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Bands aplenty at VexFest, downtown
VexFest 5
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VexFest 5
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Vexfest rocked into the wee hours this morning.
YOUNGSTOWN — It was all rock, all day.
Vexfest V, the free rock festival that featured about 40 local bands, packed in a crowd on West Federal Street on Sunday.
Bands played on two outdoor stages, one at Wick Avenue and one at Phelps Street, and on a stage inside Barley’s pub in the middle of the block.
The weather was perfect, the music was loud and the beer was cold, and that’s all most people seemed to need. It looked, on the surface, like a bunch of people just getting together to have a good time.
For some, though, it meant a little more.
It was a place to make new friends. Kelly Sullivan, 18, and Chuck Krause, 19, both of the West Side, sat with Amethyst Robinson, 17, of Austintown on a curb around 5:30 p.m.
The three shared french fries and were going to talk about the groups they follow — Sullivan likes Kitchen Knife Conspiracy and The Zou — when two others — Leah Cancer, 19, and Lice Skumbag, 22 — plopped themselves down and beamed huge, friendly smiles.
They weren’t from around here, they said. Cancer’s from New York City and Skumbag is from Jacksonville, Fla.
The couple, who are engaged, were making their way out West, and probably weren’t going to be staying for most of Vexfest, which had begun at 11 a.m. and would continue until 2 a.m. today.
Did anyone have any spare change? They wanted to know.
Cancer said they were eventually going to be “hitchin’ to Hawaii,” but they had a ride as far as Columbus and needed to chip in some gas money.
Robinson ponied up two bucks. This friendship, everyone likely guessed, was going to be fleeting. So Robinson captured the moment with a picture. Cancer and Skumbag held up the two bucks and smiled happily for the camera, while the bands rocked on.
For those bands, the festival means something else — a chance for exposure and to make contacts.
“Exposure is very important. We are a poor band,” said Away from Eden’s bassist, Lou Liguore.
“Very poor,” added the band’s lead vocalist, Johnny Grahovac.
The festival also gives them a chance to meet other bands.
“You find bands to open for you, you open for them,” said Liguore. He and bandmates Lee Liguore, his brother, and Grahovac are from Poland.
The other two members of the “radio-friendly rock” group are Mike Ezzo of Boardman and Kirk Saculla of Mineral Ridge. If you missed their Vexfest set and want to catch them, they play a lot at Barley’s. They’re also opening for Red Wanting Blue at Fat Jimmy’s in Kent on Sept. 13. You can listen to their 3-song demo, too, at www.myspace.com/awayfromeden.
Not all the bands at Vexfest were rockers. Daboondox’s Jeff Killin said that group combines “positive hip-hop” with props, costumes and skits.
“We’re more like old-school hip-hop,” Killin said, with theater mixed in.
“It’s substance music, about who we are, not what we have,” said the band’s Troy Napier.
Bandmate Dan Hedrix even dressed like a 7-foot alien in their set.
It was a statement.
“We feel like we’re aliens, outsiders,” said Killin. “We want [hip-hop] to get back to the way it was.”
Daboondox also includes Jacqueline Genovese, and all are from Girard. They perform a lot at Barley’s, and you can catch them there Halloween night.
If Vexfest was good for hanging out with friends and good for the bands themselves, it was also positive for the city.
Tammy Genco and Kevin Flora, both of Struthers, are alumni from previous Vexfests. They joined many other alumni to support the local music scene again this year.
“We’re glad they’re doing something in the town,” said Genco.