Rustbelt Rock Review

By: Z.M. Delgado

Rustbeltrockreview.com

Volume #151: State Line Farm Fest 2024

August 24th, 2024

1911 State Line Rd Pierpont, OH 44082

Hello my friends and welcome back tot he Rustbelt Rock Review. This week I have a rather strange one for you. While you may be aware that I am an avid follower of Cleveland’s Metal Scene, you may not know that I dabble in our Punk community as well. The fact is it is a genre that I largely love and simply don’t have the time or resources to delegate as much attention to. That being said, I do on occasion turn up at the Punk show, normally in support of me favorite Cleveland Punk act the unstoppable Beast Killer. It was via the boys in Beast Killer that I first heard about State Line Farm Fest and through subsequent conversations that I finally decided to attend. With 10 bands advertised on the flyer, I was sure that if nothing else I would get a good show. So it was early on Saturday the 24th when I loaded up my car and set out for the distant land of Pierpont. Now when were talking about the absolute middle of nowhere, Pierpont may not apply, however if it is not in the exact center of nowhere, it is certainly nearby. In fact I was warned ahead of time that cell service become spotty and Google Maps was not the most reliable asset in the area. I hit the highway around 11am and turned my car East. With my favorite Punk band, The Bouncing Souls, turned up I pressed the accelerator down. In due time the blacktop gave way to gravel. The gravel soon turned to a dirt path that eventually opened upon an expansive piece of property. Upon breaking through the trees I began to suspect I was in the right place. I saw people everywhere, tents and campers, a pavilion and the makings of a bonfire that was easily three stories tall. I asked a passerby “Is this Farm Fest?” and established that this was in fact the spot. I drove on until I found myself an acceptable camp site and I set about the task of unloading the car. I got the tent up with relative ease and sat down to smoke a celebratory bowl. For this occasion I had four strains of flower, two flavors of gummies and of course my trusty vape pen. I decided to start the day off with the lightest strain, my Sour Oreos. As I puffed away on my pipe I noticed a large white van pull up, driven by none other that Chris from Beast Killer. I greeted him as he selected a campsite near to mine. While he unloaded Keith from the A-10’s arrived and picked a spot nearby as well. I smoked and we shot the shit as we waited for the first act of the day to perform.

Eventually I walked down the hill and over to the pavilion where a musician had already begun to perform. It was a solo gentleman going by the name of Johnny Rock Dog. This cat was an acoustic singer song writer who performed mostly covers with a few originals. He warmed up the party as I surveyed the scene. I took a look at the mammoth bonfire. It was a massive structure built from pallets mostly that towered high above the people below. I couldn’t wait to see what it would be like when they finally set it ablaze. I soon settled in near the stage where I ran into Dill, guitarist of Hams and Saints of Lorain. The Hams boys were on day two of their time at Farm Fest, and they were going hard. Dill was sitting on a sofa, significantly buzzed up, sipping on a solo cup of wine and enjoying the music. He directed me to a trailer where there was free booze available. I made a mental note of this and settled in next to him to enjoy the music. Johnny Rock Dog finished up more or less on schedule. It was about 1 o’clock and Urban Cattle was getting set to start. I mentioned earlier the two bags of gummies I brought with me. I had placed 200mg’s of mango deliciousness in my pocket for my days wanderings, and I dug into it at this point. (Eating 20mg just as the first band was plugging in.)

Urban Cattle is a four man outfit, made up of Guitar/Vocals, Guitar, Bass and Drums. Like the act before them they did a mix of covers and originals, and had a generally good sound. They did a lot of instrumentals that were cool, especially some “spy music” that I really dug. For me the high point of the set was their mash up of Iron Butterfly’s “In-a-gadda-da-vida” with The Talking Heads “Psycho Killer,” which was totally bitchin.’ During their set, my little brother, Noah (Guitar/Vandalizard) arrived. I directed him toward my campsite and after a time, I walked over to check on his progress. I greeted him as he put the finishing touches on his own tent. As 2 o’clock hit I decided to… set myself a regiment. I would eat one 20mg gummy every hour for the remainder of the day. Not that this really matters to you, but please keep this in mind as my notes degrade over time. The temperature began to rise to uncomfortable heights. While there was some shade available if you were unlucky enough to be stuck in the sunshine, you were roasting. In response, this is the point when I cracked my first beer.

Nestled safely within my Beast Killer koozie, I began my slow descent into alcohol induced idiocy. Urban Cattle ran long, not finishing until nearly 2:30pm, and even this early in the day I realized the show would not be sticking to the posted schedule. At some point in here the remainder of Vandalizard showed up. With them was my old friend Marlana, who is always a blast. Together we set out to explore the booze trailer and let me tell you it did not disappoint. Inside its refrigerated confines were stacks of cases of beers. From it’s side jutted four spigots. The first three had a varieties of wine, the fourth administered water, all of it ice cold. Now mind you, like admission to the event, all this booze was absolutely free. Grabbing a pair of Solo cups, we dove into the wine. I selected Cranberry, she Tropical mix and together we guzzled to our hearts content.

3 o’clock hit and I ate another Gummy as we waited for Kill the Fall to begin. When they finally hit the stage I found out they consist of three members: Guitar/Vocals, Bass and Drums. They played a style that was a mix of Punk and Rock N’ Roll. I remember I dug their riffs and that they had great energy. Their vocal sound was clean with a little grit to keep them interesting. They played mostly originals, with a few covers by The Misfits and Neal Young. During this set I made a few trips back to the booze trailer to refill my wine cup, which was delicious and oh so refreshing in the August heat. By this point I was really high and well on my way to being drunk, so I was obviously having a good time. But naturally I was far from finished. I grabbed my boy Dan (Drums/Vandalizard) decided it was time to burn some weed. We walked back up to the tents so I could get my stash and then I promptly packed a bowl. I continued with the Sour Oreos before moving on to the Super Boof, which lifted our minds in exactly the right way. Then it was back down the hill to catch the next act: The Long Hunt.

Here my notebook begins to get spotty, and my voice notes at times are unintelligible. Based on that I’ll do my best to give you some semblance of an account of my afternoon. So here’s what I can recall about The Long Hunt. They are from Pittsburgh. They are made up of three members: Guitar, Bass and Drums. They came out with this long droning instrumental piece that I really dug. Little did I know this would be the trademark of their sound. From what I wrote, The Long Hunt was an entirely instrumental act. I dug their sound completely, as they poured out one song after another with a drifting sludgy persistance. Also there was some nice intermittent guitar soloing that caught my ear. All in all, at that moment, The Long Hunt was the specifically the exact soundtrack that I needed for my stoney brain. I watched them play on and then eventually drifted back over to the tents. We chilled out over there for a time, smoking and drinking before heading back down to the stage for the next band: Cardboard Caskets.

Cardboard Caskets is a five piece act, constructed from Guitar/Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums and Keyboards. As for their genre, well, first I categorized them as some sort of Alternative Rock in my notes but then go one to call them “Great emotional Punk.” Later I say they are, “A little trippy with hints of Punk, Alt and Rock,” and then I classify them as Indy… so who knows. I also wrote things like, “Great Music,” “Mellow notes,” “Crowd enjoying the music” and the always important “I really like it, but I’m too fucked up to write about it.” Suffice to say, I and the rest of the crowd really dug Cardboard Caskets. At some point during their set I drifted over to the right of the stage and began to peruse the food. It was quite a spread. Smoked meats, burgers and dogs, salad, and all manner of conceivable side dishes. I fixed myself a plate and returned to the show. While eating I noticed a dog hanging out nearby, panting heavily. He seemed to be unattended so I took it upon myself to get him some water. (He downed the bowl in seconds, so obviously I made the right call.) Carboard Caskets finished up. Having eaten, and helped out an animal in need, I decided I was deserving of a reward. So we floated back to the campsite where we enjoyed some Method Man, Sour Oreos and Coors Banquet.

It was about 6:45 when I dug deeper into my weed supply and broke out my newly acquired strain: Devildriver. With this bowl under my belt I headed back down to the stage to check out our next act, Saints of Lorain. These boys are one of the main reasons I made the trip down. They are a ripping fast, ass kicking Punk Rock band from Cleveland. They are built from five musicians, two Guitars, Bass, Drums and a Vocalist. As is their custom they came out blazing. With rapid fire lyrics and good backing vox, they took control of the gazebo that housed the stage. Overall they played hard and with a lot of heart. My notes are horribly repetitive for this act. Pretty much here’s what they tell me… Saints of Lorain are fast, hard and have a great sound. They also had excellent stage energy, most notably their singer who left the stage, walked among the crowd, climbed up on a coffee table and rolled around on a couch. In short, one note can sum it up: “Saints of Lorain are truly among the best Punk bands in our Scene.” Near the end of the set, local Scene supporter Paul Goon gave Saints of Lorain an award for… something. I don’t remember what for; probably for being fucking awesome, because that’s what they are. Saints of Lorain finished up and earned vigorous applause from the fans.

My voice notes become really sporadic at this point, so I have no idea what happened for the next period of time. What I do know is that I kept drinking and continued my strict diet of 20mg of THC every hour. I also know that I was firmly in place and feeling wild as my favorite Punk band in the Scene, Beast Killer, took the stage. For those of you who don’t know, Beast Killer is a two man war machine. Built from Guitar/Vocals and Drums, this band does nothing but kick asses up and down the Northcoast with every gig they play. They are hard fast and passionate and are the top reason why I made the trip down to Farm Fest. I jotted down that, like me, the crowd was really feeling their set. Beyond that, I actually didn’t take a lot of notes, instead I just wrote down the set list. You see, I was simply having too much fun and rocking out too hard to be bothered to make notes on the subject. And even at that bare minimum, I still managed to write so illegibly that its almost impossible to make out. That didn’t matter though because Beast Killers set was so powerful. I believe they played 12 songs total including a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Maniac Depression” and Operation Ivy’s “All I Know.” My voice notes following the set came out as follows: “Beast Killer just absolutely tore it the fuck down. It was impressive. It was amazing.” Fully satisfied with what I had just witnessed, I once again departed the stage and returned to my dope stash.

It was around 8:30 and dark was upon us. The show was running a full hour and a half behind schedule at this point. No one was worried about it, except of course the boys in Vandalizard who had pulled the final spot of the event. Concerned as to when they would actually get to play, they were afraid they’d get too drunk to perform by the time their set finally arrived. I did my best to console them, in the only way I knew how. Breaking out my high test buds, I packed up some Sour Apple Moon Rocks and we got stoned… and I mean fucking stoned, This shit is all powerful, and we enjoyed it to the utmost. Meanwhile, some madman had crept into an adjacent field and began shooting off fireworks. It was a pretty sweet display and we all cheered at the spectacle.

As for me, it was back down the hill and over to the Gazebo. Hams was up next. For those of you who are not in the know, Hams is a four piece Punk band from Cleveland made up of Vocals, Guitar, Bass and Drums. They are known for their speed and aggressive sound as well as for the fact that their Bass and Guitar players perform while wearing masks. The Guitarist dons a Pig mask while the Bassist wears one of a wolf. They came out playing some ripping, fast handed, Rock N’ Roll. The energy was off the charts. The singer abandoned the stage and performed in the gravel, leaving his band mates room to move. I was so taken with the raw thunder of the set that I almost missed that the guitarist was playing in his underwear. My notes here read “this is the razor’s edge of underground Punk” and “Hard edged, angry, ass kicking Punk Rock.” while Hams tore it down, in the back ground you could see a man attempting to set the bonfire ablaze… with a flamethrower. It took a minute to get it lit, but once it did, that bad bitch went up fast. Soon we had a towering inferno on the premises as Hams scorched the stage. My notes tell me that, “There is an absurd brilliance to what Hams does.” I can agree with that statement. As far as my hazy recollections go, I remember Hams set being a thing a fucking beauty. “Fast, aggressive and overall bitchin,’” is my final note on the set and I think that says it all.

It was about a quarter til 10 when our next act, Black Spirit Crown took to the stage. I was observing from the campsite when the began. Due to my long day of drinking in the hot sun, I had developed a nagging headache which had grown to irritating levels. I took a heroic dose of ibuprofen in hopes of stamping it out and made my way down the hill to check out the band. Here’s what I found out. Black Spirit Crown is a three piece built from Guitar/Vocals, Bass/Backing Vocals and Drums. They play a pretty bitching, sludgy style that reminded me of “Leviathan” era Mastodon. My voice notes describe it as a “Trance like, droning endless progressive sort of sound.” Long grooving instrumental pieces fueled by some killer Bass action led the listener on sonic journeys. Significantly intoxicated, I found myself in a perfect mindset to absorb this sort of music. I really dug everything they were doing and I soaked it up as much as I could while it lasted. They finished up shortly before 10:30pm. At which point we returned to the campsite for another round of beers and bowls.

By now I was pretty much wasted. None the less I was still going strong and more than willing to keep on Rockin’. That was a good thing because up next was Jacknife Powerbombs. This is a five man group made up of Guitars, Bass, Drums and Vocals. I came to learn that they are a hard, fast Punk act. These guys opened up with an extreme amount of energy. They had excellent stage presence, especially their singer who was absolutely all over the place; he even pulled on a luchador mask. They put on one hell of a set, I have to say. The crowd was definitely feeling it, as some on lookers went so far as to come down and dance in front of the stage. On songs like “Put the Hammer down” and “Cleveland’s gonna burn tonight,” they brought life to the party and lit up the night. The fans cheered as Jacknife Powerbombs finished up with fire.

I formed no memories from the next period of time, nor did I take any notes or record any thoughts. The next thing I recall was standing before the stage as Vandalizard began their set. With me was Marlana and my sister who we shall call Farnold. With drinks in hand we cheered as the boys took their places. Vandalizard is four piece act made up of Guitar/Vocals, Guitar, Bass and Drums. They play a style of Punk that is both hard and fast, while still holding a strong amount of melody. The music was highly energetic and the vocals were delivered with a coarse timbre. They had an excellent Bass tone and Drums that came with jackhammer precision. While most of their songs were straight forward Punk rock, some had a Ska style while still others took on the feel of more traditional Rock N’ Roll. There were great riffs along the way and some nice solos that really caught my attention. Their final song, “Ramona” showed a full songwriting spectrum, beginning melodically then getting Rockin’ before kicking off hard. It put a capstone on an excellent set and earned a strong cheer from all those who surrounded the stage.

And just like that it was over. I mean the music that is. The boys packed up their gear and I returned to the campsite. It was 12:30am when the concert finally wound down a full hour and a half later than expected. The moon hung high in the sky and a chill fell over the fields. The long day was behind us and a wild night was ahead. We drank and smoked and partied for a time. I broke out my second bag of gummies and was dismayed to see they had melted in the heat of the day. Rather than ten 20mg gummies I now had one 200mg mega gummy. I tore this into sizable chunks and split it with Vern and Dan of Vandalizard. We then set about smoking a sizable portion of what remained of my weed. In good time I made my way back to my tent. There I dozed, too high to sleep. I drifted off to the unnerving, albeit distant, sounds of coyotes. I rose early the next day, hit my pen, broke camp and headed home.

Your humble narrator having a great time.

Wow, what an experience! I have to say I had a bonafide blast at State Line Farm Fest. Food, booze, fireworks, music, good times and great company. And there was much more going on that I didn’t even get into. After all, my focus was on the music, and on getting wasted. There was a lot more to Farm Fest than just concert stuff. There was a pond to swim in and trails to hike. Everywhere there were kids playing, dogs running free and off road vehicles cruising around. And the best part of all was that it was all free. I can’t even imagine the time, effort and expense that goes into putting this thing on, but it must be considerable. I hope that the organizers of the event read this and know just how much fun I had and just how appreciated it all was. Yes I had a blast, and hopefully I will again. I talked to the boys and we are all planing on going back next year. On that note I will bring this edition to a close. So hoist your horns, bang your heads and always wear your earplugs.

Until next time, Rock on, Rustbelt,

-Z.M. Delgado

Rustbelt Rock Review

Rustbeltrockreview.com

8/26/2024

Links:

Urban Cattle

https://www.facebook.com/UrbanCattleCleveland/

Kill The Fall

https://www.facebook.com/killthefallband/

The Long Hunt

https://www.facebook.com/thelonghuntband/

Cardboard Caskets

https://www.facebook.com/cardboardcaskets/

Saints of Lorain

https://www.facebook.com/StS.o.LrN/

Beastkiller

https://www.facebook.com/BeastKillerBand/

Hams

https://www.facebook.com/hamsusa2022/

Black Spirit Crown

https://www.facebook.com/BlackSpiritCrown/

Jacknife Powerbombs

https://www.facebook.com/jacknifepowerbombs/

Vandalizard

https://www.facebook.com/p/Vandalizard-100092590599377/

Vol. #151: State Line Farm Fest 2024

Vol. #152: Extinction A.D., Assault & Cleansing Humanity

Vol. #150: Gluttons and Assault