Ripplefest Texas Part I: All Roads Lead to the Sagebrush
The Waning Gibbous hanging low over the Eastern Texas sky is thankfully chasing away the blazing sun of the day. It is Thursday evening. This isn’t just any Thursday evening; this is night one of Ripplefest Texas; the Pre-Party at The Sagebrush in Austin. I have 2 Scotsmen and 1 Canadian with me. We made terrible decisions earlier: We are now sunburnt and barely recovered from an 11 am -3 pm beers in the pool session.
We need Aloe. We need tacos. We need heavy music.
I landed in Austin on Wednesday afternoon. With my 1976 Les Paul Custom and an 85 lb rolling SKB road case filled with merch, my personal effects, & my pedalboard in tow, I miraculously found my way to the off-site rental car facility. I managed to navigate my way around the completely bizarre Austin frontage road system to my hotel. It is 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the sun feels like it’s approximately 10 feet above Austin. The “breeze” around these parts ranges from what I’d imagine several hundred hair dryers set on ‘High Heat’ would feel like, to being incinerated by a Game of Thrones dragon. It’s a “dry heat” they say…
Iain and Jamie had already arrived from London in the morning. These 2 Scots transplanted to London due to their careers. Iain works in the British film industry while Jamie has a couple of irons in the fire: video game developer by day and horror podcaster by night. They’ve been friends for a couple of decades and share a love of heavy music and festivals. They’d already gone out looking for trouble by the time I got settled and I wasn’t having any part of that on my first day in Texas.
I’d gone down to the lobby and meandered around the hotel a while and a few folks inquired if I was in town for the concert. I gleefully exclaimed, “YES!” only to be disappointed when I found out that they were talking about the Marilyn Manson/5 Finger Death Punch show that evening.
Oof! Sucks to be them.
Soon after that cringe encounter, I spotted a tall, well-groomed gent with an HOMBRE shirt, but I didn’t instigate any conversation. After a few laps around the hotel property, we finally paused for a chat, and it didn’t take long to confirm that we were both in town for Ripplefest. Some friendly banter and mentions of mutual friends & acquaintances pretty much put each of us at ease enough to realize that we weren’t going to rob or stab each other.
In from Calgary, Darren juggles both Rock & Roll and Wildlife photography. A quick Instagram follow has me fascinated by his amazing work. His Canadian accent really stands out in the Austin backdrop.
Wednesday evening ended in the hotel restaurant/bar. I finally met up with the Scots and they were a little worse for wear. They had a proper time pub crawling around Austin and closed out the evening with some food and a final drink. Their accents were warming and reminded me of my mother, who was a native of Scotland, and her brother, my dear Uncle Cedric, who would always throw an, “Och AYE!” at me.
It was great to finally meet them in person after having some correspondence through my band’s page and the Ripplefest Unofficial Meetup Page that I created for attendees on Facebook. We planned to meet for breakfast, and I told them that there was a photographer from Canada going to RFTX also staying in the hotel and that he’d probably be up for breakfast and hangs as well.
On my way back to the hotel from the restaurant, I notice Nashville’s, The Absurd pulled up and unloading their gear into the hotel. A quick exchange of pleasantries and I’m off to my room for the night.
Ripplefest hosted a Pre Pre Party (yes, you read that correctly) that Wednesday night down in San Antonio. As much as I would have loved to have gone, the hour and a half drive after a day of traveling, plus an hour and a half drive back, would have been tempting fate for me.
The Ripplefest Texas Breakfast of Bad Decisions
Thursday morning found me waking up early like I do for my “real” vocation, which is about the time the blackbirds of Austin start singing and that giant orb of intense heat pokes its fiery head up in the Eastern sky.
With the first note of RFTX scheduled to be struck at 6 pm, there was plenty of time for breakfast and whatever shenanigans 4 grown-ass adults could conjure whilst being away from home, unsupervised. (insert evil laugh here_______)
The breakfast meeting concluded in the decision referenced in the first paragraph. No sightseeing. No off-property shenanigans. Pool. 11 am. Beer.
Darren brought his Bluetooth speaker; Jamie & Iain brought some beer which didn’t last long. I managed to grab more beer from my room and pulled a total Boy Scout move of using a trash can with a new liner as our ice bucket. The sounds of KYUSS phased in and out of the air as the heat of the sun was killing Darren’s phone and the connectivity at the hotel was a bit sporadic.
We had the best time. Sharing passions and concert stories with others from distant lands and coming together for a festival like Ripplefest Texas binds strangers and turns them into family. By the time we decided to get out of the pool, we had turned a shade of crimson, and I was speaking in a unique accent combined with a little bit of Letterkenny meets Shrek, thanks to my new international brethren.
A nap and a shower later, we met in the lobby at 5. I had pulled the rental up to the doors with the AC cranked. Off to The Sagebrush!
The Many Roads to Ripplefest
For me, there have been many roads that are leading me to The Sagebrush tonight. Everything that has brought music into my life has been the stagecoach taking me to Texas.
My parents, especially my dad, who’s love of classical music had him playing music and enthusiastically introducing me to many amazing musicians including classical guitarists; Andres Segovia, Christopher Parkening, and Julian Bream. My sister, who really took control of the turntable in the 70’s and introduced me to some of what was happening at the time, and eventually turned out to be a real rocker! The little crappy Sears Silvertone acoustic guitar that kept me busy until I could start playing legit guitars. The discovery of Led Zeppelin.
Fast forward several decades through countless musical interests, bands, gigs, and finally winding up with my own Stoner Rock band, Shadow of Jupiter. The Road to Ripple could not have happened without several amazing humans in the reviewer community: John Gist, Scott Spiers, Pat Schober, & Frazer Jones. These kind souls were in on the ground floor, and sung our praises; for that, we are forever grateful!
We managed to grab a parking spot along the fence line adjacent to the stone lot, a very short walk to the front door of The Sagebrush.
Meeting Ryan Garney: The Legend
My passengers all presented their tickets for admittance, and I stood there with a blank stare for a second, as the door guy asked for my ticket. “Uh, well, I’m playing this weekend…” He smiled and said, “…hold on a sec, I’ll go find Ryan.”
Trying to hold my composure, I immediately and internally had to fend off “fanboy mode”. Ryan Garney is the HMFIC for Ripplefest Texas. Ryan Garney is the lead singer for High Desert Queen. Ryan Garney is an international ambassador for heavy underground music. Ryan Garney is currently giving me a giant hug, welcoming me to Texas, thanking me for having my band play Ripplefest, and handing me the “Official Band Packet” for Shadow of Jupiter.
My sunburn didn’t care. Ryan’s hug was genuine, and it was amazing to finally meet him in person. I took the packet out to the rental, grabbed my purple bracelet and headed inside The Sagebrush.
It took a minute for my eyes to acclimate to the incredibly dark venue. As my eyes begin to focus, familiar faces start to reveal themselves. I’ve never met any of these people, in person. The nice thing about social media is that situations just like this become incredibly easier to navigate because introductions have already been made from afar. Familiarity has already been established. Even the shy guy like me (seriously) is quickly comforted by the immediate sense of family happening right now at The Sagebrush. Smiles, laughter, handshakes, hugs, back-slapping (oooh that dreaded sunburn!) are all building up to the opening note about to strike in about 40 minutes!
This is night one of what is shaping up to be the greatest assembly of Stoner/Desert/Doom/Heavy Underground music in the world.
Before one note is even played, the feeling of family from everyone is HUGE!
This is Ripplefest Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas.
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Stay tuned for Part II: Ripplefest Texas; The Pre Party
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