Many local, independent bands rocked San Diego Indiefest on March 12, showing how much noise and potential they’ll be bringing to the music scene in the near future.
This year however, the festival was a bit different than in previous years; taking place in a new location at Liberty Station in Point Loma, allowing for more parking and more fun.
The festival featured 52 independent bands and artists with a majority of the performers consisting of San Diego natives or neighbors from Los Angeles. The showcase was an amazing collection of Southern Californian talent.
Nothing really beats listening to live music under the San Diego sun and there were five stages total hosting performances. At anytime during the fest one could just take a short walk and find live show going on.
Not only host to musicians, Indiefest is also a film festival and a venue where local artists and clothing designers are able to display and sell their work. One of the films, “The Little Matchmakers”, was filmed entirely in San Diego.
A band soon to make a big impact on the music scene is Black Party Politics. A group out of Los Angeles, the band is four people deep and sure to keep your head banging back and forth. Just listen to the energy of Black Party Politcs’ music over a pair of speakers or headphones and it will not be hard to imagine the raw energy of a live show that features the band.
Black Party Politics makes amazing music that just makes the listener want to move. It would come as no surprise if one day their music is used in a hit action movie during a big fight scene.
Another great group that played at Indiefest, AUDIBLE MAINFRAME (AM), is an amazing mix of rap with a six-piece band. Before moving from Boston to Los Angeles, AM won Boston’s 2006 Mass Industry Committee Award for “Best Live Act” and “Best Underground Emcee”, but the awards don’t stop there. AMs list of awards is impressively extensive and it’s clear that they are on their way to being on iPods across the nation.
Another of the bands featured at Indiefest that are likely to gain attention soon is Republic of Letters. Hailing from right here in San Diego, Republic of Letters is an alternative band who already have a strong fan base behind them that is only continuing to grow. Currently the band is on radio rotation here in San Diego on FM: 91X, 94/9, KPRI 102.1 and Sophie 103.7 but they also get played as far away as Iceland. Republic of Letters has an album set to come out this April.
Coming from Silver Lake, CA with a constantly changing tempo and rhythm, experimental band VANAPRASTA put on an amazing show. Watching the group live may be hard though because their music is perfect for just closing your eyes and zoning out.
Of all the performances at Indie fest however, a crowd favorite was hands down the father daughter team of Jorge and Alexa Narvaez, another local San Diego. As soon as the pair took the stage the young Alexa was the center of attention. Already a YouTube star, any trace of stage fright has left the girl who continuously interacted with the audience as cameras flashed relentlessly for pictures of her and her father.
Everything changed once AWOLNATION took the stage though. Right from the start the electronic dance band started off with fast paced song “Burn it Down” and the energy they brought with it was unmatched. Every band was given about thirty minutes to perform, but this was the first act that left people in the crowd shouting for an encore.