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By Josh Burke
This was my third time in Austin for Ripplefest Texas, a celebration of desert rock and stoner metal. It bills itself as a “family reunion” and of all the festivals I’ve been to, it really does feel the most like home in a lot of ways. I have made many friends at this festival and it’s great to see a lot of the same faces year after year. It’s also a small festival - while the capacity for the main venue is 2,000 people, I would guess the actual attendance is closer to 500. I don’t know how the financials work with this size of a crowd, but I love the intimacy. You can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be standing next to the bands playing the festival and I love getting the chance to meet and have real conversations with some of my favorite artists.
This was my third time in Austin for Ripplefest Texas, a celebration of desert rock and stoner metal. It bills itself as a “family reunion” and of all the festivals I’ve been to, it really does feel the most like home in a lot of ways. I have made many friends at this festival and it’s great to see a lot of the same faces year after year. It’s also a small festival - while the capacity for the main venue is 2,000 people, I would guess the actual attendance is closer to 500. I don’t know how the financials work with this size of a crowd, but I love the intimacy. You can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be standing next to the bands playing the festival and I love getting the chance to meet and have real conversations with some of my favorite artists.
Ryan Garney, the singer for High Desert Queen, is the dynamo behind it all, booking the bands, cobbling together the backline and making everything happen. He’s constantly moving, with smiles and hugs for everyone, usually wearing a shirt that says “I love you all.” And it really feels like he does. That positivity is contagious and adds a joyful note to the festivities. Even something like a neighborhood power outage could not dampen his mood. Ryan does a great job curating the festival, bringing in long-time stalwarts in the genre as well as new and lesser-known bands, and there have always been a few bands from outside of North America. All the bands are quality entertainment, and even the bands I’m not particularly into tend to put on high-caliber performances.
The festival is held at two venues on the south side of Austin - the Thursday night pre-party and the Sunday night after-party happen inside at the Sagebrush while the bands on Friday and Saturday play outside at the Far Out Lounge. The festival proudly proclaims that there is zero overlap - Ryan is very proud of that and it is a huge plus for people like me who tend to get decision paralysis.
As much as I love this genre, my unscientific take is that this year the family reunion had a little more inbreeding, cutting a slightly narrower swath through genres than in other years. While I can’t knock any particular band, there were times when the repetition weighed on me. Similarly, some of the tropes of this genre fell particularly flat. Everyone likes their whiskey, their weed and their women. I get it. Having said that, it was still a great festival, I had a lot of fun, and there were many, many highlights for me. I bought my ticket and booked my hotel for 2026 on my way out the door and look forward to seeing all my weird uncles and cousins again next September.
As much as I love this genre, my unscientific take is that this year the family reunion had a little more inbreeding, cutting a slightly narrower swath through genres than in other years. While I can’t knock any particular band, there were times when the repetition weighed on me. Similarly, some of the tropes of this genre fell particularly flat. Everyone likes their whiskey, their weed and their women. I get it. Having said that, it was still a great festival, I had a lot of fun, and there were many, many highlights for me. I bought my ticket and booked my hotel for 2026 on my way out the door and look forward to seeing all my weird uncles and cousins again next September.
Shun
Whores
Woorms
ASG
My favorites:
Some of the curveballs that seem a little out of place at the festival tend to be my favorite bands, and this year was no different. One of the sore thumbs and one of my absolute favorites was Shun - an intricate heavy rock band that is clearly influenced by 90s and 00s giants like Failure, Hum and Cave In (confirmed by guitarist Bo Leslie) that are squarely in my sweet spot. Singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter Matt Whitehead adds his own unique flavor to their music via the mountains of western North Carolina. Their most recent album, Dismantle, was produced by J Robbins from Jawbox/Burning Airlines/etc. One could not have a higher seal of approval in my book. The album delivers tight, compelling songs sprinkled with quirky, spacey guitar licks and solos and I was really, really looking forward to seeing these guys. I had a small panic attack when they posted on Facebook in March that they were looking for a new drummer. My anxiety mounted until they finally announced just ten days before the festival that they had found one in Jason Ward, who also plays in Irata (who I also strongly recommend checking out). The only way you could tell that Jason had not been in the band forever was that periodically Matt turned to remind him how a song started. If I had not known what was up, I don’t think I would have even noticed; once each song kicked in, things went off without a hitch. Their set flew by and I loved every minute of it. I know a lot of folks felt the same way. I got them to say in front of witnesses that they would come to the Twin Cities and I’m holding them to that.
Post-doom band Insomniac from Atlanta is another band I was really looking forward to seeing and another band who had quite a journey to get to Austin, although a much more somber one. They had completed their debut album, Om Moksha Ritam, and were preparing for its release when guitarist Mike Morris passed away suddenly on July 6. Insomniac’s label, Blues Funeral, literally stopped the presses so that the band could include a tribute to Morris on the album. I can only begin to fathom how it must have felt to have the excitement and anticipation of showing the world what they are about turn into grief and despair. I talked to the guys after their set and they said they felt compelled to bring these songs to the world and carry on Mike’s legacy. I’m sure he would be proud of how they soldiered on. Maybe the most amazing and touching part of their story is that singer Van Bassman (yes, the name confused the hell out of me) learned all of Mike’s guitar parts in the span of a few short weeks, transitioning from “just” the singer to singing and playing guitar live. Before the festival, I only knew that Mike had passed. Talking to them after their set really added meaning to the experience.
Hard rock band Fostermother from Houston were one of my most anticipated sets from Ripplefest 2024. I had a chance to talk to Ronny Spera, their bass player, before their set last year and found out that he had just joined the band. Their set that year was good, but I could tell they were still gelling as a band. It was obvious this year how much work they’ve put in since then. They were tight and sounded great. This might seem like a backhanded compliment, but their set this year was what I wanted from them last year.
The first words that come into my head when I think about ASG are “the kings of southern melodic stoner metal.” While each of these words is true, that paints too narrow a picture of this band. Clever songwriting and catchy riffs for days. This was my second time seeing them and first time since 2019 and I don’t want to say it was worth the wait, because I hate that it’s been that long, but it was worth the wait. I had a great conversation with singer/guitarist Jason Shi the next night and he confirmed that they will be in the studio in the next couple of weeks. We also talked about trademark issues the band faced when they were first starting out, so I’m going to expense the whole festival back to my firm. As an aside, even though I live in the Twin Cities, my firm’s office is in Austin so Ripplefest is also a good chance for me to see my coworkers and (perhaps more importantly) get tips on the best places to eat in Austin.
Mondo Generator is Nick Oliveri with Mike Pygmie on guitar and Michael Amster on drums, playing a mix of Kyuss, QOTSA and MG songs. While I love John Garcia and Josh Homme, Nick and the band bring a ferocity to this material that is unmatched. I did get the chance to meet Nick but did not tell him that I listened to “Green Machine” before every one of my finals in law school.
The surprise highlight of the festival was Lake Lake from Youngstown, Ohio. Musically, Lake Lake were one of the more straightforward rock bands of the weekend. One of the subtle things I had not picked up on when listening to them before the festival that really came across live is that they make a lot of non-obvious choices in their songs. Those choices range from a particular note in the bass line, to a backing vocal, to the direction for the whole song. All those little surprises and the way front man Bill Lowery turns the songs into stories made their set very compelling. I am not doing justice to his take on how they came up with their band name (“there’s Lake Michigan and Lake Erie so why not Lake Lake?”), but it was hilarious in context.
Some of the curveballs that seem a little out of place at the festival tend to be my favorite bands, and this year was no different. One of the sore thumbs and one of my absolute favorites was Shun - an intricate heavy rock band that is clearly influenced by 90s and 00s giants like Failure, Hum and Cave In (confirmed by guitarist Bo Leslie) that are squarely in my sweet spot. Singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter Matt Whitehead adds his own unique flavor to their music via the mountains of western North Carolina. Their most recent album, Dismantle, was produced by J Robbins from Jawbox/Burning Airlines/etc. One could not have a higher seal of approval in my book. The album delivers tight, compelling songs sprinkled with quirky, spacey guitar licks and solos and I was really, really looking forward to seeing these guys. I had a small panic attack when they posted on Facebook in March that they were looking for a new drummer. My anxiety mounted until they finally announced just ten days before the festival that they had found one in Jason Ward, who also plays in Irata (who I also strongly recommend checking out). The only way you could tell that Jason had not been in the band forever was that periodically Matt turned to remind him how a song started. If I had not known what was up, I don’t think I would have even noticed; once each song kicked in, things went off without a hitch. Their set flew by and I loved every minute of it. I know a lot of folks felt the same way. I got them to say in front of witnesses that they would come to the Twin Cities and I’m holding them to that.
Post-doom band Insomniac from Atlanta is another band I was really looking forward to seeing and another band who had quite a journey to get to Austin, although a much more somber one. They had completed their debut album, Om Moksha Ritam, and were preparing for its release when guitarist Mike Morris passed away suddenly on July 6. Insomniac’s label, Blues Funeral, literally stopped the presses so that the band could include a tribute to Morris on the album. I can only begin to fathom how it must have felt to have the excitement and anticipation of showing the world what they are about turn into grief and despair. I talked to the guys after their set and they said they felt compelled to bring these songs to the world and carry on Mike’s legacy. I’m sure he would be proud of how they soldiered on. Maybe the most amazing and touching part of their story is that singer Van Bassman (yes, the name confused the hell out of me) learned all of Mike’s guitar parts in the span of a few short weeks, transitioning from “just” the singer to singing and playing guitar live. Before the festival, I only knew that Mike had passed. Talking to them after their set really added meaning to the experience.
Hard rock band Fostermother from Houston were one of my most anticipated sets from Ripplefest 2024. I had a chance to talk to Ronny Spera, their bass player, before their set last year and found out that he had just joined the band. Their set that year was good, but I could tell they were still gelling as a band. It was obvious this year how much work they’ve put in since then. They were tight and sounded great. This might seem like a backhanded compliment, but their set this year was what I wanted from them last year.
The first words that come into my head when I think about ASG are “the kings of southern melodic stoner metal.” While each of these words is true, that paints too narrow a picture of this band. Clever songwriting and catchy riffs for days. This was my second time seeing them and first time since 2019 and I don’t want to say it was worth the wait, because I hate that it’s been that long, but it was worth the wait. I had a great conversation with singer/guitarist Jason Shi the next night and he confirmed that they will be in the studio in the next couple of weeks. We also talked about trademark issues the band faced when they were first starting out, so I’m going to expense the whole festival back to my firm. As an aside, even though I live in the Twin Cities, my firm’s office is in Austin so Ripplefest is also a good chance for me to see my coworkers and (perhaps more importantly) get tips on the best places to eat in Austin.
Mondo Generator is Nick Oliveri with Mike Pygmie on guitar and Michael Amster on drums, playing a mix of Kyuss, QOTSA and MG songs. While I love John Garcia and Josh Homme, Nick and the band bring a ferocity to this material that is unmatched. I did get the chance to meet Nick but did not tell him that I listened to “Green Machine” before every one of my finals in law school.
The surprise highlight of the festival was Lake Lake from Youngstown, Ohio. Musically, Lake Lake were one of the more straightforward rock bands of the weekend. One of the subtle things I had not picked up on when listening to them before the festival that really came across live is that they make a lot of non-obvious choices in their songs. Those choices range from a particular note in the bass line, to a backing vocal, to the direction for the whole song. All those little surprises and the way front man Bill Lowery turns the songs into stories made their set very compelling. I am not doing justice to his take on how they came up with their band name (“there’s Lake Michigan and Lake Erie so why not Lake Lake?”), but it was hilarious in context.
Other highlights:
- Whores - always always always great. They were very comfortable on the big stage although I generally prefer a smaller, more intimate setting.
- Kind - psychedelic-tinged stoner rock from Boston featuring Craig Riggs (the drummer for Sasquatch) on vocals and Matt Couto (founding drummer for Elder).
- Sons of Gulliver - fuzzed out bass and drums duo with a mostly spoken vocal delivery that reminded me of Scissorfight (who I love).
- Gran Moreno - hard rocking psych fuzz two-piece from Mexico City via Austin. Their Spotify bio calls out “hypnotic riffs” and that is dead on; the crowd was hanging on every note and Nick Oliveri called them “the real deal.” The bandmates are also brothers, so maybe some sibling telepathy was at play. Singer/guitarist Ricardo Rodriguez has a day job designing hats and was the best-dressed musician of the weekend.
- The Kupa Pities - fuzzy punk hard rock from Germany. Singer Erik Walter paces the stage constantly. They played twice, and on Sunday, he jumped into the crowd several times to start pits, ratcheting up the energy for the rest of the night. He was hobbling around later and you have to respect anyone who is that into their performance.
- Rainbows Are Free (pictured above) - I first heard of this band from Oklahoma City because bass player Jason Smith is also the singer/guitarist for Traindodge, a midwest indie rock band I first saw 26(!!!) years ago. Rainbows Are Free are nothing like Traindodge; heavy psych with a hippy vibe and bludgeoning riffs. Singer Brandon Kistler is about 8 feet tall and paces the stage a man possessed, ready to charm snakes or speak in tongues. I saw RAF earlier this summer at Post Festival. I’m not sure the post-rock and post-metal crowd there knew what to make of them, even though their set was great. They were definitely more in sync with the Ripple vibe and there was steady traffic at their merch table.
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