* All shows are in New Orleans, LA, start at 10pm, and are free, unless otherwise noted, and all bands are local to New Orleans unless otherwise noted.

Flyer

Creepy Fest 2010 is the second annual installment of this underground music festival series. It is being produced by Sheer Terror Records, Aysia 999 Promotions, and Terror Optics, with additional booking and promotional support for Day 5 by 86’d Productions. The 5-day event takes place at five different venues all over town: The Circle Bar at Lee Circle, Outerbanks in Mid-City, The Saint in the Lower Garden District, back to Mid-City at Bayou Park Bar, and down to the Bywater at The Saturn Bar. The music touches on a variety of genres, from surf, garage, comedy punk, and “genital rock”, to punk rock, hardcore punk, thrash, and metal. The local underground scene is well-represented; however, the fest also introduces guests from Portland, Oregon; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and a band whose Myspace profile says they are from “Chicago, London, Hamburg, and Portland”.

Creepy Fest originated as a vehicle to promote the Terror Optics short film, Creepy Dean, and to celebrate the release of its soundtrack. Last year, in mid-July, the CD/DVD package came in, and included on the DVD two short films, Creepy Dean and Peepshow Creep, and two music videos: The Pallbearers’ “Sex Crime of the Century” and “Raging Bull”, by The Bills. It also included the Creepy Dean soundtrack on a separate CD, produced and recorded by Sheer Terror Records. Each band on the soundtrack was given many copies of the disc package as gratitude for their participation, and was also granted a slot in Creepy Fest. The First Annual Creepy Fest spanned only three days. However, each audience was treated to a viewing of the event’s namesake, along with other Terror Optics video tidbits, in addition to sets by their local underground favorites.

This year, unfortunately, it is very unlikely that Terror Optics will have anything new in-store for its enthusiasts. Many of the venues involved in this year’s festivities have no viewing capabilities, anyway. Thus, Creepy Fest 2010 was extended as a longer, strictly-music festival. It was initially intended to, once again, be a three-day affair. While still in the early phases of development, however, both Aysia 999 Promotions and one of the Sheer Terror bands, The Bills, were both approached about booking a show for touring Portland surf punk band, Guantanamo Baywatch, the Wednesday before the tentatively-scheduled first show. So, they decided to book it, and not only include it in Creepy Fest 2010, but to make it the kickoff party. It was agreed that it would be better to not leave any gaps, and to fill in the hole that was Thursday night. That’s how Creepy Fest 2010 came to be a 5-night event.

It was also deemed very important to use the fest as a tool to provide exposure to bands and venues that were not included in the line-up last year, or were not yet around. The only overlapping bands are the Sheer Terror Records artists, one of the Aysia 999 Promotions artists, and Concrete Shoes, who are looking to launch a comeback effort after a lengthy hiatus. All shows will start at 10pm, and the promoters are pleased to announce that all shows are free except Day 5 – Sunday, July 18th. That night doubles as the CD release party for The Poots’ “Greatest Shits”, also produced by Sheer Terror Records.

More information is available at www.terroroptics.com, www.myspace.com/aysia999, and www.myspace.com/86dproductions. There is also an event page posted on Facebook. You can purchase copies of Creepy Dean, and other Terror Optics and Sheer Terror Records productions, at the Terror Optics website.