Aug. 12, 2009 - Issue #721: Fringe Festival 2009

Unrest Fest

A good weekend's Unrest: A two-night festival for the other folks

The best part of a festival is the opportunity it gives you to see something you wouldn't be able to otherwise. In the same way the Folk Fest and the Fringe bring in acts from all over the world, Unrest Records' Unrest Fest will be shipping in bands that Edmonton's punks wouldn't normally have the chance to see, unless of course they, like festival organizer Mike Safage, were the kind of person that was willing to fly all over to catch new and exciting stuff.

"I'm excited to see some of these bands from Europe like Driller Killer and Malignant Tumour. They're good friends of ours and they've never been to Canada before so it'll be nice to bring them to our country and let them see what Canada's all about," he says, explaining that he saw both bands while in the Czech Republic doing merch for Portland's Defiance. "Defiance was playing some shows in and around France and the second that was over we jumped a bird and flew out to Prague and saw Driller Killer the one night from Sweden and the next night we saw Malignant Tumour so it was really cool to see those two shows while I was travelling."

Mentioning the Dickies as another band he's excited to have fly in to rock the show, Safage is also proud to have some of the city's best punk acts opening for the heavyweights he's bringing in.

"A lot of the local bands worship the bands that are headlining and I see it as a favour to these bands that pay homage to some of these bigger bands on the bill," he says, joking that he doesn't always do it out of the goodness of his heart. "It just boils down to the fact that we're friends with all the local bands and we're constantly being nagged to put them on the bill." V

Unrest Fest 2009
Fri, Aug 14 (6 pm)
Driller Killer, Dayglo Abortions, Malignant Tumour, DFA, Tarantuja, Profits of Crime
New City, $25

Sat, Aug 15 (6 pm)
The Dickies, SNFU, Malignant Tumour, Poser Disposer, the Dirtbags, Let's Dance
New City, $25 

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