FYF Festival at LA Sports Arena & Exposition park August 23 and 24

Alexander Volz

The first FYF Fest, originally called Fuck Yeah Fest, started at The Echo live music venue in Los Angeles a decade ago. In 2005, FYF was formatted like Echo Park Rising is today; a large number of small bands perform at music venues and even residential spaces – all within walking distance of The Echo. That FYF festival occurred when a false rumor went around that Motorhead lead singer Lemmy had come out as gay, so the front man of the headlining Minneapolis punk band, Dillinger Four, decided to celebrate by playing most of the set completely naked – and even threw in an Motorhead  “Ace of Spades” cover for good measure. Well, what a long way the festival has come! Since then, the FYF festival moved to the Los Angeles State Park and now will take place at the mega-sized L.A. Sports Arena & Exposition Park on August 23rd and 24th.

Previous FYF festivals have showcased such alternative bands as the Silversun Pickups, No Age, The Rapture, Sleep, My Bloody Valentine, The Melvins, Refused, James Blake and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. On Saturday, August 23rd, the many FYF offerings will include performances by Phoenix, Interpol, Slowdive, Grimes, Slint, Future Islands and Against Me! On the second day, Sunday, August 24th, the festival will feature performances by The Strokes, HAIM, The Blood Brothers, Flying Lotus, Blood Orange, Darkside and Deafheaven.

On Saturday, August 23rd the festival will showcase performances by Phoenix, Interpol, Slowdive, Grimes, Slint, Future Islands,and Against Me! On Sunday, August 24th the offerings will include The Strokes, HAIM, The Blood Brothers, Flying Lotus, Blood Orange, Darkside, Murder City Devils, and Deafheaven. Now that it is at the LA Sports Arena attendees can expect fully functional bathrooms, food trucks, and more shady areas to cool off between bands. This year the festival also started “FYF Presents” where a several of the artists will perform headline shows at a number of venues through out Southern California leading up to the festival.

Concertgoers will no doubt be interested in seeing what the future holds for Interpol, as they make their triumphant return to FYF Fest. Interpol took the music world by storm in 2002 with their debut album, Turn on the Bright Lights,considered one of the best albums of that year. In 2008, bass player Carlos Dengler left the band. His bass lines were a significant reason why many say Interpol was so successful. Interpol then hit a tailspin, as each album was released to lesser success, leading up to the 2010 self-titled album that received largely unfavorable reviews. The band will return at FYF Fest and release a new album, El Pintor, featuring the surprisingly upbeat single “All the Rage Back Home” with driving drums and signature Interpol guitar riffs, on September 9th.

FYF Fest is part of a 20-date tour of England’s Slowdive’s reunion show. Slowdive’s debut album, Just for a Day,was released just when shoegaze music became unpopular in the early 1990s. They returned with their second album Souvlaki,produced by Brian Eno, to much greater reviews, but after poor publicity, sold few copies. In 1995, Slowdive broke up and reformed as Mojave 3 with a greater focus on traditional songwriting and have stayed active in music ever since. It wasn’t until early in 2014 that they decided to perform as Slowdive once again.

Little Dragon, from Sweden, is most well known for their single “Twice,” which has been featured on a number of network television series and movies. While “Twice” is hauntingly beautiful, “Turn Left” and “Ritual Union” show the band can be fun and wacky. Little Dragon’s sound is highlighted by singer Yukimi Nagano’s soulful vocals and the band’s excellent production. Their latest album, Nabuma Rubberband,received rave reviews and features the insanely addictive single “Klapp Klapp.”

Also on hand at FYF will be Future Islands, perhaps one of the weirdest, and most catchy bands to come around in a while. The band’s first album, Wave Like Home,  was released in 2008, but the band gained popularity when they performed “Seasons (Waiting On You)” on David Letterman earlier this year. What started off as a standard synth-pop dance band song turned into a wonderfully unique performance as front man, Samuel T. Herring, displayed his bizarre brand of dancing and the occasional metal growl. Even host David Letterman, quite stunned and intrigued, declared, “Buddy! C’mon! I’ll take all of that you got!” Watch for Future Islands to put on one of the most exciting and dynamic sets at FYF.

The Strokes, appearing on Sunday, made a splash in 2001 with their album debut IsThis It as part of the garage rock revival, along with the White Stripes, The Hives, and The Vines. The Strokes continued to release albums through 2005, but took a much needed break, then returned with 2011’s Angels. Their latest electronica-influenced album, Comeback Machine,received largely positive reviews and is considered a return to form for the band, as implied in the title. An interesting turn in the creation of Angels: lead singer Julian Casablancas didn’t see the band while recording his vocals, resulting in a wildly different sound than fans had come to expect. Comeback Machine is also notable for featuring very little promotion, yet still tracked the top 10 on Billboard.

Los Angeles-based Flying Lotus is arguably one of the most talented DJs working today. His work has been featured on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, the video game Grand Theft Auto V and on several Radiohead tracks. As the great nephew of jazz music legend Alice Coltrane, his brand of intricately layered hip-hop and electronica is appropriately jazz-inspired. Flying Lotus’ upcoming album, You’re Dead!,will feature the work of Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and jazz giant Herbie Hancock.

FYF Fest will take place at the LA Sports Arena & Exposition park August 23 and 24, 2014.