I attended my first Freakout Fest last year for FF6. At the time I was still learning about the Seattle music scene and didn’t really know what I was getting in to. I was blown away by the festival and couldn’t wait to check it out again in the future. Well the future arrived and Freakout Fest 7 took over Ballard for a few days in mid November. This year the festival exceeded my expectations and I did what I could to document the experience. Though the festival spanned 4 nights, This recap will review the main days, Friday and Saturday, starting with Friday.

Freakout Fest takes over The Tractor Tavern, Sunset Tavern, Salmon Bay EAGLES club and a number of other small Ballard businesses showcasing local, national, and international bands that are all tied together by their relationship with the Seattle label Freakout Records, that focuses on authentic, psychedelic, retro, and punk sounds.

I arrived early in Ballard at the Tractor Tavern to catch Foie Gras, a multidisciplinary artist that I’ve been following for a few years but had never seen live before. The set was dark and soothing, mystical and intoxicating, the perfect opener to a long night of dark and psychedelic music.

Foie Gras

Next up at the Tractor Tavern were Southern California’s YIP YOPS, a bouncy energetic 2 piece featuring a drummer, and vocalist/instrumentalist. The sound had a retro new wave type of feel with a raw emotion to it that really drew you in.

YIP YOPS

Next I headed over to the Sunset Tavern to catch local Seattle band Beverly Crusher. I’ve seen this band quite a few times now and they always deliver. Heavy bass and drum sounds with out of this world guitar effects and stage banter for days. This is the first band I saw that night to feature lighting provided by Mad Alchemist Liquid Light show, which took the immersion level of the music to new levels. This Crusher show felt like it had peak energy to it, like years of hard work paying off.

Beverly Crusher

It was then time to head over to the Salmon Bay EAGLES club to catch Freakout-signed Seattle band Smokey Brights. This husband and wife fronted band is insanely talented and just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Their sound and style focuses on vintage, 70’s and Disco, and they take these influences and bring their own magic charm to the table. At Freakout Fest their sound was on point. Their vocal harmonies make you melt, the guitar tones make you tremble, and the vintage synth/keys fill out the sound producing amazing retro inspired rock with modern authenticity. Mad Alchemist Liquid Light show provided psychedelic colors that took over the building.

Smokey Brights

It was then back to the Tractor Tavern to catch Portland Based shoegaze band Soft Kill. This was now going the complete opposite direction both visually and sonically. Soft kill filled the room with fog and drum and bass that felt like a marching beat into darkness. The dimly lit band barely showed on the stage as the shoegaze sounds and muffled vocals washed over listeners.

Soft Kill

To close out the evening it was time to catch local Seattle band Monsterwatch over at the Sunset Tavern. I’ve seen Monsterwatch a few times before FF7, but this performance was one for the books. The band has a devoted local following and it showed this night. With the volume turned up to 11 and the Mad Alchemy light show gracing the stage, the band ripped through their set while the crowd lost their minds. You wouldn’t believe how much crowd surfing can go down in a small club like the Sunset. This was the bands last show of the year and a perfect close to an amazing night.

Monsterwatch