hangout fest by Inweekly

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Hangout Music Fest

by Hana Frenet te

Portugal. The Man oo Fighters. The Black Keys. My Morning Jacket. Primus. Sure, we know these headliners are the main attractions at Hangout. But there are also some pretty great, lesser- known bands playing the fest that you should check out, too. Trust us—these bands are totally worth getting there early for.

Beats Antique

▼IN Staff Picks Portugal. The Man Portugal. The Man is described as a psychedelic rock band. They sound more like a mix of MGMT and Air, but with mostly live instruments, and less syn-

Minus the Bear thesizers. And more Motown inf luence. They are scheduled to play Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza in addition to Hangout Fest. The band will be releasing their 7th studio album in July. It will be their first album released since they signed with Atlantic Records. Rolling Stone described their set at Bonnaroo last year as “spotlight stealing” and attributed it to the fact that the band plays around 200 shows a year. Sunday Surf Style Stage 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

Minus the Bear still puts on a good show. Originally from Seattle, the band has been recording albums since 2001. They play mostly what people would describe as “indie rock” with some interesting time signatures thrown in. Check their show out and relive the days you put their songs on mixed CD’s for people. Saturday Surf Style Stage 2:30-3:30 p.m. info@inweekly.net

Beats Antique This world-fusion band was formed in San Francisco and employs an eclectic mix of beats, Indian-inf luenced music, belly-dancing songs and hip-hop. Their latest album “Blind Threshold” also features rapper LYNX. Beats Antique sounds like a more exotic mix of Bassnectar and Ratatat. And their live show usually includes a belly dancer or two. Friday Boom Boom Room Stage 3:30-4:30 p.m.

Minus the Bear Although they’ve been off the radar for the past year or so, INDEPENDENT NEWS | MAY 19, 2011 | WWW.INWEEKLY.NET |

Let it All Hang Out The Dos and Don’ts of The Hangout Music Festival By Hana Frenet te

he Hangout Music and Arts Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala. is just like any other large-scale music festival. Long lines for the bathroom. Over-priced festival food. A plethora of amazing shows crammed into a three-day period. Here are some simple reminders that will help you make the most of your weekend.

T Do

Take cash out before you enter the festival. Tons of ATM’s will be on site, so if you don’t remember to stop by the bank first, you won’t be out of luck. You’ll just rack up a lot of money in ATM fees by the end of the weekend. Remember, it’s a day at the beach. Pack light. Whatever you bring, you’ll have to carry around since there’s no on site camping. You could bring something back to your car, but unless you’re one of the first 50 to arrive out of the 30,000

Bring sunscreen. Wear it. Apply it frequently. You don’t want to be the person with a painful peeling back yelling at people not to bump into you because you got yourself a sunburn. Wear something Friday 5.20 comfortable. Find a good Hangout Stage bathing suit or some really Kristy Lee lightweight clothes. You’re (1:15 - 2:15) going to be on the beach all Umphrey’s McGee (3:30 - 4:40) day, and whatever you’re Warren Haynes wearing will probably be Band sticking to you before the (5:45 - 7:00) sun goes down. Widespread Panic Bring a towel. You’re (8:30 - 11:00) prohibited from swimming Surf Style Stage in the water, but there will be Brandi Carlile onsite manmade lagoons you (2:15 - 3:30) can enter if you shelled out Grace Potter and the money for VIP tickets. If the Nocturnals not, you can use the towel or (4:30 - 5:45) a blanket to sit on and relax. My Morning Jacket Any kind of folding chair or (7:00 - 8:30) hard body chair is prohibitBoom Boom ed, so you’ll eventually want Room something to sit down on.

or so estimated to be there, your parking spot probably won’t be a happy walking distance away.

Don’t

Don’t try to smuggle in any beverages, whether it be water or whiskey. The guards at the gate conduct a pretty thorough purse/bag search, and it always sucks to have to throw away a brand new bottle. No food either.

music schedule Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (1:30 - 2:30) Beats Antique (3:30 - 4:30) Bassnectar (5:45 - 7:00) Grooveshark Stage Cas Haley (1:15 - 2:15) Easy Star All-Stars (2:45 - 3:45) Soja (4:30 - 5:45) STS9 (7:00 - 8:30) Shaka Island The Q Brothers (1:15 - 1:40) The Baby Grands

(2:15 - 2:40) Jambo (3:30 - 4:00) Honey Island Swamp Band (4:30 - 5:30) Greensky Bluegrass (6:00 - 7:00) Railroad Earth (7:30 - 8:30)

Saturday 5.21 Hangout Stage Mariachi El Bronx (11:30 - 12:30) Slightly Stoopid (1:30 - 2:30) Cee Lo Green (3:30 - 4:30) Avett Brothers (5:45 - 7:15)

Foo Fighters (8:45 - 11:00) Surf Style Stage Medeski Martin and Wood (12:30 - 1:30) Minus the Bear (2:30 - 3:30) Primus (4:30 - 5:45) The Flaming Lips (7:15 - 8:45) Boom Boom Room Rich Aucoin (11:15 - 12:30) Xavier Rudd (1:30 - 2:30) Big Gigantic (3:30 - 4:30) Pretty Lights

(5:45 - 7:15) Grooveshark Stage Lennon Bus (11:15 - 12:00) Civil Twilight (12:30 - 1:30) Dead Confederate (2:30 - 3:30) Khris Royal and Dark Matter (4:30 - 5:45) Motorhead (7:15 - 8:30) Shaka Island Jambo (12:00 - 12:25) Lunch Money (1:00 - 1:25) The Baby Grands (2:00 - 2:25) Peter D & Tor (3:00 - 3:25) School of Rock (3:45 - 4:15)

Don’t bring a folding chair or a beach chair of any kind. They will make you take it back to wherever you just walked from. Don’t bring pets. No pets are permitted, with the exception of service animals. Don’t bring any professional-grade cameras. Any camera with a detachable lens is considered professional and will require a media pass. You probably don’t want to lug that around all day anyway.

The Verve Pipe (4:30 - 5:00) Jon Black (5:45 - 6:45) Rival Sons (7:20 - 8:30)

Sunday 5.22 Hangout Stage Keller Williams (12:45 - 2:00) Amos Lee (3:15 - 4:30) Michael Franti & Spearhead (6:00 - 7:30) Paul Simon (9:00 - 11:00) Surf Style Stage Portugal. The Man (11:30 - 12:45) Matisyahu (2:00 - 3:15) Ween

info@inweekly.net

(4:30 - 6:00) The Black Keys (7:30 - 9:00) Boom Boom Room Jonathan Tyler & Northern Lights (11:15 - 12:15) Old Crow Medicine Show (12:45 - 2:00) Drive-By Truckers (3:15 - 4:30) Girl Talk (6:00 - 7:30) Grooveshark Stage Roman Street (11:15 - 12:00) Truth and Salvage Co. (12:45 - 1:30) JJ Grey and Mofro (2:00 - 3:15) Trombone Shorty &

Orleans Ave (4:30 - 6:00) Galactic (7:30 - 8:45) Shaka Island DJ Jimmy Boom (12:00 - 12:25) School of Rock (1:00 - 1:30) Michael Franti (1:30 - 2:00) The Q Brothers (2:00 - 2:30) Peter D & Tor (3:00 - 3:25) Lunch Money (3:45 - 4:00) Keller Williams (4:00 - 4:15) The Verve Pipe (4:30 - 5:00) A Thousand Horses (6:00 - 7:00) Justin Townes Earle (7:45 - 8:45)

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Let’s Talk Girl Talk

Girl Talk Plays Hangout Music Festival and the Dancing Continues By Hana Frenet te

skinny guy wearing a sweatband playing a laptop for a crowd doesn’t really sound like it’d be all that fun to watch. But for some reason it is. Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, mixes and mashes up pop music from the last decade and turns it into something new, yet nostalgic, that people just can’t help but dance their face off to. “Around 2000, I was 18, and most of the early Girl Talk stuff was kind of related to pop,” Gillis said. “I know I used some Old Dirty Bastard and some Master P.” Girl Talk mixes and overlays several pieces of songs from different genres. Gillis rarely knows which songs he’s going to mash together and sometimes experiments with a track for weeks. “There is sometimes a week or two of cutting up songs and getting samples prepared,” Gillis said. “And then I think something might work, and I try it about 1,000 times.” Gillis started playing shows in people’s houses and basements, often employing the use of dancers and costume changes. The first show Girl Talk was asked to play was at Chattum University in Pittsburg, Penn., which used to be an all-girl school. “I think they only booked me because they thought there was a girl in the band,” Gillis said.

The name Girl Talk is misleading, and purposely so. “I really wanted the name to embrace pop culture,” Gillis said. “I was really set on trying to make it entertaining, even though it’s like the furthest thing from a guy playing a laptop.” Two years into working a biomedical engineering job, Gillis started selling out shows. People were talking about Girl Talk and every weekend, Gillis was f lying to go play a show somewhere in the country, returning to his day job Monday morning. “I just thought music was something I could do on the side, because no one was really making a living off it, especially mash-up type stuff,” Gillis said. “I never expected a career out of it.” Gillis got an offer to go on tour to Europe and decided to take it, leaving his day job behind.

Girl Talk has released several albums since then. “Feed the Animals,” released in 2008, landed on the New York Times Top 10 Albums of the Year and Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of the Year. “All of the expectations I had for this project have been exceeded,” Gillis said. “I’m going to continue on pushing it forward, but when it stop it stops.” And it hasn’t stopped yet. Even with all the talk from critics about whether Gillis is legally allowed to create his music. Because Gillis is constantly sampling music from other artists, people are concerned that he needs to gain permission from the artists he’s sampling. “In the early days, when I was first stating out, I didn’t think my music was going to get to the point where major acts and major labels would even hear it,” Gillis said. Gillis has yet to encounter any direct confrontation from an artist or label. “The Fair Use Act is a U.S. copyright law that allows you to sample work from other people,” Gillis said. “The act is subject to a list of rules, but if you believe your music or art falls under the category then you can go ahead and use it.” Gillis has been performing for dance fiends all over the world, avoiding copyright laws and generally having a good time with a project that was never expected to leave the basement. His next move is still undecided. “I could definitely see getting back to the day job,” Gillis said. “Maybe 10 years from now.” Until that day comes, he’ll be touring around the country, Canada and Spain. Not bad for a side project. info@inweekly.net

GIRL TALK AT HANGOUT MUSIC FESTIVAL WHEN: 6-7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 22 WHERE: The Boom Boom Room Stage

INDEPENDENT NEWS | MAY 19, 2011 | WWW.INWEEKLY.NET |

NO NEED TO PANIC An Interview with Widespread Panic’s John Bell BY HANA FRENET TE

idespread Panic started the way many bands did— a couple of college kids playing music together in a dorm. Singer and guitarist John Bell, or J.B. as fans call him, met Michael Houser in 1981 at the University of Georgia, and after a couple months of playing together, added bassist Dave Schools and drummer Todd Nance so the band could play a charity event in Athens, Ga. After a couple of years of playing bars and college shows, the band was signed to a label and began playing larger shows. A few albums, a band line-up change and a documentary or two later, Widespread Panic reigns as one of the biggest jam bands in history. They’ve often been compared to The Grateful Dead and Phish, and in their touring prime have played around

300 shows a year. Their fans even have their own nickname: Spreadheads. In addition to playing the sold-out Hangout Music Festival, Bonnaroo Music Festival and dozens of other shows, this year marks the 25th anniversary for Widespread Panic. John Bell took some time out to talk about life on the road, the decision to go on hiatus, and the little things that are always nice to come back to. IN: This is the 25th anniversary for the band. How does it feel to make it to that point? JB: Don’t look back. Just like with any other day, we are looking forward. That’s kind of the way we try to approach things. IN: It’s been said that in all the shows you’ve played over the years, you’ve never played the same set twice. JB: We have a good bit of songs, and I think it’d be hard to duplicate a show— we’d have to make an effort. IN: When playing some 300-odd shows a year, do you always choose to travel by bus? JB: At first we just had a car, then a UHaul. Then we got this blue bus that broke

down on us in Virginia in 1991 on our first tour. The key is having a good driver. It’s not an easy task to deal with all the crap that rock and roll brings and then drive all night. IN: You must have had your fair share of bus drivers. JB: When we first started out, we weren’t exactly dealing with the cream of the crop, and one night I came out and found our little driver just tugging away on a bottle while he was driving. Of course that was many moons ago. IN: Have you ever played directly on the beach, like you will at Hangout? JB: You know, I don’t think we have. If we did, it wasn’t anything with full-blown production. The setting looks perfect though, with the beach and the sunset right there. Hangout seems Bonnarooesque in the way it seemed to shape up immediately. Festivals grow or they fizzle, and this one seemed to start out big. IN: The band recently announced its decision to go on hiatus. Was the decision a mutual one? JB: Yeah, we all talked about it. We are coming to the point where we want to do something different. We’ve been playing about 80 shows a year, but when we first started rolling and playing a good amount of shows, it was around 300 a year. It’s good to get away from a repetitive activity sometimes. You start to associate yourself with that activity instead of who you actually are.

IN: Any big plans for after the break? JB: Hang out. Enjoy being a family man. Walk the dog. It’s good to take a little time for yourself and be there for the people around you. It’s good to find other things to round out your life. My wife and I have a wellness center in North Georgia. I’m the groundskeeper. It’s cool to get dirty. IN: Going out into nature has been proven to boost your mood. JB: It’s true. Nature’s all we had before we turned into one big real estate development. I’m mostly on the outskirts of the wellness center, though, just working in the garden. IN: What kind of services does the wellness center offer? JB: Yoga, meditation, infant massage, cooking classes, stress management. And the classes all range from about $10-$20. IN: Hangout should be a great show, we’ll see you there! JB: Yes, we’re just coming on right after a break, so we should all be uniquely focused. That’s the plan. info@inweekly.net

WIDESPREAD PANIC AT HANGOUT MUSIC FEST WHEN: 8:30-11 p.m. Friday, May 20 WHERE: The Hangout Stage

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OLD CROW NEW CROW

Old Crow Medicine Show Plays Songs of the Old Days and Songs of the New Ways BY HANA FRENET TE

Photo by Justin Borucki or a rag-tag group of twentysomethings who got their big break while playing in front of a local pharmacy in North Carolina, Old Crow Medicine Show has come a long way. They’ve been on all kinds of shows, played the Grand Ole Opry, and their founding member co-wrote a song with Bob Dylan. Their music is inspired by all-American roots music, including bluegrass, jazz, blues, mountain songs, church hymns—just about anything that can be played and loved. “I am just so excited to be on the same bill as Paul Simon,” Ketch Secor, banjo, harmonica, fiddle player and vocalist, said. “To me, ‘Graceland,’ when it comes to sound, is truly perfection.” Old Crow Medicine Show has many musical influences, although some are hard to pin down. “Hillbilly music, jazz, regional music from 75 years ago—we’re intrigued by those first sounds that were able to be captured,” Secor said. One of Old Crow’s most popular songs also has some ambiguous originations. “Wagon Wheel” was taken from an old Bob Dylan song that was never finished or released. And there’s no telling where it came from before that. Old Crow made it so much of their own song by adding the additional lyrics, that in 2004 Secor and Dylan signed a co-written agreement to the song. “It’s been a great song for Old Crow. We’ve played it on stages near and far, from Biloxi to Belmont to Apalachicola,” Secor said. “I’m very excited about how easy it is to play because you can play it with your own group of ruffians.”

A good song is a song that’s a good share. Among other things. “I think a good song is a song you can ascribe your own beliefs to, like ‘America,’ by Simon and Garfunkel,” Secor said. “I counted the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike—he wrote that song for me.” It’s always nice to feel like something was made for you, even if you know it wasn’t. Fans feel that way about “Wagon Wheel” as well, even though most of the song is about hitchhiking, and not too many people really do that anymore. “I never told my parents about going on a 300-mile hitchhiking trip,” Secor said. “But mostly I found that you get what you need and you get what you ask for—you can drive all over God’s creation, as long as you can keep your gas tank full.” Pensacola’s even managed to make it onto Old Crow’s travel list. “I remember that sugar sand,” Secor said. “There are many good stories in Pensacola.” Old Crow will get their fi ll of sugar sand while they’re at Hangout Fest. It’ll be everywhere you look for at least three days. “We are so very excited about being able to play this festival, and to see the rest of the lineup,” Secor said. “We’ll be there, letting it all hang out.” info@inweekly.net

OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW WHEN: 12:45-2 p.m. Sunday, May 22 WHERE: Boom Boom Room Stage INDEPENDENT NEWS | MAY 19, 2011 | WWW.INWEEKLY.NET |