This year's annual Hozac BLACKOUT Fest is upon us and we're excited to say that it's possibly the most staggering lineup we've pulled together yet. Since 2001 (OK, well, we took 2007-2010 off) the BLACKOUT has been a glorious mess of Springtime in Chicago, doing it all, and, of course, "Overdoing it," over a long weekend, all to the best live soundtrack you can imagine. The lineup this year is as great as always, but maybe even a little more so with the startling addition of one of the first psychedelic rock'n rollers, Roky Erickson, into the fold, not to mention the long-running 'project of figuring out a way to get Redd Kross to play their early material' in an intimate live setting! Yes, we're excited beyond belief and we hope you are just as well. But how would it even be possible without the strong crop of modern bands we've brought together who are running at the peak of their game? If you look hard enough, there's a very small wealth of underground bands cranking out amazing, and even sometimes polarizing rock'n roll savagery in many of its ambiguous forms, and we feel like we've put together an incredible lineup of relevant bands coming from all different directions, yet all sure to win over even the most hardened musical isolationists. From the raucous pumping pop of Davila 666, Ketamines, Gentleman Jesse, Plateaus and COZY to the destructive smash of VIDEO, Human Eye, Rayon Beach and Homostupids, right on down to the heavenly introspective haze of Bare Mutants, Fungi Girls and Medication, it's a massively diversified conglomerate of bands that all have one thing in common, but we just can't figure out what it is! They just all sound great, and that's why Hozac isn't just a one-dimensional record label with one fixed direction, but a divergent collection of many different exciting sounds from all across the underground, and this is what truly sets us apart.
And this year we've brought the whole mess back to the Empty Bottle, where the terror and exhilaration of the original series of Blackout Fests came into it's full force back in 2004, and this year expects to blow even that experience straight through the roof.
Thanks again for being the adventurous type, there's really not enough of you out there anymore and we appreciate checking out new bands that you haven't quite heard of yet!
Get tickets NOW!
Thursday Art Show / Opening Party: ORDER TICKETS HERE
Friday - Sunday at Empty Bottle: ORDER TICKETS HERE
Check out a live clip of Redd Kross performing the Posh Boy EP in its entirety right here:
