Forward Unto FEST!!!

by D Workman

 The Fest in Gainesville Florida is considered by many to be the best punk festival in the United States if not the world. Folks from everywhere make the yearly trek to partake in 3 days of music, community and comraderie. I thought it might be fun to interview some of my and your favorite attendees, their bands, their brands, and see what makes this such a special event in the hearts and minds of so many. I'll try to get as many in as i can and hopefully convey a little of the joy it evokes!

Without further ado:

Tell the folks who you are, what you do, and where you do it from!

Hey! I’m Brian from wolves&wolves&wolves&wolves aka wolvesx4 from North Carolina, I sing, play guitar, write songs, make art, all the things.

Yeah you are! Thanks for participating! Let's get at it!

How many times have you FESTed?

This year is gonna be my 7th Fest in a row. I grew up down in Tampa and lived there when Fest started but never went until wolves played the first time back in 2017.

Nice! That's a long time playing FEST!

So, besides looking forward to playing your set, who else are you excited to see this year?

All my friends from around the country especially the west coast and midwesterners I still haven’t been able to make it out to see on the road, Covid threw wolves completely off our game and we’re still working to get back to where we were.

Completely get it. Honestly I still feel like it's 2019 in my head. It's so weird that we're nearly in 2025.

Since you've played multiple times, do you prefer to tour down the coast to get here or load up and fly down?

Wolves toured down the first time we played but ever since we’ve just all made our own way down. It’s a little more fun for us to make it just a great weekend that we can enjoy being present for the entire time.

Very cool, I get wanting to come in all fresh and ready to roar.

Obviously this is a FESTival you love or you wouldn't be back so many times. What is your favorite part of FEST?

Reunions with people I don’t get to see that often. I love the music but seeing faces I don’t get to see too often is what keeps me coming back. DO NOT underestimate the power of a hug from any of the Boss’ Daughter dudes. It made my Fest worth the drive last year and it was like 10 minutes into registration.

Nice! A good hug from old friends is always awesome.

Have any FEST memories you'd like to share?

2017 we played Loosey’s for our first time at Fest, Spanish Love Songs played right after us and the room was packed with a line around the building, one in one from when we started til SLS finished. It was an amazing way to kick off our Fest experience.

Ok that's definitely a great memory to have!

You mentioned you all just kind of drive down seperately and enjoy the decompression, you stop at buccee's for snacks? What's your favorite?

Cinnamon sugar beaver nuggets. I grab a few bags on the drive in and a few more on the way home.

Solid choice right there! Speaking of food, what is a "I must eat here" spot for you in Gainesville?

There’s a spot me and my wife eat every year I always look forward to that’s right across the courtyard from Boca, called Liquid Ginger. I love Japanese and Asian food so that’s my go to. I also really like Dragonfly Sushi and Sake which is just one building over, but it’s always packed and super tough to get into.

If you eat, you gotta drink right? What's your beverage(s) of choice for long Florida days of band watching?

Pineapple Coconut Body Armor, water, a good root beer.

What is something that FEST makes you grateful for?

Anyone who has every believed in what wolves is doing, has given us a stage to play, released a record for us, anyone who has kept us going with a kind word or a high five. I’m grateful to still be able to play music and have anyone care.

Getting near the end of our time here, so let's get a little weird!

If you could choose: would you be top musician in your field or mad cow disease

Easy, top musician because I wanna know what the exact opposite of what I am now is like.

*laughing. Nice

What video game would you be playing if you weren't playing FEST?

GTA any of them. I wouldn’t even play video games if it wasn’t for gta3. But I also love No Man’s Sky for the solitude and space exploration.

Got time for one more, what is something you'd like to share about the band or your set this year?

This is our 15th anniversary as a band. We played our first show Halloween 2009 in a basement.

That's awesome! Come celebrate their anniversary with me at The Backyard of Boca Fiesta Saturday at 6:10, there'll be root beer!

Thank you again Brian! See you and lots of folks reading this in just a couple of days!