allentown (and slightly beyond). And for this party, we invited a few of the blog’s closest friends around to be a part of the festivities by hosting their own showcases and personally selecting some of their favorite Buffalo acts to play. While final lineups and schedules won’t be released until May, here is a taste of what Herd Fest will be offering:[...]