From the Weenie Roast to Burgerama, chances are you can find something that suits your tastes on the OC festival circuit. Unless of course you’re into pure, unadulterated rock music. Planning an entire day around monster choruses, distorted six string fury, brash attitude and wooly goatees hasn’t been a priority lately, despite there being a ton of bands in our own backyard who fit that bill.
While buzzwords like indie, psych, garage and pop are all well and good, it’s important to highlight bands that play rock without the need to add any affixes or pretense to what they do. Who better to show love to this tribe than Well Hung Heart, a band that’s made its name not only in OC, but around the country on the strength of their straight ahead sound. Taking matters into their own hands, members Greta Valenti and Robin Davey conjured up the idea for Feedback Fest at the Wayfarer on Feb. 27 as a way to bring rock bands from near and far into one cohesive day of powerchord, uh, power.
“Once we started putting all the bands together we realized that there’s a real wealth of talent in that guitar driven rock genre in this area and there aren’t any rock festivals in OC. This is a no-brainer to put it all in one place,” Davey says.
The lineup for this first annual Feedback Fest is headlined by Well Hung Heart along with support from Huntington Beach band’s Them Evils and Thunder Gut as well as Killmama of Fort Lauderdale, Fl. and SoCal quartet Joyous Wolf. Another time-honored rock tradition at Feedback Fest is the opportunity to get a band’s logo inked on a body part of your choosing. The folks at Body Art Bus will be on hand, offering flash tattoos of the logos for each band on the bill, should you be brave enough to really show your love. Throw in a few good beer specials, raffle prizes, original art prints for sale and of course a full slate of rad rock-n-roll and you’ve got yourself one hell of a Saturday night.
“There’s so many shows every night of the week in OC which is a great thing but you also get spread so thin,” Davey says. “So we kinda wanted to make it something where it was special for all the bands and all the band’s fans.”
For WHH fans, it’s worth mentioning that this will be the first show as a four-piece, featuring new bassist Danielle Lehman formerly of Fiction Reform and Star Wars-inspired supergroup The Rebel Scumbags. KROQ fans know her as Chip, the board-op for the Kevin and Bean show.
“She has a real simple and super solid style and we thought it fits in perfectly to what we’re doing to emphasize the driving rock n roll thing and she’s a great person and it just felt like a natural fit.” Davey says. “It also allows me to go places I couldn’t go before. Now I can go a bit wild and fuck around a bit more.”
With new recordings and plenty more touring in their future, starting something like Feedback Fest in OC only adds to the band’s ever growing resume that serves as a giant middle finger to anyone who thinks rock is dead.
“This festival is binding people to make something bigger, everyone brings their thing to it and that really helps us do what we do better,” Davey says.
Feedback Fest happens on Feb. 27 at the Wayfarer with Them Evils, Thunder Gut, Killmama and Joyous Wolf. $5 advance, $7 at the door. 7p.m.-2 a.m. For Full details click here or see full show flier below.
