Punched and Pied in the face….. and the fest begins!!
At last, The Punch and Pie Festival has begun! With a slew of performances lined up between August 15th and 20th, this fest is nothing shy of an explosion on the Sacramento underground music scene. Housed at various locations, the festival kicked off at the Press Club last Wednesday night.
The first to rev up the fest were The Moans, bringing some serious the heat to the stage. Armed with high energy riffs and catchy harmonic choruses, it’s easy to see that punk is still alive and well. Without a doubt, this three-piece set the appropriate pace, making the crowd zealous for what The Punch and Pie Fest has to offer over the next five days and nights.
Stage still steaming, The Community came firing up the blades! Acting as if this was his last show on earth, the intensity and passion by front man, Neil, was relentless. Although punk is their forte, these Sacramento natives treated the audience to everything from metal riffs to surf rock. The Community performance had the crowd primed for what the third group, Prima Donna, would bring to the stage.
This L.A. based quartet oozed rock-‘n’-roll! Mid-tone rhythms and tasty guitar solos were accompanied by saxophone and key boards, creating a bit of a blues funk approach that highlighted the lead and backing vocals. Prima Donna reminisced on 60’s rock-’n’-roll, with a touch of modern artists such as Jet.
After the Prima Donna set came to an end, there was a short break to deck out the stage for The Phenomenauts. This gave the crowd a chance to throw back some drinks at the bar and get ready for a spectacular performance. Known for their out of this world, 1950s B side, space theme, The Phenomenauts present quite a show. Dressed in retro space gear, this band was ready to bring the house down. Beginning with an intro fashioned to fit the theme, the band kicked off their set and made the crowd go wild. Fast-paced rockabilly, teetering on straight punk rock, would only begin to describe this very eccentric and charismatic band. The Phenomenauts set was the perfect finale to a string of acts unique to the punk rock sub-culture.
Rock fans should make a point to try to see all four of these bands at future shows as well as the rest of the Punch and Pie Fest line-up. There are still two days left to catch the festival and it should not be missed!
For more info check out the Punch and Pie website.
See you in the pit!
To learn more about the bands above visit the links below.
The Moans
https://www.facebook.com/themoans
The Community
https://www.facebook.com/thecommunityband
Prima Donna
http://www.primadonnarocks.com/
The Phenomenauts
To see more photos from the show visit
Words Ernesto Perez