Category: Local Music

Fresno Bands On Bandcamp To Support, Play and Download

The Fresnan
Fresno-covers-Fresno Fresno Bands On Bandcamp To Support, Play and Download

Bandcamp is the definitive place on the Internet for small and local acts to release their albums to. Bands are even able to make a little bit from this, at least enough to generate some operating cash, if nothing else.

Normally Bandcamp takes a fee from the band when someone buys a song or album. Lately, with everything being shutdown and bands not able to generate any revenue besides the selling of merch, Bandcamp has been choosing certain days to wave their fees so bands can get as much cash as possible.

So, I guess, watch Bandcamp to know when those days are or just buy as much as you want when you want.

Speaking of, as a way to support Fresno area bands, I have compiled SOME of the local acts with albums on Bandcamp. It’s a mix of my own suggestions and Fresno Twitter suggestions.

That’s Cloudship:

Brian Kenny Fresno (also suggested by Matt Hackney):

and of freaking course, Fashwan:

Okay, Josh, *acts like he doesn’t know* let’s check out I’ll Grow Back :

and The Strikingly Originals :

Short King aka @JohnnyAppeal from Numbskull Shows has a perfect suggestion as you can spend some time with this page because it has a bunch of classic Fresno hardcore albums, including one from Most Inspirational:

Fresno music royalty, Dale Stewart, has a new track to download:

He also has a great site for lovers of old Fresno Punk, it’s a must for music explorers.

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New Fresno Music: Ultra Diamonds “Sightseer”

The Fresnan
Ultra-Diamonds-cover-art New Fresno Music: Ultra Diamonds "Sightseer"

Trying to play catchup on some posting here on the blog and I missed posting about the new Ultra Diamond EP “Sightseer”.

If it sounds familiar, everyone in this band has been out there in Fresno’s scene for some time. From Fierce Creatures to Light Thieves to The Eighteen Hundreds, to name just a few.

I love everything about this EP. My favorite track being “Dial Tones”.

Well. I almost love everything.

My only wonder is why the vocals are buried in the mix, lending to an unfinished and disconnected feel. But I think that is the point… maybe? Part of the Ghost Surf sound coming out of Fresno, I guess.

Have a listen for yourself. Go see a show. Buy some stuff. Find them on Spotify too.

They are working on new music and will be in Boise for Treefort Music Fest coming up. Enjoy them here and now:

Listen To This: The Eighteen Hundreds “Moon Cults”

The Fresnan
the-eighteen-hundreds-1024x683 Listen To This: The Eighteen Hundreds "Moon Cults"

I can’t review things. At least I can’t in a traditional way. Especially music. The words and descriptions needed for a good album review is something I never have been able to figure out.

I mean, hell, look at a recent review of Power Trip’s “Opening Fire” by Any O’Connor in Pitchfork:


On “Divine Apprehension,” sprightly, major-key thrash tics ride above the maelstrom. …


…They’re more blatant about their influences here, and these tracks thrive on the youthful charm of aping what you love. 

Andy O’Connor

Above the MAELSTROM? Aping what you love? What the hell is a maelstrom because it feels like I would be aping if I ever was in one.

Yeah, I can’t write this kind of stuff. This is why I stay away from review things too much, especially music.

But, I love Fresno music. I want more people listening to Fresno music. So here we are. Let’s talk a little bit about the new EP from Fresno’s Eighteen Hunderds called “Moon Cults”.

A music genre is born

The Eighteen Hundreds proclaim to be a Ghost Surf band. This is cool because I don’t believe Ghost Surf is a known genre of music and this may be the beginning of how we describe a particular sound.

A sound that does seem to run through a lot of Fresno and South Valley bands. Partly because of shared band members and partly because of local bands influencing one another.

However the Ghost Surf sound is happening, I love it and hope it becomes a thing. Lets begin listening so we can calibrate our ear for Ghost Surf.

Moon Cults

The track “Colleen” is about a ghost that haunts the basement of a Tower District house and has a new video to go along with it:

The whole album is up on the band’s Bandcamp page, which you can listen to here and download, if you so desire:

Before you go, listen to the band’s previous effort, “Sun Cults”:

For you record nerds, the band plans to press some vinyl for “Moon Cults” and their previous effort, “Sun Cults”, by the Summer.

Follow the band on social and through the website so you know when they play next. Let’s continue to make Ghost Surf a thing!

Fulton Street Party Is All Fresno Music Goodness!

The Fresnan

Fulton-Street-Party-2018-setlist Fulton Street Party Is All Fresno Music Goodness!

Fulton Street Party! Glad that Tioga is around, otherwise this might not have happened.

The Fulton Street Party is Saturday, celebrating one year of traffic returning to Fulton. It won’t be the hullabaloo that was last year’s party.

But thankfully, Tioga Sequoia Brewing pushes for something to happen and is making a day out of it, highlighted by the Battle of the Bands style competition happening all day with all local acts.

The two “best” bands will win slots at next year’s Grizzly Fest.

This will be a great snapshot of the state of Fresno’s music scene and it’s free to check out. Gaze at the flyer above for set times. I definitely have a couple picked out already.

Tioga will also have super fresh Fulton Street IPA (nice and hazy) flowing all day along, with other things going on within the block surrounding Tioga’s Beer Garden. Including the main stage for bands in the lot across the street from TS.

Sounds like a damn fine day to me. Hope I see ya there!

Maybe I’ll finally check out Chicken Shack.

THE Bands You Will Regret Missing At Grizzly Fest

The Fresnan 2 Comments

img_2454 THE Bands You Will Regret Missing At Grizzly Fest
I won’t be at Grizzly Fest on Saturday. Probably. But YOU should totally go because you are way cooler than me and deserve to treat yourself to the best music festival in Fresno. Well, best since F.U.S.E. Fest went on hiatus.

Yeah, I probably won’t make it because it’s Saturday and that means I’ll be making one worthless trip to the hardware store and a second trip to get the thing forgotten on the first trip.

I’m going to miss a lot of badassness. Fresno’s own Fashawn will be there, along with plenty of other national acts. I kinda don’t give a shit about those. I like the Fresno bands.

Some of the Fresno music will include Slow Season, Amoret, White Glove Service and one of the biggest Fresno bands of all time: 40 Watt Hype. They have a new video out, btw:

There are more Fresno acts but the two I will miss out on the most are Sagey and Wee Beasties:

Make sure you go and report back to me on social media (@thefresnan on Twitter and Instagram. trenchrun22 on Snap) and tell me all the badass sets I missed.  I think I’ll be busy getting drunk while watching house paint dry.

Now please watch the most genius use of Fresno landmarks ever:

This Is Not A Local Music Blog

The Fresnan

img_0688 This Is Not A Local Music Blog

I miss Audie’s Olympic. Barely seen a band in Fresno since the place begrudgingly closed. I blame Audie’s closing on my lack of seeing local bands play lately, but that is a copout. Still, I miss it.

Yes. Strummer’s is there and still scheduling bands. So is Fulton 55. Frank’s Place does a thing or two, I think. Cool, cool.

There are new local venue things too. Tioga Sequoia Beer Garden has a lot of music. Goldstein’s has music. These are places that were not much of a factor musically when Audie’s was still operating.

And none of these places match up to the true rock club vibe of Audie’s. Nor can they regularly bring to town the kind of shows that Audie’s brought in. Not the touring, fresh, rock bands or mid-level local kind of shows anyway.

What the Fresno Grizzlies are to a professional baseball player, trying to get into the major league’s, Audie’s was to rising touring or local bands.

And, you could just hang out in Audie’s – as long as the style of music was not too grading to you, that is. Just hang and have a beer, sit on a stool, occasionally stop and look to the stage to enjoy a nice set. Didn’t even need to be there with anybody.

NOT THAT THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH A LOCAL MUSIC BLOG

I hesitate to write this post because it personally concerns me. I don’t want to do what I did before and turn the Fresnan into a music blog that is not supposed to be a music blog.

That is what it was when I previously put this blog on ice. Just posts about local shows. Which is fine if you brand yourself a music blog. The Fresnan was not branded as a music blog. I got lazy and complacent.

If you want a local music blog, check out Spanspek or read Joshua Tehee stuff. Do it.

SPEAKING OF LOCAL MUSIC

So Josh Tehee and I just posted a new Flowing With Famous podcast and in it we picked out favorite Fresno music acts of 2016. My pick was The Light Thieves:

Josh picked two. Beastmaker…

…and Sagey. Now Sagey was a new one to me. Josh talked about how these guys have the local buzz right now and I think I get why:

I will keep listening to what Josh has to say about the Fresno music scene because he will find out first when (or maybe if) Audie’s opens again as a new music club.

I might finally be motivated to get back into the local music scene. Maybe see a Sagey show. Sit on a stool.

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