Well well well, here we are again, Labor Day weekend. You know what that means. School starts back back, you get a Monday off from work, one last swim before closing the pool up until Memorial Day… and three days full of music, art, food, community, and more sunburns than your bottle of SPF 50 can handle in the woods of western MA. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you, RPM Fest 2023.
Getting there a day early to not only setup camp, but also to get a lay of the land for this year’s festival, as this year we are down to two stages for the first time since RPM has moved to Miller Falls Rod and Gun Club. In place of the pavillion stage we now have a designated and out of the sun area for all bands to set up their merch tables as well as the addition of the THCC Lounge, affectionately dubbed “The THiCC Lounge”. So we have two stages, the Wick & Ronin stage, the smaller of the two, and the Four Phantoms Brewing Company stage, the main stage. Gates open at 12pm Friday afternoon… let’s jump in to the best party of the summer!
Day 1:
Gates opened at noon for all patrons and for anyone camping for the weekend and music started at 5pm sharp. Being that music started as the sun was starting to head down, Friday is the shortest day here. But don’t let that make you think that there’s any less of a good time to be had. Opening up the Wick & Ronin stage were blackened melodic death metal band, Bellower. Putting on a punishing set that set a tone for the weekend that was complimented by the band opening the main stage, Bent. Blackened melo-death and hardcore, sounds bizarre in practice but in execution, works out pretty damn well. Following the trend of hardcore, up next was the band Choke Out from western MA, who very sadly were down a member on stage, as their long time bass player Luis Albir tragically passed away weeks before RPM Fest. Their vocalist made a very touching tribute on stage with a photo of Luis behind the strings of his bass on stage, as Luis was considerably excited about being able to play RPM Fest this year. Restless Spirit brought the doom with swagger to spare. Casket Rats were my surprise of the day. You wanna go back in time to the Sunset Strip in the 80’s, some good ol’ sleazy rock and roll and good times to be had by all? Then go listen to Casket Rats. Keith Bennett of Death Ray Vision fame man’s the helm here which was an unexpected but welcome familiar face. After the the 1980s vibes settled from Casket Rats we go further back in time over on the main stage with Connecticut’s Bone Church. One of my favorites of the entire weekend, these fine gentlemen are this generation’s Black Sabbath and I say that with my full chest. Go listen and tell me I’m wrong. Closing out the second stage on night one was Living Wreckage, a band that is comprised of members of Anthrax, Shadows Fall, Let Us Prey, and Act Of Defiance. Crushing riffs, a rhythm section that could make diamonds out of coal from how tight they are, and vocals that are both anthemic and casually guttural. And closing out night one on the main stage were ROM Fest vets, Black Tusk. It was so nice seeing these guys again, last time they played the festival was what seemed like a lifetime ago back in 2018. And things are just as thick, heavy, and fast as always. If you haven’t listened to Black Tusk, go do it. Take Motorhead, Baroness, and High On Fire and you get what the boys affectionately refer to as “Swamp metal” and honestly, it fits. It’s like if Shrek starting running shows in his swamp. All in all Day 1 was a great appetizer for the rest of the weekend, no let’s get ready for Day 2.
Day 2:
Music started at noon over on the main stage with Mothman Apparatus, an eclectic mix of mid-era style Dillinger Escape Plan with punk mentality and more keyboards. Over on the second stage with have western MA ska-punk group PWRUP. Recently signing to Ska Punk International and just released their new album “Just Devils” the men of PWRUP always bring the party with huge energy, octopus hats, trombones, and skank pits a plenty. Graveborn, The Freqs, Mick’s Jaguar, and Viqueen all brought massive sound truly showing what RPM Fest is all about, community and bringing music fans of all types together. Death metal, fuzz punk, old school rock n’ roll, and anthem driven thrash were all on display. Unfortunately I had to miss Fires In The Distance due to a personal matter but I could hear them in the distance (pun fully intended) and what I heard was huge, ethereal, cascading metal that you need to hear and feel to appreciate. Over on the second stage the kings of bastard thrash Goblet took their rightful place on stage and in our hearts as the “RPM Fest house band” as they’ve played every year since the festival’s inception back in 2014. Jesse Pause further proving my point that he’s the Freddie Mercury of thrash metal, always knows how to bring crowd interaction to a new level. With the every present t-shirt cannon to the blow up sex dolls flying around the crowd to a “dry” circle pit, not playing until the whole crowd was going in a circle pit, Goblet understands the assignment when they play RPM.
Next up on the docket with have a run of sets from High Reeper, Killer Hearts, Freedom Hawk, and Killer Kin. All the bands brought something to the table. Killer Kin in particular is a band you need to pay attention to, mark my words, their vocalist Matt, is the next Iggy Pop. Bold words, I know, but watch them live and you’ll understand… dog leash and all. Rebreather brought a heavy and almost psychedelic fuzziness to the main stage that I was more than okay hearing. Definitely one to listen to if you’re a fan of Kyuss or Iron Butterfly. Rebuilder over on the tent stage showed why never following the rules is the key in this music industry. No frills rock and roll will take you to the mountain top and show you what a good show is meant to be. Sweaty, in your face, pedal-to-the-floor mentality. King Parrot came all the way from Melbourne, Australia to be here on Day 2 along with heading out on the road opening for Lamb of God on their most recent tour alongside Pantera. This is a band I’ve always seen on shirts and flyers, I’ve seen their name all over the place but have never actually had a good chance to listen to them. And good lord do I now see the error of my ways, what a show, grindcore is made different down under. Crowd surfing, humping blow up dolls on stage, casual use of the c-word in regular conversation, and a hit song called “Shit on the Liver”. God damn, that’s all I gotta say. Now, on to what was my favorite discovery of the weekend. From New Bedford, Massachusetts and been around since 1999… A Wilhelm Scream. As someone who grew up with pop punk and hardcore music as a safe haven and release from the world, A Wilhelm Scream is the S-Tier melodic hardcore band that I’ve needed in my life without knowing that I was missing them in my life. As RPM Fest founder Brian Westbrook said to me “These dudes are my favorite fucking band of all time and I’m so happy we were finally able to get them here”, and I’m with him. I need Nuno Pereira and the gang back for RPM Fest every goddamn year from here on out. Dueling guitars, thick bass that you can dance OR mosh to, drums that make you want to fight a grizzly bear, and a vocalist who is just as happy to be doing this now as he was the day they started back in 1999. I haven’t stopped listening to them since the drive home from the festival. And now the headliner of the Day 2, the always stoned and consistently fuzzed out boys from Wilmington, North Carolina… Weedeater. Coming in thick AF and heavy as always, Weedeater showed up and showed out with a high energy stoner metal show that is exactly what you want from it. Blistering tone, feverish vocals, and bass and guitar that’ll put on you on another planet if you’ll let it. Day 2 was a LONG day, but we got one more to go and it’s a hell of a send off.
Day 3:
Day 3 started up at noon once again, with long standing RPM Fest regulars, Rock Shop which is a group of young kids all in middle school to high school range on an every rotating lineup of students learning their respective instruments while playing through a set of covers of all the classics, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. It’s always a pleasure seeing these kids play, as it gives a look into the future of our New England metal scene and who’s going to be at the forefront of it in due time. Over on the main stage was another RPM veteran band, southern Vermont’s Jeopardy. Punk, thrash, and wise life lessons from Pappa Joopy always make for a good time. Chaotic hardcore came from the tent stage as Karate Steve took the stage and left nothing but riffs and circle pits in their wake, but a surprising lack of karate, hmmm good figure. A bit of lineup change for Sunday here, both Goblin Hovel and Limousine Beach had to bail for different reasons so we get Problem With Dragons over on the main stage with a brooding set the made me think about what would happen if you gave Cream access to modern day sci-fi, because that’s what Problem With Dragons does to you. They put you in a trance that makes you question if you’re even on Earth anymore.
Brain Famine, Glass Divide, and Bonginator took that trance you were in 90 minutes ago and puts you into a snow globe and just threw it at the wall. Death Metal, metalcore, and a fuck ton of weed (curtosy of Bonginator) make for a solid lunch hour stretch of the final day of the festival. In place of Limousine Beach on the main stage we have Godseyes who were on tour with the a decent chunk of the remaining bands for the day. I had never heard of this band until the morning of and I’ll be goddamned if that shit wasn’t some of the most cathartic headbanging I’d done all weekend. Hailing from Long Island, NY do yourself a favor and go look these guys up and go to a show if they’re in your area. You won’t be disappointed. Also on that same tour with Godseyes was Earth Groans, another bunch of badasses from South Dakota of all places. A mix of hardcore and metalcore that brought a tear to my eye, as I was watching what would happen if you put Hatebreed and Norma Jean in the studio together. Battering ram mentality and riffs to match.
And now for something completely different. Dethlehem is a metal band that was birthed out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, cosplay and all. Orc heads on pikes, songs about “Fearing The Mimic”, a drummer in full knight attire (while it was also 96 degrees out), and a mosh pit that turned into a game of “Who’s got the best loot drop”. This was a wildly out of left field band on the fest and I fucking loved every minute of it. RPM regulars Thoughtcrimes make an appearance over on the tent stage with their usual level on sheer unadulterated group therapy sessions known to the rest of the world as “moshing TF out”. Thoughtcrimes knows how to work a crowd and they do it damn well. Aversed is was over on the main stage next as the sun was starting to set on the festival grounds. We haven’t seen Aversed at RPM since 2018 and there’s been a lot that’s happened with the band in that time. A new singer, a handful of tours, a new album, and fine tuning their monster sound to a beautiful apex on sonic assault. Closing out the tent stage was a band that I haven’t seen since 2017 and have been trying to get on RPM Fest ever since then, from Long Island NY… Johnny Booth! This show was the band’s finally stop on their headline tour for their latest record “Moments Elsewhere” (Booth Records) and holy f*** did they go out with a bang. Songs from all over their discography made an appearance. The hardest hitting instrumentals I think I’ve ever heard paired with vocalist Andrew Herman’s lounge style Jimmy Buffett dance moves just to keep the party moving where the assignment of the night and Johnny Booth aced the test. By the end of the set, all of Johnny Booth, Godseyes, Earth Groans, and Thoughtcrimes were on stage… along with half the crowd screaming out the words to what is arguably their biggest song “Asymmetrical” along with water guns and pool noodles flying everywhere. It’s rare that I’m willing to bring my camera gear into the pit when there’s no barricade, but to get the full Johnny Booth experience you gotta go all in.
And now onto the headline band of the night and closing out the festival on it’s final day, Moon Tooth. Now for anyone that doesn’t know, Moon Tooth’s guitarist Nick Lee was down for the count for quite a bit this past year due to Limbic Encephalitis, a syndrome that can lead to seizures and change of consciousness. So when the band took the stage, all eyes were on Nick to see how he would do. About 35 seconds into their first song, Nick had a mild seizure on stage. Vocalist John Carbone, halted the show immediately as bassist Vincent Romanelli hoisted Nick onto his shoulders and the band brought Nick backstage to take care of Nick as we all waited on baited breath to see what would happen or if the band would be able to perform the show. About 10 minutes later we get word that Nick is cleared to play by medics and the band re-enters the stage to a massive sigh of relief and cheers from the crowd. “I love you guys. Someone gimmie my guitar”, Nick says as they jump back into their set. Playing hits like “Awe At All Angles” and “Trust”, a shorter set was played due to obvious reasons. The Band is still touring in support of their latest record Phototroph (Pure Noise Records) and is currently on tour with The Callous Daoboys supporting Protest The Hero, a band that I would do unholy things to have play RPM Fest… just sayin’.
RPM Fest 2023 is a wrap, folks. We laughed, we cried, we drank, we headbanged, we all got sunburnt… and I’ll do it all again next year. 2024 is the 10 year anniversary of RPM Fest so keep your eyes peeled and get ready because it’s gonna be a wild one.
Until next time folks,
Smallz… signing off.