Fun Fun Fun 2012: Lineup Out; Music Mixes for Each Stage

The lineup for this year's edition of Fun Fun Fun, our favorite Austin music festival, came out last week.  While last year's fest was heavier on the metal, this year the hip-hop and electronic acts are out front.  As noted in an earlier post, Run-D.M.C. are this year's headliners, and they'll be joined by a barrage of strong hip-hop acts both rising and classic on the Blue Stage, from Schoolboy Q to Rakim.  Three more stages will feature a mix of indie rock, hard stuff and comedy, plus a few "events" like the veggie hot dog eating contest. The full lineup is below.

The last few years, we've made a big music mix to celebrate the lineup release.  This year, we thought we'd try something different:  Four stages, four mixes.  Into metal or punk rock?  Check out the Black Stage mix.  Like your music more twee and drippy?  Orange is for you.  Between the four, there's a boatload of music (and humor) to check out.

2012 FUN FUN FUN FESTIVAL LINEUP

BLUE STAGE

RUN-D.M.C. A$AP ROCKY GIRL TALK

DE LA SOUL ETIENNE DE CRECY  BUN B

STARFUCKER  ARAABMUZIK DILLON FRANCIS RAKIM

DANNY BROWN THE OCTOPUS PROJECT TRUST TANLINES

DMC KREAYSHAWN MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS ASTRONAUTALIS

SCHOOLBOY Q CHARLI XCX PENGUIN PRISON EL TEN ELEVEN CLASS ACTRESS

ANAMANAGUCHI DIAMOND RINGS NITE JEWEL NICK WATERHOUSE NICKY DA B A.DD+

MUSTARD PIMP DAUGHN GIBSON GOLD FIELDS ICONA POP 10 YR ORTHY LOVE INKS BAAUER

AMERICAN ROYALTY VOCKAH REDU FEATHERS

ORANGE STAGE

EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS  PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY SANTIGOLD

THE HEAD AND THE HEART SUPERCHUNK REAL ESTATE

THE BLACK ANGELS LUCERO MINUS THE BEAR THE PROMISE RING

SURFER BLOOD DEERHOOF PAUL BANKS (OF INTERPOL) BOB MOULD

WHY? ATLAS SOUND SHARON VAN ETTEN BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW

OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ CURSIVE ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD

GIVERS HELIO SEQUENCE TWIN SISTER NOUVELLE VAGUE DIAMOND RUGS DUM DUM GIRLS

TITUS ANDRONICUS BEACH FOSSILS BRENDAN BENSON DOLDRUMS DISAPPEARS GIANT SAND

YELLOW OSTRICH THE JEZABELS A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS FANG ISLAND FOXY SHAZAM

DEATHFIX CULT OF YOUTH BALMORHEA UME THE GOLDEN BOYS NOT IN THE FACE HUNDRED VISIONS

BLACK STAGE

REFUSED TURBONEGRO X (PERFORMING LOS ANGELES)

TOMAHAWK AGAINST ME! FUCKED UP WAVVES

SEAWEED THE SWORD CONVERGE YOUTH OF TODAY

LAGWAGON BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME NAPALM DEATH

NOMEANSNO OFF! THE BRIEFS THE SPITS BARONESS BRAID MUNICIPAL WASTE

JAPANDROIDS VALIENT THORR TORCHE DWARVES LITURGY EARTH THE RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS

LA DISPUTE PEELANDER Z RED FANG DEVIN CHEAP GIRLS DEAFHEAVEN KVELERTAK

BURNING LOVE PALLBEARER RESIDUAL KID JOYCE MANOR POWER TRIP FLESH LIGHTS THE YOUNG TIA CARRERA

YELLOW STAGE

DAVID CROSS HANNIBAL BURESS

WYATT CENAC DOUG BENSON

EUGENE MIRMAN SAUL WILLIAMS

JON BENJAMIN TIG NOTARO W. KAMAU BELL  DUNCAN CARSON

MORTIFIED SESSIONS FFF DATING GAME BATTLE RAP ROYAL

AIR SEX CHAMPIONSHIP RAMIN NAZER DOUG MELLARD CHRIS CUBAS

NEW MOVEMENT SKETCH COMEDY TROUPE ALTERCATION PUNK ROCK COMEDY HOUR

VEGGIE HOT DOG EATING CONTEST TACO CANNON WEIRD AL TRIBUTE BAND (MIDGETMEN)

NOLA COMEDY HOUR  KATH BARBADORO CHRISTOPHER WONDER MAGIC SHOW 

KEVIN SECONDS (SPOKEN WORD) SETH COCKFIELD DANNY PALUMBO

ASHLEY BARNHILL ERIC KRUG JOE SIB JAKE FLORES CAMERON BUCHHOLTZ DEREK PHELPS KAT RAMZINSKI  BRENDAN K. O'GRADY

Fun Fun Fun 2012: Run-D.M.C. Reunion Highlights Lineup Leaks

The full lineup for the 2012  Fun Fun Fun Festival  has not been released yet.  To appease eager fans (and entice ticket sales), festival organizers have been "leaking" a handful performers over the past couple of weeks.  The latest news, and probably biggest so far, is a partial reunion of old school rap legends and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Run-D.M.C.  Living members Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniel (DJ Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell was murdered in 2002) will reunite to perform together for the first time in a decade at this years Fun Fun Fun.

As someone who purchased Run-D.M.C.'s first album on cassette in my early teens and a fan of hip-hop since the golden age, I'm excited.  After watching fellow old-schoolers Public Enemy rock the festival with overflowing energy last year, I'd bet on the duo delivering a good set.

If you happen to catch this post early and are hear in Austin, head over to the Mohawk RIGHT NOW - some Fun Fun Fun tickets are being given away during a "Run-D.M.C. Happy Hour" from 5-8.  If not, well, buy tickets to the fest?  In the meantime, here's a little update of Run-D.M.C.'s "It's Like That" produced by Jason Nevins a few years back.




By the way, other leaks so far include Atlas Sound, Bob Mould, Against Me!, The Head and the Heart, Danny Brown and fellow rap legend Rakim, a late scratch from last year's festival.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 Bullets (11/3/10)

New festival, same format. Here's a rundown of what people are saying about the Fun Fun Fun Fest this coming weekend at Waterloo Park in Austin, TX.

• The big news over the last few days was Devo pulling out of the festival due to Bob Mothersbaugh's ailment. Their just-announced replacement? Punk icons The Descendants. MOG Blog notes that the FFF show will mark the first performance with the full lineup in a decade. Kudos to Transmission Entertainment for coming up with replacements for the artists that have pulled out this year.
• Austinist has been running a series of interviews and previews on the artists coming to this year's festival. The latest profile is on Mastodon. I don't know too much about the band, but learning that they've toured with Alice in Chains, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Slayer was informative.
• Austin360's Austin Music Source is also doing some previewing. Latest is Cap'n Jazz. Interesting profile of a band returning out of the blue, which seems to be a FFF specialty. AMS also has a good breakdown of this year's lineup.
• No tickets and no dough? Gowalla is giving away a Sunday pass. Check in at select sites on Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a chance to win. Check Austinist for details.
• Buzzgrinder (cool name) offers up its picks for the Blue and Yellow Stages. Makes me feel a bit Swedish. Slick Rick and Pharoah Monch bookend the list.
• Is Fun Fun Fun the best of the fests? Preston Jones for the Star-Telegram makes his case: "[M]ostly, Fun Fun Fun Fest tosses a well-calibrated mix of bubbling-under bands and indie elder statesmen in front of discerning listeners for extraordinarily compact sets (nearly all performers have a little less than 60 minutes). Consider it an antidote to the increasingly bloated and loosely focused SXSW, which celebrates its 25th anniversary next year, and a corrective to Austin City Limits Music Festival's patina of corporate greed and overreaching inclusiveness. (Seriously, the Eagles as a headliner?)."
• Something different? How about a look at some of the less heralded folks that make these festivals possible. Johnny Sarkis is a Fun Fun Fun bar manager. Read about him at A.V. Club Austin. Who is Johnny most looking forward to this year? "Weird Al," of course. "I’ve been listening to “Weird Al” since I was 8. I know every single word to UHF. People don’t realize that, aside from Madonna, [Yankovic]’s career legacy has outlived every single person he’s ever parodied. And I’m super excited about that." Love it!
• Here's a brief video preview from Culture Greyhound, featuring JEFF the Brotherhood, Wavves, Dominique Young Unique and The Hold Steady.
• "Yellow Stage Circus?" Mechanical bull? Air sex? Isn't this a music festival? Wha?

Fun Fun Fun 2010 Grooveshark Playlist (On the Right) - Listen Now!

In honor of the upcoming Fun Fun Fun Festival, From Boston to Austin is shifting focus. Remember that ACL 2010 Grooveshark widget? Nah, neither do we. Well anyhow, down there on the right side of the page, you'll find a new widget with a mix of songs featuring this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest artists. In garish Fun Fun Fun-themed colors, no less. From "Weird Al" to Yelle. Click, listen, and discover (or in the case of "Eat It," just smile).

Fun Fun Fun 2010: This year's odd comeback: The Gories - obscure 80s Detroit garage-punk

Fun Fun Fun - Austin's Best Music Fest?

Not to be outdone by ACL, Transmission Entertainment has put together another ecclectic lineup for this year's "third festival," the Fun Fun Fun Festival. Not as big or glitzy as ACL or SXSW, Fun Fun Fun -- with its small crowds, easy parking, mild weather and great music -- is like a little gift to the locals who complain that it feels like Austin gets overrun during the two biggies. This year, we're gonna be out of town and will miss it for the first time since we moved down here. Bummer! This lineup is loaded.

Click to enlarge.

Lots of hip-hop, electronic music, and rock of many kinds: punk, hard, metal, indie. From lots of different eras, too. And to top it all off, speaking of punk, they scored "Weird Al."

The Gories: Before Jack and Meg ...

The Gories (l to r): Mick Collins, Peggy O'Neill, Dan Kroha

A deep lineup isn't the only thing this year's Fun Fun Fun has in common with last year. If you read my post, I wrote about the interesting and unlikely reunion/comeback of Detroit punk pioneers Death, who was one of the big stories last year. This year also features a reclamation project from Detroit: The Gories. Apparently this Detroit trio was playing swampy blues-infected garage punk while Jack White was still in school. After a brief period of moderate local success in the late 80s and early 90s, the group disbanded, only to reappear unexpectedly in 2009 for a short tour across Europe.

I guess the reception was good? Regardless, The Gories decided to do it again in 2010, this time hitting spots across the States. So, what's the verdict? Are The Gories worth checking out, or are they just a novelty act that lots of hipsters will go flock to see just to put notches on their belts? Well, do you like lo-fi rock with hints of punk, blues and rockabilly, played with garage-band shwerve? If it helps, think The Cramps crossed with The Stooges. After watching the video (one of the few they shot) for "Nitroglycerine" on Youtube, I can easily see why fellow Detroit rocker Jack White has expressed his devotion to them. You might even wonder if drummer Peggy O'Neill served as an inspiration for using Meg to drum, unless you really think it was Meg's drumming skill that was the primary factor. Plus, if Death was any indication, I'd go see The Gories. Sometimes a little time off does wonders.

The Gories: "Nitroglycerine"