People are so into the annual Fuzzstival these days, there's excitement and buzz before any of the bands are actually announced. Late last month we hyped the unveiling of the dates (Friday, August 19 and Saturday, August 20) and the venue (its usual home of the Middle East in Cambridge), but today we have something much cooler: the first wave of announced performers.
And so far, so good.
The first crop of announced bands and performers include homegrown talent like Doug Tuttle, Mini Dresses, Mr. Airplane Man, and Dent, as well as Maine's JAW GEMS, Providence's Way Out (pictured up top and armed with an EP that comes highly recommended), New York's Painted Zeroes and Sunwatchers.
We've been told that this year's Fuzzstival will strive to showcase a significant number of bands that have never played the four-year-old fest before, and stylistically branch out a bit beyond its usual (but increasingly looser) psychedelic and garage rock borders. As in recent years, it's billed as "a celebration of our regional music scene and local music community," and the first crop of bands fulfills that nicely.
Listen to the just-announced bands below, and sit tonight over the next few weeks as many more are unveiled. We encourage everyone to snag a two-day pass for Fuzz weekend, and you can get those here. More to come...
