Buddies Fest bringing top names to town

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Some top names, including a former Guns N’ Roses bassist, will be playing in this year’s version of Buddies Fest.

Starting Friday, Aug. 7, and running until Sunday, Aug. 9, the second year of the local music festival will have some changes, including adding country performers, to the line-up.

Last year’s debut of Buddies Fest saw about 350 people attend the main event at The Mill, and 300 weekend passes sold. All hotel rooms and bed and breakfast rooms in town were booked for the event.

After the outdoor performances wind down at 10 p.m., the music continues, split between Paddy’s Underground and The Copper Mug.

“We figured let’s go big or go home and get some bigger bands,” said organizer Ben Andress.

Last year’s event was mostly punk rock, but this year will see country and rock mixed in.

Andress talked about the Buddies Fest name: being up front, it wasn’t his idea, but it came from Jon Snodgrass, a festival organizer. Snodgrass has a song called Buddies, where he “name drops Buddies in bands,” Andress explained. Hence the name, and it stuck.

This year, Andress said, really drives the buddies theme home. Chad Price of Drag the River, and Ben Nichols, were mentioned in Snodgrass’ song and will be playing in Buddies Fest this year.

“It’s kind of cool the festival is named after a song called Buddies and two of the people named in the song are playing this year,” he remarked.

Held in July last year, the festival is moved to August this year.

“It was really hot, and just the air quality wasn’t too enjoyable,” Andress said of the same week this year. “It’s good we did move it as it was the same weekend as Rock the Park.”

The largest name in this year’s festival is Tommy Stinson, who was bass player with the Replacements in the 1980s, and played for more than a decade with Guns N’ Roses from 1998 to 2014. That time included touring with the band and the release of the album Chinese Democracy. He will take the Buddies Fest stage at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Two country acts, including Ben Nichols and Chixxdiggit, will be in this year’s line-up.

“With Tillsonburg being a country town, we thought we’d get a little bit of country going on,” Andress commented, adding, “Even though they’re country, they’re all buddies.”

The Groovy Ghoulies, a pop-punk act, will appeal to the entire family, Andress said, reminding that Buddies Fest is an all-ages event.

The changes don’t mean punk rockers will be left out. UltraBomb, which has members from Husker Du, Solar Asylum and Social Distortion, will be performing Friday.

“This is one of their first Canadian gigs ever,” Andress said. “They’ve been a band for a bit, and they’re finally making their way to Canada, which is kind of exciting.”

Fuzzed Out, which is playing Sunday at 8 p.m., features Patrick Pentland from the band Sloan. Andress understands they will be playing many Sloan songs.

“If you’re a Sloan fan, that’s a set you don’t want to miss,” he said.

A couple of local bands, the McBains and Where’s Shane, will be part of the festival.

“Some of them are friends with some of these bands, so they fit in with the buddies theme,” Andress said.

Chumbawamba vocalist Danbert Nobacon will also be playing during the weekend.

Tickets are available online at buddiesfest.com or from The Mill at a discount.