It was a big weekend for Nashville music, thanks especially to the bloggers of Nashville’s Dead. After realizing that every other great punk band and his sister was coming through our area to make it to SXSW, Nashville’s Dead decided to put together three nights of non-stop music. "The Freakin’ Weekend" brought ten bands from Brooklyn, Baltimore and surrounding areas to play alongside a few of Nashville’s favorite groups.
Not-so-serious rockers Larry David and the Hipsters, Ben Stein’s Money and Millions of Dead Punks kicked off the party Friday night at The Jungle. When a "special guest" was unable to help finish off the night, legends Jeff the Brotherhood stepped up to the mics, more-than-worthy substitutes, and filled the room faster than you could say "bananas." By the end of their set, everyone’s clothes were stained with sweat.
Saturday night was just as exciting. Out-of-towners The Beets, Ex Humans, Terrible Twos, Peacekillers and Beach Fossils were welcomed to the stage of Glen Danzing’s house (no, you won’t find a Misfit there) to play alongside Nashville’s The Looking Glass and Natural Child. The Looking Glass played a mostly instrumental set, flawlessly setting the vibe for a mid-2000s late night Bonnaroo show with jam-band worthy tracks. Natural Child sealed the night with catchy, driving punk that we all wish we could have pumped our fists to in high school.
Nashville’s best dive bar, Bett’ys, held the scene for the final night of the Freakin’ Weekend. Sisters, Grooms, Videohippos, Lesser Alvarez Gonzalez and Coasting (seriously talented babes from Brooklyn) all shared a stage with Nashville bands So Jazzy and Daniel Pujol. So Jazzy, as usual, was a super enjoyable blast from 1980 with undeniable influences of bass-led Joy Division/New Order. Finally, it only made sense for "Mr. Nashville" himself (comment made by one of the Brooklyn bands) Daniel Pujol to put Nashville’s most monumental weekend to bed. Pujol, returning from a Spring Break tour, half screamed bouncy tunes permanently stuck in every Nashville show goer’s mind by now. When asked how they felt about closing out the weekend, both the bassist and the guitarist agreed that it was like having to grip their croches on a long road trip and then finally being able to relieve themselves: aka the best feeling in the world.
When vans were packed and SXSW-bound rockers had finally crashed on all of Nashville’s couches, Nashville’s Dead proudly admitted that the weekend was a success. "The bands were great, the crowds were great, and we probably made like, a million dollars." An exaggeration, no doubt, but there definitely wasn’t a person who left any of the shows without a bag of unforgettable times and tunes. Nashville’s Dead’s only complaint? Nashville, apparently, needs to learn more bathroom manners. Hopefully they’ll overlook that and help Nashville bands along the way to SXSW again next year. – Sarah Marie