Rotaryfest Stage 2 & Din/Id Iota Concert Previews, Plus More Recent Notes!!

At last, our extended previews of this weekend's stacked concert lineup are coming to an end! Today, we're covering the all-original Second Stage of our local summer festival, and an afterparty concert from two of it's bands, but to round things out, we have some assorted recent news and notes, so here's what you should know!

The eleventh installment of Rotaryfest's Stage 2 (a.k.a. the Second Stage) goes down TOMORROW! Returning to the "redirected" Clergue Park stage beside the Art Gallery for a second straight year (and also remaining as an all-local, one day event since it's 2014 hiatus), this year's original-focused Second Stage lacks an official sponsor, but you can still help the cause via the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to support it's funding, as they still have a ways to go to meet their goal! The show will go on though, so who can you see at Stage 2 this year? Headlining at 7:00 PM tomorrow are VM Radio Battle-winning indie rock quartet K.I.C.K. in their festival debut, and they're a fitting choice, given that last year's battle winners (Gnaeus) headlined last year's Second Stage as well! Boatload Killers frontman Liam Seymour will trade his regular blues rock sound for pop rock in a solo showcase at 6:00 PM, with bandmate Blake Jackson and Gianni Gagoots drummer Frank McCormick that will see them put a rock twist on current pop music, though no word on if they have any planned originals.

Liam's very talented, and it'll be interesting to see how this set goes in his solo Rotaryfest debut! The aforementioned Gnaeus will bring their post-punk sound back to Stage 2 at 5:00 PM for a second straight year as the highest placed hard rock or punk act, while progressive rock quartet Machines Dream will take the Second Stage for the second time tomorrow at 4:00 PM (fourth time if you count The Craig West Band as one & the same.) Alternative hard rock quartet Id Iota will debut at the festival at 3:00 PM, while jazz/prog rock quartet The Wild Iris will play their fourth Rotaryfest set (twice previously on Stage 1, plus last year on Stage 2) with a set at 2:00 PM. The day's events will be opened by alternative hard rock trio The Din in their own Rotaryfest debut, and they'll hit the stage at 1:00 PM. Promoted once again by Chelsie Parayko, this year's Stage 2 action is FREE & ALL AGES as usual, and check the above links for more details on the lineup and festival proper!

It's great to see the Second Stage back for an 11th go-around in 2016, and fans should like the varied lineup of local original talent, with only Gnaeus and The Wild Iris returning from last year! I'm unsure if the Second Stage will ever return to being a two-day event, but I like the continued focus on all-local acts, and more punk and hard rock acts than the event had before being "redirected", so don't miss out on all of the Stage 2 action by the Art Gallery TOMORROW! For a preview, here's Gnaeus live last year!



Lastly for this weekend's previews (barring a super-late notice confirmation), the aforementioned Din & Id Iota will rock LopLops Lounge TOMORROW NIGHT at an afterparty concert following the conclusion of this year's Stage 2! This marks the second straight year that LopLops hosts an afterparty featuring two opening bands from the Second Stage lineup, and it's great to see that LopLops (who promoted the Second Stage until the 2014 hiatus and their move to The Emergency Festival) still support the all-original stage and the bands that play it! This will be The Din's last announced concert before their CD release show at The Tech next month, while it will be Id Iota's first non-Rotaryfest set since their own CD release party from April, so if you want to see the guys indoors, at night, or with an adult beverage, be at LopLops tomorrow for the afterparty! There's a $5 cover for this 19+ show, which starts at 9:00 PM. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The Din live!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• Local pop punk solo project Anthems vs. Oceans (formerly For July) have unveiled their first new song since the name change via their Soundcloud page! Entitled "I Won't Leave You", it's an acoustic folk-influenced piece that showcases a different side of Dave Hunter's musical ability, and it's well done for it's style, so give it (and more) a listen above!
• The third studio track from local hard rock quartet Long Shot's upcoming self-titled debut EP can now be heard at their Bandcamp page! It's for their song "El Camino", and while the EP currently lists an asking price of $4, it's not clear how many more songs will be added to final track listing, if any (perhaps "Long Goodbye"?) Stay tuned for details on the official release when announced, and listen to the current tracks above!
• In a Facebook posting from May that we missed on here at the time, local death/thrash metal trio Pillory revealed that they will apparently begin recording their first full length studio album in the fall with producer Jamie Vincent (AlgomA), presumably at Six, Two, Oh. This would follow their 2013 thrash EP "Cringe At The Cross", though their current material has far more of a death metal influence. Hopefully these plans are maintained, and stay tuned for more from Pillory in due course!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for our review of Thursday's Iskra show next! Thanks everyone!