Riot Fest

Every October, punks new and old take over Chicago for the annual Riot Fest. 2011 is set to be a huge year for the festival with a variety of headliners from Social Distortion, Weezer, Descendents, Xand the debut of a Danzig Legacy Set.

We caught up with the festival Founder Mike Petryshyn for a little phone conversation about the festival, the band’s playing it this year and how he’s able to pull countless bands out of retirement to play the show.

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 Bobby: Starting with the basics, can you give me a quick, mini-history lesson of Riot Fest?

Mike: We started in 2005. I was working on my PHD and working full time at a law firm and I started the idea of throwing of festival with a bunch of my favourite bands. It just got into my head that it would be cool to throw a festival with some of my favourite bands and that’s how it pretty much started. That happened in May 2005 and I think by June 2005, we announced the first Riot Fest and it was held in November of that year. Fast forward several festival cycles later and it’s grown a little bit and we’re all ecstatic that it’s kept on doing that.

Bobby: Like you said, it has grown a bit. You have spread out and are doing Riot Fest East in Philadelphia this September and at one point you were trying to do Riot Fest West as well. What made you decide to try and spread out and add these Riot Fests in other places than Chicago?

Mike: Well, Chicago will always be the flagship. It doesn’t matter where we go. Chicago will always have something special about it just because it is where we started. But I really wasn’t planning on doing Riot Fest outside of its first year. I had planned to do it one year and that’s it – call it a day. But after the fest was over, like a month or so after, I was like “you know, maybe we were onto something. Maybe there’s something there we can expand on.” So the idea of having to go to different parts of the US came after we had been around for five years. We were going to do Riot Fest West in 09 but I got sick and on doctor’s orders, he was just like “you know, you need to take a break” so I made a decision not to do West. This year, Philadelphia came… I was talking to one of my talent buyers over in Philly about Riot Fest Chicago and Philly’s not a crazy market like New York or LA or anything like that – it has kind of that home town feel. That was what initially intrigued me about that city and doing it there. So after kind of throwing a dice on it a bit, not knowing how it was going to be received in the market, it’s been going really well over there in Philadelphia. So we’re planning on doing some more cool stuff like that, you know? Who knows when but it’s definitely on the horizon.

Bobby: You said that Chicago is always going to be the flagship of Riot Fest. How important is Chicago to the overall feel of the festival? How important is it for you to have it in Chicago?

Mike: Well, it’s not only because of the people of Chicago and the rich history of music we have here; but we’re also kind of the hub for the Midwest. So when Riot Fest comes about, we’re pulling from all different areas of the Midwest because they don’t get to see bands like this very often. There’s a lot of smaller markets – whether it’s Detroit, Columbus, Minneapolis, Milwaukee – that we draw from. People come down to this pretty massive city and we have venues set up all across Chicago every time we do Riot Fest and they get to kind of experience the city as the venue. I’ve always said we’re kind of a unique festival. One, we’re in a major market and two – all of our fun happens at night.

Bobby:  This year your major sponsor is Red Bull right?

Mike: Yep.

Bobby: This year is the first time you’ve had such a high profile sponsor to the point where it’s actually going by “Red Bull Riot Fest” this year…

Mike: Well, no. Red Bull has always been a part of Riot Fest. This will be their third year actually. They’ve always been a part of it. Our relationship with them is pretty solid. I tend to bring in sponsors that believe in what we do and stuff like that. Red Bull fits that whole mould. I know it’s not punk rock to say or whatever, but it is the music world and to be able to work with a bunch of people who have the same vision as I do – of bringing in great bands, not only young bands but also bringing in legacy bands. That’s what Riot Fest has always been about, it’s not like we’re changing our ways. With Red Bull, we’re adding a lot more shows.

Bobby: Because I’ve reported on The Riot Fest for quite a few years now but this was the first year when I got the press release that they referred to it as “The Red Bull Riot Fest.” I’ve always just referred to it as “The Riot Fest”, so it just jumped out at me.

Mike: Yeah. It caught a couple people by surprise. I mean, people in Chicago know that Red Bull has always – well, not always, but the past three years – have been a part of it.

Bobby: This year’s line-up is great. It’s kind of like an old school festival in a way. I mean, you have Social Distortion, Descendents, ALL, 7Seconds, X celebrating the anniversary of their Los Angeles album and more. Why did you decide to focus on the older and more traditional punk bands for this festival?

Mike: I mean, I guess I really don’t look at it like that. We’ve always had legacy bands play. We always – whether its Screeching Weasel or ALL a few years ago or Raygun or any of the bands that have played Riot Fest, we’ve always had those bands who kind of made the scenes – whether it be the seventies, eighties or nineties – be a part of it.

We’re trying to kind of mix it up. Traditionally, we are a punk festival but that moniker is so diluted now and we’re all about music that we like. We like hardcore. We like punk. We like indie. We like ska. We like reggae. I mean we have shows that we do outside of the festival itself. Whether it be Morrissey or Motorhead or Anthrax. We do these shows during the year as well. Obviously, our vocal point is on the festival but people in Chicago now that we get everything from the Pogues to Chuck Berry.

Bobby: So it’s a wide reaching spectrum that you do, as long as the music is good.

Mike:  Yeah, and in years to come, we’ll always have that kind of classic sound that people have come to know Riot Fest from the 05 to 08 years. There will always be something like that. But even in 09, we also started adding bands like Dead Milkmen, Murder City Devils and Jay Retard back in 08 and stuff like that. Riot Fest will never be just a thing where scenesters get their jollies drinking Pabst. We don’t do that kind of stuff. We put out bands that we like and if people disagree with us, so be it.

Bobby: On top of the legacy bands, you also have some unique bands like Larry And His Flask or Reverend Peyton – they’re both playing this year which creates a nice diversity and nice mixup in the day.

Mike: Yeah. Just look at the four main headliners. They’re completely different headliners. But there is a line between all of them. Our first night is with Social Distortion, our second night is the whole Danzig Legacy thing, the third night’s Descendents and the fourth night is Weezer. Now, you know, some people are like “oh my god, Weezer’s playing. That’s the end of Riot Fest.” Which is completely ridiculous. Number one, they’re signed to Epitaph. Two – Blue and Pinkerton are classic albums. I don’t care what anybody says and if people can’t see a line between Weezer and the Dead Milkmen or any of that nineties stuff, then…. So if people want to put these walls up and these different kinds of sub-genres – punk, indie, alt, whatever you want to call it – it’s just ridiculous. If it’s good music, it’s going to be a part of Riot Fest.

Like I’m doing Morrissey in a couple months. You don’t know how stoked I am about that. Like I am beyond words that that’s actually happening. And even the week after Riot Fest, I’m doing Primus.

I remember being a fifteen year old kid wearing a “Punk’s Not Dead” shirt and listening to the Exploited and thinking they were amazing. I listen to The Exploited now and I think it’s complete shit – because it is. It’s garbage. I have a feeling that people who are in their twenties and thirties who appreciate the Descendents – especially if they like the Descendents – appreciate a lot more music outside of punk.

Bobby: Oh yeah; it’s kind of like you have the gateway into the punk scene but then you follow all the threads. Like you take Weezer and follow their threads from the Blue and Pinkerton albums. And Weezer, for example, do put on an amazing live show and they still carry that attitude.

Mike: Absolutely. One of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.

Bobby: So you can’t be so close minded. You kind of have to go and understand that there are connections and influences that surpass genre barriers.

Mike: Yeah. Listen. I was raised on punk and most of my favourite bands are off the genre. Whether it’s Naked Raygun or Big Black or whatever – it doesn’t matter, that’s the stuff I like. But what I like about all of it is that there’s something very, very unique about them. We try to bring a certain amount of uniqueness to Riot Fest so that they don’t all sound like… Of course I love Dillinger Four but there’s a million bands that sound like Dillinger Four. I think Chicago is a very good example of amazing bands that don’t really sound alike. I mean, you can have Naked Raygun which is paramount and then Big Black which changed how music was written. I mean, anything that Albini touched is amazing. Then you have bands like Screeching Weasel, or The Effigies, Rise Against and Alkaline Trio, Lawrence Arms, Smoking Popes. These are bands that define the Chicago scene but to me, they don’t really follow the same model. They’re different types of bands. Anybody can get into them because most of them are pretty melodic. I think Big Black is a lot more noise, but you get my point.

Bobby: Oh yeah – they’re all representative of the scene but they’re all quiet different in their own way, not just cookie cutter bands.

Mike: Right; and that’s what we try to do. 09. That was our first big effort into doing that. Into bringing Butthole Surfers into town. Do people consider them a punk rock band? I don’t know. Butthole Surfers were always a college band to me. I mean, bands like Butthole Surfers and Superchunk. Do they have a punk rock element about them? Yeah, I guess. But it’s just good music.

Bobby: One of the biggest shows this year – and the one you were most excited about – is the Danzig Legacy Set.

Mike: It’s huge.

Bobby: How did you set that up?

Mike: I did Glenn’s show back in November of 2010. They did a Chicago show with me. To be honest, I never get star struck or anything like that but meeting Glenn was awesome. He was such a rad and nice guy. So we talked a little bit, I took him back to his hotel after the show and we just chatted and I remember leaving after that conversation thinking “he’s a really awesome dude.” And I’ve always had in the back of mind that Danzig was one of my favourite musicians. Obviously, I didn’t tell him that. You don’t do that. The last thing he probably wants to talk about is his music, so we talk about other stuff. It was a really awesome, the Chicago show went awesome; people were enthused and it was such a great show. A couple weeks passed and I called the agent and I was just like “hey, let me pitch you on something; you can shoot it down right away, I don’t know what the chances of this happening are but what are the chances of Danzig doing a Misfits set?” He kind of looked at me and said “you know, I think there’s an outside chance of it.” So that initial conversation in early December transformed into the Danzig Legacy. I’ll take to my grave that I was the catalyst to that. They confirmed with us in early February and there were no plans to do other shows or anything like that. But it happened and everyone at Riot Fest was like “holy shit.” Like wow. This was the one thing that we’re all going to remember. Ten years from now, we’re going to be talking about like “Do you remember when the Danzig Legacy thing happened?”

It’s really special. Working with him and his team and stuff like that – it’s just been nothing but awesome. It’s cool as shit, that’s all I can say. He’s such a rad guy. He’s just a really cool, down to earth guy and he is amazingly talented. Look at his back catalogue of songs. Look at the first four Samhain albums – they are amazing. Then there’s the Danzig stuff. I love Danzig, they’re one of my favourite bands.  Then obviously, there’s the classic Misfits stuff. This is all from his head.

Bobby: Yeah, he has a fantastic back catalogue and to hear it all in one night, it’s going to be insane.

Mike: People are going to lose their minds. And it was awesome because we have the Danzig thing, we have Youth of Today coming in, we have Nachtmystium and Macabre. It’s all over the board but it matches what Danzig’s all about too. Danzig is one guy who never really… I think he’s the epiphany of what we’re trying to do. Whether it be metal or punk, he just combines everything. His whole career is something different.

Chicago is talking about it. When we announced it… like I had friends who I haven’t spoken to for a few years call me and be like “you gotta be kidding me!”

Bobby: Yeah, everybody’s in like shock and awe that you were able to pull it together.

Mike: I can take to my grave that I was apart of that initially.

Bobby: One thing you’ll never forget and always have. Of course, this isn’t the only big reunion you’ve been able to scrounge up for Riot Fest. In 2008 you got ALL, in 2006 you got Naked Raygun. Last year you got Articles of Faith. How do you get so many bands to come out of retirement and do a reunion show for you?

Mike: I don’t know. I gotta be honest with you, I count my lucky stars. It really all started with the Raygun reunion in 06. I owe a lot of that to Eric Spicer, the drummer for Naked Raygun, for pushing that through and making it happen. After that year, it just sort of started naturally happening. We were part of that whole initial Bad Brains thing, which like it or leave it, having the original Bad Brains on stage was pretty neat. But the ALL thing – I grew up in Buffalo, New York and when Scott left ALL he moved to Buffalo to start a band called The Pavers; so I got to know Scott. When I moved to Chicago and started doing Riot Fest, I gave him a call and was just like “you know what, would you be interested in maybe talking to the guys and doing an ALL reunion?” He called the rest of the guys and I’m telling you, within fifteen minutes that show was confirmed in 08. The same with Articles of Faith. Joe Principe from Rise Against is actually one of my good friends and Joe was like “you really need to get Articles of Faith on this year” and I was like “well, I don’t even know how to get a whole of Vic. I know he doesn’t live in Chicago.” He goes “let me get in contact with him, we’re Facebook friends.” So what do you know, Joe – within a couple minutes – got a hole of Vic and had me call him. I did and it was wrapped up pretty quickly.

Screeching Weasel – same thing. Even though Screeching Weasel did a show in Austin before they did Chicago, we were confirmed before that and we kind of let them. They asked if they could do Austin before they did Riot Fest and I was like “yeah, cool.” It was pretty much just talking to Ben and Vapid when he was still in the band. It takes a while; I remember putting my first offer in for Screeching Weasel in 05 when they were broken up. I wrote a hand written letter to Ben, just asking him if he was interested in playing. He got back to me and said “oh, we’re not going to do anything this year but maybe sometime soon.” So he kind of left the door open for it and four years later when they played it, they were tremendous. Definitely one of the best sets ever played at Riot Fest. It was one hour, non stop – people just going bezerk.

Bobby: That sounds like a Screeching Weasel show. I saw them in 2009 and that was quite a memorable event.

Mike: They are amazing. It was cool to have that show. With Chicago being their hometown, it was pretty cool. We’ve had like one-offs. Like Cock Sparrer and stuff like that. We love doing that kind of stuff and we always will. Certain bands will always have an open invitation – they can come anytime they want to. One of them is 7 Seconds. They can play it anytime they want to. They’ve played it like five times already, I don’t care. They can play anytime they want to. Same with The Lawrence Arms, The Bouncing Souls, Cock Sparrer – they have open invitations anytime they want to play. They could show up the day off and they can play.

Bobby: You’ll always find a way to squeeze them in. Just one more question. Other than Screeching Weasel which you just said was one of your favourite Riot Fest sets – other than that, what are some of your favourite Riot Fest memories from over the years?

Mike: Definitely, it was seeing Naked Raygun playing in 06. When we did the secret show the day before, that will live in my mind as not only one of the greatest shows I’ve put on, but seen. It was 600 people crammed into a 300 cap room. No security, no nothing. Them playing every song everybody wanted to hear and then some and you could barely hear the band because the crowd was singing along so loud. It was awesome.

Another one was seeing Cock Sparrer. Cock Sparrer was a big one. They performed amazingly but it was the anticipation of them going on stage that will stick with me for probably the rest of my life. It was just a build up. The crowd was so anxious for Cock Sparrer to hit the stage and when they finally hit the stage, I’ve never seen a crowd react like that before. It was moving.  That’s definitely one.

Screeching Weasel was another one. Weasel was really special. It was kind of cool when NOFX filmed Cokie the Clown at Riot Fest – the video. I had no idea that was going on until Mike showed up in a clown suit and I was like “this is going to be interesting.”

Bobby: That was the one when he went around blowing powder into everyone’s face with his flower right?

Mike: Yeah, pretty much. He was venue hopping. I was with him at the Congress when he did it to some of the bands there and then he went over to the Metro and did the same thing. I think NOFX – I think a lot of the bands come in, maybe not for all five days but they come in for three or four days and just kind of have a good time. I know Pennywise and stuff like that, they were here last year. It just seems like this is a meeting ground for a lot of bands that don’t see each other very often.  So they make it into a vacation which is cool.

Bobby: I guess that’s about it, thanks a lot. Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to add?

Mike: Nah man. This year’s going to be awesome and next year’s even looking better.

Bobby: So be excited then?

Mike: Yeah, 2012 is going to be massive. We already have a few confirmations, so it’s going to be great.