review: macrock 2018

by a.cowboy

the weekend of april 6 I headed down to Harrisonburg va for annual independent music fest macrock. if you ever talked to me about music scenes you’ve probably heard me (abby) discuss the supreme sick-ness of macrock. this diy fest features a combo of booked bands and “applied” bands, a label expo, and panels about music.

en route:

first and foremost, about 65 bands play macrock and itd be impossible to see them all. When you head to macrock, you have to plan for this surplus of music with a little bit of technique, foresight, and prioritizing. And I fucking killed it this year <3 I saw such great bands. Most notably, evil sword: a super performative art-noise project that featured a phenom combo of music & mache.

evil sword at court square theater

evil sword at the crayola aftershow

Malatese played a nostalgia inducing reunion set. Northern liberties from PA were so loud and angry with 1.5 drummers (if you see it, you’ll get it). Also, check out dog. I love a good fucking noise project. I moshed! Locals gloop played to a packed room and my heart was happy with all the love for the Frederick band. Grace Vonderkuhn (who have played Frederick 3 times) played an excellent set yet again, check them out for rock done right.

malatese at crayola aftershow

moshing to northern liberties at golden pony

I also participated in a panel discussion on gender inclusion in diy. Though the conversation started about gender, it ended in a discussion about intersectional inclusion and how we can all promote one another & diversity in diy.

This is my 8^th macrock, and honestly I was really nervous about going, I was scared it wouldn’t live up to all the things that I’ve always loved about it. And to be honest, in some ways it didn’t, but in new ways it surpassed macrocks prior. I left macrock feeling so energized about diy and all the things I want to bring to the Frederick scene. So hit me up, lets start a noise band, lets throw a music fest, lets all be great stewards of an excellent scene! Let’s carpool to macrock next year!!!!

Check out these links to all the good music I heard!

https://soundcloud.com/cellsaga804

https://praisedog.bandcamp.com/album/veil-of-appearance

https://evilsword.bandcamp.com/