This year’s BFD had the best vibe the venerable summer festival has had in years. Was it the absence of white-t-shirted bro-bot Sublime fans? Maybe the recent proliferation of fun pop bands on alt-radio? Who knows, but this one was a blast from start to finish.
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The artsy chaos on South First Street at Subzero makes for great spectacle. At the 2012 edition on Friday, there was once again plenty to see, starting with the return of Art Alive Gallery. This body-painting collective debuted at the 2011 festival, but they really upped their game this year. Semi-nude women…
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With the reunited Jane’s Addiction headlining Live 105’s BFD this weekend, it’s the perfect time to remember the first club to bring Perry Ferrell’s legendary band to the South Bay. From 1985 to 1990, Santa Clara’s One Step Beyond was a hub of counterculture in the Valley, with their all-ages policy exposing…
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The Morgan Hill mafia will invade BFD this year, when Mike Garmany and James Mellow (better known to many of his early fans by his real name, Grant Averill) will both be playing the Local Band Stage at Live 105’s annual music festival.
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AARON CARNES on May 30, 2012
Hawk Jones’ early recordings paired the unlikely combination of driving punk rock drumming and weird, finger-tapping guitar work, making them a difficult group to classify. Experimental-punk seemed like the best description. But with their new EP, Que Rico, the San Jose band headlining at the Caravan on Saturday shakes things up a…
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With Landon Donovan putting the U.S. men’s soccer team back in the news and the Earthquakes on a roll, it seems like an ideal time for “Vibe: The San Jose Soccer and Music Festival.” The festival will debut Saturday, June 2 at the PAL Stadium on 34th Street, with plans to turn…
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With Van Halen’s show in San Jose just a week away, the question has suddenly become whether they can make it to HP Pavilion before the wheels fall off their reunion. The ever-feuding metal legends are apparently at it again, having “postponed” more than 30 dates on their U.S. summer tour—basically everything…
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Summer means big music festivals, and this year the South Bay has more than ever. Here are six covering genres from rock to hip-hop, metal, blues and more (go here for a rundown of this summer’s jazz events).
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Aaron Carnes on May 23, 2012
It took years of hard work and gigging in the Bay Area before freak-metal outfit—and unlikely rock stars—Primus blew up in the ’90s. Spazzy, weirdo bass player/frontman Les Claypool started the band in the early ’80s with guitarist Todd Huth. In 1988, literally months before Primus released their first album, Suck on…
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Beau Dowling on May 22, 2012
Sometimes it’s difficult for a band to find their target audience. Rich Ajlouny and Anthony Gullicksen of San Jose’s Stock Foto found it in the place they least expected: Santana Row.
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