"The possibility of mental and physical collapse is now very real. No sympathy for The Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride..."-HST 'Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas'

Greetings from 'The Lab', kids. The good Doctor has returned from a sabbatical of sorts. Bad crazyness has run rampant the last two months in my life and the desire (or time) to write has not been present. But, I am back and I have much to report.

Obviously, I ventured out of 'The Lab' to take in Krazyfest 5 in beautiful Louisville, KY. A trip that was, in a word; Amazing. The trip started, as all trips of this kind do, rather blandly..but finished with a bang. Myself and my sidekicks (The 304 Wrecking Crew: Dana, XangelaX, Mike, Diana, Racheal, Natalie and XjoeX) piled into two cars; intent on raising hell and rocking out. Both were accomplished.

FRIDAY JUNE 21 - Day One.

Leaving my house at 8:30am, I take myself to Huntington to meet up with The Wrecking Crew. Two hour drive to Huntington. Roll down the windows, crank up Anthrax on the CD player and just ride. Yes, lay back, cruising along at 80mph with the wind whipping. The open road.

At about 11am I meet up with Dana (Dr Gonzo for this trip) at Diana's apartment. Afterwards, it's off to meet up with the rest of The Wrecking Crew across town. Three hour drive to Louisville from here. It's going to suck. I can't smoke in the car. Damn Xstraight edgeX kids!

Around 3:30, we're at the hotel. Red Roof Inn. I'm excited, so many great bands in one place. So many bands that i've wanted to see for years and now, finally, i'll get the chance. But, also, i'm a little giddy about being the birthplace and hometown of my journalistic hero; Dr Hunter S. Thompson. If I had the time (and knowledge of this town), i'd make a side journey to try and track down his childhood home if it even still stands. Word has it his mother still lives in Louisville. But, no, must stay focused on the matter at hand. Krazyfest. This is going to be interesting.

Rush hour traffic in Louisville sucks. But, after some bad noise, wrong turns and close calls we rolled up on The Waterfront in downtown Louisville. An amazing outdoor venue. Every town should have a place like this. After blowing past the long lines, Dr Gonzo and I made our way inside (we're media...we DON'T stand in lines). Right away, I turned into a kid in a candy store. Merch tables as far as the eye could see. The Mall Of Hardcore. Wow. While walking around trying to figure out what to do with some of my money, I ran into my friend Flanigan, who was running the ARA (Anti Racist Action) table. Hadn't seen him in years. Good times. At around 6pm, the bands started. First band up, The Hope Conspiracy. I dunno, maybe they were just off that day but they didn't impress me. I had heard they're really good live, but on this day they just didn't have it. Reach The Sky was up next. A good performance, enjoyable. But nothing i'd wet my pants over. Stretch Arm Strong was up next. I was psyched. I like these guys and was definatly looking foward too seeing them. These guys didn't disappoint, I was pleased. Best band i've seen so far today. Bane followed S.A.S. I knew who Bane was, but had only listened to them sporadically. But, still, these guys were fun live. Lot's of energy. May have just supplanted Stretch Arm Strong as my favorite performance. Finally, we get to the two 'big boys' of the day; Snapcase and Sick Of It All. Snapcase was up first and they were flat out amazing. This was my first time seeing Snapcase live, which is sad because they're the reason i'm into hardcore in the first place. The wait was worth it, mixing older material and new material plus songs from the upcoming new album on Victory Records, they delivered the goods. I was thoroughly impressed. Sick Of It All closed out the night. The Godfathers, as it were. It's sad, but this was my first opportunity getting to see SOIA, they were good. Exactly what you'd expect. But, sadly, they had cut their set short. Doesn't take away from their performance though.

With the first day in the books, I decided to retire to the hotel and rest. A long day with all the traveling and being on my feet. But definatly worth it. Tommorow is the motherload. Gotta be ready.

Saturday June 22 - Day two.

Wrecking Crew up and out early. A hearty breakfast of steak and eggs..yum. Gotta get that energy built up. Didn't have any problems finding the venue this time. It was UNHOLY how it was. Thank god the water is moderatly priced (unlike, say, those corporate jack off b.s. fests). MORE distros and lables had set up tables in the Merch section. I may just be in heaven. 

Glasspack was the first band up. Straight ahead rock. Usually, i'd be all about this..but these guys just didn't impress me. Same thing for Corn On Macabre, more of punk/hardcore thing going on here. But, still, i'm not all that impressed. Blood Red up next. These guys are fun. I enjoyed them. New Jersey's own Nora followed. Wow. I'd always liked these guys, but they're probably more impressive live than on album (not that their bad on album by any stretch). The crowd was really into these guys too. As Friends Rust were up next. I dunno, they're good at what they do, but I just wasn't feeling them either. Same goes for the next band, Black Widows So far, only two bands have really been enjoyable today...but then, as they say on WWE Raw, "buisness picked up". Most Precious Blood was a late addition to the fest, and thank god they were added. MPB is an amazing band and they didn't fail to live up to that on this day. Great performance, lots of energy. They day has definatly swung in a positive direction. From Autumn To Ashes followed and this is where things came unglued. People from the crowd on stage (despite the best efforts of the security) and just total insanity. An amazing set.

Now, we reached the point of the day that i'd been waiting for since they announced the bands months ago. The TWO reasons I was even here...Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan. This is where the insanity went over the edge. We had fire breathing, smashed guitars, flaming amps, and pyro. And this was JUST during Dillinger Escape Plan's set. Converge took the stage first. My god. I'd heard things, but had never seen Converge live before, which sucks since they're my favorite band right now. They didn't fail to make my journey worthwhile. The crowd, too, went completely insane. Damn near impossible set to follow..unless, of course, the next band is Dillinger Escape Plan. Some people are saying bad things about DEP right now because they're getting some notice by people outside 'the scene', but ya know what...it doesn't matter. DEP might just be the band damn band in the entire scene..and I challenge you to find a better live band. 
You can only use one word to sum it up: INSANITY. I'll put it this way, I was standing ON STAGE and still feared for my life. It was that crazy in the crowd, you can imagine what the stage was like. This too was the point where tensions seemed to overflow. Apparently some of the people on site were a little worried about the level of intensity in the crowd. Understandable, but still...people are just trying to have fun and weren't trying to hurt anyone intentionally. If it happened, hey, it comes with the territory. You deal with it and move on. You DO NOT become a total prick about things (i'm talking specifics here..but i'll leave names out of this). Oh well, none the less, this was the most enjoyable stretch of the festival. Afterwards, I left the stage and went to hangout with friends. Sure, Tiger Army and AFI were still going to play..but I didn't care. Neither band appeals too me. Maybe because i'm not some wannabe-goth/mallcore nitwit. Oh well, the two bands were good at what they do..but honestly, they shouldn't have played after the two headed monster of Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan. Just shouldn't have happened.

With the day over and the rock brought..we said goodbye to friends and headed back for the hotel. All we ended up doing was spending our night releaxing and acting the fool. We were all too damn spent physcially to do anything other than that.

Sunday June 23rd 

The third day of the fest. 'Emo Day' as we called it. We didn't attend this part of the fest, well all of us didn't. Dr Gonzo, XjoeX, Xangela, Diana, Natalie and myself all decided to head home...the rest stayed and rode back home with friends. Nothing of any importance happened here...just a high speed burn back to West Virginia.

Three days. Three amazing days. Plenty of memories. I'd like to thank the following people for making this thing fun and/or possible: The fine folks at Initial Records (for the all access hook up and for putting on one hell of a fest), The 304 Wrecking Crew, Evan and Emily Smith, XdustinX aka Stump, Jacob Bannon from Converge and Benjiman from Dillinger Escape Plan for the GREAT interviews, Racheal from Most Precious Blood, Flanigan from Anti Racist Action, and lastly Keavin for setting all this up.

Hopefully, this won't be my last Krazyfest...if future one's are anything like this one, then i'll be more than glad to haul my ass to Louisville to cover it. I'd be crazy not too. 

One last note; always remember; It's not a cookie...it's a fruit and cake.