On July 6th, the inaugural Rockstar Energy Disrupt Festival took place live at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. The festival featured some amazing bands from the punk, alternative, and metal genres, and this year’s festival featured the legendary The Used, along with the comeback kids Sum 41 and Atreyu, and also featured mainstays such as Memphis May Fire and Thrice.
I didn’t know what to expect with this being the inaugural festival. I was expecting more people here, but with it being an inaugural festival, I’m hoping that it grows into a bigger festival next year.
Juliet Simms took the stage. She was a great opener for the crowd. In a roundabout way, she reminded me if Halestorm did garage rock in a way. Her voice is impeccable and her stage presence is definitely inviting as she warmed up the Holmdel crowd with songs such as “Say Hello”, “Take Me”, and “Bad Love”. Her energy was infectious and warmed up the audience for what’s to come later. Check out her music video for “Bad Love” below:
Fans can find Juliet Simms at the following locations:
Trophy Eyes definitely brought the post-hardcore elements to the festival. They’re a band that certainly needs to be kept on people’s radar. Their musicianship is tight and they also had some shoegaze elements in their music. They had a difficult time getting the crowd engaged at first, but with songs such as “Chlorine”, “You Can Count On Me”, and “When The Lights Go Out”, they won the audience at the second stage over with their set. I see Trophy Eyes picking up steam before long and make it to the first stage if Rockstar Disrupt makes their return next year. “The American Dream” by Trophy Eyes is out now via Hopeless Records and they will be appearing at the Snow Tunes Festival in Jindabyne, Australia on Saturday, August 31st and at the Heaven & Hell Festival in Brisbane, Australia on Saturday, September 14th. For tickets and further information, click here. Check out the music video for “Lavender Bay” below:
Fans can find Trophy Eyes at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/trophyeyesmusic
A band that won people over was a band called Memphis May Fire. They had the crowd moving, crowdsurfing and moshing. Frontman Matty Mullins has such a commanding stage presence about him. I’m usually not into the screaming, but he does an amazing job with his voice control between his singing and his screaming. The choruses had people singing along to songs such as “Vices”, “The Sinner”, “Heavy Is The Weight”, and their monster mainstream rock hit “The Old Me”. Memphis May Fire has a couple festival appearances coming up including DeVault Vineyards on Saturday, September 7th in Concord, Virginia and the Loud & Proud Festival in on Friday, October 18th in Weitefeld, Germany. For tickets and further information, click here. Check out the music video for “The Old Me” below:
Fans can find Memphis May Fire at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/MemphisMayFire
www.twitter.com/MemphisMayFire
www.instagram.com/memphismayfire
A band that brought the punk elements was another band called Four Year Strong. The thing is, I did not know that the Worcester, Massachusetts has been around since 2001. They seem to fly under the radar, yet continue to be mainstays on festivals such as this and Vans Warped Tour. I was impressed with their energy and how they got the audience to participate, and their trading off in the vocals, especially in the song “We All Float Down Here”. Fans can pick up a copy of “Some Of You Will Like This//Some Of You Won’t” via Pure Noise Records wherever music is sold. Fans can find Four Year Strong at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/fouryearstrong
www.twitter.com/fouryearstrong
www.instagram.com/fouryearstrong
My favorite band at the festival I must talk about is Sleeping With Sirens. They were a perfect mix of the style of music that I like, and that is mixing punk with emo and hard rock. “Leave It All Behind” got the audience on their feet and moshing, and singing along, especially when the song has only been out one month! They brought us all back to the 2000’s where emo ruled the rock airwaves. The energy went to an all time high with their classic “If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn”. I definitely want to hear more from Sleeping With Sirens. How I missed out on this band is beyond me, but I’m so glad they were included on the billing for Rockstar Energy Disrupt Festival. On September 6th, Sleeping With Sirens will be releasing their latest album entitled “How It Feels To be Lost”. They will also be sharing the stage with Bring Me The Horizon and Poppy on the “Threesome Tour”, which kicks off on Thursday, October 10th at Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. Check out here for tickets and other tour dates for United States and Europe for Sleeping With Sirens. Check out the music video for “Leave It All Behind” below:
Fans can find Sleeping With Sirens at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/sleepingwithsirens
Stay tuned for part 2 featuring Atreyu, Thrice, and The Used.
- Photo Credit: Kim Casper at Garden State Band Connection
