No Age Dominates Festival

By Aly Vander Hayden

The Art Fag Fest was held on Fri. Nov. 27 at the San Diego Woman’s Club with performers Pearl Harbor, Grass Widow, Ganglians, Best Coast, Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles and Los Angeles’ experimental lo-fi drum and guitar duo, No Age. The Woman’s Club provided a relaxing atmosphere with a softly lit garden area and pre-holiday cheer, displaying a brightly decorated, enormous Christmas tree near the front of the stage. This strange venue was not at all odd to No Age, however, which has played in places such as the LA River Basin, book stores, a public library, and an Ethiopian restaurant-- all places specifically chosen as a way to break away from the classic club/bar settings. My favorite opening bands, Ganglians and Dum Dum Girls, had a completely different musical style as opposed to the noise-rock No Age, but their performances were a satisfying twist. Both Ganglians and Dum Dum Girls played a softer and calmer set, with Ganglians expelling an experimental beach rock tone and Dum Dum Girls reflecting a toned down version of an allgirls 80’s punk band. Six bands and five hours later, No Age took the stage and immediately launched into songs from their past five EPs and two full-length albums, as well as two gems from their new EP. No Age previously released their albums solely on vinyl and returned to this trend with their 2009 EP “Losing Feeling” after the dual production of their albums “Weirdo Rippers” and “Nouns” on CD and LP. Guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt emitted heavy chords over a reverberating drum head, creating effective loops woven together into perfect harmonies. The duo’s music synthesized deafening noise blasts with hummable melodies, and crashing drums taking on a genre of their own. Randall and Spunt took several breaks to talk to the audience, as well as discuss their Tofurkey Thanksgiving. When they returned for their highly demanded encore, members of the audience jumped on stage to dance with the band while Spunt took the gigantic American flag that was placed in the corner of the stage and started to wave it around. No Age ended their final set with “Male M***********n,” much to the contentment of the audience. With unconventional performances, beautifully imperfect songs, and bizarre reputation, No Age continues to make a powerful stance in their growing genre, noise-rock. As Spunt explained, “No Age is a band. Bands should be fun and exciting, and they should push all the buttons at the same time. They should make you feel like you are going to explode and make you utterly confused and inspired at the same time. At least they should.”