F Yeah Fest, first started by eighteen-year-old Sean Carlson, had its inaugural year in 2004. The festival was initially held in Echo Park near downtown Los Angeles and began to help portray an important message. Because of the Governator and his infamous budget cuts, California was left without basic funding to keep their state parks open. Sean Carlson’s main goal, as stated on the main website, was to create a, “low-cost event of great entertainment [that helped] raise awareness of the possible closure of up to one hundred state parks.”
The past five years at Echo Park have allowed many different bands to come and play and speak out against the array of budget cuts. Names such as Horse the Band, Circle Jerks, Graf Orlock, No Age, and Fucked Up have all had a chance to contribute to the ongoing cause. 2009 came, the venue was changed, the name of the actual festival itself was changed, and the most eclectic lineup in the festival’s history was released. FYF Fest was to take place on September 5th at the Los Angeles State Historic Park with the likes of the Black Lips, Tim and Eric, Converge, and Mika Miko to pull in a large, diverse crowd. Then, twenty days later, a bomb was dropped. The Dillinger Escape Plan had been added to the roster. What better way to save the parks than to have DEP close out stage two? When the lights finally went out on the festival, this was the one show everyone wished they hadn’t missed.
As Dillinger Escape Plan began pummeling their way through the set, the intensity of the group, it seemed, was building towards one climactic moment. A short pause in the music allowed Greg Puciato, the lead singer, to explain that a special guest was about to accompany them on stage. As the first notes of “Horse Hunter” began, I knew right then and there. This mystery singer had only performed the song once, in studio for Ire Works, Dillinger Escape Plan’s latest record. The group had been trying to get him on stage to perform the song many times before but had never succeeded. And then it happened… Brent Hinds from Mastodon came out to perform his little piece of DEP madness. The show ended with a splintered guitar and a splintered fan’s head.
There is just one way, though, that the night could have been any better. If Mike Patton had come out and performed “When Good Dogs Do Bad Things” off of the 2002 EP Irony Is A Dead Scene, the crowd would have erupted into utter chaos… and I am sure there are many out there who would agree.
The Dillinger Escape Plan is currently working on the followup to 2007’s Ire Works. The new record is titled Option Paralysis and is expected to be released on March 23rd, 2010.
