The second annual Long Beach Folk Revival Fest will return to Long Beach on Sept. 27 at Rainbow Lagoon Park to entertain and illuminate the town with distinct folky sounds.
The festival will feature more than 25 folk-influenced musicians including Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit, Possessed By Paul James, Restavrant and many others, performing on three stages.
To celebrate the return of the folk fest, students will be able to watch Restavrant perform on campus in the USU South Plaza on Thursday at noon
Along with the performance, the Long Beach Folk Revival Festival will be offering students a $3 discount for the fest with their student ID during Restavrant’s performance.
Restavrant, which is often stylized as Rest^vRant, showcases an eclectic mix of genres that range from punk, electrocana and folk.
The band is a project from Troy Murrah, a Texas native. He relocated to Long Beach a few months ago, and he said he is psyched to perform at the Long Beach Folk Revival Festival. With the help of his drummer, Tyler Whiteside, together the band creates energetic and danceable music.
The Daily 49er caught up with Rest^vRant to learn more about the bands unconventional and unique style of music.
Q. Tell me a bit about your band, how did you guys get started?
Troy Murrah: I was a one-man band with a guitar, harmonica and [played] the drums with my feet. I would throw in a little banjo here and there. That is all I was planning on doing and then a friend of mine late one night was just playing after we went out. He started banging on what ever we had at the house. It sounded good so we were like ‘alright’ we can actually make good music using pots and cardboard boxes… That was the first time I had a drummer.
Q. What is your drummer’s name?
TM: [Although he is not the original member] I’m playing with the [person] who will be with me until I stop playing [who] is Tyler [Whiteside]. He has been playing with me for almost three years now.
I don’t know if you have seen our drum kit, but half the drum set is license plates, a metal folding chair, an Cadillac car wheel and a drum sampler which puts out hip hop dance beats. It plays break beats with junk. It’s really two separate worlds, but it sounds good.
Q. Can you describe a bit of what your music sounds like?
TM: That’s always odd… I would say we have a lot of punk rock influence, but we also listen to a lot of old country music and old blues. You can barely hear that though, it’s dance music and punk rock music. A little bit of ‘50s rock n’ roll, like Chuck Berry.
Q.What kind of punk bands?
TM: For me I like the original ones, like the Sex Pistols, anything in the ‘70s that was starting in the U.K. I also listen to Black Flag, Dead Kennedy’s, even The Misfits although to me that’s on a different [era]. The biggest is definitely the Sex Pistols, but even The Clash is good too.
Q. What is the music-writing process like?
TM: I’ll do a lot of the lyric writing myself alone, usually late at night after a couple beers. After some thing weird has happened to me I’m like ‘I got to write that down.’ … I come up with a riff or bass line then I bring them in to Tyler to see what he wants to do percussion wise.
Usually any bad luck that has happened to me I just write it down. A lot of the lyrics are about hard times. They are hard times, but I got through them. Thank god I have a good sense of humor and am able to laugh at these things. I probably wouldn’t be alive anymore… I’m still here, I’ve made it!
Q. What a nice positive outlook in all the rubble. What can audiences expect to see live from your band since you use so many genres?
TM: Very rambunctious and high energy, coming from Texas everyone would dance around. That was my main goal in the beginning to get people moving and dancing… I like when mosh pits break out in the middle of our shows. I just try to create a lot of energy. Get you excited about something, which is better than standing there staring at us perform.
Q. Is there anyone in particular you are excited to see at [Long Beach] Folk Revival Fest?
TM: Everyone really… We have been on the road with a couple of bands and seen some of them before. It’s like getting together with old friends like Possessed By Paul James, we have run into him for the past five years. It’s always good to see everyone.
Q. Do you guys have everything new or upcoming that people can look forward too?
TM: We will be re-releasing our EP. We kind of just threw it out on iTunes, but that’s going be rereleased with bonus tracks and a video… We will be releasing multiple EP’s and title them episodes like star wars. The first which is the rerelease will be ‘Episode One: Sawdust and Seahorns.’