August madness hits downtown

— vexfest —

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

dastolfo@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Vexfest has become the NCAA Tournament of Youngstown rock.

Getting accepted puts you in the Big Dance. Out of 162 submissions this year, only 46 made the cut.

Then comes the seeding process. The schedule poster even looks vaguely like a tournament bracket.

Landing an outdoor stage adds status to a band, because that’s where the biggest crowds are. And the bands in the later time slots are the top seeds, because the crowd grows exponentially as evening sets in.

Of course, the folks who put Vexfest together have other considerations in mind when they make the schedule. They must achieve musical flow and ever-changing variety. Plus, they have to get people inside the two bars (Barley’s and Downtown 36).

They are not just ranking bands by popularity or talent, even though that is the perception.

Every year, bands graduate from Vexfest, which allows other bands to move up. This year, national tours prevented The Zou and Jones for Revival from participating.

Other bands break up.

And newcomers take a bow. The freshest by a mile this year is Magma, a trio of middle-schoolers from Boardman who specialize in classic rock. They will have the honor of playing the first chords of Vexfest 7, which begins at noon Sunday on West Federal Street, downtown.

A handful of veteran acts have emerged as mainstays over the years. These include Asleep, 5 Elements, Winslow, Gingerspittz, The Kellys (who famously pulled out last year, disgruntled over their afternoon slot), Groove Conductor, Jordan DePaul, DaBoondox, DaKreek and the Young Stonians.

Moving up on to that list is Hoss & the Juggernauts, who have become one of the most popular acts in the area in the past year or so. Because of their rapid rise, Jarman & Co. were the obvious choice to be the headliners this year, playing in the final outdoor time slot.

There are also several bands from outside Youngstown on the middle of the bill, including country act Jay Wiley (Pittsburgh); metalists Noise Auction (Columbus); psychedelic act Cereal Banter (Cleveland); indie poppers The Wet Darlings (Columbus); and The Royaltons, an alternative rock act out of Cleveland.

Topping the out-of-towners is Amplexus. The Kent-based alt-metal band made its Vexfest debut last year on one of the indoor stages. This Sunday, Amplexus will play the East outdoor stage at 11 p.m., just ahead of the soulful Hoss Jarman.

It’s just the latest honor for Amplexus, which performed at last year’s Vans Warped Tour stop in Cleveland, and opened for Every Time I Die in Columbus earlier this summer.